Hooray, a good day

This was a day that I had planned to be in NYC, so in a sense it was an "extra" day for me. I went to a later SPIN class so I could see Tripp, who has given up teaching the 6:30 a.m. class. We were happy to see each other. Leslie, a spinning buddy, had brought me her jell seat because I am forced to sit the whole time to avoid damaging my arthritic thumbs. I feel so part of a community when I am there.

I have gone back to Nova for breakfast, something I enjoyed before my heart surgery and a low-salt diet—which I don't think I have to be on anymore. I think a lot of health measures are beside the point right now. Pleasure is the main thing.

I had two rests during the day, but otherwise it was eventful for me. I communicated with the journal to which I had sent my essay; they wanted it electronically, and I was happy to oblige, but it took some time to go through their whole procedure. And I set myself a new task, inspired by Antoinette, who has written me about girlhood memories of kreplach and other dishes that a Jewish girlfriend's grandmother made. I decided I would go through my 3 x 5 recipe cards and convert them to WORD docs by typing them into the computer. So I can also send one or two to all of you who are reading this. You'll find the recipe for blintzes at the end of this post. It'll take me a while, Antoinette, to get to the K's! The cards are arranged alphabetically.

Merwin suddenly recalled at about 2 p.m. that today is Tues. and thus the free day at some local movie theaters. He picked out "An Education," and we loved it. I was a bit confused at first because I thought we were going to see the one about the rock music off the coast of England, but perhaps we can see that another time. I love Rock & Roll. Merwin doesn't, but ever obliging he'll go with me.

We got home in time for the Leherer Report, and a quick supper of leftovers. Then after a short nap, a visit to the Sea Cliff Village Hall for an art festival. Thank goodness the first presenter was Louise Sharakan, and she did a splendid job of explaining the genesis and development of her art, which was on display, from dyed silk to framed collages and jewelry. It was a delight.

And I was ready for more! We rushed over to Rising Tide, where they opened the locked doors for us, and I got a bunch of good vitamins and herbs that are going to make me feel even better, and now I am sitting here at the computer with a smile on my face. Way past my bed time.

Love to all,
Bernice

Here is the recipe; it's really very simple when you get the hang of it:

Baba's Blintzes

My mother's method was self-taught as far as I know, and I never saw it mentioned in any recipe for blintzes, blini, or the equivalent. The standard recipes tell you to pour batter into a heated pan and swish it around until it covers the bottom. They also tell you to make all the blini and then afterward fill them. My mother did both at once with deft motions.


For the batter, mix together 1 C flour, 2 eggs, a little salt, 1 C water or more to make the batter the consistency of heavy cream. This makes the shell of the blintz; it's a very thin pancake.

For the filling, mix 1 package farmer's cheese (7 oz) with 1 egg.

Heat a small, 6 ½" frying pan in which to make the blinis
Prepare an oblong 9 x13 pan in which you can bake the blintzes by greasing with butter or oil.
Have soft butter on hand to grease the frying pan between each blini.


Preheat oven to 350 if desired. or hold the blintzes for hours in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake them.

Method:

Assemble all ingredients, as above.
1. Heat frying pan and grease with butter applied with a bit of paper towel.
2. Pour batter into pan and immediately pour the batter back into its container. What you will have is a thin shell of pancake with a kind of tail, where you poured it back out.
3. As soon as the pancake has set, release it from the pan and drop it onto a clean plate or towel. 4. Immediately rebutter pan and add batter as before. Adjust the flame so the pancake won't cook too quickly.
5. Now while the pancake is setting, use those couple of minutes to put some cheese into the waiting pancake and fold over sides to make a nice package, finished off with the tongue of batter left by the pouring. Place in the greased oblong pan.
6. By now the shell of the 2nd blintz is ready to be removed. Drop it onto your work space.
Repeat steps 2-5.
And continue until all the batter and all the cheese has been used.

Bake at 350 whenever you are ready. They should be nicely brown on all sides. You may want to turn them over at some point. This recipe should make 12-14 blintzes.

From the community she came from, sugar was not an important ingredient, so her blintzes are unsweetened. But you can serve jam on the side for those with a sweet tooth and sour cream is also nice.

My adaptation, skinless blintzes:
I make the filling as she directed, but with about 3x-4x the amount of cheese and eggs, using at least partly salt-free farmer's cheese. I bake this mixture in a loaf pan and serve it in spoonfuls at brunches, with jam and sour cream on the side.