From Gefilte Fish to the Easter Bunny

Lots of holidays to celebrate.  Shayna made her first Easter Egg hunt this morning; though, since parents couldn't accompany their toddlers into the coral (see pic below) we had to rely on a friend's child to get Shayna couple eggs (Thanks Sharon).

 Patricia, Shayna, Hila and Sharon in front of the Toddler Egg Hunt coral.

We went to meet with Sital and Serena.  Serena actually got some eggs as she can walk well and is exactly 1 month older than Shayna.

We did the obligatory torture you toddler with the weird constumed person picture.

Most kids took too it.

Ours did not.

Labs went well again this week with very little fussing by Shayna.  Sitting on my lap for them seems to really help.  The results were not that awesome though.  2 of the 3 liver numbers they watch had climbed a little then plateaued for a week then climbed again last week and her EBV doubled again.  We'll repeat everything again next Thursday and if it's the same or worse we'll probably have to head to Pittsburgh for a liver biopsy to test for either EVB Hepititis (where the EBV has begun attaching the liver) or rejection.  Neither one is a good scenario as we could be spending a week or more up there for treatment, plus they're just bad things to begin with.  This is also par for the course so none of this is unexpected or abnormal.  I'm incredibly thankful for the health care passed this week so Nahum and I will be able to insure Shayna until she's 26 and she won't be denied coverage after that for her pre-existing condition as the infection/rejection struggle we're in right now will continue for the rest of her life.

Our adventure for next week includes a trip to DC.  We'll be heading there tomorrow through Wednesday for some museum fun and the gorgeous cherry blossoms.

A Gefilte fish story

 I volunteered to bring the Gefilte fish to Pesach/Passover dinner tonight for our group knowing that my mother-in-law Lea makes an awesome Gefilte fish.  Over skype a week ago Saturday, I asked if she could some how get me that recipe.  Lucky for me, she was excited to share because it took some doing.  First she wrote it out in French because she cooks in French so she won't forget the language.  Then she nagged her husband Dov to type it out in Hebrew on the computer as she verbally translated it into Hebrew for him.  (They live in Israel, he being born there and she moving there probably in the early 1950s from France though she was born in Germany.)  After a few days of this, she gives up and calls her oldest son David in northern Israel and translated it to him over the phone as he typed.  David then sends it as a pdf to Nahum who printed it off for me this last Saturday.  Saturday night he translates it to English for me as I write out the ingredients and cooking steps.   This generates a few questions and 2 more phone conversations with Lea to get everything straight on Sunday.

Armed with an ingredient list and only Sunday to figure everything out, I start calling the local grocery stores because I need whole carp scaled, de-boned, and ground and the heads, tails, and bones preserved for fish stock.

Basic conversation with all 3 places I could call:
Me, "Do you have carp?"
Them, "No, we never have carp."
Me, "Do you have whole fish?"
Them, "No, not today.  If we did it would be trout."
Me, "Can you grind fish for me?"
Them, "No, no one in this area has the ability to do that due to cross contamination issues."
Me, "Do you have Pike?" (It's the other option listed in my Joy of Cooking book.)
Them, "No, we're out of that today."

Luckily, we had invited some friends over for brunch, the Sanborns.  We tell this story to them and Robin miraculously solves one problem with,  "Oh, I have a meat grinder on my Kitchenaid mixer.  I can grind the fish for you."  I still don't know what fish to buy, but at least I was temporarily saved from the horrible fate of buying a jar of Gefilte fish from the 5' Kosher section of our Kroger.  After call the original 3 stores and 2 more, I'm able to locate 1 store with fish stock.  Once at Kroger for the bulk of my shopping, I consult with the butcher as to which fish in the display case is most similar in taste and/or texture to carp or pike.  We decided on tilapia.  After picking up some fish stock, I head over to Robin's for a quick fish grinding party. 

After another hour in my kitchen and two hours for the fish on the stove, I now have homemade Gefilte fish patties that taste pretty good but got a lot more help than originally anticipated to get here..  Nahum was the official taste tester as he's been eating Lea's fish all his life.  While he says the texture is definitely different, he gave them his full approval (with a little salt of course).

Click here for a picture of the pot cooling on the back deck last night.