Archive | October, 2008

Potato Zucchini Latkas

by Jamie Ginsberg on 29. Oct, 2008 in Jamie Ginsberg

Lately my cooking has sucked. I have not put in the time and love to get dishes right. I looked in the fridge, staring at the 4 zucchinis and 4 yukon gold potatos screaming if you don’t use me I will rot. Forgetting I am on some kind of diet, inspiration struck. Why make roasted potatoes without oil and grilled zucchini when I could make Bubbi’s Potato Zucchini Latkas?

I rinsed and quartered the zucchinis, tossing one that had already rotted, and steamed them until they were soft. Grabbing my shredder, I quickly shredded half an onion making a mostly liquid opaque mush in the bowl. Next I went to work shredding the 4 potatoes. Manually shredding potatoes is great example of how important it is to take your Yoga off the Mat. You must be fully present, carefully applying pressure between your fingers on the potato. Too much pressure in any one direction will cause the potato to slip out of your grip, rubbing the potato too hard on the shredder will result in skinned knuckles or worse. Shredding Potatoes takes focus and love.

I was always amazed at how Bubbi shredded potatoes, cranking out endless Latkas. I rarely make Potato Latkas because of the energy, time and focus required. Oh yeah, and the house smells like latkas for at least 24 hours ;-) The secret ingredient to all Latkas is Love. You will not find this ingredient in aisle 6 at Whole Foods or buried deep in your spice rack. You must put the love in during the process of making the Latkas. Bubbi always put the love into her cooking, when you ate at her house you knew she had thought about you while cooking your meal for hours if not days. When you cook with Love, you feel great and truly live in the moment.

I tossed the tiny bits of potato I could not hold to shred and grabbed the steamed zucchinis. Placing the Zucchinis in a bowl I quickly mashed them with a fork then mixed them in with the shredded potato. You can’t let the potato sit too long or it turns a strange reddish brown. I separated 3 eggs mixing in the yellows and lightly whipping the yolks before folding them in. Mixing in matzo meal until the consistency was not too loose I added black pepper, granulated garlic powder and salt…no not salt….why did I do it? This is where I lost my focus, doubted myself and screwed up my Latkas. I should have skipped the salt. Last night someone told me Yukon Gold Potatos do not absorb salt. I am probably one of the few nut cases to use fancy potatos in making Latkas…Mistake! Hear me now believe me later…leave the salt out, you can always add it after they are cooked.

I filled the bottom of my pan with oil and heated the pan to a slightly high medium heat. Placing the Latkas in the pan using a spoon, I could feel Bubbi in the kitchen with me. I grabbed a fork and used it to flip the Latkas, just like Bubbi always did. I am not sure why this memory sticks with me, but there is something magical about the way she would use a fork to fry up scrambled eggs or flip her Latkas. Getting them nice and crispy, I pulled them out and onto plates covered in paper towels to get rid of some of the grease, then onto a cookie tray and into the oven to stay warm.

Potato Zucchini Latkas are a contemporary version of the classic Potato Latka. Bubbi started doing these randomly about 10 years ago. I use a lot less eggs than Bubbi every did, partly because she always lied to me and told me she used less eggs than she did; partly because eggs kind of gross me out and I try and avoid them whenever possible. I do shred like Bubbi did, stay away from the food processor on this one. The consistency of the potato is partly what makes these so distinctively delicious. I avoid toppings like sour cream and apple sauce, but you should eat them any way that works for you.

I ate the Latkas that night, trying to forgive myself for the salt. Recently, I have been reading about Ayurveda and the Doshas. It seems like I am classified as a “Kapha.” The bad news here is that salt unbalances Kaphas. As does soy beans. As I pound Latkas, I can’t help thinking about the amount of sodium I intake each time I eat sushi (hello soy sauce) and how the lightly steamed and salted edamame may actually be bad for me. Suddenly, I wonder why I have never heard of adding crumbled blue cheese to Latkas…hmmm maybe because fried potatoes is dangerous enough? As you look in your fridge for inspiration this week, create a new twist on an old favorite, push your creativity in the kitchen and most of all remember to put in the Love.

