Magus's Grimoire [Abridged]

We all know that Hillel took some roast lamb and horseradish and made a sandwich from that and matzah. What I've just learned today is that it tastes really good.

I took some matzah and broke it into bite-sized pieces. On each I placed a sliced bit of hot lamb, and dolloped a generous portion of ground horseradish [ours isn't very strong this year] on top. A leaf of parsley on top made a nice garnish.

Tasty, and could be reasonably served to guests.

While I was doing this, I got to thinking about how unwieldy matzah is due to its tendency to break. I was wondering if Hillel had to put up with this problem when making his sandwich. Does matzah have to be crispty like an oversized saltine? Could you make a flat bread which is kosher for Passover but which retains a bit of flexibility and resiliency, say like a pita? Maybe if you made it the day before and wrapped it so it didn't have to sit around for a long time? Because a matzah like that would be a lot easier to work with in a meal.

Ok, I'm biting on this one (no pun intended). Reading others' is fun, and, well, I've had a lot of these things...
( The Omnivore's Hundred )

I made a batch of matzoh ball soup last night. From one of those scary little Manischevitz boxes. It had the virtue of being surprisingly easy. It doesn't have many other virtues.

I used the quart of soup I had left after I ate all the matzoh balls my mother sent me home with after seder to start, and stretched it with the full amount of soup mix from the box. I was hoping this would result in its tasting a bit less flaccid than it does. It's a bit improved over what I expected soup from a bix to taste like, but still quite disappointing.

I'm more intrigued by the matzoh balls themselves. They're really quite astounding. They seems to be simultaneously too soft (they don't have quite enough bite) and too dense (they don't have the nice big air pockets which give them texture). Next time, I'm asking Mom for her recipe.

But at least I have soup to eat for lunch, so I'm not starving. And I made matzoh brei for breakfast this morning, which worked just fine, cooking really easily in the skillet after the bacon was done. Yes, there's an irony there. (And yes, there's an atrocious pun there.) So it's mid-afternoon and I've actually eaten two meals already. Not bad.

So there's this little coffee shop/bakery in the office park which I walk past on the way to work every morning called "The Daily Bagel". It's cute, it has a little picture of a bagel reading the newspaper, and they have pretty decent hot chocolate.

This morning, having awakened too late to make myself breakfast (as usual), and having left home too late to get my usual donuts from the Dunkin' Donuts on the way to the train station, I thought, "Well, they're named after bagels, maybe I should give them a try." I'd heard the horror stories, I knew I was probably going to be disappointed, but it's only fair to give someone a chance before assuming they'll disappoint you.

So I purchased a toasted sesame "bagel" with cream cheese. What I received was a rather pleasant bready circular roll which looks as though it once had a hole before it rose in the oven so much the hole closed. Cut in half, toasted, and slathered with a healthy (paltry by N.Y.C. standards, reasonable to most sane people) amount of cream cheese. It's really not bad, except that every time I go to take a bite of it I have to convince myself not to expect to be taking a bite of a bagel. It's hard going.

I haven't been here that long, and I was never that much of a bagel eater, but the person who can get a bagel into my possession before 11 A.M. on a work day will earn my sincerest gratitude.

P.S. For those who missed the memo, I started work last Wednesday. It's going well so far. There may be more on that, and the exciting urinating into a portable vessel adventure, later.

It's really amusing, and it's work-safe. It's How To Win More Admiration, Praise, Respect, and Nookie In One Easy Step