Month: March 2012

Review: The Local Peasant

Published by admin

According to my friend Brett McCracken, Speakeasies are all the rage these days. He was rather cynical in his book about this new trend with the bow-ties, mustaches and over-priced prohibition cocktails, but then again, he also seems to patron these places, so one has to wonder… Anywho, the idea of prohibition cocktails, secret backdoors, and mustaches appeals to me. I searched for a speakeasy here in LA and came up with Varnish Downtown. Sounds appealing, but how often do I go downtown? It’s still on my list to go to, but have yet to do so. When my boyfriend moved to LA, the guy he is sub-letting from took us out on the balcony and pointed across the street to Ventura Blvd. “You see that yellow building there? Ok, look at that yellow building, the one to the left of it is a really great bar called the Local Peasant.” Interesting enough, but bars aren’t really our “thing” so to speak. As my boyfriend met more people in his area, they kept mentioning the …

Shabbos Specials: Cupcake Sweepstakes!

Published by admin

I have no recipe for you today, but I thought you would enjoy this pic of my dog, Elijah. He’s cute right? Now I want a latte. Ok, wait! Don’t go! I have something very special to talk to you about! I would like to know what your favorite thing is that I make or have made in order to inform my blog posts in the future. Oh yes, and there’s something in it for you as well! All you have to do is comment on this blog what your MOST FAVORITE blog post of mine is, a favorite thing I have made for you, or what you would most like for me to make for you. The options are endless and you can comment on anything from food to a DIY project. The cut-off date for sweepstakes entries ends at midnight on April 15, 2012. On April 16, 2012 I will select a winner at random through an internet generator. The winner will receive 2 dozen cookies or 2 dozen cupcakes of their choice …

KFP: Banoffee Pie Recipe

Published by admin

So you like pie and bananas? Well, have I got a kosher for Passover treat for you! It’s called the Banoffee Pie (Banana + Toffee). It can be a little messy, but is perfect for passover and all other feasts of the years as far as I’m concerned! KFP / GLUTEN-FREE PIE CRUST RECIPE (adapted from About.com) Ingredients: 1 cup pecan pieces (frozen) 2 T melted butter 2 T sugar equivalent from artificial sweetener of your choice Preparation: Take pecans out of the freezer and measure them into a food processor (you can use a blender, but be careful not to blend them down too small). Pulse the processor until the largest pieces are as big as lentils or split peas. Add the butter and the sweetener. Blend until it’s mixed evenly. Dump it into a pie pan, and push with your fingers to cover the bottom and sides. It should be the right consistency to mold the crust to the pie pan evenly. BANOFFEE PIE RECIPE (adapted from Brooklyn Limestone) Ingredients: 1 tin of …

Trader Joe’s Tribute Song!

Published by admin

Hey, remember my friend Alaina, how much she loves Trader Joe’s and this birthday cake I made for her? Do you also remember how Alaina and her husband Roman are amazing musicians? Well, they wrote a Tribute to Trader Joe’s song for you all. Like it on youtube! Share with your friends! You can now reach me by a new URL! If you type in www.miriinthevillage.com, it will forward you direct to this blog. LIKE ME ON FACEBOOK! FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST!

KFP: Parve Watermelon Mint Soda Float Recipe

Published by admin

I’m really excited to bring you this PARVE kosher for Passover treat today! When I made the tester a few weeks ago the boyfriend took one taste and exclaimed “Wow, that is really refreshing!” It’s beautiful, parve, refreshing, kosher for Passover – what more could you ask for! This recipe was so successful I want to try it with different fruit juices as well. I have also decided to use this soda float as a palate cleanser for Slumdog Pesach this year. Yum! PARVE VANILLA ICE CREAM RECIPE Ingredients: 2 cans full fat coconut milk (about 4 cups) 1/2 cup honey 2 Tbsp vanilla extract All of those ingredients up there? – put them in a blender and, well, blend. Place the combined ingredients in your ice cream maker and follow your ice cream maker’s regular instructions. When the ingredients have turned into ice cream, place in a bowl or tupperware and leave in the freezer for several hours before using. You can use this recipe as a base for all kinds of other parve …

