By her own admission, Merissa Nathan Gerson’s qualification as an advice columnist is mainly “10 years of talk therapy.” “Add a few rabbis, a Buddhist-inspired education, monks, stupas, shrine rooms and the like, stir, and you get a 28-year-old Yenta,” writes the former farmer, waitress, teacher, lamp-maker, and creative writing teacher at a juvenile detention…
Devotees of the mouth-watering recipes for rugelach, babka, and kichel in “The Jewish Holiday Baker” (Schocken, 1997) by the eminent Joan Nathan may be reluctant to associate Jewish tradition with the toy-like, fondant-covered cake-objects produced mainly to amuse the eye by Duff Goldman’s Baltimore-based Charm City Cakes, the home of a Food Network series “Ace…
Dear Bintel Brief: I own and use “Jewish Cooking in America,” “The Jewish Holiday Kitchen,” and “The Jewish Holiday Baker.” I have not yet seen “The New American Cooking” by Joan Nathan. I had the very great pleasure of meeting Joan Nathan, eating with her and chatting with her at Aitz Hayim Center for Jewish…
Dear Bintel Brief: My husband is taking a few months off from work to write fiction. He’s always felt like writing was his calling, but until now has not had the opportunity to devote more than a few hours a week to writing. On most weekdays, while I’m at the office, he’s at home writing….
Dear Bintel Brief: I’m very upset. My son, daughter-in-law and their four children NEVER sit down together at the dinner table. One child works at Abercrombie & Fitch; another is being tutored for the SAT (Sheer Agony Test); another is on a traveling soccer team; the fourth child belongs to a Jewish motorcycle club called…
Dear Bintel Brief: Shabbos dinner has long been my favorite Jewish custom. What could be more Jewish than gathering with friends and family around a table for a good meal? However, the issues of Jewish ethics and the politics of food have invaded my table — turning my celebration into a battle. Few of my…
Food writer Joan Nathan will be the Forward’s guest Bintel Brief columnist during the month of November. Nathan is the author of numerous cookbooks, including “Jewish Cooking in America” (Knopf, 1994), “Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook” (Schocken, 2004) and “The New American Cooking” (Knopf, 2005). She has won two James Beard awards and a Julia…
דאָס בוך איז גרונטיק געפֿאָרשט, לעבעדיק אָנגעשריבן — אָבער אידעאָלאָגיש באַפֿאַרבט
