Chanukkah is coming, and kids are looking forward to stuffing their faces with latkes – potato pancakes. When I was growing up, we had all kinds of latkes on Chanukkah, and sometimes my grandmother skipped the deruny (potato latkes) altogether because of the variety of other, more interesting ones: carrots with apples, zucchini with raisins, and my father’s favorite rechene (buckwheat) latkes. When a guest inquired about…
Category: Snack
The Real Treasure of the Caribbean: Haiti, Part 2. Fried Accra.
Slavery started in Haiti with the arrival of Columbus. Met with friendliness, welcoming gifts, and delicious local fritters called Accra or Akra, he described the native Arawak Taino people as “tractable, and easily led; they could be made to grow crops and build cities” (Mellzer, Slavery: A World History, 1971). And the gentle, helpful natives were…
Pyshka – Sweet Roll and a Baby Kitten
Calling all cats and their humans: HAPPY INTERNATIONAL CAT DAY! To celebrate, I am repeating a post I wrote four years ago, when little Pyshka was about four weeks old. Now she is a big and beautiful four-year old kitty girl, heavier than Auntie Beba, who is 12, but still playful and mischievous like a…
We Have a New Guest Chef – Dolly Aizenman
Originally posted on A Jeanne in the Kitchen:
It has been quite awhile since our last Guest Chef. No one has been sending anything in, and I miss that. I love seeing what’s cooking in your kitchens. But all that has changed, and now, we have a new Guest Chef, my friend, Dolly Aizenman. You…
The Scone of Stone
The Scone of Stone was stolen! It was stolen from the most unexpected and the best guarded place, The Dwarf Bread Museum. Of course, dwarf breads were substantially different from our breads; that is, different in substance. In fact, they included gravel as one of the main ingredients. According to the late Sir Terry Pratchett,…
The Real Treasure of the Caribbean: Haiti, Part 2. Fried Accra.
Slavery started in Haiti with the arrival of Columbus. Met with friendliness, welcoming gifts, and delicious local fritters called Accra or Akra, he described the native Arawak Taino people as “tractable, and easily led; they could be made to grow crops and build cities” (Mellzer, Slavery: A World History, 1971). And the gentle, helpful natives…
Kids, Miracles, and Banana Latkes
I got the best Chanukkah present from my younger son – he brought over his littlest daughter, the only one of his brood of four who was available. The two middle ones went with their school to Orlando, accompanied by their mother who is also the head of the school’s counseling services, and the oldest…
Counting Beans to Bake Falafels
How many lentils are in a bowl of lentil soup? Don’t start laughing yet, Beautiful People; this was an earnest question posed to my husband by his nutritionist. Well, how does he know? He eats what I put in front of him, and sometimes snacks on what he finds in the refrigerator, which is what…
When Two Plusses Equal a Minus
A while ago, we had a chance to visit with my cousin and his wife in New Jersey and take them to dinner at a lovely Kosher Italian restaurant. Imagine my surprise, when my cousin Leo, normally a healthy eater with a robust appetite, had only a few leaves of lettuce (no dressing), and a…
No Power Stronger Than Love: Purple Smoothie for Purple Person
This post is dedicated to my favorite purple person, an awesome funny blogger and a dear blogo-friend Melinda of http://www.purpleslobinrecovery.com. I am a great fan of Dr Deepak Chopra. While I am fully aware of the controversies raging around him and his approach to alternative medicine, I would not doubt the expertise of a former…
Only Good Words for Savory Cupcakes
In a wonderful Russian play of the 60’s about love, kindness, and caring, there was a line that bothered me: “Even a cat appreciates a good word.” I could never understand the word “even” in this phrase – why “even a cat”? What about dogs? Birds? People, after all? My grandmother, may she rest in…
Surprise – Healthy Potato Chips!
I am cheating, Beautiful People, but I have a good reason for it! These truly are healthy sweet potato chips, but they are oven-baked, and my oven went on strike. Hopefully, the situation will be remedied before Passover, with G-d’s help. Meanwhile, as we were making Tropical Salsa (see here) at the recent Lasting Joy…
koolkosherkitchen 