Tucked up safely in our warm beds, we were lulled to sleep by the nightly ululations of … coyotes. Living south of the 49th parallel, my previous encounters with wildlife included squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons and the occasional skunk, but no coyotes, unless you count Wile E. Coyote. Nourished by a steady diet of delectable leftovers from neighborhood organic bins, rodents and an occasional puppy, the coyotes took ownership of the…
With a shiny dime clutched in my hand, I carefully studied the snack bar offerings. As children, we regularly accompanied my father to the curling rink on Sunday afternoons. Dad, probably the only Holocaust survivor who mastered the sport of curling, bribed us with a treat to sit patiently and stay out of trouble while he slid back and forth on the ice rink with his coworkers, sweeping, gliding and…
Last Friday morning I pulled open the freezer door to choose a dessert for Shabbat and stared at the empty shelves in dismay. My inventory of baked goods was very low… in fact non-existent, unless you count half of a donut cake left over from Chanukah. Treasured visits from family members and cookie care packages to loved ones had cleaned out my pastry stash. Making a quick dessert moved to…
Catching up with my sister last week, she described her Sunday brunch menu in mouth-watering detail. But it was her pronouncement that the bagels were “the best that I ever made”, that really gave me pause. “You made your own bagels!”, I sputtered. Slightly warm, with a crispy golden crust and a soft, chewy interior with a schmear of cream cheese, a well-made, fresh bagel is the ultimate comfort food.…
My father was the king of barbecue in our family. Whatever the weather, you could find him contentedly tending to pieces of chicken on the grill, turning them over and moving them around until each piece was a crispy, golden brown on the outside and tender and moist on the inside. A purist, Dad eschewed any type of seasoning on the chicken and turned his nose up at barbecue sauce,…
In recent years, the pre-Shavuot lead-up in Toronto has been accompanied by a city-wide bake sale sponsored by an organization called Small Wonders, committed to helping Jewish couples struggling with infertility challenges. This event is noted for the dedication of its volunteers who assemble a delectable selection of home-baked as well as professionally baked treats and flowers, all packaged and presented in the most enticing way. But even more beautiful…
Meyer Lansky, better known as the “Mob’s Accountant”, was a regular patron of Ratner’s, a Jewish dairy restaurant in New York City. It was there that Lansky, along with fellow mobsters Charlie “Lucky” Luciano and Bugsy Siegel, enjoyed their favorite item on the menu, cheese blintzes. Fortunately, pursuing a life of crime is not a necessary prerequisite for indulging in this ethereal comfort food. Crispy crêpes filled with just the…
I was recalled to work two weeks ago after being away because of Covid closures for just over a year. Delighted to be back at the library and using my cataloging smarts again, my new schedule did require some meal prep scheduling adjustments. When I saw this recipe for sheet pan chow mein by Hetty McKinnon, published in her latest cookbook, To Asia with Love, featured on Deb Perelman’s incomparable…
I settled in comfortably at the kitchen table with a steaming mug of coffee at my elbow for my Sunday morning catch-up call with my daughter. As we reviewed the last few days’ events, I overheard her giving some gentle direction to my granddaughter Avigail, aged nine. Avigail was baking chocolate breakfast muffins, a deep, dark, chocolate muffin studded with chocolate chips and topped with a crunchy lid of turbinado…