Read full story • Comments { 2 }

Udon, the un-pasta pasta

by susannahm on 28. Oct, 2008 in Susannah Michaels

You’re going to LOVE this recipe – it will be a great tool in your culinary tool belt. But whoa, let’s slow down and have an apperitif. Most evenings, as I prepare dinner, I have a glass of green kombucha.

Kombucha is fermented tea and is good for you because it’s a probiotic – it gets good bacteria into your stomach to jump start the digestion process. The kind I drink is green because it contains spirulina, chlorella, and klamath mountain blue-green algae. I think the boost to my immune system from this nightly elixir is why I haven’t had a cold in years. (Although in all honesty, I’ve only been drinking this stuff for the past year, so I don’t know what to attribute the prior year’s health to. Good food, perhaps.)

And now, on to the meal. This recipe for Udon with tofu is derived from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone – a book I highly recommend. As usual, I’ve changed a few things and made a few shortcuts.

Set a pot of water on the stove to boil. Meanwhile, mix your sauce in a cereal bowl: 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce (hoisin is mostly sugar, but I always look for a brand that doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup); 1.5 tablespoons tomato paste (buy the kind in a tube – so practical for small quantities); 1.5 tablespoons soy sauce; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 jalapeno, minced; 1/3 cup water.

Next, cut two leeks into thin rings, or do so with a bunch of scallions; cut a red pepper into pieces; and slice up about 4 ounces of five-spice tofu, or whatever you can find that seems close, into small, thin slabs.

When the water’s about to boil, heat 2 tablespoons peanut oil in a skillet on medium-high. When your water boils, add 6 ounces of udon (2 bundles in the 12.8-ounce packages I find in ethnic aisle of my grocery store). Meanwhile, your oil should now be good and hot. Toss in the tofu and brown for about 2 minutes. Add in your leeks and red pepper, and saute for another minute or two. Keep an eye on your udon, because it will finish cooking in just a few minutes. Add your sauce to the skillet and let it heat up for about 30 seconds. Then throw your drained udon on top of it all and mix it up. If you have some cilantro, garnish with it. Congratulations, you have before you a great meal that took less than half an hour from start to finish.

udon with tofu and red pepper

udon with tofu and red pepper

If you had gotten the recipe from its source, rather than me, you would also have added a tablespoon lemon zest or minced lemongrass to your sauce (I used to do that, but I got lazy and think it’s plenty good without it). And you would have had a few mushrooms in your stir fry. And your oil would have been roasted peanut, but I haven’t had any luck finding that.  

Udon, a flat, Japanese noodle, is made of whole wheat flour and has a completely different texture and taste from regular pasta, that’s why I call it the un-pasta pasta. Try it, you’ll love it. Bring it to a pot luck and people will love you too.

Read full story • Comments { 4 }

It never fails – cauliflower cheese soup

by susannahm on 25. Oct, 2008 in Susannah Michaels

After a week of weird dinners, I need something I can count on. Enough of the tofu recipe I won’t bother making again. Or the barley soup that wasn’t worth the barley. And the leek-edamame coconut rice was okay, but not that satisfying. No, I need a sure thing. And so, on this blowy October day, it’s cauliflower cheese soup for me.

It’s the weekend, so I have the luxury of making homemade bread – nothing better to go with soup on a fall day. Or any day. I let the dough rise while I go out and do my shopping.

The recipe I use for the soup is derived from Mollie Katzen’s in The Moosewood Cookbook. The cookbook I have was given to me as a 20th birthday present back in 1987. If you have a more recent edition, the recipe will be missing the secret ingredient – buttermilk. When she reissued the cookbook, she reduced the fat by cutting the buttermilk. Maybe it’s okay that way, but I won’t bother finding out.

The initial contents of the soup are as follows:

2 cups potato, cut in chunks; a small cauliflower, cut in chunks; 1 cup chopped carrot; 3 cloves garlic; 1 cup chopped onion; 2 tsp salt; 4 cups water or stock.

Boil all of the above ingredients together in a soup pot, covered, for 15 minutes, until soft. Beware, the kitchen won’t smell good from the boiled cauliflower and onion. But don’t give up! Puree the ingredients in a blender. Return the blended soup to the pot and stir in the following:

1.5 cups grated cheddar; 3/4 cup milk, 1 cup buttermilk; 1/4 tsp dill weed; 1/4 tsp mustard; black pepper.

