Comfort Me

My grandmother used to make chocolate ice cream in 7-up, which I love to this day! I had a roommate who swore by Neopolitan in Green River, but the sight of it always made me want to hurl!

I am totally in awe of you. It reminds me of my days as president of our Jewish singles group -- every year we baked about 1000 hamentashen to deliver to the elderly, infirm, homebound, etc. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. I don't see any of those people any more -- like most of them I moved on and moved away. But I really enjoyed them and I really enjoyed the communal baking. I made 6 dozen last night -- even numbers of Apricot, Almond, Raspberry, and Mohn. Tonight I'll do six more, same flavors, then tomorrow I'll do six -- three each of caramel pecan -- your recipe sounds delicious -- and pear. One question on the caramel -- does the sugar color before or after you add the pecans, butter, milk, etc.? I still haven't figured out how to do peanut butter -- I'm thinking mixing a little peanut butter, corn syrup, flour. Egg yolk maybe? What do you guys think. Aidan

Yes but please be patient. It may take a few days. I'll post my yeast recipe as well. While always better fresh, the do keep for a few days . . . not that they ever last that long. Just a reminder to JFLinLA! My mouth is watering for caramel pecan hamentaschen!

I avoid confrontation, so I avoid these debates. They don't want people like me, anyway. I like BOTH! I think a perfect meal is latkes with hamentaschen for dessert! Plus, I'm just not odd enough to fit in! As for my favorites -- I love Mohn, I love apricot, I love raspberry, and I love almond. I was thinking that I would like to try peanut butter! Or pear! I wants me some hamentashen NOW! But I'm gonna have to wait until tomorrow!

Heh. Would love to but there's a slight hitch. I currently don't want anyone else, or even a fling. Ummmm... You don't need anyone else to have an orgasm! To paraphrase Glynda, the Good Witch, "He never gave you anything you couldn't have given yourself!" Good job on the eating. Now do it again! And know that all across the globe there are people thinking of you and rooting for you and wishing you well. Namaste!

Why is the the asswipes always have to come back and stir the turd? Ondine, honey, I think you deserve more than cookies. You need to go out and get the biggest bacon cheeseburger you can find, wash it down with a milkshake, then eat an entire Sara Lee cheesecake (still partially frozen due to impatience) with a can of cherry pie filling. (To someone who keeps kosker, the above prescription is about as sinful as you can get!) When you come out of that sugar coma, it'll be a brand new week. It ain't gourmet --it's medicinal. Then you need to start doing exercizes. Take out a piece of paper and write down the 20 nastiest things you could say about your ex. Leave a message with the receptionist at his work that he left his viagra at your place and if he doesn't pick it up, you're throwing it out. Start rumors about how boring he is -- in bed and out. Remember -- living well is the best revenge. Maybe you should take a much younger lover. (It worked for Demi!) The last time I had an ugly breakup -- way back before Mrs. Me -- I vowed that I could be as miserable as I wanted at home alone, but if I was around people, I had to be up and positive or else I was going to be the big loser. We are all pulling for you, kid!

Did anybody look at the popup that comes on when you click the link? It's for a Wham-O Marshmallow Maker. I'd never buy it, but it gave me wicked ideas for using those pornographic ice cube trays and lollipop molds I got for my 40th birthday! The guy that gave them to me turns 40 in May! A side note: I was approached last week about making a cake that was, um, cumpletely pornographic. Really. Oh -- and racist, too. I said no, but the $400.00 would have been nice. Still, I can't see myself making a cake I'd be embarassed for my son to see me frosting!

I think using orange extract alone will miss the mark. It is, indeed, a distinctive, perfume sort of flavor. If it were me, I'd use 1/2 teaspoon orange extract and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Can you share your recipe for the pecan caramel filling? Caramel is my favorite vegetable!

Steve sait tout au sujet du traitement au four, pas il ? Non, je n'habite pas en France. Ni je parle francais. Je me suis enseigne a lire des Francais de sorte que j'aie pu apprendre plus au sujet de la cuisine. J'essaye de garder mes qualifications vers le haut par l'inscription des amis qui sont à l'aise. Mais ma grammaire est terrible -- au moins selon un ami qui est un professeur francais. Elle dit que mon vocabulaire est bon, mais cela j'ont la grammaire d'un Americain. Ce n'est pas un compliment!!! C'a ete tellement amusement ! J'espere que mon patron ne realise pas combien d'heure je perds aujourdhui! Je devrais cacher probablement mon dictionnaire maintenant!

