Crab Tater Tots!

In the final days of our Meat Hiatus, my office hosted a pot-luck lunch in honor of an associate expecting her first child. This is always pretty awesome, because in our research-based setting, we've people from a diverse selection of cultures - and everybody does a pretty good job. I usually make meat, and when pressed to volunteer a dish, I promised crab cakes. I'd ever actually made crab before, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. So, I decided to refer back to my cookbooks for some ideas, and the only one I had available electronically was Michael Symon's Live to Cook. Lo and behold, there was a recipe for something called "Crab Tater Tots." I was sold.

Bollinos (Fish Balls)!

So, it's been all together too long since we've had any balls here at Balls and Pie (Don't worry, we've had plenty of pie). If you've been keeping up, and read about our delicious curried tilapia tacos, then you know we're on a meat hiatus. I'm going to repeat that, just because I enjoy the term: Meat Hiatus. Well, except for fish, and according to Ron Swanson, (the official fictional libertarian of Balls & Pie) it's pretty much a vegetable anyway. So, in search of something appropriate to share with you, my internet overlords, I discovered Bollinos - Codfish Balls! They were a pleasantly tasty surprise.

Matzah Ball Soup (Not Kosher for passover)

Fun Fact: I don't eat cheeseburgers.

While I really just have a complex relationship with cheese, most people assume that I, like many jews, keep kosher. For the uninitiated, the Kashrut is a set of dietary laws governing what jews should eat, and how they should prepare and prepare for meals.I take no issue with these practices. Some of my favorite things, like the practice of bathing daily and kosher-style deli derive from observation of the Kashrut, or "keeping kosher." However, observation of kosher law requires that most of what makes meat taste good is removed during preparation, and that some foods, like pork (bacon!), scavengers and bottom feeders (catfish!), and shellfish (shellfish!) are "treif," and unfit for consumption. I have enormous respect for people that go to significant lengths to observe the kashrut in an increasingly secular world, but as should be abundantly clear, keeping kosher falls strictly in the "not for me" column (bacon!). Nontheless, I extend my sincere apologies for my extremely unkosher interpretation of this jewish standard. Look away.