All right.  I admit it.  I’ve been stalking her.    I’ve been taking the long way to work, getting off the bus on Broadway instead of on Howe Street and walking down York Street instead, thinking I might run into Claudia Roden at any time.  I plan my approach/… Read full post »

“Dear Rebecca Koenigsberg,” the email began .  I peered at it incredulously.  I was not expecting this.   A few days before I had been sitting in morning rounds, finished my paperwork, awaiting the end of the meeting.  I usually turn to Google in these times of ne/… Read full post »

12:45 AM.  I remember saying to myself as I downed a cup of coffee, “you are going to be really tired tomorrow.”  And indeed, it is now tomorrow, and I am tired. 

I can’t blame it on Michael although I did take out about two seconds to find one of… Read full post »

I want to be a Rabbi.”  Moshe stated matter-of-factly.  “And president of a shul.  A synagogue,” he added.  “Just like my father.”  He steered the duck tour vehicle (boat? Bus? Truck?) across the Charles River   towards the Longfellow B/… Read full post »

“I tasted your macaroni and cheese.  It didn’t have any flavor. “  My son Moshe, chubby –cheeked and disappointed., confronted me, full of indignation.  I had been at the synagogue earlier that day, together with Michael and all the kids, buying our Lulav and Et/… Read full post »

Labor Day.  One of those moments  you hold on to, to remind you of what is good and true in the world.   At Bishops Orchards we picked peaches, apples, pears, raspberries.  They said it was the last day for peaches, and we grabbed them off the trese and from the ground/… Read full post »

Labor Day.  One of those moments  you hold on to, to remind you of what is good and true in the world.   At Bishops Orchards we picked peaches, apples, pears, raspberries.  They said it was the last day for peaches, and we grabbed them off the trese and from the ground/… Read full post »

After a full day of serving humanity at the dual diagnosis intensive outpatient program I came home to make Mandelbrot.  Michael had gotten me started by chopping up a bunch of almonds.  He had a vested interest in this project:  he loves mandelbrot.  While watching me collect my/… Read full post »

Here’s how things stand.  I have just come home.  My cleaning lady left no more than three hours ago, and already, the kitchen is a roaring mess.  The little kids are fighting over glasses of diet Seven Up.   (“Hey that’s mine.  Keep your hands off mine/… Read full post »

Blogging is very time consuming.  I usually try to squeeze it in during my work time or I squeeze it in during my home time.  With either scenario I end up with people breathing down my neck and interrupting just when I need to concentrate the most. 

Yesterday was Apple… Read full post »

Our good friend, the most cheerful, smiling, positive, single-malt-scotch drinking person on earth, Asher Benichoov, turned fifty, and we were invited to the birthday party.  For this one, I decided to make Sponge Cake.   It was not a complete success.  To go with it I had planned/… Read full post »

I sure do hate work days sometimes.  I have a couple of lovely days at home with my kids, my house is nice and orderly,  and then SLAM.  Back to reality.  The house morphs into a pig sty, dirty dishes, socks, books, yarmulkes, dolls and orange peels everywhere.  I get up/… Read full post »

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for a special report about my mother-in-law of blessed memory.  Clara Koenigsberg. A Hard Act to Follow.  A Force of Nature.  A Bren. (In Yidddish that means something like "on fire".) She’s gone now, but for the first eleven years/… Read full post »

It's not a secret anymore, but I want to let you all know:  there's an article about me and the blog on the front page of the Jewish Ledger, Connecticut's Jewish newspaper.  Here's a link to the article: 

http://www.jewishledger.com/

A few weeks ago, a very nice reporter named Cindy M… Read full post »

Food writers.  We hate 'em. Well, not really hate, but we scorn them and their smarmy descriptions.  "Snowy mounds" of this and "a dollop" of that, coulis and demi-glaces, it's a lot of overly precious and pretentious showing off about food  which is really pretty basic and should… Read full post »

Schav.  It appeared on the shelf in jars, bearing the brand name "Manischewitz", right around Pesach (Passover time).  My mother would serve it on Shavuot, as an alternative to borscht which, with its carnelian color and suspicious sweet taste (a soup that’s sweet????) seemed just too… Read full post »

I have arrived at the dessert chapter.  Heaven be praised.  It is a long, long chapter.  We don’t typically eat dessert during the week, and if I make them just for Shabbat meals then I will still be in this chapter next Pesach.  Thus,  I decided to make some of the/… Read full post »

SALTPETER:  FOR WIVES WHO DON'T WANT THEIR HUSBANDS TO GO AFTER OTHER WOMEN

That was the label on the one pound package of saltpeter which I had to buy in order to make my very own Corned  Beef (or salt beef as it is known in Britain where Claudia Roden lives.) /… Read full post »