Skip to main content

Tired and Full

Rosh Hashana is past us. For some reason, I never felt relaxed during this years services. There is a lot going on in our family, and we hosted a large number of guests for meals. All told, I felt like I was moving from prayer to meal to prayer to meal for two straight days.

The company we had was nice and for the first time in many Rosh Hashanas, we didn't screw up any meals. Our guests ate and were satisified. YEAH!

We on the other hand are like wet rags. The thought of another meat meal is almost too much. One of our neighbors (god bless their house) invited us for dinner tonight. It will probably be meat (as opposed to dairy), but just being in a different environment should be a nice break.

Tomorrow, we break the mold. We are serving fish and dairy for lunch! This is a bit strange for me, since I seem to focus on making meat dishes, but sometimes you just got to change. Some time ago, I received a deep fryer. It feels like feast or famine. Either I'm using it all the time, or it sits idle. This weekend, it was busy.

I don't like fish. Actually, I don't like fish bones. The taste of fish is nice and sushi is one of my favorite foods, partially because it has no bones! So if we are serving fish, its probably salmon or cod filles. This weekend, its both. We love beer batters, so I made a beer batter for the cod and deep fried them as half portions. This should give people more of an option if they don't like it.

Once you have a batter and deep frier, its party time! Everything goes into the frier. Today, it started with onions. Wonderful, crunchy onion rings. Then zucchini. Dip them in the batter and drop them in the frier. They don't come our crunch, but they are very good. At that point, I ran out of batter. Next time I'll make a double batch so that I can play some more!

I should mention that we have four young ladies staying with us this weekend. Not only are our neighbors wonderful for inviting us out, they also included our guests!

The difference between the two noodles and cheese recipies are that the "How to cook everything" approach is to use more butter, less cheese and to season the milk with bay leaves. Both recipies are easy and simple to make. Since we are serving it tomorrow, I didn't bake them. They are all cooked and will just reheat on the hot plate tomorrow afternoon.

We had some pumpkin that my wife bought for Rosh Hashana, but that got lost in the refrigerator. I baked it in the over, pureed it and then added garlic, olive oil, parsley and a bit of orange juice. Its not like the sweet pumpkin pie filling. Its somewhat sharp and smooth.

Shabbat Shuva - Parshat Vayeilech
Dinner (OUT)

Lunch - 14
Noodle and Cheese - Better Homes cookbook
Noodle and Cheese - How to cook everything
Salmon
Deep fried Beer Batter Cod
Guacamole
Green Salad
Brown Rice
Pumpkin Savory
Ice Cream for Dessert!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A change of pace (Kidney Failure)

I have been trying to keep this blog focused on hospitality and food.  God though has other plans for his creations and I find now that I will have to expand the scope to cover new topics.  I'll try to continue blogging about my menus and our guests, but expect more posts that have little or nothing to do with food. In February of this year, My second oldest son, Asaf was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure. Simply put, both his kidneys are damaged and scarred from some infection or defect that happened years ago.  They will likely cease to function sometime within the next six months. The good news is that there is no immediate danger to his life.  Kidney Dialysis is a viable option and can maintain his health for up to ten or more years if necessary.  Unfortunately, the process is not easy and there are potential side effects. Given Asaf's generally excellent health and age, Kidney Dialysis is considered only a stop-gap measure and not a long term solution. The best solutio
13 comments
Read more

B"DE Clark Evenchick

B"DE = Baruch Dayan Emet, Blessed is the truthful judge. This is the traditional jewish response to hearing that someone has passed away. My friend Clark Evenchick passed away last night. He suffered for a number of years from ALS. His passing is both a loss and a blessing. We will miss his wit and his powerful presence. On the other hand, ALS is a terrible disease for both the patient and their family. As the body becomes less responsive, the family and caregivers need to spend more and more time providing physical and mental support. Clark's passing frees both himself and his family from this disease. Clark built our house. At one time, he ran a construction company. Clark was not only an honest contractor, but also a joy to work with. At a time when most houses took up to two years from ground breaking to residence, Clark built our house in 7 months. Whenever there was a problem, we were more than comfortable telling him to find his own solution. I believe that
4 comments
Read more

TX +2 days

The transplant was on Monday afternoon. As I write this, its Wednesday afternoon. Call it 48 hours since my son received his new kidney. My wife and I are taking shifts at the hospital. She had the first night, I had the second. Tonight is her turn again. I just got back from the hospital and that's why there have been no posts. There is no Internet in the transplant ward. Medically, my Asaf is doing VERY well (as is the donor). When we went in, Asaf's creatinine level was about 6.4 mg/dL (GFR: 12). It means that his kidney was pretty much not doing anything. Today, we got the latest results. His new creatinine is 2.03 mg/dL (GFR: 46). That's better than my own and almost in the normal range (0.9 - 1.2 mg/dL). Each day its getting better and better. What this means is that his new kidney is working! He is able to eat a normal meal and is no longer on a restricted diet for kidney disease. This is great news! Our next hurdle is to make sure that his body does not reject the n
5 comments
Read more