My husband Stephen’s face lit up as he read the headline on the front page of the newspaper. According to the findings of experts from the University of Michigan, eating a peanut butter and jam sandwich gives a person more than half an hour of extra life. Vindicated at last! For the past twenty-five years, six days a week, Stephen has eaten rice cakes topped with a thick layer of…
At the moment we’re enjoying a spate of warmer weather in Ontario, perfect conditions for taking long walks and enjoying the burst of colors as the trees trade their green summer finery for the brighter shades of red, gold and orange as the days become shorter. It’s time to replenish the biscotti that were enjoyed by family and guests over the holidays and these maple pecan biscotti by King Arthur…
I set out the ingredients to bake my signature chocolate marshmallow brownies, and realized that I was out of unsweetened baking chocolate. I hit the pause button and raced down the street to my local supermarket where I scanned the shelves of the baking aisle fruitlessly. Scouring the Hershey’s website and Amazon turned up …nada. Finally I phoned the Hershey’s helpline and was coolly informed that this product was no…
I’m thinking of starting a support group for shoppers who buy too much produce. When my husband reports that we have 3 watermelons in the fridge downstairs, I tell him not to worry, I have a plan (?!). Goodbye apples. Hello, cherries, peaches, plums and blueberries. Summer’s bounty beckons enticingly to me in the supermarket. When I noticed the backlog of blueberries hiding in the fridge upstairs, I knew it…
Blazing hot temperatures have blanketed the Pacific Northwest caused by a heat dome that occurs only once in a thousand years. Public transit has been halted because of melting power cables and asphalt is buckling from the unprecedented extreme heat. So I’m guessing everyone feels like firing up the oven and baking a cake, correct? You’ve come to the right place. A thick slice of this moist, lemony cornmeal pound…
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…
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…
One year during the lead-up to Passover, I came across my friend Renee carefully studying the boxes of Passover cake mixes in the grocery aisle of our local supermarket . Renee was a bit nervous. She had a new son-in-law who was joining them for the holidays for the first time. Her son-in-law followed the custom of not eating cakes baked with any matzoh products and Renee was anxious to…
My mother diligently prepared hot porridge for our breakfast, day in and day out, until I was seven years old. At that point, I crossed my little arms in protest and told her that I wanted to eat cold cereal from a box just like everyone else I knew. Mom gave up the hot breakfast fight with nary a whimper. She was probably just as sick of making the cooked…