Monday, December 10, 2012
Montclair resident Daniel Brenner wrote a new song to celebrate the Festival of Lights.
One local resident says there aren’t enough Hanukkah songs, so he wrote his own. Daniel Brenner, 42, recently posted a video of his new song about Hanukkah, titled “A Minor Holiday,” which he hopes will bring major attention to the traditionally lesser festival. “I’ve been, let’s say, recovering from a certain kind of secret jealousy of Christmas my entire life,” said Brenner with a laugh. Brenner, who is a rabbi, recalled that he was one of the only Jewish kids in his community growing up in Charlotte, N.C., and the yearly Festival of Lights would be drowned out by the ubiquitous Christmas season. That is where the opening lyric of the song, “In a forest full of Christmas trees, we lit candles for the Maccabees,” comes from, said …
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Traditional and Indian latkes prepared with love
I was at Amy Rubin Schottland's house over the summer when she taught me how to make rugelachs. This time she invited me to her kitchen for potato latkes. I am not a novice since I have made latkes before. The problem was, I had experience with Indian style latkes—that's right—they were definitely not the traditional ones. I love tradition—especially when it comes to food—but I do find myself challenging and modifying old recipes whenever possible. In this case I decided to change up the traditional latke recipe by adding a few Indian ingredients. In India, vegetable fritters are made with chickpea flour. It is a pale yellow in color and has a delicious nutty flavor—it is also high in protein. I started with the usual russet potatoes—…
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Give it up for latkes, applesauce and brisket.
This article originally ran in December of 2011. The winter holidays are upon us. Oh joy! In our house, that means scrambling to find gifts my kids might actually need and making brisket and applesauce from scratch and latkes out of the box. I know it’s heresy to use potato pancake mix and many of you foodies out there are probably gathering your potatoes and onions already. Go ahead. I have spent many nights, whipping out the food processor, peeling the potatoes, slicing them up so they fit down the chute, letting the processor grate them into mushy bits and then spooning them into a pan of hot oil, exhausted but secure in the knowledge in that I have peeled the potatoes myself and my family might love me more for it. But I’ve found …
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The Jewish holiday begins a little early this year.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Mark your calendars for the 25th day of the month of Kislev. That's when Hanukkah starts in 2012. For those of us who aren't so tuned into the Jewish calendar, that translates to sundown on Saturday Dec. 8. The holiday, also called the Festival of Lights, lasts eight days. Hanukkah commemorates the story of the Maccabean Revolt against Syrian rulers in present day Israel 2,300 years ago. The Maccabees wanted to rededicate Jerusalem's main temple but had only enough oil to kindle the Eternal Light for one day. Yet the oil lasted for eight, according to the story, and thus the holiday of Hanukkah was born. Today Jews generally celebrate by gathering together with family, lighting a menorah over the course of eight days, playing dreidel and…
Laura Zinn Fromm
1:56 pm on Monday, December 19, 2011
If you drop the hard the brown sugar into the pot with the brisket, you can skip microwaving it first. Good luck, M2BW! more ›