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Happy New Year???

I put that greeting in the form of a question because these days you need to keep your expectations low if you expect to have the energy to get out of bed in the mornings.

I spent last night at three different Zoom celebrations. It was both lovely and exhausting to be on Zoom from 5:30 until after 11. 


Today though is still Friday and Shabbat dinner needed to get made.


I made chicken using the same method as last week, spatchcocked chicken, coated with spices, and baked over a bed of vegetables. Last week, the flavors were French. This week the flavors are Middle Eastern.


I coated the chicken with (sesame-free) Za'atar and baked the chicken on a bed of zucchini, red pepper and one potato.




I also squeezed the juice of a lemon and one lime over the chicken. If the result is half as good as last week's chicken then we will have a delicious meal.

I experimented with our challah.



I grated pear (and added spices) over the dough before rolling it up. I assume that it will taste good however the pear was much wetter than I had anticipated and rolling up the dough and braiding it was, to be polite, a challenge.

Three of the loaves came out looking Ok and one is ugly.


They will all taste good even though I forgot to add the vanilla this week.



I want to add my newest flavor obsession



This is an Iranian herb mixture that is used usually to make an herb-filled frittata. Usually, the frittata is made with fresh herbs. The flavor combination is amazing. I had cooked last week's vegetables in it. I would have been happy to eat nothing but those vegetables for dinner. 

Today I added the herbs to the omelet I had made for lunch (along with some manchego cheese). The combination was swoon-worthy. If I had been served the combination at a fancy restaurant I would have raved...but it was just a thrown together made in a rush on a Friday afternoon lunch.  Luckily I live up the street from an Iranian owned grocery store and they had bags and bags of  Kookoo Szabi attached to vertical racks. 

Hoping that this next year is better than last year.

Shabbat Shalom!





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