Of Passover & distressed furniture
During the coming week, Jews celebrate the holiday of liberation, Passover. The holiday is so named because, when Moses was ready to lead the people out of Egypt, the Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Jews during the execution of the 10th plague, the killing of the 1st-born sons. The holiday starts with 2 seder evenings, or organized readings & special foods. ( The readings have to do with how a people can move from slavery into freedom. One way is to uphold the Divine laws.) The Jews were in such a hurry to leave Egypt that they had no time to bake their bread. In all the centuries since, Jews eschew risen breads during Passover, & just eat matzo instead. (We also do not eat other foods that puff up in cooking, such as beans & rice.)
HELPFUL HINTS:
Keep fresh ginger in the freezer. It will last much longer, & it is easier to grate when frozen.
If you are in the market for a new or used car, bear in mind that the cost to insure different makes & models varies enormously. Before you buy, check with your insurance company to learn which cars the company accepts the lowest premiums for, & seek to purchase one that is on that list.
When you cook an oven meal for which the recipes advise different temperatures, bake it all at once, to save on your utilities bill. Just choose the temperature advised for any bread, cake, pie, or cookies that you are baking - goods with baking powder or yeast, & adjust the times that you keep other foods in the oven. (Adjust items that are advised to be baked at a higher temperature to be in the oven longer. Adjust items that are advised to be baked at a lower temperature to be in the oven for a shorter time.) If you are not preparing baked goods, choose the temperature that is in the middle of the range of temperatures given in the recipes that you are preparing, & adjust the other temperatures as given in the parenthetical above
As we approach mosquito season, here’s an easy way to keep the critters out of your face when you’re outdoors. Just cut some cheesecloth (about 2’ by 2’), put on a hat, & tuck the cheesecloth under the hat’s front brim & inside your collar.
To store plastic bags, stuff them into an oatmeal canister, & cut a slit in its plastic lid. You can even provide continuous ejection by knotting one bag’s bottom end to the next one’s top end. (That is, stuff them together into a chain before putting them in the canister.)
A fine place to find high-ticket goods at rock-bottom prices is the business bankruptcy auction where a business (in Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code) did not have anything to do with the kind of item you are looking for. For example, if a clothing store has gone belly-up, the resulting auction would be a great sale at which you could find a computer, because the computer is “ancillary” to the business that had been going on – the computer will go for a song.
When you want to give a present that will fit into a jar – such as a mix for baking where you can layer the ingredients attractively & affix the recipe, you want the jar to look pretty, &, of course, you would prefer to recycle a jar. Here’s how to make a lovely new label after you soak the old one off & let the jar dry thoroughly. Use a scrap of fabric, aluminum foil, wallpaper, ConTact® paper, or what-have-you, & write or print out a descriptive label smaller than the decorative label. Affix the descriptive label to the decorative, & the decorative label to the jar, both using rubber cement on all the edges. I’d bet that you know about rubber cement that it dries quickly, &, once dry, you can rub any excess off easily – it beads readily.
ABSOLUTELY ABSURD RETAIL ADVERTISEMENT:
The Broyhill furniture company, selling a new collection called “Attic Heirlooms,” assures the public that the furniture in this group have “[r]ustic worn woods … [that] feature unique character knots, dents & scratches that harken to the past.” The ad promises that “these newly-made pieces have all the character & style of one-of-a-kind antiques.” Wow! Guaranteed to have you pay through the nose for distressed furniture when you can pick some up in any Salvation Army store ….
RECIPE:
I’ve doubled my usual poultry ration for this recipe, since so few foods are available for Passover. A good accompaniment to this dish is mashed potatoes made with chicken broth.
Fruited Turkey:
½ lb pitted prunes (about 1 lb prunes that you pit yourself)
Soak overnight in 1 c water at room temperature (covered). Reserve water.
1 c matzo meal
1 tsp cinnamon for the holiday – 1 tsp cardamom instead if you are making this recipe year-round (Note: Observant Jews only use foodstuffs marked for the holiday, & not everything that is available year-round is sold Kosher for Passover.)
Mix together the prunes in water, matzo meal, & spice.
