I Like to Bake for The Birthday of the Trees

I like to bake.

Never a huge fan of chocolate cake, I bake the tastiest recipe for chocolate cake.  I have made it for numerous potluck luches.  It is a crowd pleaser.  The recipe is from the back of the Hershey's can of cocoa, but I use Nestle's. It has a better flavor.  I also keep it dairy-free, changing the cow's milk to either almond or coconut.

Rachel's Potluck Chocolate Cake
inspired by Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake

2 Cups sugar
1 3/4 C flour
3/4 C cocoa (preferably Nestle's)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 C almond or coconut milk
1 tsp salt
 1/2 C canola oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 C boiling water

preheat oven 350
spray two  9-inch pans with canola cooking spray
place 1st 6 dry ingredients into a mixing bowl; mix
add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.
mix at medium 2 minutes
gently stir in boiling water  (batter will be thin...not to worry!)

pour into prepared pans
bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean


As mentioned, I use Nestle's.  I have swallowed my pride despite that I have issues with that company since they are a huge lobby group for formula in Washington, and I am a breastfeeding supporter.  Still, they are better tasting than Hershey's.  For supermarket cocoa, that is.  I guess Droste is available some places, and it has a good taste but it is simply too expensive for me.  I always loved the Nestle's cocoa tin.  It was shaped like a Toll House.  Then they switched it to plastic, which I saved.  And now they are getting rid of their traditional design and are using a more generic container.

Old Nestle's cocoa on the right, new container on left.

The Jewish New year of the trees, Tu B'Shvat, is coming up.
To be festive, we made a tree-shaped Chocolate cake.
Frosting recipe is from the side of the confectioner's sugar box.
I used coconut oil and non-hydrogenated Palm oil as the shortening.

Yes, those are mixed lettuce greens on the bottom.

We later replaced them with sour straws.

The Wolfman wouldn't have it any other way.

Ayelet Galena zichron l'vracha

The passing of 2 year old Ayelet Galena z'l is so sad. May her parents, Hindy and Seth Galena, find great comfort among the mourners of Zion.

 Here is a link to a beautiful reflection on Ayelet.

 Here is the link to her funeral audio recording.

Rage is Outrageous: It Just Depends On Your Perspective

Like so many things in life, the way you approach it makes all the difference.

Take the word "rage."  In the jam band music scene, the word rage over the past few years has emerged as a positive description of a way to enjoy the live tunes.  As in:  "We're gonna rage tonight."  Meaning, "we're gonna groove to the awesome music and have lots of fun with good friends in a safe environment."  It is 100%  positive.  The first name of the keyboardist in my favorite band is Page.  It is typical to refer in a congenial way to the side of the stage where he performs as "Page Side Rage Side."  Some folks are taking this word and using it in a positive way in the music scene.  My friend Karen, The Tiny Rager, maintains a thorough, meticulously-cataloged list of current music happenings in New York City as well as detailed music reviews of various shows.  Where she finds the time, I do not know!   Another person takes wonderful professional photographs of various music shows at Rage It Proper.  Nifty stuff.

Speaking of being proper, Derek Blasberg, the fashion writer, is a champion of proper behavior for women, as I have mentioned recently.  His books are funny but true.

My grandmother, Martha Miller Loonin, may her memory be a blessing, was a proper, elegant lady.  She helped me keep up with current trends.  One summer in camp she sent me a package that contained "crazy ET headgear" that was "all the rage."  Here is her letter to me:

Letter to me in camp by my Grandma Martha Loonin z'l .  Note the 3rd paragraph "it is all the rage around town"

Here is the type of headgear she sent:

Wouldn't it be fun to bring back this early 80s rage inspired by the movie E.T.:  The Extra-Terrestrial.  Where, you ask, would a mother of 3 school-aged children don such headgear seriously?  No, not when I visit the Nordstrom shoe department.  Not at my friends' 40th birthday parties, which seem to be endless at the moment.   Not when I am waiting at the ice rink for lessons to end.  Perhaps at a raging music venue where folks know how to let loose and have fun.  Or maybe on Purim.  Or maybe both.  The headbands that Grandma Martha sent had much longer, boingier springs.   

Boingier.  That is a good thing.  We should all have more boing in our lives.

And now, the negative rage.

Of course, we all know about road rage.  Not good, not good.  Los Angeles, where this term originated, is a frustrating place to drive, but folks gotta find more ohm and calm when behind the wheel.