It’s as easy as that! Katzen’s recipe is slightly different. It includes 1/4 tsp ground dill or caraway seed, but I don’t have that on hand, so I don’t use it. And she sautes some cauliflowerets to add in later, but I don’t bother.

Cauliflower cheese soup – you gotta love its simplicity and deliciousness. It just never fails to satisfy. Yeah, okay, I might need a bowl of cereal before bed, but I can live with that.

Read full story • Comments { 3 }

Eating at the Windham Tolland 4-H Camp

by Jamie Ginsberg on 22. Oct, 2008 in Jamie Ginsberg

Some of my best summer memories are tied to the Windham Tolland 4-H Camp. Looking at their web site and pictures from the past 2 summers, a flood of memories came back. Laughing at the exact same canoes we used 20+ years ago to the kids doing the dizzy lizzy. It is amazing how little has changed at the treasure in the middle of nowhere. Not even the cabin names (Girls’ area cabins are: American Chestnut, Douglas Fir, Eastern Hemlock, Shagbark Hickory, Sugar Maple, Scarlet Oak, Sassafras, and Sycamore; Boys’ area cabins are: Balsam Poplar, Linden, Paper Birch, Red Cedar, White Pine, and White Spruce).

My first camping experiences, cooking dinner in tin foil over a camp fire, eating a box of captain crunch at 1 am, to bug juice, glorious sugar laden bug juice and doing the crocodile rock to elvis costello. From bike trips to canoe expeditions to the Mansfield Dam, hiking up to 2nd pond to passing all of my swim levels so I could swim in the deep water to the raft. From my first kiss after the dance at the nurses station to losing my first walkman (not the virginity, just the walkman). Kickball, capture the flag, nuke’m, prisoner dodge ball and soccer. These memories are probably typical for most people who went to camp on some level.

What made 4-H camp special? Was it the story we told each week of how the Indians brought Fire to Man? Was it that we had Tribes each night, when we split up into different groups with names like The Cherokees and Naragansetts for all camp activities? Was it that we learned the principals of 4-H and then repeatedly violated them by raiding the girls cabins with water balloons and shaving ceam (I have no idea why or how we had shaving cream).

No…What made 4-H camp special was Time For Thought. This is where we sat on log benches overlooking the lake as the sun set into the mountains listening to the counselors or occasional camper inspire us and give us time for reflection. Often we would sing a simple song as we left Time for Thought, “Make New Friends, But keep The Old, One Is Silver And The Other Is Gold.” I sing this to Olivia sometimes as I put her to sleep, hoping some of the lessons I learned at 4-H camp stay in her life.

We would sing grace before eating, which was always kind of fun for the Jew. As a reward, I usually got to be the only kid with a yankee hat on during the meal (“he has to wear his hat, he’s a Jew”). I loved Grace, we always stood and sang it from posters on the wall. Most were loud and fast, with the occasional melodramatic version. Singing was a huge part of camp. We sang before flag raising, waiting to get into the dining hall, after meals, on hikes, at flag lowering, during tribes and right before we headed up to our cabins at night. The kid who is melodically impaired and permanently out of tune sang all day and every day, loving the freedom that came with it.

Right, but what does all of that have to do with food? Hmmmmmm, the food was not terrible at 4-H camp. Camp is probably where I learned to love breakfast. No longer did I have to east Kashi puffed rice cereal (some people use this as packaging material others use it for insulation in their walls, certain hippie communists fed this to their children), at camp we could get mini boxes of cereal. Frosted Flakes, Apple Jacks, Crispix, Corn Flakes, Rice Crispies flooded into my world and helped refine my sweet tooth.

The rest of the meals were forgettable. Strangely enough I loved kitchen duty. Cleaning up and running the dish washer was a blast. The comraderie of the kitchen staff and access to late night snacks made all the work worthwhile. Plus, you always knew the plates and silver ware you were using were clean ;-)

Looking at my old camp’s web site, I wonder how none of my FaceBook people are camp friends after all of those summers together. Amy has found plenty of her camp people on FaceBook. More importantly, I look at my life and remember the very important and simple philosophies imparted to us, Head, Heart, Hands, Health. Is this really any different than Yoga? See the pledge below, if we all adopted this into our lives, would we be better people? What do you remember about camp?

