Danken got for matzoh ball soup!

This weekend I ate at a Jewish deli (perhaps the only one on the west coast?! Sad.), and almost cried tears of joy as I slurped down a very good bowl of matzoh ball soup. Tam ganeydn! Why was it so good, you ask? Well, I could tell that the matzoh ball was made with schmaltz (rendered chicken fat). And how could I tell it was made with schmaltz? I'm a regular Einstein...that, and well, the chicken flavor was undeniable. 

(Sidenote: Do you see the size of that thing?! Definitely a sinker, not a floater.)

I don't know why it took so long for me to try this place. Maybe it was out of a stubborn conviction that a west coast deli couldn't possibly be as good as the ones I was used to in NYC. Now, I may be but a goy (though I kvell at the fact that I've been adopted by all my Jewish friends' families as a honorary Jew), but I certainly eat (and talk) like one...and I know a good matzoh ball soup when I taste one. And on a cold, rainy day (or month, as it's been in my neck of the woods), NOTHING hits the spot quite like this soup.

The napkin at this restaurant was also imprinted with the phrase," Eat, darling, eat!" Now, I know that my fairy bubbeh is smiling down on me from somewhere.

This one goes out to my darling bubbellah, KR. Miss you!

Giant dough pillow

I visited a local bakery/cafe today and took this picture:

Seriously, though -- how fun would it be to jump in that dough?! :)

Yellow fail

There are plenty of desserts that I adore, but just don't make that often (or ever). Not sure why. Lemon bars fall into that category.


I visited my aunt recently, and she had a gorgeous lemon tree in her backyard (that she apparently wasn't doing anything with). So I greedily snatched up as many ripe ones as I could fit into my bag. When I got home, I thought of all the wonderful things I could make (any number of Moroccan recipes using preserved lemons, or a simple piccata), but lemon bars immediately came to mind. So I went in search of a good recipe, and this lemon bar recipe on allrecipes.com had lots of great reviews. 


Dear faithful reader, I want you to know that I don't always write only about my cooking/travel eating successes; there have been plenty of failures. And this one ranks pretty high in that category (along with the pumpkin bread where I forgot to put in any kind of leavening). It was a big, yellow disaster.

It doesn't look too bad, does it? Too bad I couldn't get a closeup. It was disgustingly spongy...and why in the world would a lemon bar be spongy?! It had gross pockets of air, and then of course, the edges got burnt. Reminded me of the pimply face of a hormonal teenager. The lemon flavor was quite refreshing, but that's where the redeeming qualities stopped. I have no idea what went wrong...but I'll have to experiment with some other recipes to figure it out. Oh, and the little corner where I had a taste? Most of it ended up in the compost container. Blech! Horrible, epic, giant yellow fail. :(

The case of the disappearing peanut brittle

A friend's dad hasn't been feeling well lately. So I thought I'd cheer him up by sending him some peanut brittle, which is one of his favorite candies. On a candy making frenzy, since my somewhat successful first attempt at salted caramels last week, I decided to give it a go. How hard could it be anyway? Turns it out it wasn't hard at all. Like candy making in general, it just requires a bit of patience. 


So here's the batch I made:

I was admittedly pretty proud of myself, because it actually tasted pretty darn good. Not bad for my first try. 


But just a few short hours later, here's what was left of the big pan:

Unbeknownst to me, a mischievous little bear named R. had been sneaking into the kitchen every so often, taking a little piece here and there. Hmph! So I had to go back and make a second batch for my intended recipient. And the little bear got a good scolding. 

Golden goodness

Last month, I wrote about the salted caramel cupcakes I made for a friend. It got me thinking about how much I really love salted caramel. So I came across a recipe for salted caramels (slightly different from the drizzled caramel I made), which seemed perfect as a hostess gift for my Thanksgiving host.

The recipe is Ina Garten's, and it's quite easy...but it does take some patience and careful measurement. I don't know why I've waited this long to try salted caramels myself, considering how much I love them and how many times I've gratefully received them as gifts. Some creative friends of mine recently gave me a batch with pickled cherry blossoms in them. The intense saltiness of the cherry blossoms, combined with the aesthetic beauty of a gorgeous bloom in the middle of the golden goodness, was definitely a treat. These same friends also recommended steeping earl grey tea or lavender in the cream, before adding it to the sugar, which infuses the caramels with a delicate, but wonderful flavor. But those experimentations will have to wait for another day.

Here are the beginnings of my recent batch, boiling away:

Once it had reached the right temperature, I poured it into a pan. And once that cooled, I formed it into thick logs, and sprinkled sea salt over it. The darker the color, the more intense the flavor:

Here are the pretty little morsels, wrapped in parchment paper:

And finally, here they are, nicely packaged as my hostess gift.

Mmmm...donuts!

I love me some donuts. What's not to love about fried goodness?

This weekend, we were driving around a new neighborhood and came across a cute, old-fashioned donut shop. It wasn't memorable (because I don't even remember the name), and probably not worth a photo, but...here it is anyway:

As you can I see, I had already taken a bite out of the apple fritter. Well, I suppose it was an apple fritter, but it was hard to tell - the tiny, square piece you see in the middle of the giant glob is the only piece of apple I got in the entire thing. And no, I didn't eat all 3 donuts - the other two were immediately gobbled up by my dining partner. I didn't hear much out of his mouth other than "nom nom nom."

Makes me nostalgic about the amazing donuts I used to have at Top Pot Donuts in Seattle. Dear Seattle friends, please send me some Top Pot Donuts on a magic carpet!

Cleaning the cupboard

It was a dreary, blustery day of rain - just the perfect kind of day to snuggle up with a great book and a steaming cup of cocoa, right? Well, it started out like that...but when I went to the cupboard in search of some stray marshmallows, everything but the marshmallows came tumbling out. Guess it's been a while since I've organized the cupboard. So what do I proceed to do? Take everything out and start organizing, of course! And about 2 minutes into it, I'm thinking to myself, "Why the *%$@ am I doing this again?"


Here's 1 shelf of the final product:

Apparently, I eat a lot of curry and a lot of pumpkin. Huh.