So I'm not the only one who thinks Jewish holidays come in fairly inhumane bunches! And I thought I was the only one! Every year at the end of Passover and the when Simchat Torah is (finally) past I feel like I've survived the Bhutan Death March. I'm going to come out of the closet here. I HATE Pesach. I hate it more than you can imagine. It's a shitload of work, all of it thankless, and I end up putting my nicest stuff away for two weeks. I hate covering things in foil. I hate cleaning -- and since my cleaning lady is Polish, doesn't speak English, and doesn't understand chametz, she gets three weeks off so that I can do all of the cleaning myself. There is no joy in it for me. The only things I can say good about Pesach is that it only lasts 8 days and I don't have to cook for the seders because we go to Toledo, OH every year.

Vlad: Merci tellement! Pour la recette ET la lecon de vocabulaire! Moule! C'etait le mot que je recherchais! SVP, clarifier ce que signifie le "de d'une de consistance de pommade"! Le repos je suis confortable avec. Merci.

I always make a mess of pickled salmon for pesach. It's great to pack in lunches, it's MUCH easier than making homemade gefilte fish, and a lot less mess, too! It is good as part of a salad, too. I've eaten it with horseradish, and I've eaten it with chutney. I also like it plain. The spices are flexible, but we like it spicy. Decrease the red pepper to one teaspoon if you don't like spice. We like the departure from the traditional Ashkenazic sweet fish balls. When it isn't Pesach, these are a wonderful, cold first course for Shabbat. 3 pounds salmon filet 2 teaspoons salt, divided 2 cups plus 1 tablespoon kosher for Passover white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar 2 bay leaves 1½ teaspoons crushed red pepper ¼ teaspoon fennel seed 10 peppercorns 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 small cinnamon stick 1. Fill a fish poacher half way with water, add 1 teaspoon salt, cover and bring to the boil. Add the salmon, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and additional water if the fish is not covered. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow to sit undisturbed for 20 minutes. Remove from the poaching liquid, taking care to keep the filets whole. 2. While the salmon is poaching, combine the remaining vinegar, sugar, and remaining teaspoon salt in a non-reactive pan. Tie the remaining ingredients in a muslin bag or a piece of cheesecloth and add to the vinegar mixture. Bring to the boil over low heat. 3. When the salmon is finished poaching, place in a glass, plastic, or crockery bowl large enough to hold the salmon and the vinegar mixture. Pour the boiling vinegar, including the spice packet, over the salmon, and allow to cool slightly. Cut a piece of waxed paper or parchment to fit over the surface of the fish, then weigh the paper down with a small plate to make sure the fish stays submerged in the pickling liquid. Refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.

Chametz-gorging season? Is that Jewish version of lent? Blovi: I almost started to reply with a dissertation on chametz and preparing for Pesach. Then I saw it was you, and laughed! So what flavors are you making this year? I'm doing apricot, mohn, lekvar, and almond. Oh -- and I'm trying some coconut this year using Joan Nathan's coconut jam from Foods of Israel Today. I have to admit, this isn't my favorite baking job. And this year I'm doing the food for our shul's Purim Feast -- Hummos, Pita, Moroccan Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Olives & Preserved Lemon, Couscous with Sultanas and Pine Nuts, Harrisa, and a marinated carrot salad for 200 people. I wanted to make Matbucha, but I don't think I'll have the energy. (The drug regime I'm on -- think chemo but without the hair loss -- is working on the root medical problem I've had, but it has left me nauseous and pretty freaking exhausted! Only three more weeks, Baruch HaShem!) So this year, instead of the fancy, individually wrapped boxes of Shalach manot containing homemade truffles, caramels, hamentaschen, and splits of Champaign, I am packaging hamentaschen in Chinese food containers and adding a bit of curling ribbon. That's as good as I can get. 'Cuz the minute the Megillah is put away it's time to start searching out chametz! And that topic probably deserves a thread of its own -- as well as a thread for pesadich recipes.

