You can hear it in a tent, you can hear it from a vent. You can hear it on a corner, you can hear it from a foreigner. You can hear it in an ark, you can hear it in a park. I have listened to the blasts of the shofar in almost all of these locations over the past two years. This Rosh Hashana, I was overjoyed to reunite…
The arrival of Rosh Hashana next week has caught me flat-footed. It’s been a wonderful summer. Almost unfailingly warm and sunny, it was a perfect time to visit with family and friends, smell the roses, and read my way through the stack of books beckoning from my bedside table. Regrettably (not really), none of these pursuits was conducive to filling my freezer with family holiday favorites, such as, split pea…
Looking forward to the grandkids joining us for Shabbat, I thought long and hard about the menu. How would I entice them to join us at the dining room table when their most requested meal is invariably macaroni and cheese? When I saw this recipe for honey-mustard chicken tenders by recipe developer, Ali Slagle, published in the New York Times, I felt a glimmer of hope. But chicken tenders are…
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…
Wherever I travel, I always include a stop in the local grocery store. Wandering up and down the aisles and inspecting the variety of kosher products not necessarily available at home, is as enlightening as it is exciting. (I’m a cheap date). Last week while visiting Detroit, Saturday evening’s entertainment was a trip to Trader Joe’s, America’s favorite grocery store. Trader Joe’s is a foodie paradise. But it’s also a…
Early Monday morning I swung open the front door and gazed out at a gusting winter blizzard. By 9:00 a.m. school children who were eagerly anticipating their first day back at school after an extended winter break thanks to Omicron, headed out with their toboggans for a day of sledding instead. Over five hundred TTC buses were stranded in thick snow piles and transport trucks were snowed in on the…
My teenage grandson studied the contents of my fridge with careful consideration. Noshing on a heaped plateful of holiday leftovers as a midnight snack was an honored tradition in our household. Many nights my husband and I were lulled to sleep by the rhythmic mechanical hum of the microwave as our teenage and adult children congregated in the kitchen, reheating the last two slices of brisket and a Miami rib…
I stopped by my friend Hélène’s house the Thursday before her son’s bar mitzvah and was privy to a glimpse into a Sephardic kitchen in action. Helene’s mother, aunts and mother-in-law were busily preparing a Moroccan beef tagine. As I sipped my cup of mint tea and nibbled on a freshly-baked semolina cookie, the women moved with the accomplished grace of an Olympic synchronized swim team, filling an enormous bowl…
In addition to the usual festive meals that we prepare for the Jewish holidays, for Rosh Hashana we try to step up our game a little bit by preparing simanim, or foods which serve as signs or symbols of our hopes and prayers for the new year. As a young girl, in our house simanim were limited to challah dipped in honey and the tzimmes or sweet carrots that accompanied…
After experiencing below average temperatures in the month of July, summer has finally arrived in Toronto. Whatever seasonal pleasures you enjoy, nobody wants to spend more time than necessary in a hot kitchen. Stir-frying is the ideal preparation for a weeknight supper any time of the year. It’s also a wonderful way to showcase all the beautiful spring and summer produce that’s so readily available right now. With a little…