Oh! I looked at wikipedia, and now I get it -- there's an old superstition that, if you're naming a baby after someone who died young, like say you're naming a son after your uncle Isaac who died when he was a young man, you name the baby Alter Isaac, meaning "the old Isaac," because maybe if he's always called "the old Isaac," the Angel of Death will think this means he's supposed to live until he's old and not take him until then. Wikipedia says it was something similar for that character -- two older siblings who died as small children. But the female version would be Alte.

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culinaryistas: can i substitite a humbolt squash in place of butternut in a reciple?

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I will ask an easier question: can I use a cake pan to cook fish? I don't know what sort of pans to buy.

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I don't know what humbolt squash is, and google isn't giving me anything, but generally, you can substitute one winter squash for another without too much trouble as long as they're about the same size, but the cooking times might be different.

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She's the prettier sister.

I would not say that. If memory serves, you are just as lovely as she is.

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She's the prettier sister

I dunno about that. I think the "pretty" gene got evenly distributed in your family.

Shir, this might sound like a silly question. Do women and men serve in the same units in the Israeli services? I ask since all the pics had your sister with various other women, but nary a male to be seen.

ION- I'm at work. Last day until we move into new building. Weee. Alas, I have not much to do, until we get information from others, that they aren't providing, because they are still packing for the move. Mmm fun! I think I will leave early. Plus, it's cold here, and I wanna sit in my warm apartment and veg out.

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Erin, poking my head in quick to say I'm @BarbFerrer on Twitter.

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I think I have had 4 different emails in that last week that have made me just sort of give a mental stutter. They feel like over reactions/involvements etc. Nothing horrible just ... I don't know. I've ignored 3 out of 4 due to brain freeze.

And it is possible my turkey breast is upside down in the oven.

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can I use a cake pan to cook fish?

What kind of fish?

Honestly, my lazy method of cooking fish is to take a 9- to 10-inch length of aluminum foil, double it over and then sort of flip the sides up a little to make it pan-like. A very small pan. And then put the fish on there and cook it. But it has the potential for a lot of mess.

I've usually cooked fish in a glass pan, though I don't know where I got that idea.

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I do what Teppy does, but slide it onto a cookie sheet to broil the fish. But I think you could bake it in a shallow cake pan in a pinch.

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