Ann H., traditional Chanuka foods vary with the community. Jews of Eastern European descent eat latkes (but never agree on how to make them). Israelis eat fried filled doughnuts. As you see in the string, and can find on many web sites, everywhere in the world, Jews come up with something different for Chanuka. The one constant is that it should be something cooked in oil; that's the point. The idea is to commemorate the story about the oil for the menorah. lpinkmountain, if you use a mix for matzo balls, you will go to hell. JUST KIDDING! But really, I have never understood what the point is of that mix. I mean, matzo balls contain matzo meal, salt, egg, water or broth, and fat (chicken fat best if you are not a vegetarian and your cardiologist isn't looking). So what's in that mix? I think it's just matzo meal, salt, and some bouillon powder (which I don't like anyway); you still have to add the rest -- doesn't really save any time and just costs a lot more and uses more packaging. Lakeguy, here is how I (a genuine Jewish mother) make chicken soup and matzo balls. It's a very simple recipe, without even any dill or garlic, but it really doesn't need it, because the strongly developed chicken flavor holds its own, so try it this way first. Really, you can make any kind of chicken soup your family likes, but make sure to follow the two essentials about the type of chicken and the length of cooking. Try to find a kosher chicken -- the bigger, fatter, and older, the better. The taste is just much, much better. It's not that the kosher slaughtering makes a difference. But they grow them bigger, and they don't feed them chemicals (not for kosher purposes, just to broaden their market to foodies), and the soaking and salting of kashering is like brining it. If you can't find a kosher chicken in your town, then go for an organic one, I guess. Lindac taught me the money-saving tip of using a package of wings instead of a whole chicken (kosher chickens are not cheap). Gellchom's Jewish Chicken Soup (eat! eat!) 1 cut up kosher chicken, or a large package of wings, necks, etc. 2 stalks celery, NO LEAVES, scraped and cut into sticks 2 large carrots, scraped and cut into sticks one whole onion, peeled Salt and pepper Rinse the chicken and put it in your soup pot. Cover with water to about 3/4 inch from top. Bring to a good hard boil, reduce the heat, and skim. Then add the vegetables, 1-2 T salt, and some pepper. Cover and simmer a LONG time -- absolute minimum 1 1/2 hours, but I like to let it go to much longer, even to 6. If it cooks too far down, then just add some water; the taste will still be plenty rich, I promise. Remove chicken and use for something that can have seriously overcooked chicken! Discard onion (and celery, if you want, but I like it in the soup). Remove carrots and set aside. Strain soup and return carrots, celery, and maybe some of the chicken. Chill and remove some but not all of the fat before reheating. Serve with matzo balls, kreplach, noodles, or rice. Matzo balls (this is just the old recipe off the back of the Manischewitz matzo meal box, before they changed it from schmaltz to oil) 2 T schmaltz (rendered chicken fat; buy frozen in kosher market or make your own) or oil (if you must!) 2 lg eggs, slightly beaten ½ c matzo meal 1 t salt, optional 2 T water or broth (use broth if no schmaltz) Mix schmaltz and eggs. Mix matzo meal with salt and blend. Add water and mix. Cover and chill at least 15 minutes. Boil slightly salted water. Reduce heat to low, form balls (with wet hands, and note that they will enlarge as they cook), and add to soup. Cover and cook 30-40 minutes.

One fish I will absolutely not eat is tilapia. I don't like farm raised fish and I don't like fish from Asia. That said, I don't like fishy fish, or salmon or tuna or swordfish. I will eat freshwater catfish....if it has been fileted properly. There in an oily layer under the skin, and that ruins the taste of it. I like red snapper and flounder. Fresh water fish like bass and crappie. The only fish I will ever buy is sometimes farm raised (USA) catfish. We have a friend who has a snapper boat and we get red snapper from him. Flounder from our boat, and any other fish we eat are fish that my husband catches. I like shrimp and crab....eat those off of our boat. I like oysters and my husband will either open them or buy them from someone he knows who has an oyster house and can get them very fresh. Our boat has an oyster license but he doesn't oyster with it.

Jillius, I can recommend a dishwasher safe cookie sheet and jelly roll pan but you won't like the price. I have the Gold ones which are no longer made but will come up on ebay for about 6x what I paid for them 10years ago. My Gold Jelly roll pans did not have the handles of the newer aluminum finish. They are great pans. You can thank me later once you recover from the shock :-) I second the recommendation for Demeyere. I have a mix of Demeyere and All Clad. I prefer the Demeyere everytime. Mine is the Demeyere Sirocco which they no longer make. For storage, I use all glass containers. My favorites are the Glasslock. Lots of options on the manufacturer website for containers include round bowls, containers with handles, etc. Costco carries Glasslock and for the sets, it is a great value. I have spent enough of your money for today:-) Tomorrow, we can discuss Chopping Boards and Knives!!!! Good luck!

"If I'm in the mood for fried chicken, I go to KFC." Yanno, I USED to be fine with KFC. I don't know what it is about it, but I just cannot eat it anymore - leaves a greasy heavy taste and does not feel good in my tummy at all. I never eat there anymore - just cannot tolerate their fried chicken. But that's okay cuz we have SO many places here that make killer fried chicken. Way too easy to get to! As far as the "art of home cooking", I think it is certainly still there. But for many of us, at least in my case, I am older, live alone, son is off on his own (which means I never have a house full of teens eating though dishes as fast as I can make them), and I swear the older I get the more things it seems I have to do. I always thought it would be the reverse....but it's not darn it. So convenience is much more important for me now. I rarely even eat dinner during the week (I hit the gym after work and really only want a snack when I get home) so I just don't have the need or "want to" to spend time cooking up meals that will probably leave leftovers that get tossed anyway. There are certainly exceptions of course - I seriously crave chicken pot pie when it starts getting cold weather, so that is one of my "singnature dishes" that I take the time to make. And even if the BF does not finish it, I will portion it out into containers and freeze it for my lunches. Some things are worth spending a little time on, LOL.