Endless Knots

Happy Fourth!

According to Wikipedia, in 1781,"the state" of Massachusetts became the first to recognize July 4 as a state celebration. Almost right. Technically, we're a Commonwealth. (The difference apparently is in name only but, me, I only live in such entities, apparently - born in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, have lived my whole adult life in Mass.)

There are no doubt a zillion blog posts about Independence Day in the US, what it means, why it's important, and how America is this, that, and the other thing, good, bad, blah-buh-dee-blah-blah.

I have only this to say: Founding a country is a really big deal. A HUGE deal. Now think about all the countries that have been founded. The imagination of our species, the desire for independence, the drive to start anew, the imperative of freedom, all testament to the brilliance of humanity.

Happy Mother's Day 2008

What do I love about Mother's Day? The lilacs, with hearts for leaves, are always in bloom where we live.

Cloudy with a chance of matzoh balls

Anyone else a fan of the wonderful children's book, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs? It has nothing to do with this post but it does provide a nice title for it and allows me to refer you back to my recipe for matzoh balls, which, naturally, graced our soup last night. Had the distinct pleasure of celebrating the first night of Passover at our daughter's apartment, which happens to be around the corner from where my mother was born in Brooklyn. For those whose parents have passed on, you know how powerful and comforting such connections are.

And while we're on the subject, praise to the web. Someone (who could that be?) failed to bring the basic equipment for the Passover seder, namely the haggadahs, the order of service that tells you when to dip the parsley and how soon you can make the haroseth and horseradish "sandwiches," our family's fave. Thus I had to do a crash search online to print out something suitable for the assembled masses. Guess what? Slate has a two-minute, two-page "Passover service for the impatient" (hilarious) and many other sites provide simplified (and modern) haggadahs. We made do and something about the simplicity and makeshift nature of our "supplies" was in keeping with this very moving and universal story of perseverance and freedom.

Happy birthday, Grandma Rae

On this day 130 years ago, my grandmother, Rae Berlin Goldstein, said hello to the world in a shtetl in Belarusse (she called it White Russia) as the youngest of thirteen children. Fled with her family (they had to hide her in the china cabinet when the Cossacks came to the door, so the family lore went), landing on Ellis Island when she was about nine; became fluent in English; marched for woman suffrage; and sent three daughters to college with her sewing machine and candy store at the corner of Clinton and Myrtle Avenues in Brooklyn, NY. (Her hubby, my grandpa, Elias Schochet -- renamed Sam Goldstein at Ellis Island -- who died the year after I was born and whom I never met, a rock-rib Republican, spent most of his time in the back of the store listening to opera, according to even more family lore.)

Christmas Night (Red) Chippers

It was after dinner on Christmas night and I had a hankering for my daughters' (plural as they both make the best) chocolate chip cookies. Miranda rose to the challenge, literally, and the result was this delicious concoction with just a tinge of red for the holiday.

Big baking advice: do not overcook. It ruins them. I was on oven duty and set the timer for the first batch at 9 minutes; for the second, 9 minutes 15 seconds. Ten mins max or you'll have biscotti not cookies.

Christmas Night (Red) Chippers

2 sticks butter
1 c brown sugar (light)
1/2 c granulated sugar (the normal terrible-for-you white kind)

2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1-1/2 t salt
1-1/2 t vanilla (get the real stuff, not the artificial flavoring kind)

1/4 c dried cranberries (chopped - keep these on hand, great snack)
1/4 walnuts or pecans (chopped - we keep jars of these on the counter for snacks)
1 c chocolate chips (dark preferred - the ones we used were 54% organic chocolate)
1/4 c cocoa

Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheet with parchment (or silpat sheets). Scoop balls of cookie dough onto sheet, three across, three or four down, depending on size of the sheet. Don't put scoops too close together or they'll run together into cookie-cakes. Bake 9-10 minutes max. Remove when they look nearly done...but not quite. Allow to cool for 5 mins. Take a big plate into the room where everyone else is sitting and watch them disappear.

Fondue, fondue

The stat counter for this blog (huh, say the nonbloggers - it's the device that lets you know how many readers you have and where they're coming from) indicates that I receive a large number of hits on my food-related posts. Big surprise. Not.

