Nina, isn't Purim a spring festival that celebrates the Jews winning a war against some terrible enemy? Sorry I don't remember who. And maybe I am wrong but think that is what this is?

Maybe you could start another thread reading "Purim", I too would love to keep this friendship going. It has restored my soul to tell you the truth.
In these times, with so much ugliness, the terrorist, the war, threats constantly on the news etc. this thread has been like a brilliant glowing candle, giving light to the soul.

LoveItaly, the only thing to remember about any Jewish holiday: they tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat.

Faina ....Fran Fine "The Nanny" couldn't have said it any better herself!

L'Chaim

LOL,Faina!

Oh Faina, LOL. Not a funny subject but do love the way you make it funny!!!

LoveItaly - Chanukkah is the commemoration of the military victory, in 165 BCE, of the Macabees over the Assyrians who ruled Palestine and wanted to end all Jewish practices. What is celebrated, though, is the miracle of the oil which, when used to relight the eternal flame, lasted 8 days when it appeared to be enough for only one day. The custom of frying something in oil is a memory of this oil miracle.

Purim celebrates the thwarting of the plans of the evil Haman to kill all the Jews in ancient Persia, probably in the fifth century BCE.

L'chaim!

Jed, I did know about chanukah and the oil but did not realize how long ago this happened. Regarding Purim, taking place of the victory in ancient Persia. That is today's Iran. Interesting.

Now about Queen Esther. This summer I read a novel that came out this year about Queen Esther. I need to start listing books with the authors name when I read especially well written ones. I remember it has the word "gold" in it.
When I go the the library the end of this week I will see if I can find it. Think a lot of you might be interested in it. I could not put it down.

Hugs to all of you.

A little late, but came across this thread only today:

Happy Chanukah to all!

And I knew someone was going to combine limoncello and Chanukah at some point in time!

On oils, thought you all might be interested in this:

The smoke point - point when oil begins to oxidize (burn) - differs for different kinds of oil:

Walking on Sun Temperature - Avacado Oil (500 degrees)

Very high temperature - Refined peanut/sunflower oils (425-450 degrees)

High temperature - Canola, corn oil, clarified butter fat (375-425 degrees)

Mid temperature - Olive oil (325-400 degrees)

Low temperature - butter and unrefined oils (probably the kind that was gotten in Eastern Europe) (less than 350 degrees)

The higher the temperature, the easier to fry things without splattering all over the place. Also food tastes different, depending on the oil in which it was cooked.

Thanks a mil for a wonderful thread! Very happy thread! PamSF, what a heart warming story! Faina, I'll be ready for your latkes in March, please bring some!

THANKS SO MUCH! All of you, but especially Nina66 and bellairegirl because I got my mom and myself together yesterday (NOT easy to do as she is not mobile) and took a day off and we baked/ cooked.

bellairegirl, we did you mondel bread and it turned out WONDERFUL. My mother likes it better than her oldest biscotti recipe. I used slivered almonds and did exactly as your recipe dictates. They have wonderful color and crispy and distinctive taste. They are sweeter than our biscotti. I usually don't like very sweet but these have more flavor overall besides and are not "too sweet". I like them much better, as well. Now I have two tins fulled for part of my next Saturday's party!

I went to college in my youth that had a high proportion of Jewish students and I also am related on my mother's side. I used to have the Jewish holy days off, so I know them well and love the traditions.

Fainaagain, that is so funny- your "history" summation. My Sicilian relatives have almost an identical saying that goes something like- "they came, they conquered us, they left, we ate.

JJ5, I'm so happy that you liked the mondel bread recipe! What a wonderful way to spend time with your mohter. It gives me such a warm feeling to be a little part of that!

Take care and happy holidays!
Susan

LoveItaly - Could the book you were referring to be "The Gilded Chamber" by Rebecca Kohn?

This has been a delightful thread. Besides my love to travel, I love to cook and eat. Purim is too far off to think of. What specialities is everyone making for New Years?

The BIG family dinner is at our house this weekend. (We're a family of nurses and firemen so have to get together when all schedules permit). The house is ssooooo clean. The brisket is on order, the place is decorated,the linens ironed and ready to go and the candlelabra has been polished. I will cook most of the dinner on Saturday to allow it to get even better for Sunday's feast.
The remainder of the week we are gathering with various friends at their houses and ours. We've just gotten our annual package of fabulous smoked salmon from my Seattle sister so that gets the place of honor with our neighbors on Monday.
Thursday, our goddaughter, her mother and her other godmother come for dinner.
The "baby" home from college for the first time, now eats fish(after years of only veggie life). We'll dine on cioppino.