Review: Purim Celebration

Published by admin

For those of you who don’t know what Purim is, Purim is the Jewish celebration of the Feast of Esther. It celebrates how G-d saved his people from destruction yet again while they were submitted to exile in Persia. The king of Persia was unhappy with his wife, divorced her, held a beauty contest for a new queen, and chose Esther (a Jewish girl in disguise). Esther’s Uncle Mordechai was also in the picture. He convinced Esther to participate in the beauty pageant, and also he did some cool stuff for the king that was recorded in the royal records – the king was so impressed he dressed Mordechai up and put together this ticker-tape parade for him throughout the city. The king had an officer named Haman who hated the Jews and he wanted to destroy them. He prepared gallows for the Jews to die. Now Haman was the offspring of this evil guy named Amalek. G-d told one of the Israelite kings to kill all the Amalekites, including women, children, and animals. This …

Shabbos Specials: Parve Cinnabon Knock-Off Cinnamon Roll Recipe

Published by admin

So I know I totally scared you earlier this week with my Kosher for Passover recipe, so I figured I’d help you out by giving you a recipe to get rid of some chametz. I’m really thoughtful, I know. šŸ™‚ Remember how I told you that I make myself challah every week to just eat as my regular bread? Right, well I was going to do that and I didn’t have enough things like eggs. Because I’m lazy and didn’t want to go to the grocery store, I figured “Cinnamon buns! I have a great cinnamon bun recipe!” It’s true, I do! Then I forgot – I don’t have milk! Ahhhh! So lazy, I don’t want to get milk OR eggs!  Look around the kitchen, look around, look around – I have coconut milk AND some eggs (enough for cinnamon buns) AND Earth Balance. Time for some unnecessarily parve cinnamon buns. They really do taste like Cinnabon and probably are as many calories, but never mind that, make them anyway! PARVE CINNABON CLONE RECIPE (adapted …

KFP: Crockpot Coconut Ginger Chicken Recipe

Published by admin

KFP = Kosher for Passover. Am I scaring you yet? Yep, Passover is just around the corner and you haven’t even thought about it. Lucky for you, I did! Not only did I think about it, I came up with the Kosher for Passover crockpot recipe. That’s right. Now, I have to admit something here. I am a total failure when it comes to the crockpot. I know it sounds unbelievable. The crockpot is a fail-safe for most people. I just can’t seem to get the hang of it. This particular recipe I came across is not your typical “just throw everything in there and forget it” crockpot recipe, which is probably why it turned out so good! I also learned something – separate the coconut cream from the coconut milk and add it in at the last minute. DUH! So simple, yet I completely missed it. Anyway, here’s the recipe. COCONUT GINGER CHICKEN RECIPE (adapted from Simple Bites) Ingredients: 4 cloves garlic, peeled 2 inch cube of ginger (about 30 grams), roughly chopped 1 …

Uncle Mordi’s Beard

Published by admin

Remember last Friday’s post about how I admitted I’m not a fan of Hamantaschen? I did eventually find a recipe I liked, but I got to thinking – can’t I make my own Purim traditions? One of my favorite places is called Beard Papa’s, a cream puff shop chain. When I contemplated their cream puffs I thought to myself they kind of did look like frothy beards, and you know who probably had a frothy beard? You got it, Mordechai. I then thought to myself “Hey, instead of Hamantaschen (Haman’s hat), why can’t we eat Uncle Mordi’s Beard?” I put the idea out there on Facebook. I guess it was sort of a flop. My friend Yoshi suggested the Persian Turban. Not bad! I could call it a Tursian for short. Either way, cream puffs are waaaay better than shortbread jam cookies for purim – sheesh! CREAM PUFF RECIPE AKA UNCLE MORDI’S BEARD AKA THE PERSIAN TURBAN (adapted from Food-Pusher) Ingredients: 1 cup boiling water 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter 1 cup all purpose flour …

Review: Esther’s Ball 2012

Published by admin

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd Annual Esther’s Ball put on by Fusion. The event took place at the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Before we left I turned to Matt and was like “Let’s do something really smart – let’s take the train. This did prove to be super smart! It only took us about 40 minutes to get there by train (sitting in traffic, who knows how long it would take!), we didn’t have to pay for parking or find parking for that matter, and we got to be super hipster. Matt completely the hipster look by wearing sunglasses ON THE TRAIN. I wore a dress I made myself and a headband I made myself. Giving in to my naturally curly hair and after putting on makeup I thought “Wow! I should attend things as myself more often!” šŸ™‚ Krystal and I refused to make masks this year. Last year we inhaled so much glitter and sneezed over so many feathers, had to draw a hard …