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 […]

As days are getting warmer — some places already headed full-throttle into scorching summer heat — meal preparation is dwindling down to a few quick and easy basics. I don’t blame you people,  I mean, who wants to spend the entire evening after a stressful work day cooking when it’s so nice outside (well, that excludes me, […]

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 […]

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 […]

It’s officially cold and flu season.  Don’t know where you are reading this, but in our area temperatures had dropped about thirty degrees on average.  And that means, sniffles are coming.  In fact, my daughter had already made it through her season change cold, and I am battling one right now. The upside of every […]

If there is anything there is seriously no shortage of in the bottomless pit of the Internet, it’s Challah recipes.  You find Challahs ranging from mildly dry bland quickly slap together loaves to fancy multi-egg and raisins, multi-stage productions with the rain-dance performed mid-baking, and everything in between.  To me, Challah is a very fine […]

Originally posted on Eat Already!:
Every time I pass perfectly flat triangular brisket slabs in a store,  my inner Jew wakes up from a deep sleep and starts with the questions. “When are you gonna start cooking like a good Jewish girl?”  “Where are the Gefilte Fish and Latkes?”  “Why aren’t you making Mandlech for…