Wednesday and Friday are at other peoples' homes.

I'm looking forward to NY weekend. We had made plans to go to Monterey for three days but now have decided to stay home and let the whim dictate. I did get the complete 6 hours of the HBO "Angels in America" for my bday so I imagine we'll be having a marathon of sorts.
As far as what we'll cook..after this week it may well be broth

Happy Holidays to all also and to you especially, Susan. I'm keeping the mondel bread recipe in my ready to grab box, next to the kolachki recipe that I make every year. I usually make kolachki for NY Eve / Jan. 1. Great for parties and it was my grandmother's recipe and she was born on January 1, 1889. We always celebrated her birthday with them and she lived to be 99. And I do not have to be on the job that one week between Dec. 25 and Jan. , so I have time. I make cheese, poppy seed, and two fruit types each year. This year is going to be cherry and peach.

Everyone try the mondel bread! It makes the house smell heavenly. I had some cookie sheets without any rims, totally flat sheets, and they worked out GREAT. When you cut the cookies before the second bake, the edge of the cookie sheet doesn't get in the why.

I am also a BIG lemoncello fan. I have enjoyed it on the Amalfi Coast and at home. But I buy it and don't make it. I just found a great brand that is $20 a liter. I like the clearer type and not the "creamed" one.

We also put newspapers on the floor after washing when I was a girl, but I never have admitted that to anyone before.

Thanks all and peace!

Jeanette

Jed, yes that is the book! The Gilded Chamber. Have you read it? I have been racking my brain trying to remember the title etc. I just started a small notebook yesterday to record book titles and authors I enjoy as family and friends are always sharing that info. Thanks to your good info I will record this book. Wishing you a good weekend.

JJ5 -- I wonder if your kolachkis are the same as the kolaches that are sold by Czechoslovakian bakeries in Houston? My 2 sons LOVE them. I've never seen them sold outside of Texas. Could you share your recipe?

Susan

Mondel bread freezes well. Every so often if my mother had to make a large batch, she would bake it in advance and freeze it.

She made some for us to take to friends in Oregon and put them in the freezer. My adult brother and I were alone in her house one day and remembered the mondel bread. Long story short:
1. Mom was furious
2. Frozen model bread tastes _almost_ as good as a fresh batch. ;-)

Jed - If your mother put newspaper on the wet kitchen floor, (I've too, have never admitted it before) than she probably had plastic on the living room furniture.

What an embarassment when I was a teenager and dates/friends would come over. The only other mothers that did that were my friends' Italian mothers.

Yes, we had both the plastic and the newspaper in our heritage.

But I do believe that we progressed and got my my mom out of that duo by about 1968/ 1970 or so. My one aunt STILL had both until last decade- and she is 90 this year. She also had TWO kitchens and only used the one downstairs. The UPPER kitchen had papers on the floor almost all the time until about 1998 or so, when she sold this home- and it was absolutely pristine. Now she has had double hip surgery and her kids have forbidden the newspaper and I believe one of her 29 (yes, she has 29 grandchildren and she only had three kids!) plucked the plastic off when she was in recoup once. Was she brave! These are 100% Sicilians from near Palermo- what can you do? My mom was never as bad as my aunt. My aunt made us all nuts at times. We could only eat popsicles and about 20 other things outside ie., watermelon, pistachio nuts, ice cream etc. Real cute, when it is winter in Chicago. As an aside, she very strongly resembles in appearance, the mom who died on "The Sopranos". She smiled just about as much also.

Yes, I will put my kolachki recipe in this thread tomorrow or start my own if the thread is no longer here. I would do it now, but I don't have my most favored recipe box where I am right now. It is an easy recipe. My German grandmother's recipe was very hard to translate, it was all kilo's, kilograms etc. But I took hers to my "straight from Poland" next door neighbor 32 years ago and she translated it into easier weights and also added her cheese topping recipe to it. She also helped me learn and I use the top of a shot glass to make the shapes. These are the best- and purchase your good unsalted butter in preparation. There are two basic types, one is much flakier (like pie crust) and one is a lot cakier. Mine are very buttery and not cake like. They used a creamed/wetter cheese in Germany that she did not know the name of here, and they did use other cheeses in Polish/Check styles too, but we use Phil. creme cheese. So you need that also, but you won't have to go to a specialty store to get goat cheese or anything.

Yum..those little cookies do sound great. I look forward to the recipe. While I am not privy to the newspaper on the floor, my grandmother did have plastic covering on all the furniture. It was tight like it was molded to the stuff. There was also a plastic runner leading from the front door throughout the entire house.

So this is where the rubber protection came from!