sarah in nyc

 I have a completely irrational belief that if my kids taste the flavors of the holiday foods from my childhood then they will, by eating those foods inherit my memories. Like I said, it is irrational. And yet, I do it every year. My parents made these foods not to evoke their own families but to evoke the people that they loved in Halifax and that particular moment in their lives, the first years of their marriage. That Halifax evocation was so strong that my dear Halifax born friend, Shawna was able to identify whose cabbage and whose Tzimmes I serve.  I didn't grow up with the tradition of serving a plum tart made with Italian prune plums on Rosh Ha Shanah. But my dear German and Austrian born friends who are no longer living did. Herta, and Fanni and Ida are no longer living but I bring them to our Rosh HaShanah table every year. This tart feels like we are inviting those three women to join our table  for the New Year. My daughter has taken up the mantle of making th...

 Jess's tallit   Is heading towards the finish line. The pinot/corner pieces will be made out of woven strips of the ribbon that I embroidered both for Jess's tallit as well as for other recent tallitot. I wove the strips together last night over a bit of fusible interfacing. Eventually, it looked  like this. You are getting some additional photos just because I am feeling really pleased with myself. All of this sewing is being interspersed with holiday cooking. The tzimmes tat was cooked in this graniteware roasting pan is now in the freezer. not visible is the 7.5 lbs. of flanken meat that are under the vegetables. I am feeling especially fond of this pan because it has been working hard all week. Not pictured is the brisket that I cooked in there yesterday. Both the tzimmes and the beef are now frozen. Today I used the same roasting pan to sweat the leaves off of two heads of cabbage. Yes, there is stuffed cabbage making in my future. And of course the cabbage wil...

  For me, the foods for Rosh Hashanah are not about the novel and the creative but about recreating the memories of my childhood.  Despite my being more adventurous with the spicing than my mother ever was, ( High praise from my mother was "Mild and delicious".) both dishes struck exactly the right notes for me. I made chicken in my last minute neurotic worry that there wasn't enough food, (We will be eating tzimmes long past the Tishrei holidays and stuffed cabbage through Sukkot.) The chicken was a surprise hit of the table. It was flavored with fresh lime juice, coffee hawaij, dried lime powder and I stuffed some medjool dates into the chicken cavity. After the chicken was cooked I de-glazed the pan with lemon juice and water and poured the results over the chicken when I served it.  It's a more Middle Eastern take on the deep dark flavors of  Eastern European tzimmes and cabbage. You can buy this brand of coffee hawaij online. You can add the spice mix to coffee...

  This weekend our summer came to an end and we now turn towards the New Year. I have been practicing shofar. You can hear me on the second day of the holiday if you come to my synagogue. (I will be doing the big shofar blowing before Musaph.) Thursday I walked into my local pharmacy to ask if I could get the new COVID vaccine. I didn't need an appointment and the pharmacist suggested that I also take the second half of  the shingles vaccine and my flu shot at the same time.  I think we were both worried about the future availability of vaccines in this country. Three vaccines at one time is a whole lot for one body to absorb. Luckily I didn't have all that much to do, so I could spend my weekend doing very little except feeling crummy. So yesterday, after several days off line, so to speak, I was ready to start the rest of getting ready for the High Holidays. My husband and I did another pre-holiday adventure to Bingo, the kosher version of Costco. As soon as we parked t...