Kitchen Playthings. Literally.

Posted in The Kosher Way

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As you use all sorts of gadgets to cook, have your kids be part of the fun. Not only is spending time in the kitchen a great way for the family to bond, but your kitchen can become a science lab, art studio or magic parlor depending on the gadget at hand.

And what kid won’t be enamored by the beating and whirring, spinning and scooping a well-stocked kitchen drawer beholds? So the next time you pull a pre-Shabbos cooking marathon, invite the kids to explore their creativity as you stir and chop, dice and sauté.

While you set up shop at the stove, here are three art projects your kids can do to keep you company.

Meat Pounder

Once you’ve pounded away at the shnitzel, offer the allure of the meat pounder to the chef-in-training. After all, what kid wouldn’t want to use a heavy, solid disk to smash something?

Have him make smashed berry prints by placing fresh or frozen berries on half a piece of watercolor paper or an absorbent paper towel. Fold the other half over the berries and – smash! Unfold and examine the print. Abstract art is suddenly his expertise.

Salad Spinner

After the salad greens are dry, hand over the salad spinner to the junior cook to make spin art. Have her cut a circle of white paper and place it in the bottom of the salad spinner. Pour a few drops of of food coloring or water-based tempera paint on the paper. Put the top on the spinner and let ‘er rip!

Pastry Blender

As dessert bakes in the oven, have your kitchen apprentice use a pastry blender to make rubbed crayon prints. Rock the pastry blender back and forth in different directions all over a sheet of construction paper, pressing down to make indentions. Then, with minimal swift srokes, rub the paper with the side of a peeled crayon. The rubbed designs come out every time you make them.

Felisa Billet writes on Jewish food from her home in Hollywood, Florida. Check out her interactive kosher cooking dialogue at usa.kosher.com

Do’s and Don’ts of Kosher Twittering

Posted in Kosher Wine, Kosher.com News

We’ve been trying our hand in Twitter recently.  Here are some do’s and don’ts that we have put together that we follow, as we’re sure you agree that Twitterring for business is a bit different than personal twittering :

Linking

• Do try to put out relevant links in Twitter.
• Don’t make every link about you.  It’s easy to find lots of other kosher news, and help spread it.

Keeping Current

• Do keep current.  People like active Twitter people.  Not every Tweet will be a magical moment.
• Don’t neglect Twitter, you may lose followers.

Following / Followers

• Do follow people back.  If the person following you has an acceptable ratio and doesn’t appear to be a spammer, follow back.
• Don’t auto dm new followers.  Nothing screams spammer like the dreaded “thanks for following and check out my site.”

Current Events

• Do watch for current trends / events.
• Don’t make self-promotion so strong that you delude yourself into thinking that you are creating a trend.

Retweeting

• Do Retweet others when they have a valuable thing to say and/or link
• Don’t Retweet yourself.  We heard you the first time.

Personal Chat

• Do talk about your daily life.  Work and personal is ok, within reason.
• Don’t overdo this point and tell the world about your cat sneezing every 2 minutes.

Following

• Do follow people that you personally find interesting.  @ back to them when you see something of value.
• Don’t follow people back just because they followed you.  See if you should be following them.

Anger Management vs. Conversation

• Don’t lash out.  There is no drafts bin on Twitter like in email…sometimes it’s worth taking a second before firing off a nasty @ reply to someone.
• Do get into a back and forth conversation, knowing when it’s time to take it privately or just stop with the conversation.

Being in the Community

• Do share in one another’s joys and relate to their sorrows.  Twitter, while limited in how much you can type at once, is a community.  We’ve actually met some friends in real life from it.
• Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter

Start Spreading the Kosher News

Posted in Kosher.com News

Kosher.com has just launched an amazing refer-a-friend program.

So nu, what’s so great about it?

Here’s how it works:

What a deal: you get $18, and your friend gets 18% off their order!

Stay tuned for some very exciting events for 2009. Watch us on Twitter for the latest info, spreading kosher joy for the new year!

Get Your Meat On

Posted in Kosher Meat

Groovy, man!  Grilling in winter weather is HOT, if you want to get your meat on. When the sun sets early, and the snow flies, that doesn’t have to mean we close up our patios for months on end.  This could beat out light therapy as the new cure for Seasonal Affect Disorder, as well as a fun way to warm up with friends and family. If it isn’t actually sub-freezing out, get out and get grilling!

A foodie blogger and winter grilling enthusiast raves, “I don’t know about you, but I find grilled food in the winter tastes even better than it does in the summer. Really what’s so tough about starting up the grill, especially if it’s a gas grill, and cooking a great meal?”
Read more

Happy Chanukah from Kosher.com!

