Month: April 2014

These two little boys are lucky. We took them to the Irish-Italian Parade in Metairie, in March, and they got to yell “I’m Irish!” and “I’m Italian” (which are both completely true — from Rabbi Moshe Chafetz in Venice on Av’s side, to all the Polloks and Polks in Scotland and Ireland on mine) to the people with throws, but the fun thing about these parades is that (rightly so) *nobody* cares if you are or not!  Fake it!  Or don’t!  Everyone’s just happy!!

We caught cabbages and carrots and potatoes; moon pies, frisbees, go-cups, what must’ve been more than 25lbs of beads, a giant foam finger, packs of ramen, bouncy-balls, great-big stuffed animals, and more.  The good thing is that we know to bring several big shopping bags with us so we’re able to take it all back!  We had terrific people around us and it was a great time!

It’s a fabulous cast of characters!  One older lady on the neutral ground side *really* wanted a kiss and a flower from almost everyone she could get her hands on!

This gentleman was super-sweet and I think Shug was a little embarrassed (which doesn’t happen often!).

Shugie says he’s ready to tango!

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Since I mentioned the boys’ (I think 8th-great-grandfather) Rabbi Moshe Chafetz from Venice, this is a pic of the Jewish ghetto there where he lived.  This was one of our stops on our honeymoon.  We ate at a kosher restaurant for lunch, and it so happened that we ran into Chabadniks who offered to do the sheva brachot for us!  So sweet!

For a moment, consider putting the imagery that the word ‘poppers’ probably brings to mind.  The John Besh – Brian Landry Borgne on Loyola is doing duck poppers and that’s just a whole other world.

Well let’s start with first things first.  Cocktails, and bread that comes in a super-cute paper sack:

…and since I’ve come to the realization that sometimes two appetizers is worlds better (and often less expensive plus perhaps enough left to bring home) than one entree, here are those ‘duck poppers’ as duck wrapped around jalapenos, and cheese.  Delectable:

and (most of these came home) the slow smoked pork empanadas with white sauce.  When I ordered these, I asked the waiter if it was anything like white chicken sauce from Alabama, and knew exactly what I was talking about as he was also from Alabama!  Sure enough.  And crazy-delicious.  You know that crust was just-right and the meat was tender and perfect:

Columns wrapped with oyster shells:

Just happy easy, and light and bright.  So nice:

There’s a piece in the NYT about vidalias (say it with me: vy-DALE-yuh) — not exactly about how terrific, tear-duct friendly, life-affirming, helloooo-spring-is-finally-here! they are.  It’s about how farmers in Vidalia took the State of Georgia to court last year as to when they can begin shipping (it’s not the farmers who decide the initial shipping date (!!)):
Armed with letters from grocery store executives who had complained about early-crop onions that went bad too quickly or didn’t taste all that sweet, the Georgia agriculture commissioner, Gary Black, pushed back. There would be no early shipments.

So until the case is settled, the nation will not get its first Vidalia onions any earlier than April 21.

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Georgia Public Radio did a piece several about the vidalia, including one of the farmers who explained that you really want to buy the squattiest onion you can get:

“When the tops stand firm, there’s a tremendous amount of life in the stem. But when they’re browned a little bit on the tops, the onions are really beginning to grow so they’re sucking the nutrients out of the top of the quills,” said Walt Dasher, owner of G and R Farms in Glennville, Georgia.

“You can tell strictly by its shape. All of the Vidalias are of the Granex variety. The X in Granex means flat. The flatter the onion, typically the sweeter it is. On the other hand, the deeper the onion, the hotter it is,” said Dasher.


1015s from Texas ship earlier than the Vidalia.  Me, I’m a vidalia girl, and I’ll wait.  Maybe it makes the heart and the tummy grow fonder.  Why, last year I was so tickled about them showing up at Whole Foods, I posted this pic on FB with the caption, ‘Hallelujah!’.

Ever go to some cultural event — something that you’re not really a part of regionally / ethnically / religiously but you think *wow* I just enjoy this so much through the people who do/live it?

This quote from Albert Einstein:

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

The pure wonderfulness that is how people see this earth, how it is to be understood…all our different flavors of how we see things now and what forevermore is all about…

One of my favorite holidays of the year is one I don’t even personally celebrate (it’s not part of my religion) but one I love seeing other people take part in: Saint Joseph’s Day.  These pics are from a couple of years ago, when we visited three or four different altars:

Which leads us today to, of all things, Saint Lucy’s eyes.  And Saint Lucy’s eye pies. Recently in the Times-Pic, Judy Walker asked about the custom of including St. Lucy pies in St. Joseph Day altars (Saint Lucy being the Saint of vision).  A reader wrote in, explaining:
“Vision Past: Eye on the past, members of the family that are in heaven, with photographs on the altar to be seen.

“Vision Future: Eye on the future, so they keep a eye on their grandchildren and great- grandchildren.”

Saint Joseph’s Day is March 19 each year.  I hope all of you who celebrate Easter enjoy a meaningful, hopeful, happy holiday.

This year, I’m doing themed days for Passover with the boys!  We’ve done a Disney / animated Passover day:

Disney has these cute papercrafts — a Mickey holding matzah, and a Mickey and friends Passover/seder scene for the table:

‘The Prince of Egypt’ (Dreamworks, sorry Disney) on Netflix streaming:

We may also watch ‘Joseph: King of Dreams‘ during the week also.

And I came up with a great name for this pizza I made on matzah!  Making the cheese into rounds and arranging into a Mickey Mouse shape atop pasta sauce (bake at 400* for about 7-8 minutes), here’s our Matzah-rella pizza!

Passover starts tonight, and here’s what we’re having:

Charoset bar — guests made their own with choice of apple, honey, wine, pecans, walnuts, golden, and dark raisins

Beef ribs (simply, thoroughly seasoned and in the oven at 300* for 2 to 2-1/2 hours)
Chicken piccata (Jeff Nathan’s matzah panko for breading, used this recipe as a base)
Sauteed mushrooms
Roasted potatoes (olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary — quartered red potatoes, roasted in oven on 400* 1 hour)
Fried green tomatoes
Collard greens (boil, then simmer hours on stovetop in chicken broth)
Deviled eggs (standard, with watermelon pickles for the relish component)
Chopped liver with red pepper jelly and Tam Tams
MawMaw’s coleslaw
Espresso sorbet
Sephardic orange-almond flan
Chocolate-dipped marshmallows
Potato candy with hazelnut filling
Passover cake baby bites

Updated:

Mah nishtanah halyla hazeh mikol halaylot from two cuties!!

For some reason I didn’t take a picture of our parents’ second night seder, but this shows how their table traditionally appears: