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Borscht Belt
Borscht, the beloved soup of Eastern European Jews, is served cold and totally vegetarian, with just beets and a dollop of sour cream topped with a sprinkling of chives or hot with chunks of meat, potatoes and of course, beets. This is a favorite summer time soup for me when appetites flag. Remove the beet …
Read moreOne last taste of my mother’s cooking
By Debra Samuels Globe Correspondent,September 26, 2016, My mother, Rona Greenberg, passed away suddenly in January. It was only a week since I had last seen her; I had stopped in Los Angeles on my way back from a trip to Japan. A newly minted Californian, she had just moved in September from Miami, where …
Read moreWednesday Chef blogger Luisa Weiss shares her love of German baking
By Debra Samuels GLOBE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 25, 2016 BERLIN — Morning light pours into Luisa Weiss’s kitchen in the Wilmersdorf section of Berlin. She just sent in the final edits on “Classic German Baking,” her new cookbook, an encyclopedic survey of confections and breads from all over the country. Weiss, an American, started life in Berlin with …
Read moreOishii October – Friday October 28th!
Oishii October!! Change the World with Onigiri Join us for a fun-filled and educational evening to make delicious (oishii) popular Japanese foods: Rice balls – onigiri, Savory pancakes – okonomiyaki Rice Stuffed Tofu Pockets – oinarisan Admission: $10.00 for Adult $5.00 for Children Includes refreshments, activities and donation to Table for Two’s Change the World …
Read moreFood-savvy dads at the stove
By Debra Samuels GLOBE CORRESPONDENT JUNE 16, 2015 LEXINGTON — In mid-20th-century America, TV dads Ozzie Nelson, Ward Cleaver, and Desi Arnaz donned their wives’ aprons and mishaps and mayhem ensued. Now some dads have taken over kitchen responsibilities, either out of necessity or because they love the inventive aspect of cooking. The bumbling dad has been …
Read moreOnigirazu
By Debra Samuels GLOBE CORRESPONDENT APRIL 07, 2015 In Japan, food fads come and go. They can be as fleeting as the cherry blossom petals that bloom and fall to the ground just days later. The latest is a stuffed, roasted seaweed and rice sandwich called onigirazu. It is actually an old fad enjoying a …
Read moreBoston Ballet’s Nissinen cooks a Japanese dinner
By Debra Samuels GLOBE CORRESPONDENT DECEMBER 02, 2014 Dressed in black, with a black apron, Mikko Nissinen is stylish and cheflike standing over an outdoor grill on the deck of his South End home on a chilly November evening. He is roasting a meaty tuna collar for a Japanese-inspired menu. The Finnish-born Nissinen, artistic director of …
Read moreLife’s a bowl of cherry…blossoms
The 3 amigas have been at it again! My friend and assistant, Chie Ehara, invited me and Elsa Tian over to her home in Arlington, Massachusetts to pick cherry blossoms from the huge tree in her yard. The plan was to preserve them in salt to use throughout the year in tea, mochi (sweet rice cakes) and to …
Read moreBento Bash for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
How do you prepare bento for 150 people? With a lot of help! Make twenty tamagoyaki (Japanese egg omelet) rolls cut each into 8 pieces! With a sakura shaped vegetable cutter, stamp out 150 cherry blossom daikon flowers! Take 40 pounds of soy sauce braised chicken thighs made for us by Ben Lin of B.Lin …
Read moreCooking to benefit refugees of Syrian conflict
DEDHAM — In the kitchen just off the social hall of the Church of St. John of Damascus, a group of women chatter away as they make “meat fingers” (also known as “bride’s fingers” or assabee in Arabic). The little savory pastries begin with several layers of paper-thin phyllo rolled around a mixture of spicy …
Read moreBento:Build a Better Lunch
Debra Samuels, bestselling author, food writer and cooking instructor, wants to give the American lunchbox a makeover. In the chapter on “bento,” the traditional Japanese lunch box, in her upcoming book, My Japanese Table, Debra encourages the use of color, texture and taste to create healthier and more visually appealing meals.
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