Thus I feel compelled to relate the traditional Christmas Eve menu at our house, which has evolved, might I add, from the earliest days of our children's youth when the big desire was for a meal we never ate (oh, what a good mom I was): hot dogs and beans.

Well, somewhere along the way, we evolved, turning toward a meal designed to skyrocket cholesterol and lead to dining accompanied by one repeated phrase: "This is so good."

Christmas Eve Dinner Chez Lipnack-Stamps

Artichokes (steamed in broth of carrots, celery, onions, and garlic)
Fondue Bourguignonne
Cheese Fondue
Caesar Salad
Chocolate Mousse
**Vegans, see below

Rather than include recipes, which are available everywhere from The Joy of Cooking to, need I add, The Internetz, let me just add these notes:

For the Fondue Bourguignonne, I use a mix of peanut oil, canola oil, and butter, but mainly the fats that are terrible for you. I always feel guilty so that's why I throw in the canola oil. The main tip here is to heat the oil sufficiently on the stove before transferring to the sterno-heated fondue pot on the table. Test a piece of meat while the oil is still on the stove. If it sizzles, you're good to go. I use strip steak for this and assign the task of cutting it to a family member with less vegetarian tendencies than myself. Don't have the butcher cut it; it usually turns out to be too dry by the time you cook it. NB: We almost always forget to get sterno and there's usually a mad dash to the store.

We serve it with several sauces. I've been using the Bearnaise Sauce recipe in the original Cuisinart cookbook, the one that came with the first machines many years ago, combining the directions with the Hollandaise recipe right before it. One recipe calls for the butter to be cold, the other for it to be bubbling hot. I like it hot. Remember to use enough tarragon. Honestly, in my experience, the dry tarragon provides better flavor than the fresh. I also make a mushroom and scallion sour-cream sauce and a very pedestrian ketchup-and-mayo sauce, which I attempt to make fancy by adding chives, basil and oregano. My lovely daughter Miranda has added a curry sauce of late and Jeff always likes a mustard-mayo sauce.

For the Cheese Fondue, I use a white Bordeaux wine and, important point, about a quarter-cup less than the recipes call for. If you've made Cheese Fondue, you know how easy it is for the mixture not to be thick enough. Yes, I flour the cheese, except if we've got a gluten-free guest (which was me for a number of unhappy years). For the cheese selection, I've settled on this mix: gruyere, emmenthaler, appenzell, and, most important, Italian fontina, which gives a smooth texture. I add a splash of Kirsch (cherry brandy, have had the same bottle for years) and a pinch, very small, of nutmeg, at the end, along with some ground pepper. Oh, I also rub the pot with garlic before I begin.

**Vegan alert: you too can enjoy this meal  in the Japanese tradition of Shabu-shabu, only without the beef. A rich veggie broth (remember the kombu and garlic for that incomparable flavor) bubbles in the pot; a beautiful array of veggies and tofu, artfully sliced, are then cooked to perfection. You can even enjoy it with a vegan tempura batter (again recipes all over the net).

Caesar salad - once more, The Joy of Cooking has a great recipe. Very easy, very showy salad. We skip the anchovies, much to my disappointment, as certain family members don't like them.

My hubby adores Chocolate Mousse, which means I've tried many, many recipes over the years. The best, in his opinion (incredibly, I am not much of a sweet lover except for Apple Pie and creme brulee and Cherry Garcia Frozen Yogurt and chocolate turtles and... - what a prevaricator I am!), is also from that stained Cuisinart spiral-bound cookbook with the back cover finally having ripped itself away. Write to me if you want that recipe. It's ridiculously easy and takes about ten minutes.

Now I've made myself terribly hungry.

I vote for Christmas on Tuesdays

Not that anyone's taking a poll but tell me if you don't think it works out best when Christmas is on Tuesday. Why? Because many places stop work today, if you can even call today a work day. For many, of course, it is and the mother in me wishes I could come relieve all those people who already are working too hard. But by and large, in schools, offices, and the like, things let up today, then don't resume in full force until after New Year's, which means nearly two weeks from now.