At a local gas station-mini mart, I noticed their store-brand slushy-type food coloring-laden junky drink.  Here is one of them, called Red Rage:

Cumberland Farms is absolutely correct that ingestion of a Red #40 drink will create great rage, despite efforts last year to dispel this theory.  The science exists to prove that.

And this makes me very sad.

Parents buy this garbage for their children, and then they start yelling at them 10 minutes later when they start  bouncing off the walls.  Couple it with a game on the DS of some birds that also have an angry rage face like this image, and you've got a lot of negative vibes.

Of course I realize that it is intended to appeal to children.  My boys love that image.  And the taste of the drink.  And they love to play Angry Birds.  They aren't stupid.  The stupid one would be me who allows it even as a special treat.  And I don't like the word stupid.  It is a very poor word choice.

Why can't we turn that negative rage into a positive rage of a good time?  Usually we drink water and minimize our food coloring and high fructose corn syrup intake.  We listen to good tunes and have fun.

I guess it just depends on where you are coming from.

I'm gonna put on my purple glitter alien headband and help the children to bed.

Boing, boing, boing...

All this rage stuff makes me want to just get positive.

Here is some George Harrison playing "Here Comes The Sun."  Rage it in the most outrageous way.

Kombucha, The Mother Of All Beverages

I Am A Mother, Too, And Haven't Yet Gotten To Making You!

So many people around me don't like the taste and smell of kombucha.  Let me correct that statement:  so many people in my sphere have never even heard of kombucha.  I brought a bottle of it recently to a community dinner and the husbands all drew a blank, although they were interested to learn about my unusual drink.  Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage from certain yeasts and bacteria known commonly as "the mother."  It tastes like a very mild version of beer.  It is not alcoholic like beer, though, despite that it was taken off the shelves a couple of years ago for fear that it actually was high in alcohol content.  I like the taste, and it has taken me all too long to start brewing it on my own.

I buy the popular brand by G.T. Dave, who started brewing it in his parents' home in Beverly Hills.

I imagine if I lived in Berkeley or Portland, I would be a huge dinosaur, since everyone and their mothers there are brewing the stuff.

I buy this at Whole Foods, or when I am in the New York area, Fairway

photo from www.kombuchakamp.com

It was written about in the NY Times two years ago.

Here is one instructional video about how to make it:

Maybe I should go to Kombucha Kamp.  That site looks like a good place for me.

Barbra Streisand by Duck Sauce Went Viral Last Fall...Where Was I???

(Disclaimer, my daughter Concealed Light peeked her head in just now as I am watching the video below and said, "Inappropriate.")

Certainly not at spin class, otherwise I would have been enlightened much earlier...

For my Mah Jongg ladies (that would be you, mom)...

For my gay friends (that would be you, Tim, my coworker at HBO who was from the South and wore silver spandex glitter pants to our annual party at Tavern on the Green...actually I am sorry for being so stereotypical, I only partially recall that you loved Barbra.)...

For guys named Elliot  (as in her first husband)...

For anyone who appreciates the date April 24th (meaning, you are a true Barbra Streisand fan.  That would be my mother, not me.)...

Click this caption below this photo to get to the video of the Barbra Streisand song, by Duck Sauce (DJs Armand Van Helden and A-Trak, Alain Macklovitch a Jewish guy from Montreal), that went viral last fall  (yea, currently over 60 MM views on YouTube... that would be millions for those of you who are unaware of Wall Street abbreviations):

no, I do not own this image.  I copied it from some web site.  Not worth suing me.  Would rather just embed the YouTube video, but Spinnin' Records doesn't want to allow that, which I think is utterly ridiculous.  Come on, my Dutch friends, you will be doing the world a complete service if you allow embedding on folks' websites.  Oh well, I still love Holland.  You do bikes, mass transit, congeniality, tulips, world peace and coffee shops very well.  Apparantly food, too.  Did you see the recent NY Times article about the improvement of Dutch food'?  No hard feelings, 'kay?

http://youtu.be/uu_zwdmz0hE   click that link   will get you there, too.

Did you see Philadelphian DJ ?uestlove in there?
Kanye West, also
Ezra Koenig
and more current musicians whose work I really don't know!

