Just in the throes of exam week. My jazz exam was yesterday, and it went off pretty well, especially since I've had lots of practice taking this kind of essay exam for much higher stakes (a/k/a Comps). Amusing was that the professor had us hand-write the essays for two hours. Now I know why the grad students lobbied to have Comps (a battery of ( Read more... )

Well, one or two kinds of New Year, anyway. Rosh Hashana starts tonight, so I'm having some friends over for a little feast -- challah, borscht, mandarin orange salad, apples and honey, and a nice honey cake, accompanied by a nice red wine, apple pomegranate cider, vishnik, kirschwasser, vodka, or whatever else people want to drink. I made the ( Read more... )

I have got to remember to set aside some money for a stockpot. I have a lovely French vegetable casserole in the oven, a glorious mixture of onion, garlic, tomato, yellow squash, zucchini, fennel, and basil, all topped with asiago cheese. The problem is that my biggest pot, a Dutch oven, just isn't quite big enough to hold all this bounty at once ( Read more... )

Once again, it's past midnight, and I am waiting for something to finish baking. This time, it isn't even a Julia Child recipe. It's just plain ol' hamentaschen, for the early Purim party that my Yiddish class is having tomorrow. Later today. Whatever ( Read more... )

It's ten past midnight, and I have only just finished baking a batch of ginger molasses cookies for a baby shower tomor -- well, technically, today. Because I totally fail at time management.

Sometimes, I amaze even myself with the really bad ideas I put into practice every day. Last night, I made Hungarian mushrooms for dinner. While they were going into their first simmer and the noodle water was coming to a boil, I decided that I'd just whip up a batch of pomegranate freezer jelly -- you know, while I was thinking of it, while I ( Read more... )

I haven't been able to get to the grocery store for several weeks now on account of concert rehearsals. This means that I've been living on pantry supplies, cafeteria lunches, meals bought for me by someone I did proofreading for, concert potlucks, and the odd CVS run. On one of these, I noticed that they had, of all things, canned chopped clams ( Read more... )

Feh. I haven't had a chance to go shopping this week, and I'm rapidly eating through my last loaf of anadama bread. I've got one more challah in the freezer, and then I'm out of bread. I shall have to bake again toot sweet ( Read more... )

I've decided to be almost utterly stereotypical to my ethnic heritage and eat roast chicken on a Friday night. To be completely and utterly true, I should have roasted the thing hours ago, before the sun went down (ha, ha), and then eaten it after walking home from shul. Actually, to be completely, stereotypically, and utterly true, I should have ( Read more... )