Je suis si desole. Vous etes correct. C'est "de". Donnez une fessee a mon ane et appelez-moi Charlie! (Il retentit tellement plus dignigied en francais, pas il?) Avez-vous une idee ou je peux obtenir la casserole? Sincerement,

Am I the only person making yeasted hamentaschen anymore? (I always think of Purim as the beginning of the chametz-gorging season!)

Cat's tongues. A long, thin French sandwhich cookie, which resembles, they say, a cat's tongue. Delicate. Most yummy. Great with coffee or tea. Or even, I've been told, a little spirits.

Mes chers amis : Veuillez pardonner mon francais terrible. C'est amusement bien que essayant de se rappeler mon vocabulaire. Est-ce que n'importe qui sait d'une source d'Internet pour les casseroles (feuille de biscuit?) utilisées pour faire les Langues du Chat? Je veux beaucoup faire langues d'un certain les Langues du Chat remplies de conserves de puree de noisette ou d'orange amere. Rappel des festins I de ma jeunesse. En outre, j'aimerais une recette authentique pour ces biscuits delicieux! Merci tellement de votre aide.

One thing that was STILL taking place was the Louisiana Bar Exam -- one of my wife's former co-workers moved to NOLA and took the bar exam yesterday -- which meant she completely missed out on her entire first carnival season, 'cuz Louisiana's exam is one of the toughest. (Y'all still recognize the Napoleanic code down there!) Sorry for all the rain. My 7 year old wants to go back to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and I've been telling him we can -- when he's 15. I'm not a prude -- I think everyone should get a flash of tittie or dick now and then. They are both, as Martha would say, good things. My fear isn't perverting his mind, it's misplacing him! At 15 I think I could trust him to find his way back to a hotel if we got separated. At 8 I think I'd need sedation just THINKING about what could happen! What am I talking about -- I need sedation NOW just thinking about it! (Plus, at 15 he'd enjoy the flashes of genetalia a lot more!) Laissez le bon temps arrêt! Let the good times stop!

LEftover red beans, rice, chicken and sausage jambo, greens, and maybe some cornbread, if I have time to bake. (We had a mardi gras party Saturday night, so I've got a lot of food to eat up!)

Julia Child, Diana, Princess of Wales, Golde Meir, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. And if I got to have a second seating, it would be Alice Paul, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Oscar Wilde, and Katherine Graham.

I'm a fan of The Parthanon, about 2 blocks south of Greek Islands. The quail are always perfect, and I love those peas more than I should! That said, Greek Islands is very enjoyable -- especially the lima beans. Don't laugh. They are sublime. My son, now 7, has been a big fan of the taramaslada (dried cod roe dip) since he was 2.

I guess I am confused at all the dietary restrictions? Stupid question maybe...but... Why must he adhere to dietary rules in the facility when he is not Jewish? It seems that his health is being compromised and now with the holidays coming...it's being further stressed? Just want to point out that it is not the dietary laws which are the problem. Kashrut can be just as healthy as any diet. But, as with any dietary regime, it can be poorly planned, also. I would seriously consult another physician and nutritionist. Most nursing homes have a nutritionist -- if not, they should still be able to accomodate a special diet. They are a nursing home, nu? Are stool softeners contraindicated in patients with CHF? I'm a dried fruit guy -- I love it. My problem is I've never been constipated a day in my life. So I have to limit my apricots and prunes (which I can eat like popcorn) or I can be assured of a nasty reaction. And the reason Mudpuppie's dad is required to abide by kashrut inside the building, even though he is not Jewish, is because it is probably a requirement for residence. It is a kosher establishment, and anyone living in must follow kashrut inside the building. Non-Jewish children in the Jewish Day School nursery school my son attended had to bring kosher dairy lunches.

I make sticky rice often. I like lots of coconut milk, a bit of sugar, and the only other thing I add -- besides the fruit, of course -- is toasted sesame. I also find it really tastes better if you add just a pinch of kosher salt with the coconut milk. Just a pinch makes a world of difference -- at least to me. It just occurred to me, what you may think of as an additional sauce may be palm sugar sprinkled over the taop -- it becomes an amber liquid when moistened.

I had a roommate who, during a breakup, spent two days laying underneath the piano listening over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again to Barbra Streisand's "Memories" and eating Nacho Cheese Doritos. By the end of the weekend, I sincerely wanted to inflict serious bodily harm on Babs. But my roommate was fine. Can it be that it was all so simple then? Or has time rewritten every line?