The Long Break

Not-for-Profit Dad has finally emerged from deep dark hole that sucks us all in for the beginning of December. He has a ten-day program that he prepares for throughout the entire year. And during those ten days, he lives, eat, sleeps, and breathes his job. It's a trade-off. On one hand, as September rolls around, his schedule becomes less and less flexible. On the other hand, come mid-December, he can stay home to participate in the twins' physical therapy session. Because it is currently AFTER the program, I am very positive about this arrangement. Of course, if I had written this entry on December 1st, it would have been a very different, darker entry. Full of curse words.

The return of the daddy has also brought on a host of parties, and therefore, a host of new recipes. Since I last wrote, I have been inventing, inventing, inventing. Tonight's dinner was a vegetarian wonton soup (recipe above). Last time I was in Israel, I ate this fantastic vegetarian wonton soup at a restaurant called Apropos (which is no longer standing due to a bomber). That is the best part about kosher dairy restaurants. Vegetarians can get all of the dishes that are typically made with meat. Israel is the best place to get French onion soup. For vegetarians...I mean. Meat eaters may want to try somewhere like...I don't know...Paris.

The first night he returned home, we had nori-less maki that I had glazed with a soy-ginger sauce. It was pretty disappointing. Ming Tsai had taught me (yes, me personally, since I believe each and every one of these celebrity chefs write their cookbooks directly to me) how to glaze rice and it sounded like such a neat idea. Unfortunately, the glaze I made was too sweet. I drizzled wasabi oil as a garnish on the plate, so it cut through some of the sweetness. I had tried out this idea of nori-less maki because I wanted to make it for the twins and I couldn't see them gnawing through seaweed with their gummy mouths.

My other grand recipe was recreating the avocado eggrolls served at the Cheesecake Factory complete with the cashew-tamarind dipping sauce. I had found tamarind concentrate at Fresh Fields, and I was dying to use it. I'm going to make a vegetarian Pad Thai later this week. Need to think up other recipes that use tamarind since I now have a large container of concentrate...

So the Kosher Vegetarian Mum is back--back with her books, back in "cooking school", and back with her children insisting, "bup!" whenever they want to be lifted so they can watch the Kitchenaid spin. Check back on Friday when we bake our first family challah.