Hulling Strawberries - WFMW

There is a lot of controversy about strawberries in kosher circles. Here in the Ima-house (I take this funny turn-of-phrase from my kindred spirit over at the FrummieHouse...), we don't keep a formal style of Kashrut. It's perhaps a longer post, but in a nutshell, I have a little bit of trouble with the whole hechsher concept - how can I "accept" the hechsher of an organization that wouldn't recognize my own religious observance? So basically, we keep a vegetarian household - as organic and natural as we can get - using few prepared foods that would require a hechsher anyway.

All that said....I also am not as meticulous as kosher cooks are about things like strawberries. In fact, when I decided to write this post, I realized that this style of hulling strawberries will in fact render the strawberries un-kosher because they shouldn't have a hole in them. Oh well....

I can't remember where I learned this strawberry-hulling trick, but here it is. I was told once that the center part of a strawberry is bitter and should be cut out before consuming. This trick accomplishes that with very little waste to the strawberry. It also removes the greenery, which is for some reason offensive to my children.

You need: strawberries and a drinking straw

Stick the straw into the strawberry from the bottom end, up through the middle. Look what happens:

And voila, a neatly hulled strawberry. Wash and it's ready to eat!

It's best to avoid doing this until just before eating, if you can, since unwashed and uncut strawberries will last longer in your refrigerator.

That's what works for me!
See what works for other people over here....

Closed on Shabbat....not just my blog!

 

Is this a sign you would expect to see at a restaurant in Highwood? (Okay, they claim that it's Highland Park. But I tell you, it's my neighborhood!)

Tonight we finally went to La Casa de Isaac. It's a Jewish-Mexican restaurant that's been in my neighborhood for almost 2 years now. 

The place was packed, on a Monday night! The food, excellent, of course. It was Monday night after a long weekend, so I didn't have a margarita, but they looked lovely. And the sign in the bathroom did seem to say it all: "The only thing better than a margarita a day is 2 margaritas!"

The chips and salsa were on the house and they were fantastic. We ordered guacamole, and mmm....I'm going back for more. I had chilaquiles with sunny-side-up eggs, because they serve breakfast all day and I'm just a breakfast-eating-fool! (Oh, and I asked which was spicier, the red or green sauce. The server then offered me the "extra hot" if I wanted it. When I hesitated, he said he could do "half and half." A wise choice. "extra hot" is not a misnomer.)

So why the Closed on Shabbat sign? The restaurant is owned and operated by Isaac and Moishe Nava, Jewish-Mexican brothers who really are running a family business. It's not a kosher restaurant, although they don't serve pork and shellfish. There is milk and meat mixed on the menu (and the plates) and I'm pretty sure the meat served isn't kosher. (Not that I eat it...but, you know.)

The brothers have made it quite clear, however, that they are not willing to compromise on the Shabbat thing. They're closed. Period. I think that shows an amazing conviction - this is a pretty hard-core restaurant area and I am super-impressed that they're succeeding so beautifully while continuing to be closed on Shabbat.

The food is absolutely stunning. The commitment even more so.

If you're in the neighborhood, please make sure to check it out and support this excellent restaurant.

And that's my Tuesday Torah. What's yours?

P.S. Be sure to check out this week's Haveil Havalim.

Kosher Bacon? Works for Me!

So...this was not the original Works-For-Me-Wednesday post that I was going to use, but it works for me:-) to follow the "theme" set forth for this week's blog carnival.

What brand works for me? I actually had to think long and hard about this because we're really not very brand-loyal in our house. The first thing I thought of was Costco, which isn't exactly a brand, but they do have their own house-brand which we buy a lot of...but then I thought of this one:

Yes...the brand that Works for Me is Morningstar Farms....maker of "fake" stuff -- chik'n nuggets, chik'n patties, sausage links, veggie burgers, corn dogs, and even...bacon. Yep, we eat the stuff like it's going out of style. Dominick's had a sale yesterday, I stocked up. This pic is of my upstairs freezer (I must admit I straightened up before shooting this picture). Downstairs....yep, there's more.

So it brings me to an interesting question/dilemma that plagues me and, perhaps more annoyingly, my husband. Does it "count" to be a vegetarian (for primarily reasons of keeping kosher) if we eat these "meat substitutes"? If I would never in a million trillion years eat a piece of real bacon (it's meat, but more importantly, it's not even remotely kosher), why would I eat this (kosher) substitute? And, in doing so, am I giving off the wrong impression that I might be eating something treyf (not kosher)? In Jewish custom, this is known as morit ayin, giving off a bad eye (loose translation) -- as in, someone could see me eating this "bac'n" stuff and think that it's "okay" to eat because I am an "authority figure" in Jewish life. But if I only eat in the privacy of my own home?

It really bothers my husband that I am a fan of the meat substitutes. I don't even really like most of these foods in their "real" form (some I've never even eaten) but here in the Morningstar Farms varieties...well, they work for me.

What do you think????

See more Works for Me Wednesday here at Rocks in my Dryer.