kochleffel

I wouldn't mind some Sauvignon Blanc and it would go with the salmon cakes, but the wine I have open is a kosher Gamay-Pinot blend from France. Believe it or not, salmon patties were already in my plan for today, the recipe adapted slightly for Passover. I was up too early for brunch, even with a mimosa waiting, and after the second seder last night I probably shouldn't drink any more for a while. No Nebbiolo grapes here, so I might substitute Chateau LaFayette Reneau's Petit Verdot, $29.99. I seem to have attended not one seder (required), not two (customary in the diaspora, but I follow the Israeli calendar), but three. The second was virtual, starting at lunchtime EDT yesterday because it was being led from Germany. The third was at the synagogue with 65 people, more a community event (with very good food) than a religious occasion. I had arranged to sit with my hosts from the first seder and a medical student whom they had invited; a Presbyterian minister joined us. I also led part of the morning service yesterday.

Mimosa This is another drink that should be too simple to mess up, not that people haven't tried. 1 part freshly squeezed orange juice 1 part Champagne or other sparkling wine The sparkling wine for this need not be, and should not be, the best French champagne. Domestic American champagne, so-called, prosecco, or cava will be fine, but avoid one that is too insipid. Pour both the sparkling wine and the juice into a champagne flute (they mix better if the sparkling wine goes in first). That is all.

It's good to have English Language Day and English Muffin Day together, because muffins demonstrate once again that England and the United States are two countries divided by a common language. In other online venues, people in England declare vehemently that what is called an English muffin over here is not a muffin in any way, shape, or form -- but what is a muffin is something that there's less-than-complete agreement on in England, especially if you add pikelets to the conversation. The menu suggestion would be OK if I had any of the ingredients. I would simplify the drink to just Campari and soda, because I rarely have an open bottle of prosecco handy. For the wine, I'd go with whatever Bordeaux-style blend happened to be available, perhaps Rooster Hill's Cabernet Franc-Lemberger blend, $24.99.

Campari Spritz A person might think that a Campari Spritz was such a simple idea that the Interweb couldn't possibly mess around with it. Such a person would be wrong, but in this case, the maker of Campari has provided an official recipe. 2 oz. Campari 3 oz. Prosecco 1 oz. soda water Pour the Campari, Prosecco, and soda water into an ice-filled wine glass. Garnish with a orange slice of fresh orange.

Thank you, and not to worry. As I was puzzling over the many formulae for the drink, some of them farfetched, I realized that it was setting me behind on the Passover prep, and so left it for lunchtime. If I am too impaired in the morning, I might not post until lunchtime tomorrow as well, although tomorrow's drink is an easy one.

Fujiyama There are about a thousand different recipes for this one, and they don't agree on anything. Some of them seem to think that it's named for Fuji apples, not for the mountain, and use apple juice as the mixer or applejack as the spirit. One of them is a pseudotini that contains a tiny amount of sake and large amounts of other ingredients. There's even one that thinks it should be made with Mountain Dew. Here is the least bizarre that I could find. 2 tsp of Triple Sec 1 1/2 oz of sake rice wine 1 1/2 oz of sweet and sour mix Stir ingredients together in a cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of lemon and a maraschino cherry, and serve.

I think that the coleslaw needs to accompany a pastrami sandwich (after Passover). Will think about the drink when I know what it is. For the wine, I might substitute Fulkerson's Zweigelt even though the variety is from the other side of Europe. I've been to Mykonos but any pictures I have are of Delos.

Thank you. The kitchen is prepared, except for emptying a cabinet for the Passover dishes that are in the drainer now.

My kindergarten teacher was Mrs. Decker. She was one of the last graduates of a specialized kindergarten-primary teaching school still working in our district, but there was nothing old-fashioned about her teaching. I would like some chocolate-covered cashews but probably won't get any. The stir-fry would be OK if I had any of the ingredients. No on the pseudotini even if it's French. For a Sauvignon Blanc, Ravines Wine Cellars 2022, $22.95. The big projects for today are shopping, including cleaning supplies for Passover, and Passover cleaning. Some people start Passover cleaning weeks in advance, making it harder and harder to cook in the interim. Ordinarily I do it quickly in the morning before the first evening. I'm going to do pre-cleaning, basically the ordinary kitchen cleaning, today, so that tomorrow it requires only what is specific to Passover, including unpacking and washing dishes and utensils. This is because I want to Appreciate Nature in the afternoon. I'm not cooking for a seder at home, and my contribution to one with friends is wine, lots of it. BTW, a self-cleaning oven is the most important thing for Passover, imo. Some people prepare their ovens using a blowtorch, and in Los Angeles, the fire station serving the large Orthodox neighborhood of Pico-Robertson has its busiest day of the year right before Passover, as rabbis go from house to house starting fires.

