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Rebecca263

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Everything posted by Rebecca263

  1. I'm actually surprised that so many people don't care for whole wheat pasta here- I really LIKE the Bionatura pastas. I especially adore the ones that are shaped like weird shells, almost a tube that wanted to become a shell. I also like Luigi Vitelli organic whole wheat Linguini, and Mishpacha is my last and least choice, but I do buy a LOT of their macaroni. I actually LIKE the hearty bite and wheaty flavor of these pastas! I prefer whole wheat pasta in a thicker linguine rather than a delicate angel hair or spaghetti, as well. Go figure! I make a lot of chunky sauces, fresh tomatoes or other vegetables, lots of herbs, or olive oil and fish- and don't cook many meat or cream sauces, as a rule, so maybe my stronger flavored sauces do better with the whole wheat pastas than a traditional Amer/Italian red sauce or cream based one. I've made sheets in the wind, basically thin sheets torn into pieces, with whole wheat mixed into the semolina. I served it tossed with rabe that had been sauteed in olive oil with garlic, capers and fresh floured and fried anchovies- and lots of Pecorino on the top. It was hard to work with the dough, but it tasted pretty good, earthy!
  2. Et alors! Is Shola returning to the (semi)public arena? I promise to myself a meal at his table before my demise... I must be kept informed!
  3. I honestly don't find other peoples' preferences annoying! Well, there was a man, almost 30 years ago- he put ketchup on EVERY bit of food that he was served. But, I simply kicked him to the curb-et finis! It's our own quirks that we must live with!
  4. Ilana, there is just something very touching and heartfelt about your writing, we feel as though we know you very well from this short weeklong visit to your part of the world! Thank you for sharing with us. All the best to you and yours.
  5. I only eat 'broken' chips, pretzels, animal crackers or any packaged item in that vein. I will also eat curled/folded potoato chips. I adore the texture of curled/folded potato chips. As for the 'broken' chips and things, well, I feel sorry for them. Yes, you read that correctly, I.FEEL.SORRY.FOR.THEM. I know, it's crazy, I know! I just can't help it.
  6. Shabbat Shalom! I can not wait to log on tomorrow and see what your Shabbat was like.
  7. You should see the poor selection of kosher cheeses we have in New Jersey, even in the best kosher markets! It was the same story in Miami Beach, Florida, but a bit less expensive, I will admit. The cost of cheese here... it's crazy! The least expensive kosher cheese that you can buy is Muenster, and it's never less than US$9 a pound. THAT price is with a big sale on, too! Well, you can buy processed "American" cheese for US$7 a pound, but I'd rather do without than eat it, as a rule. My Kiddle adores grating cheeses and they usually cost US$24 a pound and UP! I'm Syrian, and there is a Syrian style cheese that is a semisoft round, we just call it cheese- it's a bit salty, but not as a feta, and not crumbly at all, well, it's usually $US15 a pound, and it's just a humble table cheese. Cheese, I love it so, I do admit, if I was in Israel that would be my big food expenditure. So let me ask you now, how are prices in Ashkelon? For instance, lamb? I'm wondering if it is cheaper to get decent kosher meat in a country where many people keep kosher? We just got turkey legs for Shabbat dinner this week, and I paid only US$1.29 a pound for them!
  8. The only imperfections in those chocolates is their lack of proximity to my house! edited to add: Elisheva says that you can expect to hear from her next year, and can she be seated next to "that cute boy"?
  9. When we are too lazy to pan pop corn, Kiddle sprays hers with olive oil to hold the salt. I don't salt my popped corn, I just douse it with hot sauce, so no spray stuff for me. We also have one lone baking sheet saved solely for baking cookies, crackers, rutabegas and potatoes. This sheet is permanently coated with residue from olive oil spray. That stuff is impossible to clean off of baked surfaces.
  10. Well, if my Kiddle sees that photo of your son, I'm sure she will find a way to 'need' a vist to your home! How great it is to read about the foods that you eat. We're so used to only seeing Ashkenazi style cooking from Israel, with little bits of Middle Eastern thrown in, I've never felt very drawn to the food, until now! Will you be showing us your cofee setup? I only add cardamom to my "Turkish"coffee (we just call it coffee), and lots of sugar- I'm really wondering about your version. We also use a lot of fruits in our meat dishes in my family- in fact, I now make a lot of stews with beans and grains, and no meat, but still I add some fruits, for the rich taste and texture-and onions and rice, how universal can a dish be? The funniest thing of all, my Kiddle's lunches look very similar to your Kiddles' lunches-chopped salad, half a sandwich, kiwi, even the same plastic boxes! Tell us, please, do you use a lot of olive oil at home, or something else? I only have olive oils in my kitchen, we're on an incredibly tight budget, and olive oil is the only fat we buy.
  11. What a wonderful place to blog from. Thank you! My Kiddle is going to Israel in the new year, she is taking a 'gap' year between high school and university- to volunteer and live in Israel. She can see better than I'm able to these days, so we'll be following your adventure together. Refrigerator shot coming, please? spelling edit second spelling edit, will I ever get it right?
  12. Rebecca263

    BYO tea

    I feel so lucky now. The local delivery Amer/Asian place serves a decent inexpensive Oolong- even with their Japanese style food- you get Ooolong, not Green tea. They have a sushi kitchen, they even do teriyaki and tempura (I've never eaten either there, so don't know if it's American/Asian style, but I assume it is so). I've been a customer of theirs for almost 4 years now, so we've worked out a little system- they always make whatever vegetable dishes that they feel like for my order, and I always eat what they send. They even know our sashimi preferences, and they accommodate me with genuine cheer, they're wonderful people. These nice folks send me bags of their Formosa Oolong with our sashimi or Chinese style food orders. For going out though, I keep a few bags of different teas in my purse. I'm willing to pay for tea service in order to get some hot water, but don't expect me to use the Red Rose or whatever other 'cheapo black pekoe' you have on offer. And I include the hideous stuff in the red paper packets! I always ask if the tea is Oolong when I'm ordering in a new place. Sometimes this nicely asked question perks up the server and they bring us really good tea! Maybe you could try that tactic too. What I've surmised is that in many Asian restaurants there may be some good tea in the kitchen, but since the clientele probably doesn't care- and to save costs- the "JUN-KY" tea is served at table. I don't find fault with restaurants for serving low quality tea at table, here in the US. Americans tend to sugar EVERY single kind of tea they get. They're just looking for a hot cup of flavored sugar water- not a complex flavor profile in a pot.
  13. Rebecca263

    Percolators

    For me, it's nostalgia. My stepmother STILL percolates coffee in an almost 60 year old stovetop pot. I don't think that her coffee is good, in fact, as coffee, it's awful. Well, it's better than the instant stuff that she makes when I'm not there(Taster's Choice is her favorite). BUT, I sometimes crave it, just because that overbrewed and boiled flavor profile reminds me of the coffees that she's offered me from her tiny pot... the times that she's smiled at me, and, being the loving person that she is, has wanted to offer me her 'best' coffee (yes, the beans I had ordered specially roasted and ground for her)... even though she cannot tell the difference to this day between instant and brewed coffee. I find myself looking at percolators, and thinking of her old and tiny stovetop pot, with it's Bakelite handle, and it's glass cap. I'm attracted to percolators, because of my lovely wonderful stepmother, and her lovingly made, and affectionately served, awful beyond terrible, and yet tasty beyond delicious, percolated coffee. edited to add this coda: She has been gifted with coffeemaking systems over the years- they become regifted items anon. My stepmother doesn't even own an ibrik! And, we're Syrian!
  14. Actually, a Starbucks latte is very good. Excellent, if you get one made properly. But, this is only if you prefer an Italian roast, which, for many people, (at least here in the US) is too 'bitter', as more of the oils are released. And, a Starbucks latte is about 165-175 degrees Farenheit, when served properly, as well. That's pretty hot! One problem may be the skim milk. The fat in whole milk makes it more conducive to a higher steam teperature, without losing it's integrity and flavor profile. My method for steaming milk was to keep the milk as cold as possible, almost to freezing- my coolers were always kept well below 42 degrees F. I also kept my pitchers VERY cold, alongside the milk, in the coolers. Then, I would keep the steam wand in the bottom of the pitcher, while steaming, until the milk reached almost 100 degrees F. THAT is when I would begin to aerate the milk/cream, swirling slowly and thoroughly until it seemed 'right'- which for a latte tends to be between 150-160 degrees F, depending on the fat content of the dairy. For cappucino there is a slightly different swirl process, as you want as much tight and creamy foam as possible, you would aerate from 100 to 140 degrees, then- well, I'm just getting tehcnical here, I could babble forever about this- let's move on, shall we? Just writing about this, I'm feeling all nostalgic for those days of steaming milk, I liked showing off that I could control the foam and make such great drinks, even though I didn't make drinks every day. Part of the mystique of being the Happy Barista! Here is a link to an excellent article that your barista may enjoy reading.Frothing guide!
  15. A good Sicilian style pizza, or Grandma style, is supposed to have a chewy crust- we order those and love them. We're not much for those round delivery pizzas, unless it's a VERY thing crust with a good char. There's actually a pizzeria locally that makes THAT kind of pizza, it's, of all things, a kosher pizzeria! But, they only deliver for big orders. We usually make pizza at home, it's really a no brainer, but when I'm not up to it and we're hungry for a pie, we order. I will readily say this- it is EASY to find great pizza here in the boonies of NJ, where we live. The best pizza is eaten at the pizzerias, but a Sicilian with extra tomatoes is just fine here at home! Yay, NJ! edited by me, THAT/TAT... ratatat- TAT!
  16. I don't know about Domino's at all, but one of our local Ameri-Chinese/Japanese places and one of our local red sauce Italian places have internet ordering. It's FANTASTIC! I don't have to worry that my accent or some language barrier has caused my order to be misheard, and I can send notes alongside each item ordered for changes or added requests. If I'm not feeling well, I don't have to deal with being put on hold, being asked to repeat myself, or trying to explain why I order sashimi and then ask for a bowl of sushi rice as a side.The drivers all know us, and they are wonderful to us. The owner of the Ameri-Chinese/Japanese place called us a few times to let us know that a certain fish was not up to par in my order ( I order a lot of sashimi from them) and we have a running agreement on my file now with a list of my preferences for substitutions. They even have a notation that we like to be sent tea bags and that we eschew the packaged condiments! The Italian place knows that I usually order fresh tomato slices as an extra when I order Grandma style pizza. Once I didn't add ithat to my request, and they called to ask me if I'd forgotten it! PLUS, there is an online record in my account of all of my previous orders for the multiethnic place, and an online record of my 'favorite' orders at the Italian place. I just hit a couple of buttons and the food is on it's way to us. I adore online ordering! Of course, I'm one of those people who gets great service anyway, usually, and also, I'm not ordering from a large chain, so my experience may be very different than the norm. I don't know, but I'm VERY happy with online ordering. Now, if only their were more of a choice, cuisine wise, or if the food was free... THAT would be an improvement! edited: uisine/cuisine, hahahah!
  17. I am posting a love note written on edible paper to my #1Boy.
  18. Come on, Rachel, it's not fair of you to describe ANYTHING. I swear, you could make steel wool sound delicious!
  19. Gee, Chris, I know how you must have felt about that last bottle of IB. Soup is my favorite comfort food. Before my #1Boy had to leave last year, he made me lots of soups, a different one every day, for months. Once he was gone, he told me to look in the freezer. Wow! There was a tiny army of small plastic containers, each with a different bit of soup ensconced in it's translucent uniform, little soldiers- all waiting in formation, to comfort me. Well, it was like this, I woudn't share one bit. At first I only had one cup every week, then on my birthday I ate 3 different cups in one day! Each time I had a cup of soup, I remembered his face over the steaming bowls, and his hours in the kitchen, making soup was how he busied himself while I slept after radiation therapy. Finally, when there were only a dozen or so left, I just ate them, anytime that I felt like it. There was one day that he had achieved the peak of mushroom barley soup meals, I had scraped the pot from it; he had even saved a cupful of THAT one. The soldiers lasted one week more. I just ate and felt forlorn, and ate and felt loved. If you can't get more of something, I think that it's just better to eat and enjoy at will, and then enjoy the memory.
  20. Rebecca263

