cakewalk

The latter. Not that people actually use it very much. Centuries ago, when I was a young man, I worked in London’s Leicester Square. My office backed onto Chinatown and, every day, by 10 am I would be dribbling and frothing and salivating at the smells emanating from the back windows of the restaurants. Now, I’m not saying that the restaurants in London’s Chinatown are good. A few are. Most are execrable. But they sure know how to lay on a smell. So, when I first came to China, I expected to find the same smell. No! Zilch! China smells nothing like Chinatown. Then I went to Hong Kong for the first time. Before we pretended to hand it back! That smells like Chinatown. So, then I started to think about the source of the smell. What is it? After many sniffings, I decided it’s Five Spice Powder. It seems to be more popular there than anywhere else. Of course, it originates in Sichuan, but even there isn’t used that much. The individual ingredients, Sichuan Peppercorns, Cassia bark, Fennel, Star Anise, Cloves etc are used much more often on their own – particularly to flavour hot pots in winter. I just did a quick and highly unscientific poll of all my Chinese friends who happen to be online. 13 of them. Only one could find Five Spice Powder in her kitchen. And she is from Hong Kong! Said it has been there for years. My local convenience store doesn’t carry it, but it is sometimes available in the larger supermarkets. I’m told that it occasionally bought for certain festivals, but not for every day use. I can’t find anyone who makes it themselves. ← So this is a pretty amazing post. Where did Five Spice Powder originate? Is it a western "invention"?

When did the enjoyment of eating food and the photographing of food become mutually exclusive? If I do one, it means I can't do the other? I think there's something wrong with the logic here.

The kosher bakery we shopped at when I was growing up (granted, it was in the Bronx, not Brooklyn, but still) used butter in some items. It doesn't make the item not kosher, it just makes it dairy instead of pareve. The "bakery lady" would always tell us when an item was dairy rather than pareve. So maybe the buttercream was actually made with butter. Maida Heatter has a recipe for dobos torte which is high up on my list of things I must try to make. [but the weather in NY has not been conducive to baking (or moving, for that matter.)] It might fit the bill for you. I love her recipes and her instructions, she is so thorough yet unintimidating.

It seems to me that Mr. Leite is actually saying that you have invented something new and unique ("a cookie unto itself") and that it calls for a new name. (IOW -- Wow!!!!!) So my suggestion is this: we begin a naming contest. And then you can start to think about marketing ... (Really.)

This is truly magic. And absolutely beautiful. B'hatslacha! (Wishing you much success!)

I'm with you on this one. No air conditioning means I don't go near the place, and yes, the open window stuff has become more prevalent. (Eating outside, even in nice weather, grosses me out. Who needs those exhaust fumes? It's not as if NY sidewalks are so wide that we're nowhere near the traffic. We're right on top of it. Yuk.) And restaurants that have their AC on AND keep their windows open should be shot!

Kremba is not really similar to a mallomar (IMO). The marshmallow in the kremba is really much softer. So is the chocolate, for that matter. It's thinner. Mallomar is a cookie, I don't think I'd ever describe kremba as a cookie. They're sort of "theoretically" similar, but in reality one is nothing like the other. Ilana, those cases for the kremba are a riot. I especially like the "gold plated for the neuvo-riche."

Fig and Cranberry? Hummus? For real? Somehow this makes me think of blueberry bagels. But if you say it's good, I'll give it a go. I have guests coming in tomorrow -- and this is what they're getting!

Goodness, I thought they were mud-covered rocks. I'm still not sure I've matched the caption to the correct photo. Do you by any chance have a picture of these cut open? (This is a great tour, BTW, thanks!) Edit: oh, it's the stuff in back. (I was looking at the stuff in front of him!)

Great interview, Ilana. Mazal tov! (and Hag Sameach!)

Great blog, Rehovot. Prague is high on my list of places to visit, and I do hope to get there soon. Your photos are beautiful. One question, because this made me think of a different eGullet thread: the basket of that absolutely wonderful looking bread -- did you have to pay for it separately, or was it served as part of your meal?

Heh. You want to celebrate Passover, first clean your house from top to bottom, make sure there is no leavening anywhere, blowtorch your oven, go shopping for all the Passover necessities, THEN make matzo ball soup. For 30. (Glad to read yours came out well. I hope you enjoyed making them and eating them.)

I compiled a bunch of haroset recipes a few years ago. Yemenite, Moroccan, Greek, Italian, I think even some plain old Ashkenazi recipes. They're from various websites, I don't remember which. My favorite is one of the Moroccan ones, with raisins, dates, nuts, sweet wine, etc. soaked overnight. I've made it several times, I think any of the Sephardi recipes beats out the Ashkenazi haroset by a long shot. (I can PM you the recipes if you want.) I'm not making any this year, at least not for the seder (I'm going out), but I might make some to have during the week of Passover. It makes matzoh a lot more tolerable.

They look gorgeous. How long did it take you to do all that? That is a ton of work, and goodness knows you've had plenty of interruptions in your neck of the woods. I love it that you used shalav, that is sooo particularly middle-eastern. Mazal tov!

