Pam R

If I recall correctly, the food was great but the leg room sucked. Am I the only one who hasn't actually been fed on an Air Canada flight in years?

It's been snowing all day - the last two nights have been holiday feast nights. So tonight it was soup made with stuff I found in the house. Diced tomatoes, onions, celery, carrots, mushrooms, orange pepper, zucchini, black beans, garlic, basil, oregano and some egg noodles and parmesan. It was the perfect dinner for tonight. Too tired to take a picture though.

I agree. Work on it

Be thankful you're not a little further north... it's been snowing all morning and is supposed to continue until tomorrow! I'm really enjoying this blog! These tagteam blogs were a great idea - I can't wait to see more.

My local paper/container store carries a whole line of them... you could check with a similar local company. Here's a couple sites to try though: Qualita Paper Sur La Table World Cuisine (search for "Paper Baking Molds")

it's tradtional in my book... though I prefer almonds or pecans. it sounds to me like they need to bake longer as well... are you making them the size that the recipe calls for? a site like this one has dozens of rugelach recipes - and the baking times vary - as low as 15 minutes. depends on recipe and size...

I agree with all the ziplock/plastic bag ideas. I freeze up to 2 L in plastic blags, on baking sheets and then into boxes in the freezer. To thaw, you want to place the bags in pot/bowl because they can leak on thawing - but not in the freezer. If you have a restaurant wholesale / cash and carry in your area, you can pick up the 1/2 lb. or 1 lb. clear plastic containers that they use in restaurants for soup - inexpensive and stackable.

everyody's food looks amazing. I may need to add a potato kugel to tomorrows meal.

It's a little late to be deciding what to serve 20 people on Tuesday night... but that's what's going on today. So far: 1/2 Cornish Hens - not sure how .. probably the old standby - apricot/honey/garlic glaze I was going to do a slow-cooked lamb dish - but it's rather rich and somewhat sweet so instead it looks like I'm doing kebabs. Chunks of ribeye with peppers, mushrooms, zucchini and red onion - marinated in (most likely) a honey/soy etc. mix. A rice dish - some sort of pilaf Maybe a potato dish - or I'll see if we have any leftover knishes or kasha tomorrow afternoon before final decision making. Veggies - I have no idea! There will be some on the kebabs, but I'll probably do a salad of some sort... maybe roast some squash/pumpkin Dessert: I had a strudel marathon today - I (hopefully) made an extra one that I'll take home. I also did some extra komish and nothings (kichel) and my aunt is bringing a birthday cake (cousin's birthday on Tuesday). If I can get to a store between work and going to my Aunt's for dinner I want to put together a nice fruit platter - so we can all participate in the 'new fruit in the new year' tradition that I enjoy so much. I hope you all, along with your families, have a healthy and happy New Year. Shana Tova U'Metukah!

Since Thanksgiving falls right after Rosh Hashana and just before Yom Kippur I think my family will probably go out for Chinese food. Isn't that a Western Canadian Thanksgiving tradition?

The picture I posted a few days ago is something we call Pirshki in our family. Slightly sweet yeast dough filled with blueberries or saskatoon berries - always used to break the fast around here. I was wondering if it was similar to the kolaches... and it seems that for some folks it may be, for others not so much.

My gut reaction says it's ok to freeze the batter (in most cases). I freeze muffin batter all the time... though I agree with chefpeon... if you have the room in the freezer, bake it off and then freeze.

I've tried Marcy Goldman's recipe and it's very good. I just made 6 honey cakes - and will bake another batch tomorrow. I can't remember what exactly is in her recipe calls for, but (to 3 cups flour) I prefer to use 1/2 cup oj, 1/2 cup whiskey (or rye here in Canada) and a 1/2 cup of strong tea. And use 1 cup buckwheat honey!!! That's very important Some cinnamon, ginger, allspice, salt, baking powder (2 tsp) , baking soda (1 tsp) and 3 eggs and you have a cake.

Your menu sounds fantastic - I wish somebody would invite me over for such a meal! edited because I missed out a word or two of your posting

I have never heard this term... kolaches before. I am wondering though if they are similar to this? blueberry filled buns... yes? no?

My father ordered a lamb roast for a customer - so I said "Hey dad, order one for me too". He did. He then sold it to another customer before it even arrived in town. He always does this to me For holidays I usually go with lamb shanks - less expensive. Though those I think of more for Passover. Yesterday I made a lamb stew with butternut squash and sweet potatoes (I thought it turned out like a lamb tzimmes) in the slow cooker that my mother has asked me to make for the second night - along with 1/2 cornish hens. That's as far as the planning has gotten yet.

I want to live on Matzah Rising Farm. Some of my favorite kugels this year have included a pesto/roasted vegetable kugle; mushroom, cheddar & sour cream kugel and I made my first apple kugel with an oats topping. I'm assuming others have experimented, n'est pas? BTW- I think some of these interesting dairy kugels are great for break-the-fast.

Ron - they look fantastic. Y'all have my mouth watering - but I have no time to make these now! Either we have to stop posting pictures or somebody needs to send me some

I disagree - I think cutting in circles is the way to go - it gives you even pieces. I disagree with this though.... two flavours means guests get a choice of one flavour or the other, not both. ) I don't know if they will all expect two pieces, but I think that many will request two pieces if there are 2 different types of cake. It would be one thing if there were other desserts, but if this is it you shouldn't be suprised if they want both.

I use the Wilton cutting guide (though I didn't realize it) to cut wedding cakes.. and any other cake on a pastry table. I've never sliced and plated a cake, setting the plates on a table for people to help themselves. I've always cut the cake as people come up and request a piece - but I would say at 99% of the weddings I bake for, they have a whole table of cakes/tortes - so not everybody wants the wedding cake. I always have hot water at the table. Depending on the venue, I try to find a good container - a silver jug, something that you can't really see into. If possible I like a serated knife - though I've had to cut some cakes with a butter knife (NOT a good choice). A couple of weeks ago my mother and I baked a pastry table for my cousins wedding. Cutting nstructions were given to the hotel staff. After about 1/4 of the guests swooped through the line I saw the huge chunks that they were being served and had to instruct the servers to cut smaller pieces - I was afraid they'd run out.

what's wrong with purple? It's a lovely shade. I feel a certain loyalty to CR ... it's made up the road from me and all. And of course, I grew up with the bags. You're free to start up a Blanton's bag appreciation thread of course

My editor sent me a copy of the style sheet she made for my book - that way I could understand all the little red marks throughout the manuscript . I think it's a common (and smart) practice.

I have never bought anything from amazon.com (I use .ca) but my book's listing allows you to search for any word - then you can select the page that the word appears on - then I get stopped because I've never purchased anything. Maybe somebody else knows - I think it will show you the page.. any page. Maybe not

See... and the Minnesota State Fair makes me think of an Oofda Taco... where else can you get one of those? ← I just realized they are not all tht different from a beavertail - and that probably many other places have a method of fry bread...

See... and the Minnesota State Fair makes me think of an Oofda Taco... where else can you get one of those?