Reading the back of the cereal box, while absent-mindedly spooning up a bowl of Rice Krispies, was a sacred part of my morning breakfast ritual while growing up. Regretfully, my mother insisted that we wait until the cereal box was empty before we cut up the box to play the exciting (?!) game printed on the back. A valuable educational tool for honing our bilingual language skills, (French and English…
When visiting my local grocery store, I enjoyed stopping at the bakery section to watch the bakers, sporting their floury white toques and jackets, skillfully braid tens of challahs before adroitly popping the doughy twists onto a conveyor belt headed for the commercial proofer. Their well choreographed dance never failed to entice me, as did their chocolate Snickers cake that we ordered for every birthday celebration. Until one day I…
My father was a master gardener, growing juicy red tomatoes, crisp, green cucumbers, and super-sized zucchini, in abundance. The summer that I turned twelve years old, my father offered me a small patch in his garden to grow a crop of my own choosing. When I announced that I was going to cultivate strawberries, my father was all on board. I watered and weeded my plants faithfully, but nary a…
Once upon a time, strawberries, like pussy willows and daffodils, were a sure sign of spring. Now that they are in the market year-round, they are no longer the harbingers of warmer, brighter weather. But put some rhubarb alongside the strawberries, and you know it is not too soon to think about buds on trees and Passover.…
My mother had a well-defined repertoire of cake recipes and each one was a testimony to her attention to detail and precision. Marble cake was a regular player on her dessert roster. Egg whites were whipped into billowy, snowy peaks and folded ever so gently into the cake batter. A few tablespoons of cocoa were blended into a small portion of the batter, creating a swirled masterpiece of vanilla and…
Having a steady supply of cookies on hand for unexpected celebrations is something that I depend on. However, last week when I swung open the freezer door, I was greeted by a very disconcerting sight. Mother Hubbard’s cupboard was bare. Every cookie, brownie, and square had been dispatched to family and friends over the holidays, and all that remained was a single snowy cinnamon bagel of dubious vintage. It was…
In an episode of the iconic television comedy Seinfeld, after waiting in line at the bakery, Elaine gets upset when the last chocolate babka is sold to another customer. Although a cinnamon babka is still available, she claims that it is a “lesser” babka. Jerry then becomes the cinnamon babka’s advocate, stating that people love cinnamon and that there is nothing inferior about it. My family members would heartily concur.…
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…
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…