4-H Pledge
I pledge my head to clearer thinking,
My heart to greater loyalty,
My hands to larger service,
And my health to better living for my club,
My community,
My country,
And my world

4-H MOTTO
“To make the best better”
Adopted 1927

SLOGAN
Learn by doing

4-H COLORS
Green and White

The white symbolized purity and the green
is nature’s most common color in the great outdoors,
emblematic of spring time, life and youth.

http://www.4hcampct.org

Read full story • Comments { 2 }

October and the Garden is Still Yielding

by susannahm on 21. Oct, 2008 in Susannah Michaels

The parsley has never looked so beautiful as now. It must like the cool weather. And the carrots, there are still so many! Add in one of the last tomatoes, sitting on the kitchen counter, and I have some wonderful garden veggies to include in a meal.

My boyfriend doesn’t eat fish, and doesn’t particularly enjoy it when I do. So the first thing I do when he leaves town, like now, to visit his parents, is to go to my food coop, enjoy the attention of the fishmonger there, and bring home a tiny piece of something. Today it was walleye. I’m new to fish eating and fish cooking; I’ve never tried walleye. The fishmonger says I’ll love it, but then again, he is enthusiastic about every fish in his case.

I’m no gourmet when it comes to fish. All I did was add salt and pepper, minced scallions, some carrot shavings, and some slivered almonds. Then I set it aside while I prepared my vegetables.

I love roasted vegetables as an accompaniment to fish, lasagna, various vegetable pancakes, and so many other things. Two of my favorites are eggplant and sweet potato. If you haven’t roasted vegetables before, do it at your next meal – you won’t be sorry. I used an organic sweet potato, so there’s no need to peel it. The skin adds texture and flavor. Likewise, the skin is one of the best parts of the eggplant, and I hear that deep red vegetables are good for us. Cut both up in cubes and put on a baking sheet. Peel as many cloves of garlic as you like and crack them open under the flat side of a knife blade. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil. Mix it all up on your sheet, and voilà, you’re nearly done. Heat the oven to 400. I baked the vegetables for 20 minutes, before taking them out to stir them again, and putting the walleye in for the last ten minutes.

Meanwhile, I tossed together a salad. Again, nothing fancy. Some baby lettuce greens I got at the farmers’ market, carrot slices, garden tomato, and cucumber that came from a coworker’s garden. But to jazz it up, I add some pickled beets, a trick I learned from cafés in Paris. The beet adds some tang, and again, my guess is that the deep red is good for us. I always put a tablespoon of flax oil on my salads – so much good stuff there and I recently heard it combats seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which can set in at this time of year. And then vinaigrette.

After the fish had baked for ten minutes and the vegetables for 30, I took everything out of the oven. The fishmonger is right – the walleye is nice, as smooth as silk. But for me, the vegetables are the stars of the show. The eggplant is, to quote Mike Meyers imitating Barbra Streisand, “like butta,” the sweet potato is bright orange comfort food, the salad is zingy.

Fish, roasted vegetables, and salad – a classy, nutritious, satisfying, economical meal in 30 minutes. The perfect answer to what we normally think of as “fast food.”

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

Organic Energy Cafe!

by Jamie Ginsberg on 18. Oct, 2008 in Jamie Ginsberg

I met Amy for lunch today during a break in my Yoga workshops while the kids were at the Young Chefs Academy. Organic Energy Cafe is just 5 minutes away on Miles Road right next to Miles Market in Solon. It is not in my normal stomping grounds, but I will be going there more often.

The smoothie list was exciting and there are at least 10 other drinks I want to try. I started with a Super Energy Smoothie. hold the dairy. As I looked at this vibrant green drink, I knew I was about to pump it up. This was well blended with ice, pineapple, apple, ginger, cucumber and greens. Blam! As I sipped the smoothie I could feel the energy flowing thru me, recharging me after my morning class. The consistency was smooth, cold and refreshing. Little red flecks dotted the drink reminding me the apple was real, not a mix of concentrated juices. I was a little surprised how much I liked the “greens.” It just had a very real, clean taste. Next time I am trying the one with pomegrante juice!