¼ c olive, peanut, or walnut oil
2 c cooked turkey, chopped
2 large or 3 medium carrots, grated
½ large or 1 medium onion, sliced with rings separated
In a Dutch oven, sauté the turkey, carrots, & onion in the oil, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes.
Add the prune mixture & stir thoroughly. Cover & reduce the heat. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring at the 5 & 10 minutes marks.
Serves 5.
HELPFUL HINTS:
Keep fresh ginger in the freezer. It will last much longer, & it is easier to grate when frozen.
If you are in the market for a new or used car, bear in mind that the cost to insure different makes & models varies enormously. Before you buy, check with your insurance company to learn which cars the company accepts the lowest premiums for, & seek to purchase one that is on that list.
When you cook an oven meal for which the recipes advise different temperatures, bake it all at once, to save on your utilities bill. Just choose the temperature advised for any bread, cake, pie, or cookies that you are baking - goods with baking powder or yeast, & adjust the times that you keep other foods in the oven. (Adjust items that are advised to be baked at a higher temperature to be in the oven longer. Adjust items that are advised to be baked at a lower temperature to be in the oven for a shorter time.) If you are not preparing baked goods, choose the temperature that is in the middle of the range of temperatures given in the recipes that you are preparing, & adjust the other temperatures as given in the parenthetical above
As we approach mosquito season, here’s an easy way to keep the critters out of your face when you’re outdoors. Just cut some cheesecloth (about 2’ by 2’), put on a hat, & tuck the cheesecloth under the hat’s front brim & inside your collar.
To store plastic bags, stuff them into an oatmeal canister, & cut a slit in its plastic lid. You can even provide continuous ejection by knotting one bag’s bottom end to the next one’s top end. (That is, stuff them together into a chain before putting them in the canister.)
A fine place to find high-ticket goods at rock-bottom prices is the business bankruptcy auction where a business (in Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code) did not have anything to do with the kind of item you are looking for. For example, if a clothing store has gone belly-up, the resulting auction would be a great sale at which you could find a computer, because the computer is “ancillary” to the business that had been going on – the computer will go for a song.
When you want to give a present that will fit into a jar – such as a mix for baking where you can layer the ingredients attractively & affix the recipe, you want the jar to look pretty, &, of course, you would prefer to recycle a jar. Here’s how to make a lovely new label after you soak the old one off & let the jar dry thoroughly. Use a scrap of fabric, aluminum foil, wallpaper, ConTact® paper, or what-have-you, & write or print out a descriptive label smaller than the decorative label. Affix the descriptive label to the decorative, & the decorative label to the jar, both using rubber cement on all the edges. I’d bet that you know about rubber cement that it dries quickly, &, once dry, you can rub any excess off easily – it beads readily.
ABSOLUTELY ABSURD RETAIL ADVERTISEMENT:
The Broyhill furniture company, selling a new collection called “Attic Heirlooms,” assures the public that the furniture in this group have “[r]ustic worn woods … [that] feature unique character knots, dents & scratches that harken to the past.” The ad promises that “these newly-made pieces have all the character & style of one-of-a-kind antiques.” Wow! Guaranteed to have you pay through the nose for distressed furniture when you can pick some up in any Salvation Army store ….
RECIPE:
I’ve doubled my usual poultry ration for this recipe, since so few foods are available for Passover. A good accompaniment to this dish is mashed potatoes made with chicken broth.
Fruited Turkey:
½ lb pitted prunes (about 1 lb prunes that you pit yourself)
Soak overnight in 1 c water at room temperature (covered). Reserve water.
1 c matzo meal
1 tsp cinnamon for the holiday – 1 tsp cardamom instead if you are making this recipe year-round (Note: Observant Jews only use foodstuffs marked for the holiday, & not everything that is available year-round is sold Kosher for Passover.)
Mix together the prunes in water, matzo meal, & spice.
¼ c olive, peanut, or walnut oil
2 c cooked turkey, chopped
2 large or 3 medium carrots, grated
½ large or 1 medium onion, sliced with rings separated
In a Dutch oven, sauté the turkey, carrots, & onion in the oil, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes.
Add the prune mixture & stir thoroughly. Cover & reduce the heat. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring at the 5 & 10 minutes marks.
Serves 5.
posted by THE PENNY ORCHID -- "Thrift with Flair" at 2:09 PM
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