Oh, fuck, I can't have beer! It's still Passover. Why could I not remember this before I opened the bottle? You'd think all the matzoh brie this morning would have reminded me.

Brain clearly needs a hard reset.

Oh, fuck, I can't have beer! It's still Passover. Why could I not remember this before I opened the bottle?

Heh. Stuff like that is half the reason I always separate my Passover and non-Passover cabinets and shelves -- if I didn't, I would be reaching for non-Passover stuff constantly.

The sad thing is I haven't had a beer in months. I had to dig to the back of the fridge to find it. All kinds of time to remember. The end of

Ending Prohibition should have been timed better, is all I can say.

I think my soup has too many leeks and onions and not enough of everything else. (This was a "throw together all the vegetables that seem like they go in soup" kind of vegetable soup.) Maybe the potatoes and the matzo balls will absorb some of the onioniness as they cook.

Plei, fear not! LA is ready for our Scolapalooza!

I would think that a lot of the oniony taste would go away if you just let it cook longer, Hil.

Aimee's ExBoss is a prick of the highest order. I hereby direct my PMS-generated formless rage towards him. Again.

I hadn't thought of this use, but it's so obvious on retrospect. I wasted a lot yesterday on work frustrations, and on Fujitsu - I have come to believe that they don't want to sell their products, based on the hoops I had to go through just to get a quote - but the remainder is all for Asshat!ExBoss.

Soup is done. Pretty good, but next time I think I'd use more parsnips and carrots and fewer leeks, or maybe just replace the leeks with shallots. First time I made matzo ball soup on my own, though, and it's pretty good for that.

Oh, and cooking it longer did get rid of a bunch of the onion taste.

Also, I tried roasting the vegetables first (well, the roastable ones), and it tasted much better than soup with un-roasted vegetables.

I also made the matzo balls with half regular matzo meal and half whole wheat, which worked really well, actually. (Well, worked really well for me, since I make German matzo balls, which are supposed to be firm and usually have a bit of cinnamon and/or fried onions in them, so they look kind of brownish already. People trying to make fluffy white matzo balls might not like the whole wheat so much.)

Oh, that sounds delicious, Hil. How do you make your matzo balls?

I've had a nice ploughman's lunch and watched the Crosetti episode of Homicide and my day has gotten much better. I may be ready to take on another task, even.

Oh, that sounds delicious, Hil. How do you make your matzo balls?

Approximately: 1/4 cup whole wheat matzo meal. 1/4 cup regular matzo meal. 2 eggs. 1-2 tablespoons oil. 1-2 tablespoons water. Big pinch of salt. Sprinkle each of ginger and cinnamon. If you're feeling fancy, chop up some onions really small and fry them in oil until they're dark brown, and stir those in. Also, if you like, some chopped parsley. (I like them better with the parsley, but my father hates it so I leave it out when he's going to be eating them, and this time I left it out because I didn't have any.) Stir together, then put in the fridge for an hour or so. (My mother insists this step is unnecessary, but I think they get a better texture this way.) Take out of the fridge, add a litte more water if you need to. Get the soup (or pot of salted water) boiling, then turn the heat down so that it's just simmering. Roll the matzo balls about the size of ping-pong balls (keeping your hands wet will help make this a lot easier) and drop them into the soup. Cover the soup, and let it cook for about 40 minutes. Don't open the cover until it's done -- just keep an eye on the steam coming out and adjust the heat so that it doesn't boil.