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…
My father was the king of barbecue in our family. Whatever the weather, you could find him contentedly tending to pieces of chicken on the grill, turning them over and moving them around until each piece was a crispy, golden brown on the outside and tender and moist on the inside. A purist, Dad eschewed any type of seasoning on the chicken and turned his nose up at barbecue sauce,…
With the clock ticking and the dinner hour approaching quickly, I pulled out a package of boneless chicken breasts to make grilled lemon chicken. Thankfully, the few simple ingredients called for were readily at hand in my pantry or refrigerator. As the grill pan heated up, I paused when I realized that the directions called for marinating the chicken for at least one hour. With apologies to Julie Albert and…
I don’t believe that the term ichthyophobia, or fear of fish accurately describes my husband Stephen’s reluctance to eat fish. He will consume fish as long as it tastes like something that bears no resemblance to the species, such as fish burgers with extra ketchup, pickles and spicy mayo please, tuna fish sandwiches heaped with lettuce and tomatoes, and gefilte fish slathered with a thick layer of chrein, the magenta-colored…