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…

As Easy As Pie

“There’s something about pie, any kind of pie— gorgeous lattice top pies or rustic galettes, deep dish or pot pies, sweet or savory, fruit or vegetable, cheesy or meaty, hand pies from every corner of the earth… there’s something about taking pastry dough and wrapping it around, partially or completely, some kind of filling that…

Catherine the Great Needs a Diet (The Tsar Blini)

A petite, slender girl with a tomboy personality, little Sophie was growing up in a highly aristocratic, but dirt poor family. Parents largely neglected her while grooming her brothers to become royalty (both brothers became Kings of Sweden, one after another). Her life changed overnight, when two powerful monarchs and a French adventurer cast a…

Kolobok, Kolobok, from the Grandma I Escaped…

Once upon the time, in a magical land of great forests, Onion Domes and warrior princes, there lived an old couple, Grandma and Grandpa. One day, Grandpa says to Grandma, “Bake me a pie.” “With what? – sighs the old woman, – we have nothing.” “Sweep the cupboards, scratch the bins, let’s see what you…

Gambling for Education and Retchene Latkes

To continue with the story of Chanukkah and latkes, Judea was eventually captured by the Romans. Some of the Roman rulers could care less about various religions of the occupied territories, or provinces, as long as the taxes were collected regularly and accurately. Some others, however, persecuted Jews relentlessly; Emperor Hadrian even earned the nickname…