My college had a lot of students majoring in Chinese, but I didn't study it. Even in my grad program in eco-spirituality I hadn't head of cli-fi and I'm not sure that I am better off for knowing about it. No on the pasta--Brussels sprouts are OK, cream and scallops aren't, and beginning on Monday, pasta isn't, either. Also giving the cocktail a pass. I don't think that any Nebbiolo is grown here, or could be, so I'll suggest the Standing Stone Teinturier Saperavi, which shares Barolo's need for long aging. When I got home from the synagogue, I needed to lie down (nothing actually wrong), so I haven't been out to Appreciate Nature. I had leftover chicken and green beans for lunch, so will be back to vegetarian for dinner.

There is a 1930 Marx Brothers film called Animal Crackers, starring Margaret Dumont along with Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo. They tried to get around the Hays Code, not entirely successfully, and in 1936 a censored version was issued. No on the sandwich and on the drink; too complicated. I was confused because I know someone who was the city manager of a small city called Long Beach that is on Long Island. I don't associate cranberry juice with southern California. No Grenache here, so I'll suggest the 2021 Saperavi from Deer Run. (Deer run everywhere here. Have they been sampling the wine?) What struck me about the wine was the reference to Australia's vine-pull scheme. In that, Australia was probably following the lead of the EU, which had paid growers to reduce their plantings, in order to reduce the "wine lake" of overproduction. (The term parallels the EU's "butter mountain.") The result was a worldwide wine shortage.

One grandmother of mine came through Ellis Island as a toddler. (Family legend says infant in arms, but the dates don't fit that.) Her eventual husband was somewhat older; he had come from the same region in Poland-Lithuania earlier. I owned a Ford Mustang ca. 1980, during the period when they were least like Mustangs, but when there was a big German engine and the CHP used them as pursuit cars. It got me into some difficulty once, trying to enter Canada. Pass on the pie, as much as I love rhubarb. The Applejack Sour appears to lack sourness. Only one of the typical grapes, Syrah, of a Rhone blend is cultivated here, so I'll suggest a different blend, Element Winery's 2018 Can’t Stop/Won’t Stop. One of the minor characters in E. F. Benson's Rye novels called her cottage Taormina. I'm not firing on all cylinders today. Last night I was asked to fill in for one of the officiants in the synagogue on Saturday morning, which kept me awake much too late. The part I'm to cover is the section that I'm least comfortable with, and which doesn't include any of the parts that I really like to lead.

The Erie Canal is about 60 miles north of here. Oddment: after it was built, a subsidiary canal connected the Chemung River at Elmira, a tributary of the Susquehanna River, draining to Chesapeake Bay, to it via Seneca Lake. Seneca Lake's natural drainage is to to the St. Lawrence via the Oswego River and Lake Ontario. So canals tied together the St. Lawrence, Hudson, and Susquehanna watersheds, although the actual movement of water among them would have been minimal. Little or no remnant of the Chemung Canal can be seen today. Only a block or two from She-qua-ga Falls, of which I posted a photo recently, is a sign marking where a bridge crossed the (now filled-in) canal.

Well, I fell getting up from my desk, with my left leg straight out. I checked later but could not find any banana peel. The sprain is also my left ankle, but sustained 10 days later.

The menu would be OK, but I think that the drink is just lemonade with vodka in it. There is still (since yesterday) no Tempranillo in the Finger Lakes. I'll counter with the gold-winning Stoney Lonesome Estate Zweigelt from the Three Brothers Winery. I haven't been to Whitehorse or anywhere in the Yukon but I watch Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet. Today was going to be the last sunny day this week, and I wanted to Experience the Beauty of Nature twice, at a forest preserve and a nature center that are very near each other, but there wasn't time. So here is what looks like a rail trail but was actually built to provide utility access for a Corning Inc. facility.