Truthfully, i could have probably stopped with the smoothie. But I was ready to try the Artichoke Tuna Panini. The focacia was grilled perfectly. Crisp and perfectly flattened. I was totally suspicious of the Tuna, I don’t come anywhere near a Tuna melt. I immediately noticed the Tuna was cooked, but had a light clean consistency. Nothing fishy about this panini at all. Generous helpings of artichoke hearts and a few kalamata olives balanced the filling and kept it tasting very Mediteranean. The panini was cut across at an angle corner to corner, and each half was delicious and a healthy portion.

Does size matter? Hello, I am still American. Yes, I like my sandwiches to be a nice size. I want to pick up a half and decide whether I need 2 hands or is it just easier to eat with 2 hands. I got a wrap last week from a place not to be named and I was disgusted that I was holding half the wrap in 2 fingers. That is just Un-American and actually ruined my lunch. Granted, quality can always make size irrelevant. That said. places like The Cheese Cake Factory and Champps do well because the provide huge servings, everything is super-sized.

Despite the rant above, I would eat at Organic Energy Cafe any day of the week. I want to try every single Rice or Noodle Bowl. They all sounded delicious and healthy. I have to try at least a few more paninis (Amy had the chicken panini and it looked great for a carnivore) and a few salads that all sounded appealing. In california, cafe/restaurants like this are easy to find. In Ohio, this is a treasure that needs your support. Eat to Live and Live to Eat, doing it organicallyand locally is luxury you deserve.

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Barramundi – Get Some!

by Jamie Ginsberg on 16. Oct, 2008 in Jamie Ginsberg

We grilled some Barramundi for dinner tonight. Barra What? Yeah that is what I thought when I first heard the name. We got the fish from “Nick The Fish Guy.” Nick delivers fish around Cleveland, so far the fish has been excellent quality and reasonably priced. The fish gets ordered on Tuesdays and delivered on Thursdays. Kind of strange and old world like, but we are trying it.

Two pounds were 4 nice size thin fillets. I rinsed the fillets, sprinkled garlic powder and drizzled soy sauce on the Barramundi. I placed the fish skin side down on the grill, closed the top and let it cook for 5-7 minutes. While I was doing this, Amy cranked out a nice sliced yellow heirloom tomato. She put fresh mozzarella on hers with some balsamic drizzled across it and some goat cheese on mine. A sliced Avocado and a side of whole wheat Orzo was seasoned with garlic, soy sauce and olive oil.

The skin on the Barramundi was crisp and the fish just slid off of the skin. I debated starting it fish side down and flipping it, but thin fillets usually do not flip very well, so I tried only cooking it on one side. Olivia put away some and Alex seemed to enjoy a plate full. Amy and I polished off the rest. The fish was moist and tender with a very earthy and clean flavor. This full flavored fish was a refreshing change from our usual Salmon. With a little more planning, I would use a spicy fresh sauce, maybe something like chopped mango with a mix of jalepenos and poblanos and cilantro.

I searched on Wikipedia and was astounded to discover that Barramundi is sequentially hermaphroditic. What? Most of the male fish change after a year or two into females. Wow…is that amazing or what? Barramundi are found primarily in Australia and even New Zealand (surprise!). During the Monsoon season the males migrate downriver where the females are laying millions of eggs.

Why these tidbits? Because I am trying to increase my awareness of where my food comes from. I am not ready to change all of my habits, but I do want to be conscious of how I am living my life and the footprint I am creating. Experimenting with food is always a challenge, because I am a creature of habit. This week, we have been successful. What risks have you taken this week?

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Zocalo – Who cares?

by Jamie Ginsberg on 14. Oct, 2008 in Jamie Ginsberg

Amy and I headed downtown on a Monday night for some Mexican Food and a Football game. Cleveland comes alive when the Browns are playing and the city was moving. Workers escaping,  partiers converging, pulsating sounds as people drank and celebrated knowing this might be as good as the night was going to get. The energy of a city that has nothing to lose going up against the Super Bowl Champs on Monday Night Football.

We met up briefly with Brad Klink and scored our tickets to the show. Brad was doing his basketball lottery with his people at the House of Blues so we hi-fived and Amy and I crossed the street to Zocalo. The East 4st. corridor is alive and kicking with interesting food choices and easy valet parking. Zocalo is in a rebirth with celebrity chef Aaron Sanchez coming in this summer to fix the menu. As Brad warned us, “the menu used to be weak, but the new menu is getting good reviews.” More accurately, mixed reviews.