Posted in Chanukah

Wanted to wish you all a happy Chanukah, Chag Someach, and a healthy new year from kosher.com!

There’s just a darling stop motion video from – get this – a class of 4 year old preschoolers:

It’s Official: Kosher Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Posted in Kashrut

Well, better than sliced challah, anyway Recent information gathered from Mintel’s Global New Products Database for the year indicated that kosher foods are the leading the pack for new product launches!

What’s really interesting is that the growth isn’t entirely from the religious market.

From the study:

“Kosher is the most frequently used claim on food and drink products launched this year, according to Mintel, which suggests that the growing interest may be more to do with food safety than religion…not so much because of religion, but because consumers of various backgrounds trust kosher foods to be safer and clearly marked as to ingredient content”.

Other groups that are finding kosher appealing are vegetarians, lactose intolerant, and those that fear mad cow disease (from beef). This is the second straight year that Mintel has kosher ranked #1, and estimates the 2007 kosher market at $12.5 billion. All products in the US market that “happen to be kosher” stand at an astounding $500 billion.

Source

What Do You Want on Your Tombstone?

Posted in Humor

We all have our favorite recipes, and sometimes we get them handed to us from generation to generation. Others we get from our favorite cooking shows. Still others we get off of grave sites.

Wait…what?

Yeah, grave sites.

Believe it or not, this guy’s favorite yeast cake bread recipe comes off the grave site of a Jacob and Mina Toper in Kibbutz Na’an in Israel.

If it was mouth-watering and delicious during their lifetime, I’m willing to try it now, too.

Oh, nom, nom, nom

Kind of makes you think of the old Tombstone Pizza commercials back in the 90’s, doesn’t it?

source

Pour Out The Kosher Wine -Into a Glass of Course!

Posted in Kosher Wine, Passover, The Kosher Way

Kosher wine is traditional for the Passover seder, so what goes into that making that bottle? To keep with tradition, those who may not keep kosher will enjoy kosher wine, but not too many people consider all that it takes to create kosher wine. It all starts with Concord grapes, which naturally have a bitter taste, so bottlers add large amounts of sugar to sweeten the wine.

And then there is the difference between kosher wine that uses boiling to purify it (Mevushal), and the newer “flash pasteurization” method which does the same thing, yet preserves the taste. However, by not boiling it, the “non-Mevushal” wine can lose it’s kosher status if handled by a non-Jew. The Mevushal is exempt from this and can be poured and enjoyed by all, regardless of religion.

Just remember that just because it’s a kosher wine doesn’t automatically make it an award winning wine. Ask around, ask friends, ask your rabbi! Now that wine producers are hastily realizing the surge in popularity of kosher wines, and creating more choices, wine stores will be more than happy to assist your purchase. L’Chaiyim!

Why is This Coke Different From All Other Cokes?

Posted in Passover, The Kosher Way

Coca-Cola is Kosher for Passover! Why? Because each year, around passover, the company makes a special run of Coke that replaces the high-fructose corn syrup with real, delicious, pure sugar. So when the alert goes out, they make some great sales, because the recipe harkens back to a taste that is really “Classic,” not to mention: “Kosher!”

Up until the 1980’s, the formula for Coke actually used real sugar, however, the company switched to high-fructose corn syrup. And since Passover requires refraining from eating certain grains, the corn-based sweetener is usually avoided. But, the Coca-Cola company has been able to continue producing this special variety this time of year.

The yellow cap and special labeling shows that “Passover Coke” is ready for your table! Coke has done a great thing, and having a product like this has even helped in their sales, so much so that even people who do not celebrate Passover request this seasonal recipe. Enjoy your soda this Passover, and savor the flavor of Kosher Coke.

Passover and Earth Day: A Lot in Common!

Posted in Green Living, Passover, The Kosher Way

Celebrate Passover and Earth Day at the same time? Yes, you can! You can be green while enjoying all the traditions. Remember, Passover includes cleaning out the old and starting fresh. Just by ridding your home of excess, that is, allowing yourself and your environment to ‘breathe’, you have done at least one small thing to ‘improve your world’.

When we look at Passover as a celebration of being “set free”, we can apply this toward being also “set free” from things and possessions that tend to ‘clog up’ our lives. Freedom is a great feeling, but comes with a responsibility to take care of who we are, where we live, and the world we leave behind. Today, we deal with the plagues of climate issues and the such, things that really affect us all.

So enjoy Passover, but don’t pass over the chance to go the extra step and look at who you are and where you live. It’s those little things that really add up to help create a better world. Don’t take for granted what you have been given! Giving back is the perspective of living green. And don’t forget: “The less you have, the less you have to clean up!”