Pam R

I was thinking Masada too... is it food related? that's not a mikvah back there is it?

Chag Sameach! I'm so excited that you're blogging. I've been dreaming of taking another trip to Israel - and for now your blog will have to satisfy my desires! B'hatzlacha! (are you asking what the pole thingy is or .... where it might be?)

I fry in about 1/2" oil over medium heat. In the electric frying pan i've been doing them at 325-350. It takes longer to cook, but it ensures that the insides get cooked and you get that wonderful golden brown, crispy exterior.

I have a store on Corydon... Maybe next year I'll have the Saskatoon Perogies too.

Agreed... thematic is a must. Flavour shmavour.

Bah Humbug! What about tradition?! Sure the Elite are somewhat sweet ... but after 30 years or so, you get used to them! (I do agree though, skip the parve ones) Excuse me, but Baba and Zaida never bought me Godiva gelt. I'm just fine with the Elite. I love the fact that they actually did a comparison. It's hilarious.

Would ordering in dinner tonight and going for Dim Sum tomorrow be overkill?

This is so thoroughly Canadian. I almost always have CBC on in the kitchen at work. Speaking of perogies, and speaking of saskatoon berries - do you ever make Saskatoon perogies? I haven't had any in years.. I need to find some saskatoon bushes next year and make some up. Your family is lovely - the food is looking great - I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner.

Thanks for the advice - but this isn't my first time doing tv. It's just my first time doing sufganiot on tv . I'll take forms of the doughnuts at each step to the studio so that when the host needs to hurry me along, I can jump to the next form. And they're giving me 5 minutes! I'm doing it on Wednesday. I'll report back. Thanks for the link Molly - who knew that the world could thank the Jews for fried food?!

In case you were wondering... 50 lbs of potatoes + 40 small onions + 35 large eggs will produce approx. 244 good-size potato pancakes.

I'd hire you . Always looking for good perogy help.

You're right - but I think I can just make up a big batch of dough and freeze some, refrigerate some. And of course, I'll take some that are ready to eat - just in case! Thanks for the luck! I need it!

You can say that again. oddly enough.. since we're in a kosher/jewish food business, we're catering several christmas dinners (turkey, not ham ). So getting away isn't an option. But you're right... I think the tradition comes from the fact that Chinese restaurants are the ones that are open. Jason: I'd love to go for Sushi... but I don't think any restaurants are open around here.

I don't have time to put together baskets, but you want me to make somebody soup every week??? I do though, have a HUGE stack of my cookbook in several locations throughout the store - and soups are available all the time. I think though, that she was looking for more of a .... umm.. 'gourmet'? type of thing?

So Saturday night, I'm watching SNL for a few minutes. The cartoon featured a Jewish Christmas: AKA - what do Jews do on Christmas? Sunday morning, on my way to work, CBC radio had a piece on the Jewish people and their love of Chinese food. Especially at Christmas time. Last night, a friend phoned me to see if we should get together a group of people to go out for Chinese food on Christmas Eve (or day). It's SUCH a stereotype. But it's based on such fact. Are you a Chinese food on Christmas sort of person? I'm wondering just how many of us out there, who don't celebrate Christmas, really do partake in a Chinese meal... Any other traditions?

Ba-da-bump. Somebody just walked into my store and asked me if I had any gift-baskets. "Of course not" I said! I haven't had a chance to get anything like that done yet - but I will in the future! I just thought that since there are only a few days before Christmas and Chanukkah, some people may have missed this thread and could use some ideas. Mind you, some of them may take longer to make than you have time for - but there are lots of other ones that won't! Happy holidays!

Thanks Michelle. I will leave the mixed dough (ready to be rolled) in the fridge overnight - but I figured the rolled and cut dough would be too thin not to freeze. I want to know about the designer fillings now! I'm doing the typical jam. Then I have some lemon curd that I made a while back in the freezer - I thought that might be nice. I don't know if I need anything else. Though ideas are always welcome

A few days ago I posted a topic over in the Special Occasions forum. Next week I need to make Jelly doughnuts / jam-busters on TV. Now - it's been a few years since I've made them - but after tested a couple of recipes, then tweaking, I've come up with my own recipe that I like very much. My question involves the logistics of it all. I need to be at the TV studio at 6:45 in the morning. I figure I'll have a dough ready to go so that we can roll and cut them - but I think I should take some rounds ready to go (proofed again). Does anybody have any suggestions on how to best do this whole thing? I just put a few rounds in the freezer - can I do that the day before and just pull them out in the morning when I leave? Will they rise and fry well? Any thoughts? For filling them, I've tried a couple of things - the best thing that's worked for me is to cut a little x at one end with a pointed knife, then use a pastry bag with a small, plain circle tip to insert the filling. If anybody has any suggestions to make this work smoothly I'd appreciate it. Tip and ideas welcome.

I don't know the story... or recognize her specifically, but I've certainly seen her sisters and cousins over the years. Lovely lovely poem. it's not just Alberta... we have those huge statues all over the country... I wonder why. I hope we get pictures of the perogy making - and who is this diva?

I'm a squeezer. The final latke is crisper. I think I'm giving myself arthritis though... It does depend on the potato though. As I said in an earlier post - we had a lot of rain this year, and the potatoes are wetter than last year. When I was making a small batch the other day, I got more than 1 cup of water from 2 lbs. of potatoes and 1 large onion.

I sent an email to : Solomon Kosher Butcher - Elsternwick Ph 613 9532 8855 They assure me that they do sell kosher salt... at .50/kg

We just had grilled rib-eye a few nights ago. I don't know how cold it was that night, but it's hovering at -17 to -25 C these days. It used to be that we would keep the grill in the garage, open up the door and grill in the garage. The gas bbq has now been moved to the deck off the kitchen - a little less protection from the elements, but still in use.

Stories like this are so Canadian. I love it. Where is St. Joseph's Colony? My grandmother went through much the same thing. My family (father age 3) came over from Poland/Germany in 1939 - the government shipped them off to Saskatchewan. It was a great shock to go from being business people to having a homestead in rural Sask. But my father still talks about things on the farm - milking the cows and making their own cottage cheese to stuff the perogies with, etc.

Hello from one Prairie Gal to another! I love your writing and look forward to your week. Something tells me your holiday celebrations will be quite different from mine - can't wait to share it with you.

I've had to train myself to take notes as I try recipes. Like you, I'm one of those throw this and that into the pot and see what I come up with. That didn't really work when I started working on my book. I keep a notebook in my kitchen at home and one at work. I gather my ingredients and write them all down before I start cooking. I fill in the quantities as I go. Then I try my best to make notes of techniques, cooking temps and times as I go. While working on my book, more than one recipe had to be tested several times - not because I wasn't happy with the flavour, but because I couldn't read my quick notes or I completely forgot to write some things down. I'm much better at it now, but it took a quite a while to get here.