sarah in nyc

 It has been a busy week. Hanoch came up from Philadelphia to tie his titzit. Yes, he was really happy with the tallit. He had purchased really beautiful tzitzit in Jerusalem. He was really happy with the result. I am still working on the atara and will ship the tallit as soon as it is completed and stitched in place and I have trimmed all of the loose threads from the tallit. We celebrated my sister's birthday. And tonight I made Shabbat dinner. I soaked dried limes in boiling water and then broke the hard shells before stuffing them into whole chickens. The dried limes pack a flavor punch. I know this doesn't look terribly pretty but it should taste wonderful. I didn't take a photo of the roasted vegetables or the semolina that I made.  But I did make two pies. I made a blackberry pie that is topped with an almond milk custard that has been flavored with rum. There is a little drizzle of pomegranate molasses to cover the less than beautiful color of the custard. I also ma...

 We had plans, and they got cancelled. That means that I had to bake challah. I was thinking as I began putting together the challah dough how so much of the early stages of baking challah looks less than appealing. It's pretty similar to my sewing while it is in progress. At some stages, it is just an ugly mess. as my British pals would say, "It looks  a dogs dinner". But with enough time and labor, it takes shape and eventually you end up with something beautiful. Our boys are joining us tonight.  We will be eating chicken wings made with Pomegranate molasses, mustard and liquid smoke. It's the perfect mix of tart, sweet acidic and smoky. Yesterday I purchased three bottles of the pomegranate molasses at  Barzini's  a local packed to the gills gourmet grocery store. The store carried food and condiments from all over the world. Of course I loved it. And sadly, unlike the news in the local news blog that I liked to, that said that the store wasn't closing--it...

 Hanoch, the man for whom I am making this tallit, is an army chaplain.  He really wanted the pinot to  echo the Jewish army chaplain stole (pictured below). The stole isn't a tallit, but it is often worn on official chaplain business. The Christian stoles are similar but with Christian iconography. (I am not going to explain how the Christian liturgical stole is actually derived from Jewish religious dress, so the Army stole is a weird back borrowing. But that is a different topic.) I suppose that I could have put in a million hours to replicate the embroidered insignia. I know that what I would have ended up with would have been an artistic take on the military insignia rather than the real thing. For some clients that would have been the perfect approach, but not for Hanoch. So, uncharacteristically for me,  I commissioned   Jan Gorelick   to use her computerized embroidery machine to create the pinot for me.  The machine that Jan owns is the e...

Our table is set for Shabbat. People we love will be joining us. What are we eating?  Chicken stuffed with dried Iranian limes. I softened the dried limes in hot water for a few minutes before stuffing them into the chicken cavities. The dried limes or  limoo  punch above their weight flavor wise. We are also eating, what has become for us, the side dish of the season, It's potatoes and carrot sticks roasted with olive oil, black pepper and lots of lemon juice. There is some sort of an alchemy that makes this simple combination taste much more complex and delicious than it ought to. You can certainly fancy this up with with some fresh herbs but there is no need to. Salad will be made after I am done writing. Below is either a lovely set custard or a wet mess.  I made an almond milk based custard that I had planned to be vanilla flavored but I made some left turns along the way. I steeped cinnamon and mace in the almond milk and then added some bourbon and rose water ...

 OK the following are items that amused me. They sell lots of shot glasses with terrific Russian graphics. I am enough of a grownup to be satisfied with a photo. I find the idea of Uncle Vanya canned foods to be really amusing. We call this brand of chocolate, "ugly baby chocolate".  On further thought the baby isn't that ugly but does look terrified. The chocolate is actually not very good but my kids are always happy to get some because the packaging is so great. Cookies with a different child on the package. Russian sodas with excellent labels. This cow graphic is even better than Elsie the Cow. I purchased none of the above. they just gave me joy and I hope that they give you some joy as well.

The other day my husband and I saw something beautiful.  We were waiting for a bus in Washington Heights near the George Washington Bridge. On the corner of 181st Street and Broadway there was a man who had built a castle for himself out of garbage next to an overflowing garbage can.  Then I noticed two men wearing red George Washington Bridge Business Improvement District (BID) shirts interacting with the man in the garbage encampment.  They spoke to him gently and one of the men shoveled the garbage mountain into a large trash bin on wheels. They bantered with him and checked to see which part of the garbage mountain could be bagged up and taken away. At one point one of the workers handed the man a folded bill. A few minutes later, the man selected two small bags from the mountain of garbage and walked away.  I was struck at how the BID workers exactly struck the balance between respecting the humanity of the garbage-castle-man and the right of the people in the n...