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A few months ago I asked my friend Kimberly if she would mind doing a guest post on my blog. You see, this friend Kimberly of mine is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and I have her to thank for my conversion to kosher salt about 7 years ago. I haven't bought table salt since. You see,  I'm kind of passionate about kosher salt. I'll never go back. I even bought us these matching ceramic salt boxes to house our kosher salt. Mine is always within arms reach, right next to the oven.

So without further ado, I introduce Kimberly!

While all salts are technically kosher, they are not all KOSHER salt! What is the difference between table salt and kosher salt?

All salt is sodium chloride. The difference between the salt options we have in the store starts with where they were mined/harvested and ends with the refining process.

Diamond Crystal is my favorite kind of kosher salt. The sodium chloride is blown into a stainless steel box and permitted to dry and form crystals. These crystals are scraped off the box, and the process is finished. Giving you lovely large salt crystals with no additional ingredients. (Some kosher salts, like Morton’s, add sodium ferrocyanide to help the salt not clump. I notice a flavor difference in my food – and only use Diamond Crystal. )

Table salt is highly refined and contains ingredients like iodine and some sort of free-flow agent, like the sodium ferrocyanide in Morton’s kosher salt.  This results in a salt that consists of singular grains and doesn’t clump. Perfect, I suppose, for a saltshaker. (I don’t own a saltshaker!)

Pure salt is a flavor enhancer. Added just the right amount, you will be able to taste all the flavors in your food, without tasting salt. This, clearly, is the goal. Table salt doesn’t allow you to achieve this goal. The iodine flavor is bitter and strong, and will dominate the flavor profile of your meal.

I do a simple experiment in my cooking classes to demonstrate this. I boil 1 carrot, ½ onion and 1 celery stalk in 1 quart of water for 45 minutes to an hour. I then strain it, and add 1 pinch of salt to the first serving, 2 pinches to the second, 3 pinches to the third… people find it hard to believe the only difference in the three broths is the amount of kosher salt. Then I do the same with the table salt. You never achieve the same flavor. You end up with salty, flavorless broth.

If you use kosher salt with your baking, keep in mind that 1 t. of table salt and 1 t. of kosher salt will not yield the same amount of salt. Kosher salt contains more air due to the unrefined crystal structure. Baking is chemistry, and you have to have enough of ‘A’ and ‘B’ to get a proper ‘C’.  Most boxes will tell you the volume difference between kosher and table salt. Ideally, however, you could simply weigh your ingredients – as the volume doesn’t change the weight.

Some chefs/bakers don’t like to use kosher salt in their baking items because it doesn’t always fully dissolve because of its unique shape. If your recipe has limited amounts of liquid, you might want to stick with table salt. I simply make sure I brake up the salt with my hands when I add it. I haven’t
experienced a problem. Just play with it, and you’ll know what is best for your cooking/baking habits.

Have you ever been to a high-end restaurant that offers you a saltshaker on the table? No! The chef wants you to taste the food as they have prepared it. Then, if you want salt, and you can ask for it, they bring you a small bowl of kosher salt. The bottom line is that salt can either enhance or ruin the flavor
of your food.

 I bought Chris tickets for his birthday in June and we went last night (really it was a gift to me). I can't believe we've been listening to them for nearly 20 years. The boys were…SO GOOD. The last time we saw them was in Boston 4+ years ago. I was 9 months pregnant. We had no name for the bun in the oven. It was at the Trashcan Sinatras concert that we decided on the name 'Henry'. We had high hopes going into last nights concert that we'd feel some major Trashcan Sinatras inspiration for a name for this bun in the oven. Nothing yet- but these things take time. The only downfall was that not a single song from the album "Cake" was played, which is like one of their best albums… everyone wanted "Obscurity Knocks" but alas…nothing from Cake. My favorite TCS song? Well, that's like picking a favorite child but, since you asked, it's this. Just wanted to leave you a little Sinatras on this Thursday afternoon.

