While growing up in Jewish Los Angeles, I was exposed to many traditional Ashkenazic dishes — kreplach, cheese blintzes and strudel, to name a few. But it wasn’t until I developed an interest in cooking that I realized most other cultures have similar dishes. Kreplach reminds me of Italian ravioli or Chinese pot-stickers, and the wrapping for cheese blintzes is the same as French crepes. My mother always put egg…

Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes. Photo by Dan Kacvinski Passover, the Festival of Freedom — also known as the Festival of Unleavened Bread — is celebrated for eight days. Over the centuries, Jewish cooks have produced a rich array of foods for the Passover holiday, and desserts are an especially important course of the meal. No leavened ingredients may be used, such as flour, grains, cornstarch, baking powder or baking soda. One…

We love entertaining friends. The process is easy: We check our calendar, pick a date and discuss whom to invite, usually eight to 10 guests. It is fun to mix couples who have the same interests but have never met. At our last dinner party, we bought white cotton fabric to use as tablecloths and had a large selection of crayons and markers available. We then asked everyone to draw…

(Above) Tuna Salad Sandwich Photos by Morgan Lieberman. Food preparation and styling by Judy Zeidler If you have children in school, you know that making a lunch that pleases both you and your kids is not an easy assignment. Think of it as the school-lunch challenge. To help, get them involved with planning a meal, because they’re more likely to eat it if they were part of packing it. My daughter-in-law, Amy Zeidler, remembers when…

Just back from Italy, I was inspired by the foods served at our favorite restaurants. My Chanukah menu this year is a travelogue of those culinary experiences. We devote Chanukah to our children and grandchildren, and many of the dishes are easy to prepare and perfect for the whole family. In addition to the traditional potato latkes, I have included two special treats to begin our Chanukah celebration. We discovered…