L'Shana Tova

I'm watching Yom Kippur Services online since I'm off of work today and Josh didn't love the services we went to last year. I am actually really enjoying these. They remind me a lot of the temple I grew up going to. But wow, my grandparents would be so confused by this!

Passover Update

I cooked almost all the food for the family seder on Saturday (except for the turkey and dessert) so here's the final score for each item on a scale of 1 to 10:

Mocked Liver:
Made from mushrooms, onions, and walnuts this spread was huge success! Very yummy on top of matzah.
Score: 9

Charoset:
Traditonally a mixture of apples, walnuts, and wine, this spread is supposed to symbolize the mortar used by the Jewish slaves in Egypt. I made this two ways. The traditional mixture came out ok. I also made "tropical" charoset made from bananas, pears, apples, dates, almonds, and sweetened with fruit juice. This was, as my mom and I both agreed upon tasting, "damn good!"
Score: 5 for the traditional charoset, 10 for the tropical version.

Matzah ball soup (vegetarian version):
I made the veggie broth from scratch and it came out well. The matzah balls were pretty good but not my best. The first batch was just a tiny bit dense. The second batch came out nearly perfect. I didn't do anything differently so I'm not sure why. Everyone liked them and several guest took them home so they couldn't have been that bad anyway.
Score: 8

Beet salad:
I usually roast beets when I make them but this dish called for slicing them and baking them in lemon juice and butter. The end result was okay. My mom, who claims to have hated beets before, ate them and seemed to like them but if I made them again I would go back to cutting them up in chunks and roasting them.
Score: 5

Sweet potato kugle:
Made with sweet potato, apples, rasins, and matzah meal. In making this I realized that I much prefer savory kugel over sweet. Also, this low-fat recipe cut out all the eggs and butter - all the good stuff really. Edible but unless you really want a low-fat option, I'd say go with a recipe that's not quite so good for you!
Score: 4

Desserts:
I didn't make these but my friend Ginny brought a flourless chocolate cake and my sister made macaroons. Both were awesome.
Score:10

If my camera were charged...

I'd post a picture of the hamentashen I made this weekend. But since the camera is out of commission you will just have to take my word for it that they were not only yummy but also pretty nice looking. I made half of them with poppy seed filling and half with nutella. Poppyseed being traditional and nutella being a delicious variation I picked up from the children's librarian at my old job. Poor Emerson sat by the oven wagging his tail the whole time they were baking and looked very dejected when he realized he wasn't going to get any yummy people food from me. Sorry Em, but they are mine...all mine!

Passover Menu

I'm home sick today and to pass the time I'm trying to come up with a menu for Passover. My mom's letting me cook and I'm excited. So far I think I want to make this cake for dessert. I wanted make a tofurkey but that's not kosher for passover so I will have to think of something else vegetarian. Other menu items I'm considering at the moment: baked stuffed zucchini and mock chopped "liver." If anyone has any other vegetarian ideas let me know.

Coraline Sneak Peek

Sneak Peek Here.

Not sure what I think of this yet. I have read Coraline so many times that I have a clear picture in my head of what the story should look like and I know I should probably stay away from the movie. BUT... I know I won't be able to stay away. I hope that at the very least I feel the way I felt about The Golden Compass movie, which was that it was a fun movie to watch.

Speaking of movies, I saw Sweeny Todd yesterday as part of our "Jewish Christmas" which also included latkas for breakfast and chinese food for dinner. It was great gorey fun and now I've been singing about the worst pies in london all day!

Update: Passover Pics

Passover 2.0

We had Erin and Michelle over last night for an abbreviated Seder with a PowerPoint hagadah. I made the PowerPoint by pulling my favorite parts from our old Maxwell House hagadah, this great liberal/feminist/vegetarian hagadah I found online, and one written by our old Rabbi. Then I cut out everything except the required parts. This allowed us to finish the Seder with time to spare before Michelle and Erin had to go to Black Cat for a show. Michelle called it passover 2.0 in reference to library 2.0 and I have decided that this will be the new official name for my Seder.

As for the food, I think we did a pretty good job. Erin made the best vegetarian matzoh ball soup that I've ever had and some very yummy charoset. I made spinach squares with matzoh meal. They were good (I brought the left overs for lunch today) but I think I over baked them a bit. I also tried my hand at a noodle kugel which was tasty but fell apart. I think I should have used a smaller pan and more egg.

Oh and Emerson had to find the afikoman. He wasn't very good at it, Apparently matzoh doesn't really smell like much. But it was awfully cute!

I wish I had pictures to post but, alas, I must rely on Michelle for that. So send me some pictures already Michelle!