שבת נחמו

Tonight begins Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of comfort after going through the anguish of Tisha B'Av. I made tonight's dinner with that in mind.

I baked chicken on a bed of shredded zucchini and a sad-looking tomato. There were spices involved but even if you held a gun up to my head I am not sure that I could remember exactly which ones were actually used. 

One of my favorite foods on the planet is the grilled corn one can buy at New York City street fairs alongside of the tube socks and the "pashminas" and mozzareppas and funnel cakes. I don't know when the street fairs will begin again. I Macguyvered a grill for my stovetop out of a cookie rack.

The flame on my front burner was too close to the rack and to the corn. My rack will never be the same after turning bright red from the heat. I turned off the front burner and only used the back burner, rolling the ears of corn so they all got a bit of the heat.

I'm feeling very clever.

When my daughter and son-in-law went on their Mexico honeymoon they brought back a bottle of vanilla.

It smelled so incredibly good that when we were presented with the bottle and opened it up to smell it, the vanilla smelled so good we all put it on as if it were perfume.

I have been very careful in how I have been using it not wanting to waste a drop. My regular vanilla is nearly gone. for some reason, the price of vanilla seems to have gone through the roof. On a whim, I searched Google for Mexican vanilla and was able to buy a huge bottle for a reasonable price. 

My youngest had mentioned that he would like vanilla ice cream.

I made a non dairy version

 1/2 c coconut oil

1/2c  flour

3/4c  sugar

pinch of salt

2 c water 

cardamon

coriander

 heated until just boiling

remove from heat  add two tsp vanilla

add to ice cream machine

This is really delicious. 

We will also be eating a simple salad.

This was a challah baking week. The challot are a bit over risen despite being set to rise in front of the dining room air conditioner. I don't think anyone will complain though. I am mentally comparing notes with Alan, my challah baking buddy, who worries over each batch and sees only the imperfections in each batch of his stupendous challot.

May we all find comfort this Shabbat.