I know I know I know. This is only true for some but, for those who have this luxury, I wish great enjoyment and relaxation. I'm beside myself, as usual, with excitement about our kids coming home, extended family joining for Christmas Eve, including the youngest member, and a lot of cooking whose recipes I'll refrain from imposing on hungry readers (at least for now).

And for those not in New England I must report: Snow has continued to fall this week. It remains gorgeous. Gorgeous turns soon enough to dirt, of course, but, for these few days, it looks like the winter of my little girl days in rural Pennsylvania.

"What do you want this holiday season that doesn’t require electricity?"

Anne Zelenka recharges a certain worn-out battery with her suggestions for 5 Great Non-Gadget Gifts for Web Workers:

Slippers that look like real shoes. This is an ideal gift for home-based workers who wear slippers all the time but want to “dress up” in the morning before beginning work...

A cozy sweater. ...A space heater keeps the feet warm. Combine it with a fuzzy wool or cashmere cardigan and your web worker is ready to burn through email. Add fingerless gloves to warm the hands without eliminating the ability to type.

A great pen or ten of them. ...whatever makes your darling doodle. Caution: when you give them to her don’t say, “Do you really need more of these pens? They’re really expensive.” Yes, she needs those pens.

An balance ball chair to sit on. ...your web worker will be forced to align his spine, practice balance, and build his abdominal muscles ... Sitting on a balance ball can reduce back pain too.

A really, really nice notebook. It doesn’t have to be a Moleskine...

What do you want this holiday season that doesn’t require electricity?

Note to friends and family: Cashmere cardigan (or another pashmina, I'm not that fussy) or fingerless gloves (and don't tell me I should knit them!). Thanks, Anna. Made this very easy.

It's always Thanksgiving somewhere

Well, while everyone else was enjoying Thanksgiving dinner here in the US (and abroad for those die-hard Americans), we were still planning. Illness struck a family member late Wed night and so, being nothing if not flexible, we quickly remade the arrangements. So while the rest of you are enjoying your turkey sandwiches and sneaking forksful of pie from the fridge, we will be sitting down to our meal. Hopefully the patient will be able to join us. Just one other thing: IT IS REALLY HARD TO GET A DOCTOR ON THE PHONE ON THANKSGIVING! Took two hours for a callback, a bit freaky when a temperature is in the "call the doctor immediately" range.

Latkes and the web

Now there's a combo you wouldn't normally think of - the delectable Chanukah treat (it's just around the corner) *and* the deep history of the web. But Bill Ives, Internet Sleuth, has discovered one of the oldest, if not the oldest, recipes on the web, Andy Carvin's Grandpa's Latke Recipe. Andy's been posting since Oct 1994. Check out Andy Carven's Waste of Bandwidth, (hardly), his blog, which in the olden days, was achieved by reposting his website in toto. Yay, Andy.

Thanksgiving menu Chez Lipnack-Stamps 2007 (redux)

Due to a rash of family-wide busy-ness and travel, we are repeating our 2005 Thanksgiving menu (small modifications) this coming Thursday. Principal substitution is in the soup department, where we will enjoy "Harvest Soup" (with butternut squash, rutabagas, and carrots, among other fall veggies) in place of the Curried Pumpkin Soup  here. We're also adding a requested second salad: Boston lettuce with peas and mint (really easy and delish).

If you'd like the recipes and/or the shopping list (which makes for an easy time at the grocery store), post a comment or send me an email: jessicadotlipnackatnetagedotcom.

Menu credit: Miranda Stamps

Thanksgiving Menu
November 24, 2005

Hors d’oeuvres
Brie in Puff Pastry with French baguette
Stuffed mushrooms
Warm Spiced pecans with rum glaze

First Course
Curried Pumpkin Soup

Salad
Autumn Beet Salad With Spiced Pecans, Pears And Fourme D’ambert

Main Meal
Roasted Turkey
Three Mushroom Stuffing with Chestnuts
Cranberry Sauce (two kinds, fresh and Ocean Spray canned for the traditionalists)
Gravy (turkey and vegetarian)
Mashed Potatoes and Turnips with Pear Puree
Yams with Spiced Sorghum Butter
Green Beans with Shallots and Vermouth

Dinner Rolls

Dessert
Warm Apple Pie with French vanilla ice cream
Pumpkin Pie with fresh whipped cream

Spiced Pecans

It's that time of year here in the ole US of A where it's impossible to find a parking space at the grocery store and what you don't want is fully stocked and what you do want...

