This is an interesting article about the many reasons a patently kosher food might not get a stamp of approval. It goes into elements of trust and other principles around how kosher food is understood.
https://www.jta.org/2021/09/27/food/plant-based-impossible-pork-is-here-but-will-it-be-kosher
Dairy Lockshen Kugel Recipe
I don't really write down recipes but I recently had a work social where we all shared a recipe and so I wrote this one up for it. I call this The Miami Kugel sometimes :D
Lockshen Kugel
Ingredients
1 cup golden raisins
Can of crushed pineapple
12 oz bag of wide egg noodles
6 large eggs
1 pound sour cream
8 ounces cottage cheese
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cinnamon and brown sugar for dusting
More butter for the pan
Instructions
Place a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Cover the raisins with hot water and let them soak to plump.
Boil the noodles soft but not too soft (5 minutes). Drain and return them to the pot.
Blend the eggs, sour cream, cottage cheese, cream cheese, sugar, melted butter, and salt.
Pour the egg mixture over the cooked noodles in the pot and stir until well combined.
Drain the raisins and pineapple. Stir them into the noodles.
Coat a 9x13 inch baking dish with even more butter or something healthy I guess (yuk). Pour the noodle mixture into the dish.
Top the kugel by sprinkling generously with brown sugar and lightly with cinnamon.
Bake the kugel for an hour, turning once halfway through cooking, till the center of the kugel is set and the tips of the noodles turn golden brown. Remove from the oven.
Let the kugel rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing.
Noodle Kugel is served hot or cold. Dinner, dessert, or breakfast!
When I order on Doordash now, I see the tips it suggests are far lower than they used to be.
While I think tipping culture is way out of hand, I see Doordash tips going down to $2-3, or sometimes around 3-5% of the order and you have to manually adjust the tip upward from the default, beyond the given options.
Does anyone know what's going on there?
I love Cozy Games so I was curious about the research aspect of this story on them by Reuters.
Usually the story is there just to support the content, but this story by Reuters about cozy games is done in a cozy, 8-bit style, mirroring the games they're talking about it and making a sort of mini-cozy game!
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/VIDEO-GAMES/MENTAL-HEALTH/akpeewkqgpr/
In this Curb Your Enthusiasm clip, the rabbi says that there's nothing in the Torah about defamatory bricks, but I think it's clearly an example of lashon hara.
But then one might argue that it's not lashon hara because it's a sort of warning?
What do you think?
72% of American Jews maintain elevated engagement after Oct. 7
Some really interesting data in this article. Anecdotally from my own experience some of the Israel numbers seem a little inflated but overall the engagement numbers look really spot on.
I'd really like to see the data with the corresponding questions.
What about anyone else? Have you experienced and/or observed higher Jewish engagement since Oct 7?
"The data shows that when people show up, the experiences they’re having are overwhelmingly positive," Kramer said. "But showing up is just the beginning. It’s on us to nurture friendships, create spaces that foster a sense of belonging, and offer meaningful Jewish experiences that turn moments of engagement into lasting community."
I'm not a religious person. My feelings, and my deep devotion to the Jews is rooted in our shared heritage, culture, values and history. Religion as its typically discussed doesn't have anything to do with it, That said, I've always been fascinated by religious practice, whether that be outside Judaism, such as Buddhist rituals, Muslim Salat, or closer to home, our own religious obligations and rituals, from wrapping tefillin, to keeping kosher, or the order in which we put on our shoes.
This substack post talks about the perspective of one religious Jew reading about religious "conversion" of other people (one Jewish), when they found religion. https://ireadthisovershabbos.substack.com/p/i-read-the-best-case-for-religion I haven't read Godstruck but it may go on my list of books to read since I find the topic interesting.
Have you read Godstruck?
Are you "religious"?
If so, can you say more about it? Do you believe in G-d? Did you have a moment that changed you?
My wife and I have been playing Traveler's Rest and as a challenge I've been thinking about playing the game in Kosher Mode.
This would entail making the inn as kosher as possible in the game, which means:
- You need to decide at the start whether you will be a Dairy or Meat restaurant
- You must be fully closed Friday by 6pm and only open Saturday at 7pm.
- You can't work on Shabbat, including watering plants, preparing material, or purchasing
- Employees may not work on Shabbat either
- You can't use any non-kosher ingredient in your food, including pork, seafood, eels, or any dish that is outside of your restaurant's kosher selection
- You musn't mix milk and meat
- You can't buy meat at the market since you can't be assured it was given a kosher slaughter
I think it's arguable if there's any kosher meat in Traveler's Rest at all since the method of slaughter is beating.
It's also arguable that there are practical challenges making kosher wine in Traveler's Rest. The wine in Traveler's Rest is fermented but not mevushal, so if an employee serves it, it could be non-kosher unless there's a Jew there to oversee it, which isn't always possible. While this may not matter to non-Jewish patrons, if the inn is to keep its virtual kosher status, it may not be wise to make wine or products that use wine.
What other changes would I need to make to make the game kosher?
What other games like this could we make more kosher, or Jewish?
Big changes on Rugela!!
- Rugela now works on mobile
We're still working on getting all pages, but the main pages will now work on mobile and look really good!!
- Rugela stories are sorted
The stories on the main page are sorted by a blend newness and activity. Newer or active stories float to the top, making it easier to see what's important
- Some small visual changes
List item and a few other things render better now
Let us know your thoughts!
I've tried a dozen recipes for hard boiled eggs over the years. I've tried steam baths, roasting, adding things to the water, timers, and even blowing into the eggshell, all in service of two things:
- The yolk should come out yellow with no green
- The egg should come out of its shell perfectly
After years, I've found the recipe in Kenji Lopez-Alt, and a little of my own approach.
https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs
The recipe is simple:
Boil a bot of water, have enough water to cover the eggs by about an inch (~2.5cm)
- Boil your water
- Reduce the water to a simmer/slow boil
- Place your cold eggs into the simmering water
- Cook for exactly 11 minutes
- Place eggs into a cold water bath, ideally with ice
- Let your eggs cool - This is very important. They need to stay in the ice bath at least 15 minutes, and overnight in the fridge is best
- Crack the eggs by tapping the top and bottom, then gently rolling them to create little fractures, then simply peel
And there you go, perfect hard boiled eggs.
The search is over.
I know a lot of people don't like raisins, but do they belong in charoset? D:
This is an interesting article on secular jews and some of the very traditional things we end up doing.
https://forward.com/yiddish-world/396555/i-miss-those-secular-jews-who-led-traditional-seders/
As you can see, lots of big changes on the site today!
Every user has a small avatar next to their name. Right now it's just a circle with an initial and some color, eventually we hope to make it more interesting, but this makes it easier to track a conversation and adds a splash of color.
The site's top is "cleaner", less cluttered!
You can now edit posts! Or delete them (please don't delete them!)
And we have pagination, which is a small but important bit of functionality.
We've made a few small updates.
Firstly, we've made some behind the scene changes which should help get updates out faster. This is important because we have some exciting stuff coming down the pike.
Secondly, we've made some improvements to the username validation in the signup process. This isn't something I expect many people will notice, but it will be useful down the road.
More updates (and larger updates) soon!
Don't you you hate it when you're trying to write about the Silvan Elves of Nandorin and it autocorrects it to Silan Elves.
I know lots of people who make vegan seders, swapping the lamb for a beet, the egg for potato, but vegan gefilte fish is a new one to me.
https://www.thejc.com/recipe/vegan-gefilte-fish-cakes-for-pesach-ha8d4if4
Are there vegan substitutions you make, or know about?