Month: September 2014

Now that we’ve had Rosh Hashanah, here are some pics of this year’s experiments:

Honey cake in the star-shaped pan:

Here, a traditional round challah for RH (not going to post recipe here because this year I used a honey challah recipe which looks good but didn’t turn out as wonderfully as I would have liked. Still, really happy with the shapes).  Rather than braided, long challah, the round shape for Rosh Hashanah is used for a myriad of reasons, among them, round for the circle of life:

Ladder Challah (ascending to do good works):

Pomegranate Challah — this was inspired by the super-pretty image on Pinterest. There weren’t step-by-step instructions, so following is how I did it. Also, I wanted the pomegranates to make a round crown shape (a reminder of G-d’s kingship), which is also traditional for Rosh Hashanah.

Pomegranates are traditional for RH because they are a ‘new fruit’, and we have a story that there are 613 seeds inside a pomegranate and 613 are the number of the mitzvot in the Torah.

I took enough dough for one regular challah. I divided the dough into two separate amounts: eight balls, knowing that as they rose, they would come together to make the pomegranate bodies, and a smaller amount as eight smaller balls to go atop the balls to make the ‘crown’ on top of each fruit.  A bundt pan was perfect for this, to keep the round shape:

To make the ‘crown’ of each pomegranate, after sticking the smaller ball atop the larger one snugly, I took a pair of kitchen scissors and cut halfway through that top dough one direction, then the other (to make something of a plus sign):

…then very gently with my fingers separated each of those points to as similarly as possible make the crown shape:

I figured that pretty early on in the baking process, the crowns would brown earlier than everything else, and sure enough:

So I cut pieces of aluminum foil to cover the crowns only:

They were ready to come out of the oven after about 45 minutes, when I saw that the ‘bodies’ of the pomegranates were nice and brown:

Yes! Ohmygosh I was so tickled that these turned out so well:

I think it’s a new tradition for Rosh Hashanah!

Suzanne and I had supper one night at Vittoria at Pepper Place in Birmingham:

We started with one of the ‘bar snacks’ — which really could have been shared by us as our entrees rather than an app — hand-cut fries with serrano ham, pimenton aioli, Parmesan, and fried egg (is the egg atop ___ so overdone now? Probably, but this was good.).  Yummy. Welcome to the carb zone.  You can’t eat just one of those fries.

I had one of the specials that evening, which was described as “raviolo with duck” (not meaning that the dish was garnished with duck meat, but rather it was made with a duck egg).

Av and I have been here once before, but the experience is as though there’s something missing.  Know when you want to really like something but there’s something keeping you from it?  It’s almost like…oh good grief, I could think of a dozen things here but they’d all sound like lost verses from ‘Ironic’ (which turns out to be Kierkegaardian).  It’s not especially clever or unique, and at this price point there needs to be some  differentiating piece.  There’s an element here that’s not met.  In any case, it’s worth a try to see if it hits all the right notes for you — but I’d go at lunch rather than supper next time so the experiment isn’t quite as costly.

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What’s incredibly likable is Carrigan’s Public House, also in Birmingham.  We went here for lunch and the atmosphere is really enjoyable.  There’s a bar made from a Land Rover shell, big RH-type leather couches for lounging (after we were done eating, we took our drinks and sat and talked for a while), the edge of the bar counter is made of railroad track, there’s a freight elevator that’s been made into a booth for eating — there are many other tables spaced around plus a roof deck, and many more really great industrial touches.  Not overwrought, which can be distracting.  It’s just clever enough to feel right without trying too hard.

Av remembered that their hamburger, a dish which he always orders in its simplest form so there’s no way to hide behind an onion or kicky aioli, is on Garden and Gun’s guide to best hamburgers.  It was really, really good although he still gives the #1 spot to Chez FonFon‘s burger. The fries were crazy-good.  What else was really terrific was my order, the Bibb lettuce cups: grilled chicken, avocado, bacon, tomato, cucumber, egg, and blue cheese.  *Wonderful*

If you’re getting ready for the New Year, here are some pics and links to past ideas (some with tutorials):

Rosh Hashanah Banner

Caramel Apples

Sculpey Apple Magnets and Thumbtacks

Honey Cake

Happy Birthday, World! Cakes

We have some great ideas for this year and can’t wait to show them after the holiday!

The last time we stayed overnight in Montgomery, we decided to stay at the Renaissance Hotel (it’s one of the Marriotts that the RSA has) because I’d heard it had been completely filled with art curated by Nall.

We had a great view of the depot and the Alabama River.

One of the big pluses of staying here is that at night you can walk down to the riverfront through the tunnel that’s lit with differently colored lights (another Bill FitzGibbons work? I don’t think so, but it’s definitely inspired by him if not). Here’s Shug running through it:
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We walked all over downtown, then came back to the hotel to see the art. These pieces behind check-in are by Mary Catherine Watson:

Charlie Lucas:

JJ Gaudel:

Kyle Braund:

Yvonne Wells:

This (nearly two story) installation is by Nall:

Neal Brantley:

Amber Hall:

Mike Handley:

Av and the people in The Middle Feast food truck from Food Network’s ‘The Great Food Truck Race‘ were talking when they were on their way to Mobile, and Av helped get the word out in the community.  We went down to Mobile that weekend to meet them, and it was really neat.  I haven’t posted this before because I didn’t want to mess things up for people who are watching the show, but the Mobile episode came on tonight, so here we go!

All three trucks — Texas, Bacon, and Middle Feast, all set up in downtown Mobile, and there were long lines for every truck:

Tyler Florence came around at one point and met people in the crowd:

Here, explaining some change-up in the show:

Av had the chicken shawarma, and I had the Israeli nachos:

(Have to say, those chips themselves were awful — I bet if they had sprung for falafel chips it would have been much better — but the chicken shawarma was great!!)

‘This Week’s Various’ will be back next week.

This is a farm stand not far from the home I grew up in, in rural Cullman County, Alabama.  There was nothing for sale there this day, but we used to stop and get beautiful tomatoes and other produce, putting money in the honesty box.

Have a beautiful week, friends!