My daughter-in-law looked at me with a raised eyebrow when I placed a portion of honey-dill salmon with basmati rice in front of every seat before we sat down to lunch on Shabbat. Understandable. More than half of the guests were aged twelve-years-old and under. It’s hard for me to prejudge who is going to take the plunge and taste something new but in this case, my gamble paid off.…
For the past few weeks, I have searched fruitlessly (sorry!) for Georgia peaches in my local supermarket. Harbingers of summer, these nectar-filled blushing beauties were certainly taking their sweet time making their annual debut. Long known as the Peach State, Georgia produces, arguably, the tastiest peaches grown anywhere. Usually available for sixteen juicy weeks each year, from mid-May until August, this year they were no-shows. A little digging uncovered the…
When I left work last Tuesday afternoon, the parking lot was shrouded in a mysterious haze and the spring air smelled like a sizzling barbecue. I turned on the car radio and realized that the cloudy smog that blanketed the neighborhood was smoke, caused by unprecedented early summer wildfires in eastern Canada. As winds pushed the smoke-filled air south, billowing down the east coast of the United States from New…
A bowl of toasty old-fashioned oats is my favorite way to start the morning, probably a by-product of my mother serving me Oatmeal Pablum for breakfast until I rebelled and demanded a bowl of Corn Flakes. She obviously thought it was the breakfast of champions and she wasn’t wrong in her assumption. A quick glance in my pantry would reveal five different types of oats sitting expectantly on the shelf.…
Cream cheese rugelach are my friend Mrs. S’s signature pastry. After dropping by for a visit, family and friends (and even the plumber) inevitably leave with a carefully prepared package of these flaky cream cheese treats swirled with apricot or raspberry jam, nuts, sugar and cinnamon. Mrs. S’s cardiologist beamed with delight when she presented him with a neatly wrapped box of these homemade delicacies on her last visit. After…
My husband approaches eating fish with caution, unless it’s of the gefilte variety. Recognizing its heart-healthy omega-3 properties, from time to time he makes yet another honest attempt to make our finny friends a regular part of his diet. To no avail. Inevitably, his portion of fish meets an ignominious end, drowning in a sea of ketchup or salad dressing (and sometimes both). However, with this recipe for Cajun fried…
This past Saturday, May 06, Charles, the heir to the throne for the last seven decades, was crowned king of England. King Charles is the oldest ever British monarch to be crowned. This coronation was notable because the rites and rituals mostly unchanged in a thousand years also melded with the new. During one of the most ancient and moving parts of the investiture, the King was anointed with oil…
My fridge and freezer are still neatly organized and clutter free since my pre-Passover purge and cleaning. However, the temptation to save small containers of perfectly edible odds and ends still lingers and repurposing or upcycling food really sparks joy in me. This baked rice kugel uses leftover cooked rice that was just waiting for an opportunity to shine again. Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarborough, the authors of the culinary…
On the last days of Passover we were blessed with unusually warm, bright, sunny weather. When I peered at the thermostat through the rivulets of sweat dripping into my eyes (because what sane person turns on the air conditioning in anticipation of record-breaking heat in Toronto at this time of the year?!), it was a tropical 83 F. It felt like the holiday of Shavuot had arrived six weeks early.…
My son stared at the plate of chocolate chip cookies in front of him with a suspicious gaze. After sampling a cookie, he smiled and pronounced it “scary”. These Passover chocolate chip cookies by Melissa Kaye @lilmisscakes are so authentic looking and tasting, they have almost fooled great cookie connoisseurs into believing they are the real deal i.e., my year-round recipe. Moist and chewy with a hint of vanilla, and…