Every time we go to see my husband's sister in north London (her area is heavily populated by Orthodox Jews), I check to see if the Jewish bakeries are open so I can get some challah -- a delicious egg bread that is eaten on the Sabbath (Friday nights). I used to eat it in college when I went to Elizabeth Applebaum's house for Sabbath dinners and never forgot how wonderful it was.
Recently Elizabeth Applebaum sent me this email: "I love the way you often mention challah - on your blog, in your emails - so I decided to get some for you. Some real, kosher challah. But how? Thanks to the Internet, of course. For the past few weeks I've been in communication with the synagogue in Reading. Yes, there is indeed one. It's called the Reading Hebrew Congregation and it's on Goldsmid Road. There isn't a kosher bakery in Reading, but there is one in London, which is where the Reading Hebrew Congregation gets their challah. So they're going to get you one (I believe they're actually going to deliver it, rather than mail it, because they're not far from you, they say). I've been working with the Kay family - lovely people.
Originally I was convinced I was an idiot because I had the idea just before Passover - not exactly the time to be ordering challah. But now I realize it all worked out for the best, because Sunday is Mother's Day, of course, and you could probably use some comfort food right about now."
I was so excited to think I would get a challah delivery right to my door in Reading. A nice woman called Mrs. Kay brought it over last week, and we had a brief chat but I was a bit distracted because of Katie's crash.
Later, I cut the challah into slices and buttered them, and we enjoyed them out in the garden in the fading sunshine. The next day, I had some toasted challah for breakfast and the rest of the family fought over who would get the last few pieces. (In our house, we fight over food - I'm a Scanlon by birth, and we never miss the chance to eat. The Thomas family is the same way, so my kids have eating genes on both sides....) The challah was so delicious that I did think about converting to Judaism so I could get to know the people at the synagogue and eat all the challah I could handle, then thought that would be a bit too hypocritical, even for me, since I don't believe in God.
I first blogged about challah a while back and posted an easy challah recipe to make it yourself.
La Chaim!
Friday, 16 May 2008
Challah delivery -- from Detroit to the UK with love
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10 comments:
L'chaim backatcha, Dame Blogger. How delicious that sounds. ZH, how thoughtful!
Personally, I always buy my challah bread from a company called Holy Food Imports. They grow their products in Israel, however they sell them to many places in the world. I've been buying my bread from them for months now and I have never had any issues. If anyone is interested, their website is at www.holyfoodimports.com
>that would be a bit too >hypocritical, even for me,
>since I don't believe in God.
Do you need to believe in God to be Jewish? I suppose it helps, but many of the Jews I grew up with seemed to have little in the way of belief - it was more about identity and community for many of them. Some didn't even seem to care about that - they were Jewish in the same way as some of us were nominally Christian and that was it.
Thanks for the tip, Brian - sounds like a good idea.
Holy Food Imports? Reminds me of an idea I had a couple of years ago. What about a restaurant (or even a chain of restaurants) serving only food that Jesus and his crew would have eaten? The places would be as authentic as health regulatios allow and the servers could dress in biblical gear. "Hi, I'm Maryam and I'll be serving you today".
Yeshua's - twleve locations in and around Atlanta. I keep threatening Elizabeth with putting the idea into practice. Strangely enough, she doesn't seem too keen on the idea - somthing about losing all our money...
Second what you said above, Mel. Most of the Jewish people I know are atheists and their "Jewishness" looks like cultural identity and not religion.
Oh, Mel - I forgot:
Check out these people:
www.themakersdiet.com
Maybe they can partner with you in your new venture. :-)
Great site, Lisa, except URL is www.makersdiet.com. We grooved on it.
Eliz A, I made the challah, it was beautiful but I think I did it wrong as I made it with bread flour, instead of normal flour. It was a little heavy. Can u confirm that it's regular flour you use?
Ah...yes. Apparently my brain needs servicing again. I'm glad you found the webby anyway!
This reminds me of a funny thing that happened to my friend who is a food writer. In her newspaper column, she uased the phrase "Lord God Almighty, this is a great fish recipe!" and a furious reader wrote her saying she would NEVER read the column again, because of her use of the Lord's name in vain. Of course, when my friend circulated this hate-mail to her irreverent waggish friends (myself among 'em) we began a flurry of recipe creations (well, titles) designed to appeal to fundamentalist Christians. Examples: "Moral Fiber Muffins"..."Blessed Be the Lard Biscuits"..."Garden of Eatin' Potato Salad (the secret ingredient is SHAME.") We went on and on...it got pretty silly. My dear pal Ann, the only one among us with any real education, came up with "St. Joan of Arkansas Flame-Kissed Barbecue."
I think at some poit all our holy writ was sent to this poor church lady...never heard back from her, though. I bet we're still on the Prayer List at her Baptist church!
Elizabeth, I'm so honored that you put this on your blog. Thank you!
And Mel...maybe you could go into business with my husband, if you do open your restaurant. Phil always thought it would be great to import dairy products from Nazareth and call the business Cheeses of Nazareth.
But we're Jewish - and observant - so maybe not...
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