I made the Hamentaschen, but haven't been able to post until now. They were a big success. I especially liked the gingerbread ones. Hope y'all had a happy Purim! Chocolate with chocolate/dried cherry filling, before and after shaping. Gingerbread with date/orange filling. Cream cheese dough with apricot filling. I also used this dough for a cream cheese filling, but there aren't any left for pictures. I took some photos of them after they were baked, but my computer isn't cooperating. I'll get them up here a bit later.

I agree that one of the most important issues is portion control. There's a big difference between eating two cookies and eating the whole darn box, and I certainly know which of those choices I prefer. Mostly I'm successful, but certainly not always, and I could stand to lose a good amount of weight. But the genetic factor cannot be ignored, it is such a major part of everything. This is not to say that watching what we eat and getting exercise is "useless" in the face of genetics. I really don't agree with that take. But I do often wonder how much control it gives us over such a situation as obesity and the illnesses that result from it. I think of it constantly, in fact: my mother died of colon cancer when she was 54. I am now 53. I am exactly, and I mean exactly, like her. I look like her, walk like her, talk like her, etc., etc. If my doctor would agree to give me a colonoscopy once a month, I'd jump at the chance. (But he won't, damn him.) I am careful, but trust me, this whole picture makes me pretty damn nervous. And most people can think of genetics that defy environmental concerns. For example: my father was a butcher. We ate red meat almost every single day, and I mean that literally. Yet I've been borderline anemic since I was a kid. And no one in my family has high blood pressure. I just took a stress test and my doctor was thrilled with the results. So there's no ignoring the genetics factor, it is a major, major player in this debate. Sometimes I wish it were otherwise. It's sort of a two-edged sword. The genetics factor does not absolve us of taking responsibility for how we treat our bodies. What we do definitely does make a difference. On the other side, as much as we try to control our eating/exercise environment, the genetics factor is always there, sort of sticking its tongue out at our attempts. It's like a contstant war, and I guess we have to be aware of all sides.

I love cherry and chocolate together, I might try that for the chocolate dough, maybe with some mini chocolate chips mixed into the dried cherries. I was also thinking of filling some of them with Nutella. (IOW -- taking the easy way out.) Halvah filling would never last with me, I'd finish it long before it ever made its way to the hamentaschen! But I think halvah (any flavor) would blend well with a chocolate dough. I also want to try those gingerbread hamentaschen you did last year, I think they sound great. I offered to bring hamentaschen to my synagogue this year, so I have to get cracking. I want to make and freeze all the elments so all I have to do is assemble and bake when Purim comes around. Last time I did this was three years ago, I remember they came out great but I don't remember which recipe I used.

Bump. It's getting near that time again. I just made some dough for Hamentaschen and stuck it in the freezer. I used the Richard Sax recipe from his "Classic Home Desserts." (I never used this one before, but his recipes never fail.) And I made a chocolate dough from a recipe I found on the web, which is a gamble but we'll see how it comes out. I'm not sure yet what I'll use for the fillings, but I have some time yet to think about that. Anyone else even close to thinking about it?

I recently bought a Capresso burr grinder, and it makes a huge difference in the amount of sludge, there's much much less -- and quite often there's none. The coffee tastes much better, too. (I'm not sure why, but no complaints.) With the blade grinder there was always quite a bit of sludge, which I just dumped. I sometimes drink Turkish coffee, where sludge is the name of the game, so it didn't bother me. But the burr grinder really makes a difference in the taste, it's stronger and "cleaner," I don't know how else to describe it. A side note: when I lived in Israel I knew quite a few people who would always leave about an inch or so of coffee in their cups, no matter what type of coffee it was. They were used to drinking Turkish coffee, which always has sludge in the bottom, and so even if they were drinking instant they still left that inch of coffee at the bottom. Habit, I guess. I always found it amusing.

I think they look great! Did you fill them with anything? They look like they're begging for some mousse! I made the maple tuilles from Dorrie Greenspan's book. It was my first time making tuilles as well, so I had no comparisons to make. They looked okay, spread out and honeycombed just like they were supposed to be. But they were soft, even after cooling down. They were completely pliable, had absolutely no crispness to them at all. (Which actually made them very unpleasant texturally, IMO.) I don't know what I did wrong, but a friend of mine suggested it was because of the maple syrup, that sugar would have crisped, but maple syrup doesn't. I dunno, I think maybe I didn't bake them long enough. I'm going to try a different recipe this weekend and see how they turn out.

Bloody marvelous!

Mmmmm. Kubeh.

Just FYI -- tehina will seize up when you first add water. You then have to add more water, just a little bit at a time, keep stirring, and it will start to smooth out. Then add water until you reach whatever consistency you like best. Many people think it is ruined when it seizes up in the beginning. It will also thicken as it rests, so if you have left over and refrigerate it, you might need to add water (or lemon juice) when you take it out of the fridge to use with your next meal. (Tehina is my favorite food. ) Lior -- what kind of tehina paste was that? I've never seen it with herbs already added, it looks good.

Oh, those beautiful bunches of na-na! (mint) I swear the smell was exuding from the computer. Lovely, thanks!