JFLinLA

Then definitely Geoffrey's for the drive up PCH. Just give yourself plenty of time, relax and enjoy the ride and the scenery. While the ride out west on the 10 Freeway will be faster, you could meander along Sunset Boulevard for at least one direction of your trip. You will go from the heart of Hollywood, through the Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood and Pacific Palisades. Sunset will end at PCH at Gladstones. Turn right and continue on your way. Depending on the time of day, traffic, and how much stopping you do, it's easily over an hour but can be thoroughly enjoyable. If time allows, you might want to leave Hollywood/Highland around 10:00 which, even allowing for stopping along the way, should leave you plenty of time to get to Geoffrey's for lunch. Enjoy and tell us how it goes. Just another thought -- If the drive satisfies you scenic viewing curiosity, you could always eat at Granita in Malibu. It's a Wolfgang Puck place just outside of the exclusive Malibu colony. You don't get the view from the restaurant but you might get some good celebrity spotting and you could say you dined at a Puck restaurant.

Rugelach . . . brilliant! I make nutella hamantashen for Purim.

I always liked Israeli yogurt. I first encountered Nutella in Israel (yum!). Not my personal favorite, but I always remember the cucumber and tomato salads that seemed to be ubiquitous on every table. Schnitzel of one sort or another was always big at my aunt's house but they always had more of an Ashkenazi influence.

Not at the beach but the view from the Getty is to die for and the restaurant is very good. Just be sure to make reservations -- make sure it's for the restaurant and not the cafeteria (though this is definitely not your average cafeteria). Get there early and view the art and/or the gardens. Also, given LA traffic, the Getty will likely just make your 30 minute window coming from Hollywood & Highland. The "closest" beaches are probably another 10-15 minutes away depending on where you choose to go and how you get there.

LA Times Digest -- April 21, 2004 "LA chefs are swooning over Kurobuta pork" which could become the "other other white meat." That's what Carolynn Carreno says in A new slice of luxury. Find out why, who's serving it around town, the only place in LA where you can buy it directly, where you can order it, and recipes for Pork belly with natural cooking juices and kumquat-apricot chutney, Kurobuta port chops with white bean puree, ham hock jus and salsa verde, and Poached Kurobuta tenderloin with pickled plum, shiitake mushrooms and potatoes. Regina Schrambling sends a dispatch from New York City reporting that A dining frenzy takes Gotham. Restaurants are packed in NYC where "the food is cutting edge, the money's flying fast and reservations are impossible." There's also a list of the some of the hottest places. John Balzar was wondering if the cliche about firefighters being good cooks was true. Find out what the team and LA City's Station 112 have to offer in So Chief, what's on the menu? If you want to check it out at home, there's a recipe for Fire Station 112 mostaccioli with pot roast, meatballs and sausage. You gotta see the pictures in this article to truly understand what Susat La Tempa is talking about. In Three gorgeous mosaics she talks about vegetable terrines which have been updated and are easier to prepare. Recipes for Green terrine with cashew cheese, Ratatouille terrine with goat cheese, and Caprese terrine with basil oil. In Culinary SOS, Cindy Dorn provides the recipe for Meyer lemon trifle cake from Joe's Restaurant in Venice. David Shaw attends a "Pinot and Pork" tasting in Santa Monica and discovers that his favorite wines go very well with the meat he likes in many, many varieties. Find out more in A perfect match that's hitting the road. The Wine of the Week is 2001 Domaine le Sang des Cailloux Vacqueyras Cuvée Floureto. Bring on the meze: The night is young is S. Irene Virbila review of the elegant Mandaloun in Glendale where "a late-night crowd come for sophisticated Lebanese fare, live music and an impressive wine list." She gives them two-and-a-half stars and recommends Everything in the traditional Lebanese meze or sampling of appetizers, especially homos, baba ghanouj, tabbouleh, labneh, stuffed grape leaves, kibbeh makly, kibbeh nayeh sausages with lemon juice glaze, freshly baked lavash bread, red mullet, beef kafta, and mhalabieh (rose water-scented milk pudding). Barbara Hansen profiles Teresitas Family Restaurant in East LA in If it's Tuesday, these must be albondigas. She recommends the chicken albondigas soup, costillas de puerco en ehile negro, espinazo con nopales, and chilaquiles. From the Thursday, April 22 Calendar Section, I thought e-Gullet readers might be interested in Grab an apron, add a chef, stir it up, an article about cooking classes and schools around town.

A few suggestions: First, you might get better responses if you posted this on the baking board. Secondly, if I understand correctly, Kolaches are similar to the Jewish pastry hamantashen. There was a long thread about these on the special occassions board which may be helpful. Finally, I posted a recipe for yeast dough for hamantashen on the eGRA, that may be something you can use. Good luck.

While I know we are all waiting to read Chris' article, the LA Times did their preview of the show today -- Standing the heat.

Dried fruit is the only thing I can think of to add. A healthy, quick energy alternative. Also, see if you can get some cellophane bags from a floral supply place -- The kinds used for boutinniers or corsages. They come in a variety of sizes and are inexpensive and look great when tied with some ribbon or raiffia.

Don't leave off Cliftons.

LA Times Food Section -- April 14, 2004 The Santa Barbara Wine Country Issue No time to post the links to the individual articles this week but here's the link to the LA Times Food Section. From there, you can easily get to any of the articles summarized below. Call them mavericks by Corie Brown, profiles a series of young winemakers in Santa Barbara County who are out to surpass the wines of northern California. "Industrial parks on the back roads of the tiny towns of Buellton, Lompoc and Santa Maria, just north of the city of Santa Barbara, are being jury-rigged into wine laboratories as this small army of guerilla winemakers strives to make the best wines it can." Can't find these next generation wines? A tour of the new wave tells you where and a brief review of seven of these wines. If you are going to Santa Barbara, you may want to check out the Wine Cask for both eating and the wine shop. S. Irene Virbila reviews it. Located on El Paseo, she gives it 2 stars and says the menu now measures up to the wine list. Recommended dishes are the cobb salat, tri-tip sandwich, burker, baked Fanny Bay oysters, duck confit salad, baby frisee and arugula salad, fennel-crusted lamb sirloin, halibut with Camargue red rice, and pear napoleon. Russ Parson says That's gold inside those spiny creatures from local waters. He's talking about prized uni, otherwise known as sea urchin roe which believe it or not is found on the northern Channel Islands just off of Santa Barbara's coast. Russ tells you where you can buy the stuff and provides recipes for Spaghetti with sea urchins and clams, and Cuttlefish pasta with uni sauce. Nestled between LA and Santa Barbara is Oxnard, the strawberry capital of the world. Not that you needed to be convinced, but Emily Green tells all in When too much is not enough. She also provides recipes for Slow-cooked strawberry preserves, and something called an Eton mess. Now that the show has finished shooting, read Culinary SOS for the recipe for the Classic Cosmopolitan from the show Sex and the City. The Wine of the Week is 2001 Fontodi Chianti Classico. In an article that most eGulleteers will agree with, David Shaw tells about his year of eating dangerously. "Bring on the fries, and make that hamburger blood-rare. But first, a dozen on the half-shell. In the Counter Intelligence column, Linda Burum profiles Odaesan in Koreatown. In a luxurious setting, the restaurant shows "what happens to sashimi outside of Japan." She recommends eating the hwe dup bap, special sashimi dinner, al tchigae (cod roe soup), and lobster sashimi.

Oy vey! Do you know how much that messes me up? 2 years ago, my son's Bar Mitzvah was the beginning of June and I made everything for the Friday oneg, the dessert bar at the Saturday night party, the challot (plural of challah) for Saturday, and baked and decorated large torah shaped cookies as party favors. Being a working girl, much of this got done and frozen ahead. That year, I started baking immediatley after Pesach and easily had a full 2 months . . . probably more. 2005, the Bat Mitzvah is in mid-June. I do way more than most Reform Jews for Pesach but I don't get rid of all my chametz, change dishes or clean the house from top to bottom (not that it couldn't use it).** So, I think I will of necessity begin Bat Mitzvah baking before Pesach. What's in the freezer will just stay in the freezer. Although much of the stuff will be in the freezers of friends and family around town who helped out for the prior simcha. ** To answer the other question further, we try to consume most of the chametz pre-Pesach. Any obviously chametz pantry items -- package cookies, crackers, breakfast cereal, etc. -- get put in large bags and moved to the back room of the house. Uneaten frozen items just stay in the freezer. Flour and other baking supplies, as well as booze, stay in their regular cabinets, in their regular containers untouched for the week. The sourdough starter stayed in the fridge. I'm sorry, I'm not throwing that out. (Note to self -- refresh the starter this week, even if you don't bake bread!!) I used to eat trayf but not chametz on the holiday but stopped that several years ago. The kids and Mr. L were aghast this year when, for the first time, I told them no peanut butter for the week. We'll see what new changes we make next year. A much more observant Reform Jew than I (daily prayers, keeps Kosher, etc.) that I used to know once said, I don't choose which mitzvot to follow, they seem to choose me.

Agree with everything said here but wanted to add one thing, if you are coming from a part of the world where there are no Trader Joe's markets, you really should go check one out for the wine and wine staff . . . though Wally's is great. Check through some of my Digests of the LA Times Food section on the Media board. I seem to recall articles about places with great selections and knowledgeable staff for wine and other stuff. If you get onto the the main Food page at the LA Times web site, they have a directory of all the farmers markets throughout Greate LA but Wednesday in Santa Monica is the best.

Skip Hansens, unless you want to go for laughs. Of course, that's where I got my wedding cake but that was a really long time ago and I didn't know any better at the time. Please forgive me. What about Cake Divas?

LA Times Food Section -- April 7, 2004 Sure the fresh produce of summer is great but Regina Schrambling love the first blush of spring -- asparagus, artichokes, fava beans and more. She waxes rhapsodic in The elements of spring. Recipes of Salmon rillettes, Rhubarb-pecan crisp, Potato-artichoke tian with mushroom and green garlic, and Spring vegetable ragout. Let them eat brioche, warm from the oven. That pretty much says it all in this story from Donna Deane. Actually, she evaluates three recipes and tells you which one wins out. Do not read Seeking boffo huevos if you like to eat a small breakfast, or skip that meal altogether. Lynda Obst and Victor Lomeli search out the best of a traditional heavy Mexican breakfast in and around Silver Lake. Find out Victor's criteria for the qualities of what makes a good breakfast and a list of places to find them. Sure, dried blood oranges are something special but who wants to pay $3 for a teeny, tiny packet. Charles Perry was motivated to get his own dehydrator and evaluates the home models for you in When you need help drying out. You can do it the hard way or you can do Leg of lamb the easy way. If you'd like to avoid doing all the work yourself for Easter, Barbara Hansen tells you where you can go to have someone do the work for you. Just remember to order early. Winemakers with a story to tell is David Shaw's profile of pals Mark Estrin and Carroll Kemp. Their first 3 vintages of Red Car wines got excellent reviews and sold out quickly. Find out why. The Wine of the Week is 2002 Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett. An Italian revival in the Valley is S. Irene Virbila's review of Panzanella. The new restaurant by three of the four Drago brothers (Celestino is busy elsewhere). She gives the place one star and recommends the ribollita soup, fried calamari, bresaola with arugula, swordfish carpaccio, tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms, spaghetti Natale, risotto with meatballs, cotoletto di pollo, osso buco, and sorbetti. In Hipper, happier hours, Leslee Komaiko says happy hours are getting better at restaurants around LA. Find up what's up at Rockenwagner in Santa Monica, Chaya Venice, Pinot Hollywood, Border Frill, Alto Palato, and Tantra in Silver Lake. In the Small bites portion of the story, find out at Norman's, Lincoln Steakhouse Americana, and Tokio.

Two stories: At seder #1 this year, my daughter complained about still being the youngest and having to again ask the 4 questions (she'll be 12 next month). My "baby" brother gave her no sympathy and explained how long he was the youngest. Without missing a beat, that little balabosta in training looked at him and said, "Well if you go make me some cousins, I wouldn't have to be the youngest anymore." Gawd, I love that kid. The very first time I had Passover with my husband's family was truly awful. It was the spring before we got married. Everyone sat down around my MIL's table and opened their Haggadahs. Uncle Joe took a big breath and began to chant/drone on in Hebrew. I don't think he stopped for an hour. Somewhere along the way there must have been questions and removing drops of wine from the glasses but I can't recall. Needless to say, I very soon explained to him that the holiday could be fun, interesting, funny, engaging, etc. and that when we finally had our own home, things would be different. He had never known anything different.

Kugel -- Most of the year it is traditionally a noodle pudding or some other variation. At Passover, no noodles but potato is OK. I usually make a fruit one with apples, prunes, matzah meal, eggs & cinnamon. There are any number of variations just as long as you leave out the hametz -- the various forbidden grain products. Tzimmes -- Yes, again, most well known with carrot but the variations are only limited by the cooks imagination. The word literally means a great deal of fuss or excitement as in "Calm down, don't make such a tzimmes." Though cooking a tzimmes does not have to be a tzimmes.

I concur with everything Katie said but would like to add the following. 1. Most seder meals also include rather sweet side dishes such as a kugel (without noodles) and/or a tzimmes. 2. Toward the end, following all of the major eating, the afikomen or last piece of matzoh is eaten. It has been separated and hidden earlier in the evening, then found by the kids who bargain for some type of remuneration with the seder leader so that the ceremony can conclude properly. 3. A ceremonial cup of wine is placed on the table and, near the end, the door is opened to welcome the prophet Elijah to the home. Story goes that Elijah will precede the Messiah and that he visits every seder on Passover -- sort of like Santa Claus on Xmas, except for the Messiah part. 4. The seder concludes with words wishing that next year, we all be in Jerusalem though often the host/hostess is wishing that next year the seder be at someone else's house. 5. Finally, no seder would be complete if there weren't at least one argument, um discussion, about "the way we always did it in our house" or "the right way to do this" or . . . well you get the idea.

My kids are now 11 and 14 and have always gone to restaurants. Sometimes fancy ones for special occassions and mostly more casual ones. We generally go out as a family weekly and often more than once. When the kids were at the toddler age, we probably had to be more careful about the type of places we went, the hours we chose to go out, and what distractions or snacks we would bring along to keep the kids entertained while waiting for the main attraction. That said, we always, always left a bigger than normal tip if the staff was especially nice to the kids or if the kids had made a rather large mess. No matter how well behaved they are, toddllers always end up with a lot of crumbs under the table and seat. More recently, I really appreciated the service we got when we went out to celebrate my husbands birthday this past fall. We went to an old, classic steak place with rather large portions. Although the 14 year old is a forever hungry teenager, the restaurant obliged us with splitting a prime rib order for the kids. Nevertheless, each kid received a full serving of all the sides. They got a very nice tip. Further, as soon as they were verbal enough, I have always allowed -- no required -- my kids to order themselves. While we often discuss their selection first, they have learned how to look the waiter or waitress in the eye, speak up clearly for what they wanted, say "please" and "thank you", and even ask for some variation. My daughter would always get a lot of mileage when she was younger and would explain at some "family type" restaurant that they could make her pink lemonade by putting a little fruit punch or cranberry juice in the bottom of the glass before adding the regular lemonade. Though one is an adventurous eater and the other one is picky, they both know how to behave (most of the time) in all sorts of restaurants which is often better than many of the adults around us.

Jack -- Never heard of kleis but out of curiosity I pulled out 2 fairly ancient and well-used Jewish cook books. One with a copyright of 1958 and another with a copyright of 1949. The latter was a wedding gift to my parents from my Mom's younger sister. Unfortunately, both have several knaidlach recipes but no mention of kleis. I'll ask my MIL the next time we speak but, at the moment, I think she's mad at me for some perceived slight at the 1st seder.

