Isn’t It Romantic?

This Friday Ju-Boy and I are celebrating having survived six years shackled to each other in matrimony. 

Last year I posited that second marriages should be counted in dog years, so it feels like we’ve been together a magical 42 years (which in Douglas Adams-speak is the answer to life, the universe and everything, so this is a milestone anniversary).  According to about.com, the traditional gift for a sixth wedding anniversary is either candy or iron.  Modern-day gifts can be made of wood.  Last year we went away to the Carmel Forest Spa, and we both agreed there was not much that was going to top that.  This year we’re going to… I have no idea where we’re going this year.  Ju-Boy has booked us a Shabbat in a hotel somewhere, out there.  I think he mentioned the Dead Sea, but he likes to throw me off the trail and surprise me.  I asked him what I should pack, but he’s being cryptic.  I’m probably going to pack some nice clothes and we’re going to end up in a Bedouin tent in the middle of the desert.  I wouldn’t put it past him.  No problem, I’ll just look very overdressed for camel riding.

This year Ju-Boy also bought me one of the most romantic gifts I could have asked for.  In fact, I did ask for it.  Over the last two years I have been asking for it.  He finally got the hint.  I am now the proud owner of a Magimix CS 5200 XL food processor.  It’s gorgeous!  Silver, sleek, sharp, it’s all the wonderful words that start with S. He wanted to give it to me on our anniversary, but he was having trouble hiding it.  The box can house a small family.  He hid it in our closet and covered it up with a bunch of clothes.  I was starting to get angry, since we had just cleaned the whole closet out for Pesach and he now had this huge pile of clothes on the floor.  At one point we were arguing over the mess and I got snarky and lashed out with “and you had better be getting me that Magimix for our anniversary if you know what’s good for you!”  And that’s when he spoiled the surprise.  Do you think I honestly care that I got the thing a month early? 

Ju-Boy ordered the new love of my life over the Internet, and had it delivered to his office so I wouldn’t see it.  When it arrived his co-workers took one look at this huge box with a kitchen appliance inside and asked, “You aren’t getting that for your wife for your anniversary, are you?”  When he told them that yes, this was going to be his romantic gesture this year the basic consensus was, “Oh, man, you are so dead!” 

According to a blog called Marriage Gems, in the post entitled Great Anniversary Gifts Ideas & What to NEVER Buy Your Wife, the second most important piece of advice is never buy your wife an appliance as an anniversary present.  The only thing worse than that is to get her something related to weight-loss.  I totally agree with that one.  If Ju-Boy had bought me a digital scale with a fat measurement tool for our anniversary I would have aimed well with it, and he would have ended up in the emergency room, and probably the Guinness Book of Records as well, post-extraction.  But my Sweetie knows his Sweetie.  This present is just the most recent one in a line of romantic blow-torches, stand mixers and other fun kitchen toys.  I love it!  So what should I hanker for next?  Hmmmmm… I’m thinking sous-vide machine…  maybe.  Or what about this knife block?

 

In any case, once I had that box open I was downstairs at my cookbook collection trying to channel Norene Gilletz.  And I’m having so much fun with my new toy!

 Carrot Kugel Muffins

This is based on a recipe that I have been using for the last 9 1/2 years already.  It’s changed and morphed into many different variations, and here you will find my latest version.  The original recipe can be found on Recipezaar and is called Bob Newhart’s Carrot Mold, by a wonderful chef called Lennie, who has an extensive celebrity recipe collection, and also blogs at eat write create.  These babies were part of our 15-course Shavuot meal two weeks ago.  I also teased a few friends on Facebook this past Friday who threatened to unfriend me if I didn’t post the recipe.  So, hey, I hope we’re still friends!

BTW, with a super-turbo food processor like the Magimix, this kugel is a dream to make.

• 2 cups finely minced carrots (about 5-6 large carrots)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (for Israelis — just use one sachet)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour

First you need to preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).

Cut the carrots into 1-inch slices. I don’t even peel mine, just scrub them very well.

Zhuzz them around in the food processor using the steel blade until finely minced

This is what they should look like.

You can add the rest of the ingredients all at once. No need to mix after adding each one.

Towards the end stop zhuzzing and scrap up from the bottom of the bowl. Zhuzz for a few more seconds until everything is completely combined.

Grease your muffin cups/molds. I like to brush them with some canola oil.

Ladle the batter into the muffin cups. Try not to shmear it all over the pan (do as I say, not as I do).

Bake for approximately 30 minutes for medium-sized muffins, 35minutes for large muffins. If you are doing this as one whole kugel then 45 minutes should do it.

 I served these on Shavuot with some wheatberry pilaf over them.  My daughters Tinky and Didi like them as a side dish because “they taste like cake.”  Considering my girls used to be vegetable-phobes, this used to be a good way of sneaking in that Vitamin A.

So back to my anniversary… where do you think he’s taking me?  First one to get the right answer gets to pick the next recipe featured in Miriyummy (I like a good challenge).