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The Jew & The Carrot - in Icing

by Leah Koenig · July 14th, 2008
Cooking, Fresh Frum the Kitchen, The Carrot, The Jew, Vegetables

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I’m feeling sluggish today. It’s rain-ish (not exactly raining, but close) this morning, which doesn’t help - and Yosh and I spent the last week on an engagement party tour - Tuesday and Wednesday in Silver Spring with his family, and Friday-Sunday in Chicago with mine.  There’s really nothing to complain about (both celebrations were great), but I am feeling a little bit “Berenstain Bears and Too Much Birthday” today.

While I pull myself together, I thought I’d share a picture of the amazing cake that Yosh’s sister made - complete with fondant icing carrots (for The Jew & The Carrot, of course) and a treble clef for Yosh.  It was hard to cut into such a masterpiece, but the carrot cake inside was worth it.  Check out another view below the jump.

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6 Responses to “The Jew & The Carrot - in Icing”

  1. Hannah Lee Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 10:34 am

    Beautiful cake, Leah, and nice shot of the two of you!

    Are you planning an organic, sustainable wedding? Good luck in finding a sympathetic caterer, if you do. For my first daughter’s bat mitzvah, the caterer told me afterwards that he wasn’t able to obtain any organic fruits (okay, it was on Presidents’ weekend, so it was harder than a summer party). So, for my younger daughter, I decided to cater the simcha myself– all organic, if not necessarily sustainable (although I did splurge on additional sets of stainless steel cutlery).

  2. Leah Koenig Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 10:58 am

    Hey Hannah,

    It’s a good question, and unfortunately the answer seems to be (mostly) no. I researched exhaustively to find a caterer that would meet my organic/sustainable standards and my fiance’s family’s kosher needs - AND be reasonably affordable on top of that.

    The myriad sustainable, local caterers out there were not an option b/c they’re not hekhshered.

    Most of the strictly kosher caterers we found that were reasonably priced had rather horrifying food options. The more expensive (read, A LOT more expensive) ones had better-looking and probably quality food, but still didn’t have much of an eye for local or sustainable food.

    I ideally wanted to have my friends cook and/or hire one of the few folks out there who are doing great work as kosher, sustainable home chefs and caterers.

    But we realized that would require hiring a mashgiach, and kashering the kitchen at the synagogue we’re getting married at (easy for a big caterer, an all day affair for a single home chef), and buying/renting kosher dishes (God forbid I’d use disposable!), and on top of that hiring servers, and renting linens and all the things that a professional caterer takes care of. It seemed like too much stress.

    So - in the end we are working with the caterer from the JCC in Manhattan. Hazon has worked with them before, and they are really lovely and accommodating, and their food is tasty.

    The menu ultimately won’t be as organic/sustainable as I’d like. But it will at least be seasonal (e.g. warm apple crisp instead strawberry shortcake for our November celebration), and organic, where possible.

    So - such is life for now. But I have to imagine that there is a market out there for a kosher, sustainable catering business. Anybody want to take it on?

  3. Hannah Lee Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

    The market is still small…
    One aspect of sustainability that I’d neglected to follow up for our simcha last year was to find a place that would take our leftovers. Some of the local soup kitchens have changed their policies and even our shul cannot give away its catered leftovers.

  4. phyllis Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 10:49 pm

    mazel tov…great looking cake!

  5. Tovah Says:
    July 15th, 2008 at 11:08 am

    Mazel tov, Leah!!!

  6. Jeff Yoskowitz Says:
    July 16th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

    I just hate when the reality of a situation doesn’t suit your personal beliefs. I secretly plan for the greatest, most sustainable kosher wedding imaginable but always had a hunch that it will be a sort of a pipe dream.

    Maybe you guys could at least purchase a 55 gallon drum of pickles from Adamah for the wedding to feed all the guests?

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