The staff was nice, the drinks looked good. But I was there to eat. Chips and salsa got dropped off at our table and I was feeling really good. Thick crisp chips, freshly fried. A tasty warm refried bean dip and a mild chopped tomato salsa. If you stop right here, have your drinks and eat your chips…Zocalo is great.

We started with the Made at Your Table Guacamole. Our waitress brought over a tray and made our Guac. Unlike Palladar which claims to have made to order guac and delivers guac that has been sitting in a big tub, at least you know you are really getting fresh guac. That said, this was visually unappealling compared to the experience at Diego’s in Las Vegas.  At Diego’s a Cart was wheeled over by a mexican woman who used a traditional Mortar and Pestle to crank out perfect Guac. Here the Tray was covered with a kind of dirty looking yellow linen. The Avocado looked fresh and ripe, but unappealing sitting in the stainless steel mixing bowl with a mini masher next to it. The choices of chopped onions, chopped tomatoes (not ripe looking), chopped cilantro, salt, chopped peppers…all just looked ok. We went light on the salt and onions and heavy on the peppers. Our waitress transferred our fresh guac to a new bowl and we were digging in. I would have liked the Guac even more if I did not see it prepared. Odd huh? Maybe I Can Not Handle The Truth!

At this point, we were full. There…the Truth also Hurts. We both agreed we did not need dinner but it arrived along with our second basket of chips we immediately continued plowing thru. The Quesadilla was just a quesadilla. The squirt of Creama on the top was elegant and added some richness. The tortilla was bland as was the cheese. The side sauces compensated here. There was a mild tomatillo sauce and a yellowish sauce with some heat. Both sauces were excellent and I assume the influence of Aaron Sanchez. I would never order the Quesadilla again. The sauces were great and I would have happily enjoyed them with just the chips. At Lopez, they really know how to make a delicious Quesadilla, this should be standard at any Mexican restaurant.

The Tacos Pescado (grilled Mahi) were also ok, and I would never order them again. Fish Tacos can be amazingly delicious and worthy or frequent visits. These tacos summed up Zocalo at this point in time, Who Cares? More great Tomatillo sauce, the Mahi chunks were not over cooked, but also not interesting. The rice and beans on the side were ok but not delicious enough to eat and I love Black Beans. Next time, I will order a Margherita and some Guac and call it a night. Final Score, Browns 35 Giants 14…Who Let The Dogs Out?

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Why I fast?

by Jamie Ginsberg on 09. Oct, 2008 in Jamie Ginsberg

I don’t like to Fast. I write a Food Blog because I love eating. Yet here I am, Fasting because Jewish people all over the world are fasting. Yom Kippur is today and in my understanding we ask for forgiveness for our sins against God and fellow living beings for our actions against them the last year. If all is good, God is closer to us today and we are forgiven after this day of fasting.

I’d like to propose a different idea I have been thinking about recently. You are God and all of your actions are being watched by yourself. Only you really know what you have done each day and you alone must forgive yourself so that you can improve your actions and reaction with others. This process must occur daily, because the truth is obscurred with time. In the clarity of the moment you can make the fine tuning adjustment and let the notes of your life sound and taste that much sweeter and fuller.

What does fasting have to do with this? I fast now for Bubbi. She is 95 and can not fast the way she used to. She passed out at Temple and home over the last few years and is finally treating herself gentler. I believe that I can fast for her, just as she probably believes that by going to Temple she is helping me. I will not be as Jewish as Bubbi would like me to be, primarily I will not raise my kids to be religiously Jewish (lucky for me, Bubbi does not have access to the internet and does not read this blog). As you can guess from the above, I believe in finding spirituality in your self. I generally shy away from organized religion and especially the zealot practices that cause some much strife in the world. In some senses, I am actually as Jewish as Bubbi could ever ask for…How so?