Thank you Katie, my most awesome spin instructor for the most excellent new tunes!  As a full-time mom who doesn't get to a single dance club these days (did I ever?), I rely so much on Spin Class for the good new tunes!

And here is Why I Know The Significance of the Date April 24th.  Again, Thank You Mother!
(start at around 3:00, and then Barbra gets to the punchline, which she CHANGED in the TV version of "I'm Five" to April 29th!  Oh, Barbra, you are too much!)







Finally, here is NPR's coverage by Guy Raz, a star reporter at NPR and a few years younger than me at Brandeis, about "Why Club DJs Love Barbra Streisand."


Here is some Vampire Weekend, with Ezra Koenig, in case you had no clue who that was...

 

Goldenberg's Peanut Chews

It was news to me when we moved to Philadelphia last summer that Goldenberg's Peanut Chews are a local product.

Since I'm a sucker for 70s nostalgia (makes me feel 6 years old again), I naturally love this current ad campaign.  Not quite the same font, but reminds me of the video in this recent post about a classic 70s movie.

Kind of funny that the company has been around since 1917, and yet it has the 70s look it.  If they were really going old school, wouldn't they have invoked flapper (1920s) or art deco (1930s) imagery?

I guess they were at a loss for what would be Old School 1917.

For the Kosher among us, I do know that it was a sad day in the late 80s or 90s when they went from parve to dairy.  They were a favorite handout at my Jewish day school by one of the rabbis.  I heard through the grapevine that he was very sad about that.  There were no longer a reliable and readily available non-dairy sweet treat in every drug store.

I was never a big fan, but I like their ad campaign.

Leon Leonwood Bean, You Always Did Good By Me

Growing up in New England, the old-money world educated in prep schools was always within a few minutes' drive away.  When The Official Preppy Handbook came out in 1980 when I was not even yet a preteen, I read with great interest its various humor essays and studied its diagrams about WASP culture.  

If I wanted to see a 65 year-old bluish gray haired, elegant woman sporting navy blue slacks covered in green embroidered whales, all I had to do was head down to the local A&P supermarket.  A Preppy Yuppie could easily be seen coming off the 5:07, Burberry coat in one hand, Prince racket in another. These type of folks were never part of my family's social network, but there is one thing that we definitely had in common.  The L.L. Bean Boat and Tote Bag.

Here's what I have done with our L.L. Bean Boat & Tote Bag.  Our Shoe repair shop sewed on each patch for $5.  Should I fully cover with patches?  Might be overkill.  It really needs a Hotchkiss or Andover patch to round out the look.  

We took ours to the swim club and to the beach at my grandparents' (which was most definitely not down in Cape May or up in Newport).  The annual display of fireworks was a common place we brought our boat bag.  We took it on a trip to Nantucket.  I saw many in Tanglewood.  My dad took it on his fishing trips with his buddy Donny.  There were only a few colors and it was only available with an open top.  I don't even recall too many sizes.  We always had a big bag, the size of the one above.  And we had it for years.  Many, many years.  Until the handles unraveled.

It didn't really matter who you were or where you came from.  The bag itself was durable, affordable, and well-designed.  It still is.  LL Bean's boat bag was always a go-to reliable.  Nowadays you can get a zippered-top bag.  What an innovation!  And the varied sizes and colors!  And now, there is free shipping!

Oh, L.L. Bean How I Love Thee.

Food Tip #3: Girl Scout Cookie Mint Pie

It's Girl Scout Cookie time, and you know what that means.

That means I bought 3, count 'em, only 3, boxes of Thin Mints.  But wait, how do I manage even those 3 boxes which are so easily hidden away from my husband and children?  It's not even like I love Thin Mints.  I would rather eat homemade chocolate chip cookies.  But they do have that addictive quality that even I, not an ardent chocoholic, have trouble with when it comes to eating only 2.

That brings me to Girl Scout Cookie Mint Pie.  We entertain a lot on the weekends (Shabbat dinners and lunches), and tonight we have a table of 9 people for dinner.

That means I am all good with this pie.  Everyone will get a slice and maybe there will be leftovers.

My mom found this recipe in Theatrical Seasons:  Encore! a cookbook published by the Syracuse Stage.

It is essentially a meringue with crushed Thin Mints and nuts folded in.

I added a sorbet filling, so it is more of a crust now.
You could add whipped cream.
Or eat just plain.
Just make sure you have guests over or you will eat the whole thing.

