yogivegnyc r.
Yelp
In what's become typical Jewish baking it's hard to get past the white flour. It is light and fluffy and white but also dense and filling and substantial despite feeling somewhat vacuous, and, umm, insubstantial. It fills you up and then leaves you a little hanging, too, wondering with what exactly you are filled: "is it air? I can physically feel the material of what I ate but there is a part of it that leaves me feeling empty.." It gives a sense of being firm and reflective in its qualities but also light and indifferent. I notice it but can move on from it, too, at my will. Leave it to Jewish baking to create a theoretical debate about the nature of the bread that was just eaten and from there to determine it's qualities of substance and to decide whether or not it was filling or not filling. "Well, It tasted good and had wholesome superficial qualities and if I wanted full wholesomeness in integrity I'd being eating the whole wheat matzah I buy during Passover.." But, for now, this is nice..
The challah here I like very much. The outside is slightly firm but the inside is soft and pulls apart easily. I can feel its plainness giving it depth in its chewiness. In its flavor I taste the fire from it being baked, the salt, and the wheat mixed with small amounts of egg.
If you are so inclined, you can ask if they will sell you straight mohn. Mohn is a poppy seed butter that is mushed poppy seeds mixed with sugar and/or honey, and used primarily as a filling for breads and pastries such as babka and rugelach. In appearance it is shiny and looks like grainy tar, or caviar. The taste is highly sweet but once you get past the sweetness the astringency of the seeds begins to reveal itself; there are two contrasting dynamic pulls of the intensely sweet and moist, and the deeply dark and dry. In effect, the mohn, after ingesting large quantities of this poppy seed paste, hits the nerve at the back of the neck and the body and mind start to feel relaxed with a glazed sedate feeling of haziness. It makes for a nice spread and goes well with the challah.
The cookies and rugelach are nice, too. I especially like the chocolate ones, as the bittersweetness stands out interlaced amongst the blandness of the dough, which is what I would want from a Jewish baked treat. The rainbow cookies are amazing.. that raspberry filling between the layers was delicious.
During the moment it's all great (as long as not too much is eaten!) and then we accept what we've enjoyed and then move on to what's next.