Thus begins a series of posts (I'm so optimistic about my intentions) containing family-favorite recipes.

Today, Spiced Pecans, first introduced to our family by virtue of Jay's (son-in-law) noble roots in Birmingham, Alabama, and posted, along with a number of her other excellent recipes, at daughter Miranda's (and Jay's) website. Served these at a book party for Wangchuk Meston's remarkable memoir, Comes the Peace and got so many requests for the recipe that I sent it out to everyone who came.

You probably weren't there (ok, I know a few of you were) so here it is again on the jump page.

And, oh, they're quick and easy. Shopping the ingredients is only time-consuming part.

Yom Kippur online

It had to happen. For those who live in their own temples--or do not or cannot go to services--yet want to hear Kol Nidre, the signature Day of Atonement prayer, click here and download - versions from Toronto to Baghdad, Ashkenazi and Sephardic.

You can also sit in on live services at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, California. Reminds me of my youth, quiet laughter of warm greetings as the congregation gathers, and I can see my father standing in the back of our synagogue, reading the newspaper as services drag on, see him standing on the steps, smoking a Camel with his friends. (But my rabbi never had to tell anyone to turn off their cell phones, as this one does.)

And if, for you, Yom Kippur is merely one of those impossible words to pronounce, its meaning, in a nutshell, is a day spent renouncing oaths made purely for selfish purposes, remembering the larger good, and committing to upholding oaths made on its and, of course, God's behalf. May we all pay it forward for the year to come in honesty and with love.

Only in New York (or maybe only Brooklyn)

The signature sound of Rosh Hashanah is the blare of air through a ram’s horn, the shofar in Hebrew. Insufficiently educated in Judaism, I would have to consult Jewishpedia (it exists?) to explain its significance. What I do know is that it is the emblem of this holiday.

So when a young man, 15 or 17 at the most (my daughter and I were of different minds), just approached us outside a coffee shop in Brooklyn and asked if we were Jewish, then asked if he could play the shofar, I said in as authentic a Yiddish accent as I could muster, So why not? (That was for dramatic effect only – I just said yes.)

He began by having me say two prayers, the first six words of which are inscribed in my brain because, so far as I know, every Jewish prayer begins with the same six words: Baruch atah adonai elohenu melech ha-olam and then I had to fudge it, pretending I knew where he was going. I hchuhched sufficiently to cover my ignorance. My daughter got to say Amen. Twice. At which point the young man sucked in a goodly amount of air and expelled it slowly and rhythmically through the pearly horn. Dressed in a black suit, white shirt, black hat with a broad rim, black shoes, and what looked like it might be a trendy tan t-shirt underneath, he blew through the shofar for a good long minute, and, when he was done, we thanked him and he us. We wished each other a Happy New Year and that our names would be inscribed in the Book of Life. May yours too.

And for those with a sense of humor, see Rosh Hashanah Girl.

Carrot-Parsnip Satin Soup with Matzoh Balls

Here in our family, the holidays (Happy New Year, all) offer the chance to consume one of our favorite foods, the sweet soup whose recipe I offer below. When I was learning to cook, I got one piece of advice from my mother about soup and stew making that I’ve used since: For sweetness, add parsnips. I love them so much I wish I could add them to everything—my friendships, my workships, my coffee.

When one of our daughters became a vegetarian at age seventeen, I looked for alternatives to chicken soup. Obviously, the place to start was parsnips. Everyone loves this soup, which we served yet again last night. Included below too is my mother’s matzoh ball recipe, which is unbelievably simple and produces “canedlach,” as my mother always called them, that are lighter than air.

For the rest of our Rosh Hashanah 5768 menu, click to the blog of the great cook, our daughter, Miranda: