Food Friday, but first, the snow day, and a bonus tutorial

It snowed all day yesterday and all night as well. This morning, after morning services, my friend Leah was celebrating her 90th birthday. Leah is one of the world experts on transgenderism. Margaret Mead was her thesis advisor, and gave Leah bad advice.

I haven't been going to morning services lately, because I think that my son does better getting out in the morning with my grumpy company. I really did want to go the services this morning to celebrate Leah's day. So, I planned to leave the house just before my son did this morning.

I had the distinct pleasure of waking my son up, I wasn't sure if school had been called off or not. And then sending him back to bed as soon as I had heard that school was cancelled. So he had the pleasure of lying in bed and knowing that he was home, and not on his way to school.

When I walked to synagogue, the sidewalks still hadn't been cleared. Broadway was barely plowed. I walked to synagogue up the middle of Broadway. It was just too cool. Leah who normally takes a taxi the two blocks to synagogue, walked with her husband just to be there. My friend, Barbara who gets around with a walker, was driven to synagogue by kind strangers in an SUV who saw her waiting for the busses that were not yet runningand took pity on Barbara who was sitting on her walker and covered in snow.

We all ate a beautiful breakfast together after Shaharit.

My son took the two little kids across the hall sledding in Riverside Park. The challa is now doing it's first rising. Two of our dinner guests were supposed to come in from Boston. They wisely decided to stay home. Their children, though, will be joining us.

Knowing that I would be celebrating Leah's birthday this morning, I made the dessert for tonight, last night. I made grapefruit sorbet ( two grapefruit whipped up in the food processor with corn syrup, sugar and a shot of vodka) and pomegranate sorbet ( about 1 1/2 cups water, 1/2 c confectioners sugar, two Tbs flour and lots of pomegranate molasses heated until boiled) .

I think that the late winter is making me hunger for the sun. Citrus is standing in for sunshine for me these days. I am eating a couple of amazing grapefuit each day. They are just at the peak of season right now.

Tonight's potatos are roasting away in the oven coated with olive oil, lime juice sea salt and Tabasco. The chicken is what I call idiot chicken, coated with herbes Provencal with left over wine poured over. You can't go wrong with that herb mixture. It always tastes complex and satisfying. Salad is all greens, baby field greens, water cress and baby arugula.

And a bonus this week. A Challa braiding tutorial.

Challa looks better when braided into a four stranded braid. Trust me...it just does. Three braid challot tend to look a little undernourished in my opinion. As you can see, the four strands can look lumpy and ugly when you begin. They will look lovely once they are braided.

Starting from about 1/2 way down, bring the left most strand over and under the other strands until you get all the way to the right.

Then, pick up what is now the left most strand and repeat weaving over and under, go back again to that left most strand...until you get to the bottom of the loaf.

Then turn your loaf around so the unbraided side is facing you, and begin braiding from the middle down to the bottom of the loaf .

Here is the challa waiting for the second half of the braiding to begin.

Once you are done braiding, tuck the ends underneath the loaf. They just look cuter that way.

And finally, the challa ,braided ,and ready to do it's second rising.

מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים

וְנֶאֱמָן אַתָּה לְהַחֲיוֹת מֵתִים: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים You are faithful to restore the dead to life. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Resurrector of the dead. That particular line is recited at every single prayer service every day three times a day, unless you use a Reform or Reconstructionist prayer book . In those liturgies instead of praising God for resurrecting the dead God is praised for giving life to all. I am enough of a modern woman, a modern thinker, to not actually believe in the actual resurrection of the dead. I don't actually expect all of the residents of the Workmen's Circle section of Mount Hebron cemetery in Queens to get up and get back to work at their sewing machines. I don't expect the young children buried here or the babies buried here to one day get up and frolic. Yet, every single time I get up to lead services I say those words about the reanimating of the dead with every fiber of my being. Yesterday, I e...

Connecting with the past

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Food friday - your grandmother's food processor

My grandmother bought my mother this wooden bowl and a chopping knife, known in Yiddish as a hock-messer, soon after my parents got married. Yes, she also got them a dairy set as well. these wooden bowls and chopping knives were a big part of food prep when I was growing up. meatloaf and meat balls were mixed in this bowl. Chopped liver was made in this bowl as well. Sundays we often made chicken salad for lunch made out of chicken left over from Shabbat chopped with vegetables and mayo. That too, was made in this bowl. When I was in college my parents got their first food processor and the chopping bowls were not used as much. Several years ago, my father asked if i would like the bowls and the hock-messers. I was happy to have them. I like the sheer physicality of chopping up a big bowl of stuff into teeny pieces. While the wooden bowls have stood up well to the years of use, the hock-messers had not. The bladed which were bolted into their handles, wobbled. The blades wouldn't ...

sarah in nyc

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