[Sponsored post] With holiday season just around the corner, party food has been on my mind.  Holidays put pressure on a cook because in my mind the traditional menu is so limiting. Not that there is a shortage of good recipes out there, but some of the traditional dishes are not something one would cook the rest of the […]

With Jewish New Year just around the corner, I feel a bout of phantom nostalgia coming on. Why phantom, you may ask? Because my family never really kept any of the Jewish traditions.  Sure, my aunt made Gefilte Fish every fall, along with some other staples of classic Jewish cookery. She’d invite the family over, and we […]

Bagels are one of my most favorite things to eat.  They are so versatile, so forgiving; they go with anything — from smoked white fish to jam — and never complain.  You can eat them by themselves just fine or slather with butter or cream cheese, and you’ve got yourself a meal. New York style […]

Borodinsky bread is my childhood staple food.  We had it practically every day and never grew tired of it. The aroma, the well balanced sweet and sour, the substantial “meaty” crumb and thin glossy crust — should I go on listing all the wonderful things that put this loaf in the bread hall-of-fame? Nowadays, it […]

If you are into bread baking, as I am, you probably know by now that finding the right kind of flour is a very important task.  Using predictable, good quality flour is key in getting predictable, good quality bread loaves day after day.  The task becomes doubly challenging if you are trying to stay away […]

Am I the only one constantly finding myself with a surplus of sauerkraut? Yeah, that’s how I know I am a crazy person. I love sauerkraut and make it at home all the time. Ever since I started reading on benefits of lacto-fermented (naturally pickled) foods and found out that sauerkraut stands a cut above […]

Gosh, I got so excited yesterday while typing up the 12-Kopeck Sugar Buns, that it put me in the next bout of cravings immediately — bagels.  Pfft, you may say, what’s so special about bagels? You can get them anywhere.  Well, that’s just the thing: first of all, there are no *good* bagels in 80 […]