Posts Tagged “family”
Tyler (who just turned 5) wants to be a baker, Fellow FoodBeest. He also loves science and what better science is there than what you get when you mix flour with sugar and butter and baking powder and then add heat? We got to use two machines: the food processor and the stand mixer. A little noisy, but fun. And the outcome was strawberry cupcakes.
How do you make this matzo stuff taste good? We think we found a way. Mr. FB has become known for “his” matzo. It’s actually a New York Times recipe that includes olive oil for better flavor and leaves out the Rabbinic supervision for ease of making.
Between four-year-old Tyler taking everything (unbreakable) out of our pantry and setting up a “grocery store” on the couch – and balancing on and jumping off a big old exercise ball some 600 times – we made pretzels.
The secret ingredient that sets these pancakes off is absolutely the rice. The pancakes are light as a feather, but they offer some tooth-resistance that is totally satisfying and unlike any other pancakes I have ever eaten. The author (another beloved former relative) attributes the recipe to someone’s grandmother and who am I to argue. Thank you to that grandmother.
My Grandma Tillie (the same grandmother who used to feed me white raisins as a special treat when I was very little) used to prepare this dish and carry it across town on a bus to her three daughters and her grandchildren in an covered aluminum baking dish. I remind you, Fellow FoodBeest, that these were the days before Tupperware.
Professional chefs know that cooking an egg – properly cooking an egg – is one of the most difficult tests in the kitchen. And the results are shockingly worth the trouble. At my advanced stage in life, I have only just learned how to boil an egg. It’s a very specific technique. And it requires way more attention than mom gave them. But so worth it for great eggs and even better deviled eggs.
Christmas dinner in Chinatown at Lao Bejing. We waited almost a half-hour for anything to be served. We were never served water or the spicy slaw that the restaurant offers all diners at the start of the meal. We had chopsticks and napkins. Soup served after the rest of the meal was tasteless and gelatinous. The kitchen must have been a disaster. Steve threw a fork in frustration. You go, Steve!
There is a particular theme to almost all Jewish holidays: “They tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s eat.” Hanukah is no exception. So in that spirit and to appreciate the importance of oil in saving the traditional way of practicing Judaism, one way Hanukah gets celebrated in by cooking things in oil: most notably and traditionally, latkes.
We’ve taken it one better, by adding parsnips to the potatoes and (hallelujah!) cooking them in duck fat.
I have my list of go-to foods that I make over and over because they’re good, fast, familiar and easy. There are other foods – like turkey tetrazzini – that I make only once-a-year. Not because they’re hard to make, but because they’re seasonal and indulgent and they become special that way.
I am a firm believer that there are three great things about hosting Thanksgiving at your house.
1. You get to be with family. As many of them as can cram their way around your table.
2. You get to pick at the carcass to your heart’s content after dinner.
3. You get to make turkey tetrazzini later that week.