It is sublime.

Girl Scout Cookie Mint Pie

preheat oven to 325

16 Thin Mint cookies, crushed
3 egg whites, room temperature
dash salt
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
6 additional Thin Mint cookies, crumbled

Beat egg whites till soft peaks form.
Gradually add sugar till stiff peaks form.
(yes, a Kitchen-Aid mixer is what I use.  Ideally, freeze whisk and bowl first for ultimate egg whites)
Fold in vanilla, crumbs, nuts.
Spread into a greased 9 inch pie pan.
Bake 35 minutes.
Cool in fridge 3 hours

1 pint chocolate sorbet, softened at room temp for 15 minutes

Spread sorbet into pie.
garnish with Thin Mint cookie crumbles

Cover with Stretch-Tite (my preferred plastic wrap).

Freeze 1 hour at least

Cut into pie slices and your guests will be singing to high heavens.

*N.B. to my Jewish and Kosher readers:  Lest you be thinking, wait, how is Rachel serving this to her guests which is obviously on Shabbat and I am assuming correctly she cooks meat on that day, since the hechsher on the box is OU-D which means they are Dairy, and is Rachel this huge apikores?

Rest assured, dear reader, that I am a savvy mama and consumer as well as Kosher food eater.  I have full knowledge, in case you didn't, that the Orthodox Union discontinued its OU-DE designation years ago because the whole conecpt of Dairy Equipment, which is what the DE stands for, was apparantly too confusing for the average individual.  I do not consider myself to be the average individual.  We fully hold by Dairy Equipment and Thin Mints have zero dairy in them (they are made on shared equipment, as the box states).  Don't try to convince me there is a trace of dairy in these cookies.  It would say Milk as an ingredient.  No, no, this are fully OU-DE, and our practice is to remove all the meat food from the table before we serve DE food.  However, you might have a different practice and that is ok.  You might be that  individual who doesn't remove that meat from the table.  And guess what, you're still good!  You  might be that more machmir person who no longer holds by DE because you have joined the wave of humras that have swept our people.  And that is ok, too (I realize I might be exaggerating or misinformed, thinking that people aren't holding by DE because of humras.   Your Talmudic interpretation may not really be a stringency but a middle of the road thing.  Nah, it ain't middle of the road in my book if you don't hold by DE.  Could be you aren't well-versed on the halachot of DE.  Am I, you ask?  If you're curious about if there is a nafkamina involved, I really couldn't answer because I am the furthest from an illui that you'll every meet.  Oh, if I could only match up to Elie Weisel and Rabbi Weiss HaLivni.  Now, those men could really take this whole DE rant somewhere.  Who am I, anyway, just a pisher.  Back to the DE discussion, if I feel sad if you don't even hold by DE.  You just won't be enjoying this fully acceptable dessert after your Shabbes meal.  There's always Shavuos.  Girl Scout Cookies don't go bad.  They have enough preservatives in them to last a while.  Oh, I guess if you're Cholov Yisroel  all of this is a moot point, to which I say:  Chassidus totally rocks!  And if you're not chassidish, I am curious why you don't hold by Rav Moshe's tshuva on this issue.  (Assuming of course you are living in the United States.  And maybe Canada?  I am not really sure on that.  Naturally if you are in J-Burg or Zurich or if you're lucky enough to be traveling through India and for whatever reason you have found yourself on www.wholephamily.com then this assumption is clearly irrelevant.  At which point I let you know you have wasted way too much of your time reading this horrific paragraph.)  

Dreams That We Dream Of In Hawaii

For reasons unknown to me, it appears to me that many people confuse Australian artist Jason Mraz's lovely tune "I'm Yours," which hit the tops of countless international music charts, with Hawaiian artist Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's beautiful remake of  "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

You likely have heard both.
They have a similar sound.
It turns out both official videos were filmed in Hawaii.
You possibly know the name Jason Mraz.
You less likely know about Iz, and about his tragic death too early in life.

Here is the Official YouTube video of "I'm Yours"




And here is the Official YouTube video of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"





Years back, Dan Zanes, one of our favorite family musicians, suggested that a ukelele revolution was passing through the world.

Boy, was he ever right.

It's a Rainy Day in Philly

The Wolfman's Brother's response to this classic Sesame Street segment is:

"Yes you can go outside if you have boots."




Oh, that intelligent 4 1/2 year old of mine.