KosherBuzz

Edible Armored Mud Balls
Purim or Everyday Fun!

Our friend, Paula, who blogs as Americana the Beautiful is on a one year road trip, experiencing and photographing the wonders, festivals and sights of the USA. In addition to her amazing posts, she shares recipes and food discoveries with us. As Paula travels from sea to shining sea in her RV, we are riding along with her, vicariously of course, but reading every word of her blog. Safe travels Paula, and hope that you pick up some new "riders" at americanathebeautiful.org.

Armored Mud Balls are the Badlands version of natural snowballs. They form when water washes down a streambed and starts to roll sticky clay into a round shape. As the ball continues to tumble, it picks up more and more little pebbles, mud and rock making layers of "armor."

Use the same principles to make your own tasty version. What a clever Purim treat for your western themed mishloach manot baskets. Add a bandana, a cowboy hat, some kosher beef jerky, and maybe a beer – and you're all set "pardner"!

KosherBuzz

Cooking Camp at Yavneh

Kosher culinary retreat in New Hampshire
June 2nd - 5th, 2013 at the Camp Yavneh Retreat Center

Three-day experience:
Best food pairings
How to prepare vegetables like a pro
Impress with dessert – baking and decorating
Cooking ethnic like it's your own nationality
Serving to impress – How to make your platters and plates show off

Special guest - author who will not only show you highlights from her cookbook, but will offer signed copies.

Classes limited to 12 participants so everyone can get hands on experience. Limited to the first 45 participants
All classes will be led by accomplished chefs who have superior skills and the ability to make learning dynamic.

Cooking camp will also include:
• Wine and food pairing event
• Cooking competition where you are the contestants
• Social time with a diverse group of people
• Quiet walks around the lake led by our staff
• Field trip to the local goat soap farm and store
• Optional trip to a famous local ceramics factory and store

All-inclusive price for this kosher culinary retreat is $850 per person

Second person in room – Not participating in program $450.

Camp Yavneh in Northwood NH is only 90 minutes from Boston and 35 minutes to the Manchester NH airport. Additionally, if you wish to make a longer trip out of this, camp is conveniently located 35 minutes to the Maine coast and New Hampshire and Maine coastal beaches. Accommodations range from deluxe hotel style rooms with private bath to shared bunks. Housing is assigned on a first come first serve basis.
For more information contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

See what others have had to say about Camp Yavneh
http://campyavneh.org/rent-our-facility

KosherBuzz

Purim Coloring Page

From our friend Ann D. Koffsky — author and illustrator of more than 20 books for kids— a delightful Purim coloring page. Just print the page
and your "little" artists will create a masterpiece..., and will have such fun! And while you are visiting Ann's website, please browse and view her wonderful Judaic artwork.

To print: Purim Coloring Page

KosherBuzz

New Kitchen Faucet from Israel

There are many Jewish households that hesitate to purchase a single handled kitchen faucet – to avoid inadvertently turning on the water heater, which is forbidden on Shabbat.

However a new faucet from Israel solves that problem with a simple switch, which can be turned on just before Shabbat, similar to activating the Sabbath mode on a refrigerator!

According to Rick Glickman kitchen designer, the faucet presently is available exclusively at Dream Kitchens. The company is offering KosherEye readers a special price of $475 plus shipping. The list price is $554.  If ordering, mention the word: Kosher.

KosherEye note:
Please check with your rabbinical advisor to ensure that this faucet is appropriate for your Shabbos use.

KosherBuzz

Cookbook Scribbles

We would never ever, ever write in a book, except in a cookbook of course. Do you treasure those scribbles in your family heirloom cookbooks? We do! The margin notes, known as marginalia are priceless especially when they are notes from mothers, grandmothers and cherished family members. The New York Times agrees, and published this not-to-be missed article by Kate Murphy. Between the Recipes, Scribbles Speak Volumes

Do let us know what priceless handwritten treasures you have found in your heirloom cookbooks, and send us photos of those pages!

KosherBuzz

Expired Food Products

As we approach Passover, many kosher consumers face the choice of what to keep and what to toss. We think that this excerpt of an article we found in Consumer Reports is very helpful. If you subscribe to Consumer Reports, (we do), we suggest reading the entire feature.

