Sclemeel, Schlemazel, Hasenfeffer Incorporated

This past weekend two Greeks and an Italian set out to cook a traditional Hanukkah meal. Considering our prior knowledge [which was little to none] of how to prepare such a meal and the fact that Hanukkah isn't anywhere close to soon, we tweaked it and made it our own.

Our main dish was sweet potato latkes. This recipe is super easy and a great spin off of the classic latke. It has ginger and scallions in it which really give it a distinct taste. The key is making sure you dry the excess water off the sweet potatoes once you've grated them. Cooking in someone else's kitchen can be a real treat, especially when they have two huge sinks, a garbage disposal and the most incredible peeler. Frying these suckers up was a cinch once Jeremy endlessly grated sweet potatoes and nearly lost a finger.

The delicious side dish that kept our orange theme going was carrot tzimmes. This was a brand new recipe to me that wound up being my favorite part of the meal. All it took was a little honey, raisins, onions, vegetable broth and carrots simmered for 45 minutes and some Barbra Streisand on the record player. We didn't realize until halfway through marathon chopping that the recipe was meant to serve 24 people. You can bet we had leftovers for days.

For dessert we kept the sweet potato goodness coming and made a sweet potato chocolate torte. We substituted coconut flour for almond flour which brought the richness of the torte to new levels. The sweet potato mixed with the dark cocoa and coconut flour made for a dense dessert. Once it cooled, we melted down some bitter sweet chocolate with cream and made a rich ganache to top it off. Vegetables in dessert, yes please!

The night was spent in a sweet potato stupor that we enjoyed well into the evening while watching the 1990s classic, Serial Mom. If you haven't revisited that film since the last time you felt envious of Kevin McCallister, then it's a must!

Baleboosteh!

And I would wok 500 miles

A few years back, before I conquered my kitchen, I thought wok cooking would be a good way to ease into hearty homemade meals. So my sister, who happens to be a domestic goddess [and makes the world's best brownies, hands down] bought me one for Christmas. It was an entire set- cold rolled carbon steel wok, wooden steam rack, turner, ladle... it was gorgeous. And I let it sit in the box for an entire year before I was brave enough to make my first stir fry. I only filled the house up with smoke once in my trial runs, but I still blame the garlic.

The goodness of wok cooking is that you can add all of your favorite leafy greens and vegetables and produce a fast, tasty, super nutritious meal. The presentation isn't so bad either.

My favorite dressing to use is a soy ginger with soba noodles. Water chestnuts are also a necessity. Baby bok choy is the way to go when it comes to bok choy options, least amount of waste. And don't forget broccoli and handfuls upon handfuls of spinach. When you run out of soy sauce, the best default is to dig out one of those dry instant miso soup packets that's probably buried in the back of your pantry. Let the flavors settle in with the noodles and stir fry and you've got yourself one mighty fine soup.

The best part about cooking with a wok is the amount of puns that you can make while cooking. I currently have a good deal going with my roommate- I cook her delicious meals and she cleans the dishes and supplies the puns.

We have a running list:

Wok in the park

Wok this way

Wok the line

Wok on.

A Brief History of Needlework

Here's a look back on my more notable knitting and embroidery projects.

My grandmother used to knit up a storm. When I was younger she made teenage mutant ninja turtle sweaters, matching sweaters for me and my sister, gloves, hats, doll clothes... She was a knitting machine. When I was twenty I begged her to show me how to knit despite her arthritis. She was patient with my failed attempts at purling and eventually it clicked. I moved onto bigger projects with Debbie Stoller's Stitch N' Bitch and now I can make more than scarves and potholders.

Every winter I have a solid month of knitting as many things as my hands can handle. Knit on the train, knit at work, knit on the couch with Basil preying on my ball of yarn. These are from two winters back.

This year I consumed myself with embroidery. My mother [the most crafty lady I've ever known] let me ransack the attic for hoops and floss and gave me some tips and showed me her methods, first and most importantly- patience. I found my favorite patterns in Jenny Hart's Embroidered Effects. This type of needlework came more naturally to me but boy is it time consuming yet insanely relaxing.

Debbie Stoller on needlecrafts with NPR:

But at a certain point I sort of realized that these needlecrafts were in general sort of stigmatized in our culture, looked down on a little bit. And as far as I could tell, the only reason they really had this bad image was because it was something that had traditionally been done by women. And as a feminist I wanted to try to change that. Because I thought all of these needlecrafts really deserved to get some credit and some value.

full interview.

Crushing Domesticity.

The time has finally come. I faced my fear of domestication and said I'm gonna make you my bitch.

The resurgence of crafting and culinary arts has been on the rise. Sure, there are the Rachel Ray's and Martha Stewart's who have been marketing their classic, easy to cook and better homes living for the suburban women of America; but the real bad ass ladies of the DIY third wave feminist inspired movement are women like Debbie Stoller [founder of Bust magazine and author of Stitch n' Bitch] and Isa Chandra Moskowitz [vegan baker extraordinaire and creator of The Post Punk Kitchen]

Cooking and crafting have gone back to their roots of being a fine art, even an empowering thing. I mean, home EC came to be in the 1890s by a group of women who were attempting to professionalize domestic work in hope to offer more careers for women that were scientifically based. Bust wrote a solid feature of the history of Home EC in their August/ September issue that is worth checking out.

I was afraid of cooking for years. The vastness of kitchen appliances and the preparation, organization and accuracy that comes with cooking was far too intimidating. As was the idea of things like crocheting, knitting and any other needlework. I found that it's all about making it your own. Forget the traditional recipe and how the end result should look. Once I focused on the process, the results were magical and mighty delicious.

All of my attempts at cooking and crafting are best shared with friends. And now I will share my process and maybe drop some empowering lady knowledge on you from time to time too.

Oh and of course sweet Basil will also be a regular aid to the process.