I was contacted by an editor of Artful Blogging last Spring asking if I'd be willing to write an article for their publication. "Hells, bells, YES!" I said. I've been a long time fan of this gorgeous magazine and was thrilled at the thought it. My article is about how to be more artful in your blog. For me, who is not a natural writer (I married one instead) it was a bit tough, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, I went over the deadline. It made my brain hurt trying to think of what to even say. But in the end, I think I was able to eek out a few little nuggets of goodess. I hope I was at least. While I have had patterns published in books before (I always forget to mention those in this space) I've never had my own photographs or words published. Is is silly to say that I am, oh I don't know…BEAMING WITH PRIDE??? The images look so much better in print than here on my blog. They did an amazing job putting this issue together. I laid in bed last night pouring over every single page. This is issue #3 Aug/Sept/Oct and should (I think..) already be out on newstands. I'm always able to find it at Joanne or check your local bookstore. You can see more of other artists that are featured in the magazine by clicking here. Thanks for letting me gloat. I'm sure I'll be over myself by end of day. It might ooze over into the weekend. Surely by the time Chris gets back in town. Monday, Monday at the absolute latest. Maybe.

Our little friend Louisa is turning 2 and I think a party skirt is definitely in order. She's a blond haired cutie patootie and so you can imagine my relief when I found that I had just enough of this butter yellow linen in my stash to make her a skirt. Phew. I wanted to make her skirt using fabrics from my existing stash. The problem is that I don't have enough of most fabrics to make any clothing. Good thing that little people clothes don't require much. I had to make the skirt according to what I had which was only a 10" length of the yellow linen. That meant it was going to need a bit of a patchwork border (and yes, that brown polka dot seems to show up in a lot of my projects these days. It's one of my fav's and I'm sad to report that my stash of it is nearly gone!) Not knowing her exact measurements, I had to take a bit of a guess, but I think the length will be okay. She is  a bit of a tiny thing, so the waist may need to be taken in a little.  I didn't follow a pattern for this, but wrote down directions  as I went so I can pass them along to you, that is if you want to make your own party skirt (You totally do!) I'll get that up later this week. 

Pihoto from last nights 'mallow roasting at the beach.

My uncle passed away. Mom came out to stay on Saturday to take care of all the details. He was her brother. My uncle Lenn.  They were very close. There are so many things that have to be done. Paperwork. Calls to the coroners office. Decisions you never think you'll have to make. Decisions you don't want to have to make. Things that make the grieving process even harder. 

I keep thinking back to that day- remembering how it was for me and what I was doing.  I had to take Henry to the Dr. for a follow-up on some shots and then we had to drive somewhere else for him to get blood drawn. It took forever- several hours. The traffic was horrid. The 2 appointments weren't anywhere near each other.  I snapped those pictures of Henry in the glasses at the Dr's office. We came home exhausted and that night I hung out with the girls, watching a chick flick, when everything happened.

My uncle was here, at our home 3 months ago along with Mom. We went to the beach two days in a row. I can't find any of the pictures I took of him. He was feeding Kate watermelon on a beach blanket and chuckling at the crazy antics of a very curious 4-year old. We were going to go to dinner. He was a vegetarian. My Mom can't eat anything with flour. I remember laughing & thinking 'where on earth am I going to take them??' We settled on a little cafe up in Westwood Village. He had a vegetarian panini with tomato soup which he absolutely loved.

A year ago in May. days before Kate was due, he lost his wife unexpectedly. I remember being so pregnant. Here I was waiting to bring a little life into the world, while others were losing theirs. And mere hours after we learned of her passing, we received another call that my cousins 25 year old wife had passed, leaving 2 babies behind.  What was happening?

And here I am again, growing and waiting for another baby. Waiting to bring another life into the world while another life is leaving it. I think he died of a broken heart, not knowing how much he was loved. Truely loved. I think he knows now. He was kind and intuitive. He had a Masters Degree in Social Work. He cared for others deeply. He was tender-hearted and generous. The papers had it wrong. He was not a transient. It hurt to even read it. That someone would even assume, not knowing the facts, but so eager to put to print.