How to read labels:

When manufacturers stamp a pack date on packaged food, they can use one of two codes: a calendar date — in month date year format (Jan, 31,2012 would be 013112) or a Julian date, in which each day of the year is numbered from 001 to 365. Jan. 31 would read as "0031". A pack date is not the same as a "use by" date, but it can help rotate goods to use the older ones first.

And what about canned goods? Consumer Reports could not find a food manufacturer that would recommend eating outdated versions of their canned goods, even when the can is intact.

KosherBuzz

Kosher BBQ from Corky's in Memphis 

As a fundraiser for the Margolin Hebrew Academy of Memphis, and, just in time for Purim, world famous CORKY'S BBQ is shipping KOSHER hickory smoked ribs, brisket, beans and sauce throughout the U.S.

To order or for more information, visit Corky's BBQ.

KosherBuzz

Tu B'shvat Coloring Page

From our friend Ann D. Koffsky — illustrator and children's book author — another delightful creation, a Tu B'shvat Coloring page for the kids. The details are wonderful! Just print the page and let your "little" artists create a masterpiece; they will have such fun! While you are visiting Ann's website, please browse and view her wonderful Judaic art work.

KosherBuzz

The KosherEye 2013 Wish List

Gathered from the wishes of our staff and readers, we present our annual KosherEye culinary wish list. Several “unfulfilled wishes” return from past years. Although some of these items may be available in large, metro areas, our readers across the country hope to see them more accessible locally and on the Internet.

• Clean kosher restaurants with sanitation grade A, smiling capable wait staff, caring management, quality food and fair pricing. Let us know when you find kosher restaurants with these attributes. We would like to write about them. We also wish that kosher restaurants would be so excellent that many of their patrons were not even there because it is kosher.

• Food trucks and pop-up restaurants rolling across the U.S.

• Fish sauce, Oyster sauce

• Duck breasts

• Washed, ready−to−eat packaged greens such as kale, chard, romaine and leafy vegetables

• Healthful and ready to heat meals in family sized portions

• Lingonberry preserves

• More and better kosher airline food

• More fine kosher cheeses

• More fresh–frozen fish

• Bailey’s Irish Crème liqueur. More kosher sherry, brandies and fine kosher liqueurs

• Sherry vinegar, Champagne vinegar, Truffle vinegar

• Bread and AP Flour in cup measurement units within 5 lb. packages

• More kosher certified store brands

• Poultry without residual hair shafts and feathers

• Online vendors listing specific kosher certification, rather than just  term “kosher”

• A more unified and complete kashrut listing in a central online location.

We invite you to share your kosher finds and wish list with us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . or on our Twitter or Facebook page.  We look forward to a year of exciting and innovative kosher introductions.

KosherBuzz

Red Star PLATINUM Yeast

Sampling/Baking Competition Winners

We are delighted to announce the winners of the Red Star PLATINUM Yeast baking competition:

Grand Prize:  Judy Stern, Soft Onion Rolls.
Prize: A PLATINUM wood cutting board and apron, PLATINUM yeast for a year (52 packages), and a $50 King Arthur Flour Baker’s Catalog gift card.

                          Photo: Soft Onion Rolls by Judy Stern

Runners Up: 
Prize: A PLATINUM wood cutting board and apron, along with 12 packets of PLATINUM yeast.
Diane Krutsch, 60 Minute Dinner Rolls

 
   Photo: 60 Minute Dinner Rolls,by Kiane Krutsch              

Lynn Teichman, No Knead Bread


          Photo: No Knead Bread by Lynn Teichman

All of the recipes we received were wonderful and it was not easy for us to select the ones we submitted to Red Star for the final decision.

And how did Linda and Kelly from Red Star make the final decision?
"For judging the entries, we looked at content, pictures and their experience using our Platinum yeast.

We loved reading about Judy Stern’s excitement to try the Platinum, and also about her success with the product.  Her soft onion rolls were beautiful and would make a great addition to a holiday dinner or for leftover sandwiches.

Lynn Teichman made a recipe using whole wheat flour, which we loved.  She had incredibly detailed photos of the bread making process and we liked how she showed two different ways to make the breads.

Diane Krutsch had nice comparison photos of rolls made with Platinum and with another yeast. The Platinum rolls looked so light and fluffy!"

We thank everyone who entered – the quality of the recipes and the accompanying pictures were terrific. We have some very good bakers out there. KosherEye thinks that every entry was a winner. We have posted the three winning recipes, and plan to post more in the coming weeks.