We don’t do Halloween, but we have our own monsters. One of them is world famous. You see his heavy footprints throughout the world literature and arts, from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to The X- Files. You hear his eerie voice in Karel Capek’s R.U.R., where the word “robot” comes from, in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, recognizable as Gollum, and in Isaac Bashevis Singer’s The…
Tag: Spelt
My Grandmother’s Recipes: Part 1, Round Challah.
Years ago, when my grandmother was still around, it has occurred to me that only my mother and I knew her recipes, and we knew them by heart; they were not written anywhere. I decided to write them down, organizing them by Jewish holidays. Then my memories took over, plunging me into family stories, and…
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…
The Rivers of Exile: Nine-Day Pie
I repeat this post every year at this time, and with it, I wish all those of you, Beautiful People, who observe this tragic day of mourning, an easy and meaningful fast. Traveling through the streets of Paris with his entourage, Napoleon passed a synagogue and heard heart-wrenching wailing from within. “Why are my Jews…
Chocolate on Chocolate with Extra Blessings
Happy World Chocolate Day, Beautiful People! Jewish people are obligated to say one hundred blessings every day, and observant Jews are making every effort to do it, well, religiously. There are two reasons for it. First, in Deuteronomy, Moses poses a rhetorical question to the people:”What does G-d ask of you?” Says the Talmud that the word…
Shlissel Challah – a Key to Wisdom
This Challah, fashioned in the shape of a treble clef, or “G” clef, was originally made a couple of years ago to honor a musician friend who spent with us the first Shabbos after Pesach. This year we are blessed – and immensely excited! – to have the two youngest grandchildren the entire weekend, Shabbos…
Popalik for a Poor Orphan
We do not cook on Shabbos. Food must be ready before sundown on Friday, and nothing could be cooked or even reheated until after sundown on Saturday. Yet the tradition demands hot food to be served both on Friday night and on Saturday afternoon. Friday night is relatively easy as you finish cooking or heating things…
The Clever Suitor and the Dietetic Hamentaschen
You have already met the famous prankster and jester Hershele of Ostropol in some of my previous posts (https://koolkosherkitchen.wordpress.com/2016/09/28/yukh-a-one-eyed-soup, https://koolkosherkitchen.wordpress.com/2016/12/20/summer-latkes-in-december). He is not a fictional character; he actually existed and served as a Shamesh (synagogue attendant) for one of my illustrious ancestors, Rabbi Boruch of Medzhibozh who lived in the second half of 18th –…
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,…
Pardon My French… Toast!
Lovely Carol of carolcooks2.com says that today is a National French Toast Day. I don’t know which nation, but I do have a delicious recipe to offer you, Beautiful People. One of those names that varied from country to country, it was called Spanish Toast in Germany, German Toast in Italy, Nun’s Toast in Spain,…
MONSTER ChoCo Squares
We don’t do Halloween, but we have our own monsters. One of them is world famous. You see his heavy footprints throughout the world literature and arts, from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to The X- Files. You hear his eerie voice in Karel Capek’s R.U.R., where the word “robot” comes from, in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, recognizable as Gollum, and in Isaac Bashevis Singer’s The…
Hello, Beautiful People!
Today, when I transitioned from the kitchen to my computer (this is a Covid 19 jargon, Beautiful People; we don’t move – we transition), I found this: Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com! You registered on WordPress.com 4 years ago. Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging. It took me back to this day four years…
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