Monday, September 14, 2009

Book Review Part 2: Reports and Pictures

In an attempt to get the car, I mean, score some last minute tzadekes points up there, I cooked a gourmet supper for my mother, who had to work late today. Naturally, I opened up my new cookbook, The Complete Yom Tov Cookbook. I must say, my mother is awesome. She doesn't ask any questions. Some mothers might have inquired why erev yom tov seems like a good time to make a gourmet supper, but she just smiled and thanked me.Anyhow, here is what I made:

Spinach Patties. These are included in the cookbook as one of the simanim for Rosh Hashanah, but my father is very particular about minhagim, and he doesn't define silka as spinach. Instead, I made them for supper. The batter was extremely easy to make, and they weren't hard to fry either. Also, they made the house smell really good, which was awesome. I was trying to figure out if there is a way to bottle the smell in case I ever go on a date, but it didn't look likely (the bottled smell or the date) so I gave up.

As I was taking them out of the pan, my father walked into the kitchen. I offered him a taste, while bracing myself for a disappointment. It's not that my father is mean, but he is a guy. He has been known to see broccoli kugel in the oven and say "what's that green stuff?" I was therefore pretty shocked when he happily took a second patty. He stopped chewing for a minute, just long enough to say "really, really delicious." High praise, considering it was a male talking about spinach.



I also made this:
Pepper steak. I wasn't scared of my father's reaction to this one, because even a guy can handle green peppers if they are served on a plate with meat. As with the spinach patties, the instructions were clear, simple, and easy to follow. It was really popular, all around. The author suggests serving the pepper steak with brown rice, which I did. It looked and smelled delicious, so it was no shock to find that it tasted even better than I expected. Again, my parents are awesome. Some might have inquired why I was taking a picture of my plate, and why I felt a need to arrange the rice just so, but mine didn't even notice. Or maybe they were just too busy enjoying.

Once again, if you'd like to purchase this cookbook, the link is here.

Hope I didn't make anyone too hungry...


(Please note: Lous II took these pictures for me, in case you were wondering about the poor photo quality. And in case you are wondering about the name, Louis II is my cell phone.)

7 comments:

thinking out loud said...

You think you need a taster for your yom tov meals?

Staying Afloat said...

I am so getting this book in time for Succos, iy"H. Though me and spinach don't get along...

Something Different said...

TOL- Nah, my brothers will be around... ;-)
Kidding, cmon over! The more the merrier!

SA- You should, I really enjoy it. Make sure to order it from the link on my blog so I can benefit. :-)

lvnsm said...

man that 2nd pic looks delicious. The first one sounds very good too. Great recipes thanks for sharing

itsagift said...

What do you get if we order it from your link?

Inspired said...

looks yummy...

Coincidentally, my mother bought this recipe book today. It certainly looks like it has a lot of useful recipes.

Something Different said...

Lvnsm- Tasted better than it looked. :-)

IAG- I have a deal with Targum where I get a percentage of sales that come from my blog, but honestly, I like this cookbook and wouldn't recommend it so strongly if I didn't.

Insp- Yes, useful is a good way to describe this cookbook. We are all really happy with it.