Add a bountiful dessert table to your Thanksgiving feast Pumpkin Date Nut Bread. Photos by Dan Kacvinski Thanksgiving dinner calls to mind roast turkey with stuffing and gravy, sweet potatoes, rolls and cranberries. But the holiday meal wouldn’t be the same without a variety of pies and pumpkin desserts. My friend, chef Michel Richard, who started his career as a pastry chef, was once asked if dessert is necessary. “I…

Make kids holiday kitchen helpers with Chanukah cookies   Russian Tea Cakes Photos by Dan Kacvinski   This year at our family Chanukah get-together, we’re having a cookie exchange. Everyone will bring their favorite cookies to enjoy as part of our dessert after the traditional latke dinner. Then boxes and tins of home-baked cookies will be exchanged as take-home gifts, gaily wrapped in blue-and-white paper and ribbons. This will definitely…

Kickstart your morning with an amazing kibbutz-inspired meal Can you imagine sitting down to a breakfast buffet of fresh fruit, yogurt, cheeses, smoked fish and eggs, and an amazing selection of salads, breads and pastries? For tourists, this is a typical breakfast feast in Israel. This hearty meal most likely originated on the kibbutz or communal farm, where residents woke up at 4 a.m. to work in the fields, then came…

In Argentina, although Passover comes in the fall, the celebration is much like that observed by Jews in the United States, and the food is similar to Eastern European dishes, but with a South American flair. Argentina has a Jewish population of more than 250,000, making it the largest in Latin America. Their ancestors immigrated from Poland, Russia, Syria, Turkey and North Africa in the late 1800s and early 1900s….

When you feel like you are always packing the children’s lunch boxes with the same old boring foods, it is time to branch out with new ideas and ingredients. I am sure that school lunches can be more creative and exciting than when my kids went to school. In those days, it was peanut butter and jelly day after day. To make the job easier, plan ahead. Make sure the things you…

ITALY TRIP – JUDY & MARVINO ZEIDLER – FRIDAY – OCTOBER 10, 2008 International Airpor LAX – Lufthansa – Friday – arrived 3pm – checked in – business lounge on 5th floor 3:30pm.  Boarded plane at 4:10pm & left at 4:30pm.  9 ½  hours to Frankfurt – SATURDAY – OCTOBER 11, 2008 – LOS ANGELES – CATANIA Arrived Frankfurt at 12:00 noon – got ride on cart to A14 – flight…