Eating Animals
10/18/11

My favorite thing about eating Kosher is that it keeps me conscious of the food choices that I’m making.  Not just will I have chicken tonight.  There are bigger decisions.  I was surprised to learn that eating Kosher style goes well beyond avoiding mixing meat and dairy.  Will I eat processed meats, for instance.  Where did these eggs come from?  Can I make salad dressing that involves ingredients that I can pronounce?  There are a lot of questions, which of course can make eating very Jewish.  Now that I’m paying more attention to the things that I’m eating, I find that I’m also searching for ways to make me more food conscious.  Naturally this lead to me reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.

I know what you’re thinking.  What a terrifying thing to read.  How could I possibly do this to myself?  How could I back myself into a meatless corner.  I was warned not to read it.  Everyone I talked to about the book told me how it made them the great vegetarian that they are today.

I’m sorry to report that the book isn’t having quite the same effect on me.  Though, I should also admit to you that I’m only about half way through.  I started reading Eating Animals last week mostly because my Rabbi suggested it to me.  I also thought that it would force me to become a vegetarian, which I was maybe a little excited about.

Confession:  I want to be a vegetarian.  I’ve always wanted to be a vegetarian.  I’ve also always wanted to be a tap dancer.  I’m not very good at either.  I never got those tap lessons and I can’t stop my obsession with chicken.  There.  My secret is out.

I’m a terrible person.  I’m a miserable excuse for a Liberal Democrat.  I can’t even give up meat.  Somewhere there’s an alarm going off.  At any moment they’re going to come and take away my subscription to The New Yorker, force me to wear slightly less chunky glasses and rip up all of my cardigan sweaters.  But it’s true.  I’m just not very good with that kind of limitation.  No more chicken?  Ummmm…no.

What I’m trying to tell you is that if you’ve been thinking about reading this book (ahem…Whitney?) then you should read it.  There are some pretty terrible images in the book, I think we all know that factory farming is a really disgusting thing.  I don’t, however, think that it’ll force you to run screaming from the meat section of your local grocer.  Will I start buying Kosher meat?  Probably.  Will I think twice before actually eating meat?  Absolutely, but I won’t give it up forever.  I’m just not that strong.

Here’s a little vegan recipe for you.  If you’re feeling a little sassy about your devotion to meat?  Brown 1 or 2 lbs of turkey (or ground beef if you’re really feeling defiant) and add it to the recipe…

WHAT?

1 large Onion

1 bag of Spinach

1 can Rotel

2 cans White Beans

2 bags of Uncle Ben’s 90 Second rice…or you can be fancy and make your own…but you’ll spend 45 minutes on that and who has that kind of time?

HOW?

Chop up that onion and fry it in a couple of table spoons of olive oil.  Everything delicious starts this way.  When you’ve browned the onion, toss in your cans of beans and Rotel.  You’ll have a pretty good soupy thing going on at this point.  Bring it to a boil.  Turn the heat down and add your spinach.  Stir in the spinach, you want it to wilt into the mix.  Prepare your rice.  When the rice is ready?  You’re ready to eat!  Toss some rice in a bowl and add your bean mixture.  Stir and enjoy.

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Our House
10/12/11

If someone were to walk into your home, how would they know it is a Jewish Home?

This question is pretty hilarious.  Well, it’s pretty hilarious if you’ve been to my house.  My house is pretty Jewish.  I suppose we intended it to be.  It’s not like we sat down before we moved in and had an outline and a map and marked off the things that we should do to in order to have a Jewish home.  It just sorta happened.  There’s a couple of menorahs.  We’ve got candlesticks.  Our Ketubah is in the first thing you see when you come in the front door.  We have a Mezuzah.  There are a lot of wedding photos.  Then there’s the onslaught of Jewish themed books.  They’re everywhere.  So…I guess our house is pretty Jewish.

I hadn’t really even thought about it that much until a couple of months ago.  I had some friends over for a get together.  A small group of us were gathered around my dining room table reminiscing.  A friend’s husband came back from the bathroom and said, “Does a Rabbi live here?  There are Jewish books even in the bathroom.  This might be the most Jewish place I’ve ever been.”

It’s not the most Jewish place, but it definitely is Jewish.  It’s funny what other people see when they look at your house, that you don’t.  There are a lot of things that you might notice if you came over.  It’s also a pretty gay place with an enormous TV.  Sure, I know that we have Jewy things, but I wouldn’t call my home the most Jewish place that anyone has ever been.  What does your house say about you?

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Matbucha madness
10/12/11

Red peppers post roast

Several weeks ago, this Ashkenazi Jewess found herself at the shabbat dinner table of some hardcore Sephardic folk.  And seriously, I’m not talking about your garden variety Sephardic couple who can identify that slippery slope between too many hamsas on a wall and just enough while also putting paprika and hot chili peppers on everything.  I mean REAL Israeli Sephardic folk.  On top of the Sephardic-ness glory of the couple themselves, the hostess’ mother AND brother are chefs at a local kosher grocer so needless to say, I was packing Tums and my appetite when we arrived that night.  See, the benefit of being a Southern Jew is that I don’t have a fear of the spice (oh, I should clarify.  The Tums were for my hubby who is so deeply Ashkenazi I truly think male babies of his family are born craving bourbon and herring and end up settling for breast milk).  This was truly one of the yummiest meals I’d been too in a while–one of those meals where, if you close your eyes and open your nose and taste buds, you swear you’re back in Israel eating at the shuk. So, this of course made me run home to see if I could replicate any of the yummiest of the night.  I’m not about to jump into Sephardic cooking thinking I know what I’m doing.  I’m aware that there is a learning curve so it might behoove me to take it slow.  I decided to try making matbucha.  Matbucha (pronounced maht-boo-kah) is a cold tomato salad/relish dish served as an appetizer along side hummus, tahini, grape leaves, etc.  The great thing about matbucha is that it’s one of those dishes that takes hours but the majority of the time is taken up by just letting it do it’s thing on the stove.   And for all my fellow Eastern European Jews out there, feel free to serve your matbucha next to the smoked white fish at your next kiddish lunch.  I’m telling you, you’re Uncle Sol is gonna LOVE it!

Stewing and stewing

What?!

  • 2 lbstomatoes
  • 1 lb red bell pepper
  • 3 garlic cloves, quartered
  • 3 dried chilies (optional)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoonshot paprika
  • 1/3 cupolive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 lemon

How!?

Preheat oven to 350°F and put a big pot of water on to boil.  Place bell peppers on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven at  until the skins have browned.  Submerge tomatoes in boiling hot water for 10 minutes or until the skin falls off.  Cut tomatoes in half and squeeze out the juice and seeds.  Cut tomatoes in chunks and put in medium-sized pot on stove (don’t turn stove on yet). When red peppers are done,  peel the skin from the bell peppers and remove the seeds and stem.  Cut bell peppers in chunks.  Add all ingredients to pot filled with tomatoes and pour oil over top.  Bring contents to a boil, then turn down to a medium heat.  Cook covered for 2 hours.  Remove cover and cook uncovered until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Stir occasionally to prevent burning.   When liquid is done, before refrigerating, stir juice of 1/2 a lemon into the finished matbucha. Refrigerate and serve cold.

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