Category Archives: General
Two Holiday Cakes
Last week was bracketed by two holidays, Passover and Easter. My personal beliefs are from an entirely secular sensibility. However, I am happy to participate in any festival, feast, or other celebration that involves friends, family, or food.
For Passover, we were invited by long-time friends Howard and Debbie to a seder at Debbie’s sister’s house. In spite of the miserable weather (round 3 of the spring deluge), we shared a lovely evening with the traditional story, great company, and a plentiful festival meal. I brought a flourless chocolate cake that I’ve made for Passover before. It’s rich and fudgy. You could enjoy it any time of year. (Photo was lost…)
For Easter, we were invited to our friends April and Richard’s house. They are part of our circle friends that are like family. They were guests for our Thanksgiving meal last November. On Sunday, the weather was gorgeous. We started the evening with champagne and nibbles on their deck. (The champagne was in celebration of the other guests’ new status as first-time grandparents.) Dinner was fantastic: lamb, farro, and salad. We should have taken a picture to share. I loved April’s spring vignettes on the table featuring eggs, nests, and chicks.
Again, I brought dessert. This time, it was a Burnt Almond Torte from Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan’s The Greyston Bakery Cookbook, a new favorite cookbook for tasty baked goods. (I also enjoy following the blogs on Sara’s website The Kitchn.)
Funny that I consider myself more of a cook than a baker, but it seems I’ve been baking quite a lot lately.
So again, this week, I have the chance to reflect on how fortunate I am to have a family of friends to share many different celebrations with.
Family Time
This weekend, we took a quick trip to New Jersey where Howard’s sister Sheryl lives. Also, Howard’s parents were visiting Sheryl for Passover. We hadn’t seen my in-laws since they went to Florida for the winter, and they haven’t met their new grand-dog Bella yet. So, we headed down.
Sheryl will be quick to tell you that she doesn’t cook, but she actually does. We always eat very well when we go to visit. I think Sheryl just means she doesn’t do a lot of chopping or dirty a lot of pots. She knows where to buy high-quality ingredients and put them together simply but delicously. That counts as cooking in my book.
We arrived in time for lunch, and we had a delicious salad: baby spinach, goat cheese, pecans, dried cranberries, and seared tuna. I made a balsamic vinaigrette, and we tossed it all together. It was yummy!
Later in the afternoon, the “girls” headed out to check out a tea shop that Sheryl had noticed in her travels. The owner of the Admari Tea Shop in Midland Park really knew her teas. Howard asked me to pick up some green tea to replenish our supply. She let us smell the canisters of teas. I prefer Japanese green tea to Chinese. I learned that Japanese tea leaves are steamed and Chinese is roasted. That must account for the flavor difference. I bought some Matcha Genmaicha, which is green tea powder and green tea mixed with roasted rice, and Honyama Sencha, which is premium tea, shade-grown in the mountains of Japan near Shizuoka.
Unfortunately, the shop didn’t have tables to sit and savor a cup, but we each selected a flavor, which she brewed for us to “takeaway”. I tried the Himalayan Delight (a white tea), Sheryl had Java Mate (which was like coffee-flavored tea) and Helyn tried KickAssam (their own special blend). I think we were all pleased with our choices.
Before dinner, we had snacks. We enjoyed cheese and crackers, fruit, and bruschetta. Howard made his special mango guacamole. Nice spread!
Then, as if we needed to eat some more, we had a nice dinner out at an Italian restaurant.
For breakfast, my mother-in-law introduced us to Shakshuka,
an Israeli breakfast dish made with tomato, peppers and poached eggs that they discovered during their recent trip there. It was delicious, and something we’ll try at home.
We headed home after breakfast on Sunday. It was a quick visit, but a nice time spent hanging out with family. Also, despite our pre-visit worries, Bella behaved admirably.
As I said before, we always eat well at Sheryl’s, even if she says she doesn’t cook.
Mango Guacamole
1 yellow mango (Champagne or Ataulfo), peeled and diced
1 avocado, peeled and diced
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno, finely diced (optional)
1 handful of cilantro, chopped (optional)
Toss all the ingredients together and serve with tortilla chips
A Plateful of Happiness 