Almond Macaroons -- done Brown sugar, cinnamon pecan macaroons -- done Bite-size chocolate almond brownies -- done "Matzah brittle" -- done Farfel muffins -- in the oven as I'm typing this. Will make the meringue cookies later today -- I think my daughter want mint chocolate chip Will make the batter for the chocolate sparkle cookies tonight to chill and bake tomorrow morning. (Gotta make sure I have enough treats in the house for the kids when I go back to work later in the week. Will probably make another batch of one or more of the above during the week.) Tomorrow perhaps another batch of muffins and the sephardic casserole recipe I've been meaning to try for years. Then off to mom's in the early afternoon. Hope you all find the afikomen!

No, no. You don't have to convince me. I too share the disease of culinary equipment obsession. Luckily, Mr. L doesn't question it. For birthdays, anniversaries, mother's day, whatever he usually just asks want new kitchen thing I want and obliges me. The chocolate challah recipe looks delish and I'll definitely be checking it out after the holiday but don't think it will be the first chametz back in my oven. Our tradition is to end Pesach with pizza. On to Shavuot . . .

Food nut -- it sounds like my house. My family comes from the "whole hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water" tradition. My husband comes from the "egg-soup" tradition. So, for the sake of "Shalom Bayit," we put out both and people get to choose.

LA Times Food Section -- March 31, 2004 Brief summaries and links to individual articles are provided below. The LA Times sometimes posts their restaurant reviews, and some other Food Section articles, in the Calendar section on-line even though they appear in the Food section of the print edition. One is required to register separately to access the Calendar section and pay a fee if you don't already subscribe to the paper. Well there is no doubt the spring has arrived. Why? Because Russ Parsons is writing about asparagus . . . not once but twice in this week's issue. In Delicate harvest in crisis, Russ tells about how we may be experiencing the last days of the asparagus industry and a tradition in California. The accompanying article, The great asparagus divide, chimes in on that age-old debate -- fat or thin spears? Russ says they're both great and provides recipes for Asparagus wrapped in crisp prosciutto, Asparagus and shrimp risotto, and Asparagus in sauce mimosa. Evan Kleiman tells how she moved beyond her Ashkenazi roots in Beyond brisket; a Sephardic Passover. Find recipes for Keftes de prasa (beef and leek croquettes), Pesce in carpione (marinated white fish with caramelized onions and pine nuts), and Tezpisti (Turkish walnut sponge cake). In Kosher wine gets a passport, Charles Perry says there are kosher wines for Passover besides the overly sweet Manishewitz. Culinary SOS brings the recipe for banana cream pie from Clementine's. Alan Davidson, the author of "The Oxford Companion to Food," died in December. The man who "elevated food writing to a new level of seriousness" is appreciated by Charles Perry in Remembering a pioneering author. A recipe for Greek chicken is provided. The Wine of the Week is 2002 Loimer Gruner Veltliner 'Lois'. Civilized dining thrives under young chef's eye is this week's review by S. Irene Virbila. She gives Alex Scrimgeour's restaurant, Alex, two-and-a-half stars and recommends the oysters with apple mignonette, chilled foie gras au torchon, hand-cut bluefin tuna tartare, endive and Roquefort salat, crispy duck with Gorgonzola polenta, lobster three ways, halibut with fava beans and tomato salad, Colorado lamb rack, braised veal cheeks, tarte Tatin, and caramelized pineapple in phyllo pastry with mascarpone sorbet. In the Counter Intelligence column, Barbara Hansen says to Order off the menu when visiting Otomisan, a Japanese restaurant in 1st Street in Boyle Heights. What she means is that although there is a menu printed in English, some of the best dishes are those written in Japanese on strips of paper hanging on the walls. Some of these best dishes are yamakake, tuna sashimi with daikon, unagi donburi, sukiyaki, and chicken teriyaki.

Aidan -- I finally gotta ask as I've been wondering about it since you first posted this thread. Aside from an obsession with culinary supplies, why exacting are you coveting this pan? At least for me, half the fun of making challah is getting to "potchky" with the dough. I love braiding it at any time of year and making special shapes for the holidays. Can you say polenta?

I think that regardless of the recipe you use, the most important thing about brisket is to make it in advance. It seems to always, always taste better after a day or two. Plus, it's easier to remove the fat (or not) and slice when cold, then reheat in the sauce.