P-C, I've been having too much fun with the price already.

13 + 23 = 1 + 32 + 3!

1+3+2+3=9! 9=3x3! 1x2x3=6! 1!1!!!!

...I can't do numbers above 10, but wanted to contribute.

Nilly! Serious question for you - Hil was telling me about the proper way to kasher my oven. If it's all right with you, I'm going via the traditional route (cleaning and then sterilising with kitchen blowtorch, one of which I do possess), rather than self-cleaning oven route.

Also, big question, are you OK with virgin olive oil?

sterilising with kitchen blowtorch

I'm not sure what that means. The way I know to make an oven OK for preparing kosher foods is to turn it on, in its highest temperature, when it's empty, for about an hour or so (after cleaning it, of course). That's what we did when we first moved in to my apartment, for example, to the oven that was already there. (Are you sure it's not way too much bother for you? Am I completely annoying in asking and re-asking this over and over again?)

are you OK with virgin olive oil?

Every product should have one of the kosher signs from the file that I've sent you (that Shari was kind enough to scan for me). It's the only way to make sure (to a reasonable extent) that the product is indeed kosher and that nothing un-kosher, in the lack of a better word, was done to it in the process of preparing it (sometimes, something that I can't even imagine, being completely ignorant in the subject of preparing all sorts of produts and the ingredients and the processes that go along with that).

According to this converting chart, I'm guessing that I'm size 3.5/4.

wow, um, tiny tiny feet. What's your Israeli size? I might be able to convert it to American for you. Of course,I didn't scroll back farther than 120 posts, so I don't even know why this was being discussed. (and it is shoe size, right?)

As for the kitchen blowtorch, should be fine, Deb (not to speak for Nilly). That's how we did the kitchen for Passover at Hillel. When I kashered my last kitchen, we did what Nilly described, turned the oven to 500 or something, empty, and let it run for an hour.

Another Kosher Kwestion for Nilly -- If a restaurant is vegan (using no ingredients that come from animals) could they still be non-Kosher?

Nilly, the highest temperature on my oven is the "self-clean" setting, which frankly terrifies me - you can feel the wall behind it heat up. Hil sent me a site link, which shows the procedure as basically cleaning it out, high temperature, then going over the interior of the oven itself with a kitchen torch, to make sure nothing remains that might not be kosher. So if we're OK with that, I'll get it done the day before you arrive, and then not use the oven for anything that isn't kosher for the rest of your visit.

Pretty sure I can easily find olive oil with the kosher symbol, but to be sure, I'm going to order some from a kosher supplier.

Onward and upward!

If a restaurant is vegan (using no ingredients that come from animals) could they still be non-Kosher?

I know this one!

Some Kosher-keepers will be fine with it. Some will not because there are a few things that could come into play (prepared on sabbath, stuff with greens, etc.). Nilly is one of the latter.

Jess! It's been forever since I've posted with you! You used to be in DC - are you still there? Any chance of me meeting you when I'm there?

What's your Israeli size?

34 (it's in the European sizes).

and it is shoe size, right?

Yup. I hope I'll be able to find shoes my size (as opposed to the usually-at-least-one-size-too-big) in the USA.

If a restaurant is vegan (using no ingredients that come from animals) could they still be non-Kosher?

Yes, they could. Not everybody is strict about it (especially abroad), but I'm afraid that I am.

For example, there are some vegetables that should be cleaned very thoroughly to make sure that none of the very little bugs that live on them are left (those tiny bugs are really very much forbidden to eat - it's a stronger rule than, say, the not-eating-pigs one). That's why flour is sifted, rice is being checked etc. And that's even before getting in to the problems with the dishes, and the fact that some things (like baking) should require a jewish person present in at least some stages of the process, and so forth.

The safest way - the one that I use here, at home, in Israel - is to look for stuff that have a kosher certificate approved by a religious authority, both when it comes to products and when it comes to restaurants and the like. It's possible to be in a vegan place and find ways to work around each and every one of the problems (and you're definitely right, it's much easier in a vegan place, where there are no meat or dairy worries), but it requires lots of attention and may become stressful. And I would like to devote all my attention to the company of Buffistas.

[Edit: x-post with the very knowledgable Trudy.

Also:

Hil sent me a site link

Can you show me the link, please? Now I'm curious.

high temperature, then going over the interior of the oven itself with a kitchen torch

I assume that as long as the temperature is high enough (say, the highest you're willing to stand without worrying about your walls), then it's supposed to be OK. And what's a kitchen torch?

I'm trying to write down something coherent about both kosher food and shabbat (the Jewish Saturday), but this whole work thing, along with the paper I have due next week are coming in the way, silly time-consuming things that they are.]

I wonder how being kosher affects being pregnant and the cravings. For instance, occasionally, I get a huge craving for bacon. But if I had been keeping kosher my whole life, and thus never had bacon, I wonder if I would still crave it?

t /free association girl