Serving dairy desserts and pastries on Shavuot, the holiday of receiving the Torah, is a custom that I always look forward to. But shopping for the imported farmer cheese to make cheese delkelekh (Danish) gave me pause when I saw that the price was fourteen dollars a pound. Was the cheese being flown in on a private jet, accompanied by a masseuse and stylist? At these prices, it seemed likely.…
Driving to join friends for lunch, I turned my head to check on the salted caramel cheesecake, my most requested dessert, nestled carefully on the back seat, and gasped in dismay. Unable to resist a preview of the finished dessert, I had topped the cake with lush, golden caramel sauce before leaving the house. It was a mouth-watering sight. Unfortunately, the caramel had languidly dripped off the top of the…
With eyes peeled on my 2 ½ year old grandson as he tore down the driveway on his scooter, I basked in the sunshine, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and savored the intoxicating, yeasty scent of freshly baked challahs perfuming the air. I smiled at my neighbor, the calm, organized mother of a large brood, who was taking a well-deserved break before tending to the next batch of braided, golden…
Traditionally, after the Passover dishes are packed away and the countertop covers scoured and stored for the next year, I happily relinquish my apron and my son cooks up a large pot of creamy, cheesy macaroni that family members eagerly anticipate. This year, wiser counsel prevailed and the over-forty crowd contentedly spooned up heaping bowls of crunchy Raisin Bran, while my teenage grandsons inhaled a large pizza. The times they…
In the summer of 1965, my family took a pilot trip to Los Angeles, California with an eye to settling there. My maternal grandparents had waved a cheery farewell to the snow in Buffalo four years previously and were encouraging my parents to do the same. For six weeks our family of five shared a cozy one-bedroom apartment with my Bubby and Zeidy (surviving the Second World War in hiding…
One potato, two potato, three potato, four, five potato, six potato, seven potato, more. This popular children’s counting rhyme really resonates with me at Passover time. Eaten frequently during the eight days of Passover, potatoes get a bad rap. But this recipe for garlic and shallot-topped smashed potatoes by Miriam (Pascal) Cohen in her inimitable cookbook, Real Life Kosher Cooking: family-friendly recipes for every day and special occasions, is here…
Supply chain issues have affected the price and availability of some Passover products including kosher for Passover ketchup. After three trips to two different supermarkets, I finally scored a bottle of Lieber’s ketchup for $5.99 (gasp!!!). When I asked a sympathetic grocery manager about the limited supply, he said that there had been great difficulty sourcing this indispensable condiment. As a result, this year there is only one brand of…
This week I received an invitation to a Zoom seminar on how to prepare for Passover in five days. A nice thought. I hope that they make a recording of the seminar available after Passover. I may have time to watch it then. As we gear up for Passover, our preparations, including shopping, cleaning and cooking, become a full-time occupation. But now is not the time to neglect healthy eating…
Decisions…decisions. I studied the overhead menu and carefully inspected the cornucopia of freshly baked muffins, scones, artisan rolls and breads. Last fall on a visit to Minneapolis, on a bright, crisp Friday morning I lined up in Breadsmith, one of the kosher certified locations of the iconic midwestern bakery. Faced with the pleasantly challenging task of choosing from a selection that included, but was not limited to, rosemary garlic ciabatta,…
One of the many perks of working in a library is being able to anticipate the pending arrival of new books (and placing holds on them), perusing the new titles that are lined up like soldiers on their respective book carts, and flipping through New York Times Magazine as soon as it’s delivered, to read Dorie Greenspan’s monthly column, On Desserts. When this recipe for cocoa-cornmeal biscotti appeared, I knew…