    Using Margarine

    That's what parve or dairy meals are for, in our house! Brownies can be made without milk or butter, easily- fruit butters or applesauce are fantastic in brownies. They make a very moist brownie, not a cake one. Some parve brownie recipes are almost a fudge, they are so rich tasting. Seriously, the only reason for using margarine is as a substitute for butter. If you are looking for 'legal' cheats, be it for a vegan, dairy free or kosher, that's it. Well, there IS vegetable shortening, ala Crisco- I hear a lot of people use that for pie and flaky pastries. Not to hijack the thread, but if it's because you are keeping the mitzvah of kashrut then you might not even want to make substitutes, you can just say that there is a time for everything, and everything in it's time. Or, you could just give up meat, so that you can have dairy brownies and buttercream at every meal!
  21. Wow. You're, like the umpteenth person to mention that synethesia to me in my lifetime. I AM female(just checked, yup) and left handed, and some studies have shown that high scores on IQ tests can be tied to synethesia as well(mine falls in there between 180-190) but I don't seem to have it. I do 'see' sounds and tastes at times, AND taste colors, but it isn't a concrete thing, at least not like synethesia... still, WOULDN'T it be amazing and wonderful to be able to experience sensory perceptions in more than one way? Now, admit it, broccoli, fresh string beans and peas- all define the color green with their taste. And, Beethoven is blue, and the violin sounds violety.
  22. I think that cotton candy tastes like the color blue. I also think thatcertain kinds of ice- not the perfect cubes, but the chips and flakes, taste like the color blue. I've said this before, and no one understands me. Maybe here on eGullet someone will ken my meaning of the color of the taste?
  23. Rebecca263

    Using Margarine

    Angel food cake has no dairy. Neither do many fruit breads, which can qualify as a dessert item. I'm just sayin'!
  24. Rebecca263

    Using Margarine

    Here is a good site for knowledge about Kashrut.Kashrut: The Jewish Dietary Laws
  25. Rebecca263

    Using Margarine

    Butter is the reason I had a dairy wedding.
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