bloviatrix

Forgive me, I grew up Methodist. What's all this about fish in the bathtub?? First, I must say that one of my favorite books as a kid was The Carp in The Bathtub. To explain the fish in the bathtub....as my mom tells it, every year before Rosh Hashana and Passover my great-grandmother (who lived with my mom's family) would make gefilte fish. A dead fish wouldn't do. Rather, Bubbe went to the fish market and selected a live fish which she brought home and dumped into the bathtub where she would proceed to fatten it up further. Once she was satisfied with the fish's weight gain, she would kill and gut it. And then turn it into gefilte fish. Now, since the fish would reside in the tub for a week or two, my mom and her sisters would develop an attachment to the fish (they didn't have pets), so the slaughter was quite traumatic. My father tells a similar story about his mom. Nowadays people either buy fish filets and grind it themselves, or cheat at buy pre-made frozen loaves which are boiled with aromatics. If they're really lazy, they buy it in a jar.

Blancmange (80s new wave band) what else but .....Blancmange

Sorbet is primarily a sugar syrup and fruit. Therefore, you can find brands that are parve - Sharon's Sorbet, Cyrk, one from Seattle (can't remember the brand). Ben & Jerry's sorbet is Kof-K DE (dairy equipment) which means although the ingredients are parve, the equipment it was made on is also used make dairy products. I believe Haagen Daaz sorbet falls into the same category. Not only can dishes like pealla be served, but this also applies to the dishes. So, if I'm serving fish for the first course and meat for the second, one must use fresh plates and cutlery for the second course (although most would say that's obvious, you need to remember to change knives).

There are times when I come across a recipe and feel a need to replicate it. But, ultimately, if you rely on recipes constantly, you begin to feel hamstrung -- if you can't find a specific ingredient, you're stuck. That's why technique is so important. You know what cooking methods best suit your ingredients and you can create something based on what's on hand. It frees you.

Last night/shabbat dinner was: Mushroom-Barley Soup Chicken slathered in dijon mustard, dredged in seasoned bread crumbs and baked Kasha Varniskes Sauted Green Beans with garlic and toasted sesame oil Red Grapes Cotes du Rhone to drink Today, shabbat lunch for 3 was a hearty meal for freezing weather: Spinach salad with a tomato vinagrette Short-Ribs braised in an ancho chili coffee sauce Kasha Varniskes Savory Pumpkin Pie Chocolate Mousse Alfasi Valle de Maule Merlot '01 (Chile)

I just made some chocolate mousse for tonight. Mmmm. Chocolate.

Cucumbers

I've been using an OXO for years. Never had a problem with it.

Growing up I hated borscht. I loved the pretty magenta color and the pink it turned once the sour cream was added. But I thought it tasted nasty. Fast forward to the year 2000, I'm in London and the restaurant we were eating in served a beet salad. I tasted the beets and lo and behold - I liked them. So, I decided to add beets to my diet. And that led to my deciding to try assorted beet based recipes. This meant borscht. And I liked it.

I think you would regret not having a self cleaning oven - unless you LOVE cleaning I wouldn't even consider it an option. We currently have a non-self cleaning oven. It's a living hell. It takes the better part of a day to clean. And Blovie has burned himself using the chemicals. Oh, and the chemicals stained some tiles by the stove. I can't emphasize this enough....Get thee a self-cleaning oven!

You truly are a brave man. I did that on NYE 2000. I still haven't recovered.

Where? Price? I live in NYC, but I will travel to pick it up, Lagavullin is my favourite. Please help me out on this one, never even heard of it before. Try Park Ave. Liquors on Madison between 40th and 41st. They have an unbelievable single malt selection.

Blovie and I went out to dinner tonight. I had orange infused beignets (3), banana and pineapple fritters (2 of each) with pineapple sorbet. The plate was dressed with raspberry, strawberry and kiwi sauce. It was yummy. Blovie had a molten chocolate cake. He ate it too quickly for me to sample.

I'm not sure if my schedule next week allows me time to bake. Would it acceptable if I made sorbet?

In the '70s my mom decided to eliminate salt from cooking as well. Even though no one had high pressure, she figured she was taking "preventative" measures. Sometime in the '80s she decided to minimize the number of egg yolks to reduce cholesterol - despite no one having a cholesterol problem. Her noodle kugels stopped binding. And the textures of cakes were off.

Oh man, Holly. You've just reminded me of a place I had completely forgotten about. Those guys were masters of the deep fryer.

My mother makes a fricasse once a year for the pre-Yom Kippur meal. I hate it. Everything has an unappealing gray color. She doesn't use any seasoning. Yuck. I stopped eating it well over 20 years ago, and I still cringe.

It was so cold yesterday that I made a big pot of soup in order to warm the apartment up. For dinner we had Black bean soup with pieces of lamb sausage Baked lemon sole I sliced the tip of thumb chopping the onion so I had Blovie finish the mis -- what a sweetie.

Since you stay away from caffeine, try the Celestial Seasoning Bengal Spice. It has black pepper in it which will make you warm, plus cinnamon, cardamon, and vanilla. It's a very good winter tea.

Oops. Double-posted.

Actually, poultry was originally in the same category as fish. However, at some point, the Rabbis decided to move it over to the same category as meat in order to minimize confusion. In Judaism, there is a tradition of precendence, hence once something is decided, you can't go back.

Mark, this is conundrum that my dear husband reminds of on those now rare occasions when I now dine out. And it's a problem many orthodox jews deal with if they need to entertain for business (Kosher restaurants are not always an option, even in a city like NY). And this is where the years of going to yeshiva and learning the laws of kashrut come into play. It is called manipulating the laws to your benefit.

Iggy Pop...dog food

So, you think a picture of Elyse will be going up in every venue that serves a burger in NY? Maybe she needs to start wearing a disguise?