Pumpkin Spinach Soup

I have heard from lovely Carol who runs a great blog with a funky name Retired? No one told me! that October is a Pumpkin month; she also asked me to share my pumpkin soup recipe. I am repeating my old post, with two changes: the first one is in INGREDIENTS, and the second in…

Five Thousand Years of History and One-Minute Cucumbers

This was originally published as a guest post on https://renardsworld.wordpress.com. For some reason unbeknown to us humble bloggers, the Reblog button disappeared from several blogs, Renard’s and mine included. As a wonderful gracious host and a great blogger, Renard has suggested that I “do it the old-fashioned way” by offering the title and link to…

Spear Your Meat, But Don’t Spare Your Veggies: Shashlik

When you think of meat on skewers, you probably visualize this: Or, perhaps, if you are even slightly familiar with Georgian cuisine (a country, not a state), this: And you will be on the right track: regardless of countless variations of it, shishkebab definitely has a long military history. I couldn’t help but share with…

The Great and Glorious Fake Sauce

Louis XIV of France was a great and glorious king who has consolidated a great and glorious country by forging a centralized government – absolute monarchy. Having been scared out of his wits as a teenager during the Fronde rebellion, when he, his mother Anne of Austria –  the Regent, and Cardinal Mazarin fled from…

Pickling Time and Chunking Kale

A distressed mother barges into a Rabbi’s study: “Rabbi, my son has gone meshuge (crazy)!” “Calm down, lady, have you taken him to a specialist? What makes you think that?” “Specialist-shmeshalist! Who needs specialists? I am a mother, I know!” “But, dear lady, what does he do?” “Oy, Rabbi, he eats pigs and dances with girls!” “Listen,”…

Distress? No, De-stress!

During these trying times of global distress, it is great to be reminded that March 20 is an International Happiness Day. I am grateful to a great blogger Renard of https://renardsworld.wordpress.com and his fabulous contributor Dr Sridhar for a wonderful post reminding all of us, Beautiful People, to celebrate this day with joy and laughter…

Don’t Blame the Chard!

I had the honor of being a guest on fabulous Renard’s World, Beautiful People, and I am giving you an offer you can’t refuse!

Stuffed Avocado Does Not Scare Birds

Happy National Stuffing Month, Beautiful People (https://foodimentary.com/november-holidays)! When you hear stuffed shirt, you get a mental image of a retrograde, an inflexible old-fashioned conservative, maybe an arrogant poseur with no substance. The latter is probably the closest to the truth, as the idiom was actually born as a literal description of a scarecrow, dressed in…

Quince – Birthday or Fruit?

Teenage Jewish American girls of Hispanic origin have three significant birthdays celebrated in lavish style befitting a wedding. As most  Jewish girls, when they turn 12, they celebrate the traditional Jewish coming of age, Bas (Bat) Mitzvah (boys have to wait an extra year; their big day, Bar Mitzvah, is at 13). As most American…

15 Down and Counting!

All this bean counting and portion measuring did bring a fantastic result! Drum roll, please: During the last four weeks my husband has lost 15 lbs. There was no wacky diet to follow and no magic trick, other than the right selection of ingredients, extremely tight portion control, and a 30-minute walk every evening. His…

Kitchen Queen

Originally posted on lifelessons – a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown:
Kitchen Queen Her souffles are a marvel and her cakes a work of art. Every single thing she cooks, a product of her heart. Her kitchen full of luscious smells and openness and levity, every disaster solvable and noted for its brevity. She surmounts each…

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…