It’s traditional to have honey on Rosh Hashanah to symbolize our hope for a sweet new year. That includes dipping apple and challah in honey. Over the years, I’ve also accumulated some recipes with honey that I make only at this time of the year – on Rosh Hashanah itself or during the period between Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot. Continue reading
Category Archives: Kitchen & Food
Cool Down with Soup
When we think of cold soup , we most often call to mind a bright tomatoey gazpacho or a silky smooth vicysoisse. Gazpacho is technically a blend of raw vegetables including tomatoes,cucumber, bell peppers, often bread and spices. A simplified version was most likely brought to the Iberian Peninsula of Spain by the Romans and then given a local twist. It is simple and quick to make and has endless variations.
Today blended fruit soups, sometimes including tomatoes, are also called gazpacho. Continue reading
A Kiddush Tale
At a recent kiddush, I was called over by the father of a young boy. Uh, Oh … what’s the problem? I thought. Does he want to know about an allergen or is the food too spicy like the time I served jalepeno cream cheese with the bagels? Did the child eat something his father didn’t want him to?
“What’s in the ravioli?” he asked. Continue reading
Clearing Out the Pantry
Pesach for me has always been about more than the actual week of the holiday. It starts several weeks before as I think about clearing out all the chametz from our pantry.
Here are a few of the recipes I’ve come up with over the years to use up pasta. During most of the year, I make pasta once or maybe twice a week. However in the last few weeks before Pesach, we might have pasta almost every night. We also usually have stockpiled several large jars of marinated artichokes as well as cans of beans and tomatoes. Continue reading
Purim Treats
Pie Crust Hamantaschen
Try some homemade hamantaschen for Purim this year. There are several hacks available to create hamantaschen with as few as two-yes, TWO- ingredients. Continue reading
Kiddush Thanks
They came from everywhere: California, Mexico, Florida, Chile, Israel, and New Jersey and more. They were in all shapes and sizes- some long and thin; others squat and round. Some with no blemishes and others showed a bit of age. Their colors were like a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, purple, blue as well as tan, brown , black, and white. Continue reading
KIddush Kudos
Many thanks to Erin Berman for taking total charge of last week’s kiddush including set up and clean up. She was ably helped on Shabbat by volunteers Lou Hammerman, Sharon Harwich and the Gold family – Amanda, Benjamin, and Abigail – who saw a need and offered their help.
We all live with the contemporary saying “If you see something, say something.”
Let’s apply it to kiddush. “If you see a need to help, help out.”
And don’t forget to plan ahead if you can and use Sign Up Genius on the volunteer page.
New Year, New Tastes
Here are some new, fairly simple recipes to kick start your new year. Resolve to try something different at least every few weeks. It’ll take some of the boredom away from that nightly menu planning and meal preparation. Continue reading
Hanukkah Shabbat
Come for services and stay for kiddush. Continue reading
Welcoming our Newest Member
What’s sweeter than a new baby? Shomrei welcomed 4 day old Esther Hirsch to the congregation with an in-house catered kiddush on Shabbat, November 19.
Babies come when they are ready so the kiddush volunteers didn’t find out about Esther’s birth until late Wednesday afternoon. We did a quick pivot, abandoning the planned kiddush menu, and substituting a custom menu requested by Esther’s parents, Josh Hirsch and Jenny Leon. Continue reading