I love eating Jewish food. What is Jewish food? For some it is Middle Eastern Food, Hummus, Babaganoush, Filafel. For others, it is Bagels, Lox, Challah. For a few of us it is also Eastern European Russian dishes from Borscht to Gefilte Fish to Stuffed Cabbage to Blintzes to Potato Latkas. Jewish Food is great. From Chopped Liver to Brisket, we know how to make extraordinary rich delicious meals that can be served on paper plates or fine china. I am convinced some of the food is so good because it reminds us of our past, being kids growing up eating this type of Jewish food at the holidays with family. I can barely even look at Gefilte fish without being grossed out, but Chopped Liver could turn this Vegetarian any day of the week. Ethnically, this half breed ex-new yorker is a true Jew. Religiously? I am comfortable finding my own way.

Back to our core thesis, I am not sure why I am fasting today. Bubbi would not know if I ate, she doesn’t even know I am fasting for her. At the end of the day, I would forgive myself for eating. Is it because Breaking the Fast feels so good? Is it because the Jew in me thrives on self sacrifice? Is it because I want to remember that to many I will always be a Jew regardless of what I believe?  In the end, it is probably d) All of The Above. This year, I am fasting because I can. I am fasting for Bubbi, for Me, for You. If you are eating, please eat for me ;-)

Read full story • Comments { 5 }

DownTown 140 meets Martin Ray and Altesino

by Jamie Ginsberg on 02. Oct, 2008 in Jamie Ginsberg

When you start a night with a bottle of Martin Ray Cabernet you know it is going to be a great dinner! This is a delicious complex wine from the Central Coast of California. We followed with the 1997 Altesino Brunello which was smooth and easy to drink. Thinking back, both of these wines could have used some decanting and/or some aeration. We ordered a cheese plate to get the party started, but as you can see below, I should have ordered more cheese than I did. The mix of nuts, house made crackers, fruit and cheese is both fun and exciting. I would order more stinky cheese to really light up a wine like the Martin Ray next time.

Amy did what she does, and ordered the Rib Eye. This picture is so terrible, I am motivated to finally listen to Simone who gently hinted that digital cameras are quite inexpensive today. The mobile phone camera is just not holding up in dim lighting for me. What this picture does not convey, is that these slices of beef looked so good that my urge to eat steak reared its ugly head. If I wasn’t so excited about my meal, I would have tried some. Amy did not finish this and Alex achieved spoiled status by rolling into school Friday morning with some incredible leftovers. Hmmm…Peanut butter and honey on whole wheat or tender perfectly cooked steak?

It was Bob’s birthday, so I changed my order and let him get the last seared Tuna medallion special. Even the crappy mobile pics show how beautiful this fish is. I immediately regretted my “generosity” when I saw this dish. I did get to try one of the seaweed covered rice balls and it was perfect.

I asked is they would make me a field greens salad with 3 Tuna tacos on the plate. This may be one of my favorite dishes in the world. It is light and clean, leaving me room for dessert! I hate how expensive simple field green salads are at upscale restaurants, yet I almost always order one. Why? Because they can be so delicious that I hate to miss out on them. Plus they use real fat laden dressing, which I always skimp with at home as I try to cook healthy. The strawberries were a bitter sweet reminder that summer has moved on, I enjoyed each and every slice.

I don’t have anything interesting about the fish dish below, but Jan did polish it off, so it must have been good!

Out of basically selfish reasons, I encouraged Amy to get the Rib Eye. The side of fries is delicious and served in a paper funnel lined metal cup scoring extra style points. If you stare really hard at the blurry picture you can see the light herb flavoring and the aoli on the side. I have always had a weak spot for fries and these do not need ketchup, does that say it all?

When I first met Amy she used to say that her favorite food was french fries (for the record mine has always been pizza, I am good for a large pie by myself at any time). We had a major issue because Elektra did not like fries. I thought this is because she does not like vegetables, but potatos are not vegetables. Did you know that 2008 is the Year of the Potato? Or that potatos actually bloom flowers? In an attempt to honor the potato I encourage you to check out this link for a quick dive into the world of potatos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato. Downtown 140 has great fries, but these are probably not the best fries I have ever had. They could have been just a tad bit crispier and ketchup should be standard, even if they don’t need it ;-) The real question is, where can you get the best fries in the whole world?

We had some great desserts and called it a night. I truly enjoy eating at this restaurant and wish it was 15 minutes closer to my house. The service is generally excellent and as difficult as this is to measure, I always feel good about eating there and experiencing what they bring to the table. If you live in the Cleveland area, you need to make a reservation at Downtown 140 sooner than later.

Read full story • Comments { 0 }