
Photo by Cynthia Hochswender
I’ve finally given up any hope of baking giant discs of handmade matzo, in the shmura style, at home — after more than a decade of giving it my best shot.
Matzo is very simple, with only three ingredients (flour, water, salt) — but the method of preparing it is so exacting and difficult, it’s almost like a challenge you’d see on a television cooking show.
We eat matzo to remind us of the flight of the Jews from Egypt: There was no time for the flour and water to do that magical thing they do when they’re combined, which is to become alive and ingest air bubbles and become leavened.
To make authentic handmade matzo, you have to exactly count the seconds that your flour is exposed to your water, so that no leavening can occur. It’s like a challenge you might see on a television cooking show (“The clock is ticking!”).
Then you have to perforate the dough, which is not impossible. What is impossible for most home cooks, however, is the baking. I finally learned this week that the reason my homemade matzo tastes nothing like an authentic delicious shmura matzo made by professionals is that I can’t crank my oven up to between 600 and 800 degrees.
I accept defeat. And in this year where Amazon has been able to get nearly everything I order to my doorstep in two or three days, I went ahead and ordered some shmura matzo (which is very hard to find outside of Brooklyn). I am not observant, so it won’t matter to me if I don’t get an unbroken crisp circle of shmura matzo, which is needed for the Passover seder. I’m ordering it simply because I like the way it tastes, and you can only get it once a year.
But enough about what we can’t cook. What can we make for the High Holidays, while observing the rule that we can’t eat leavened grain products?
I don’t know enough to instruct you on dietary dos and don’ts but one thing I know is that coconut macaroons are a Passover tradition. These are not to be confused with the light, delicate French macarons cookies, although they’re also wheat free and in theory qualify as a Passover treat. They’re fairly challenging to make, however.
But coconut macaroons are wonderfully simple, and can be made by anyone, even a child (with supervision for the part that involves an electric mixer).
The recipe that I used is from Ina Garten and is far from low-calorie, but if you’re going to eat a cookie, you might as well make it a good one. You can find the original of this online from Food Network.
Adapted from the Food Network recipe
Makes about 24 cookies
Whites from two large eggs, at room temperature (an excellent way to use fresh, local farm eggs)
1/4 teaspoon good table salt such as Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
14 ounces of moist, tender shredded coconut from the baking aisle, not the harder coconut flakes you’d buy to snack on
14 ounces of sweetened condensed milk (one can; be sure not to get evaporated milk by mistake)
1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla extract
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (it’s easier to drop your cook batter onto the paper if you trim it to fit the baking sheets; otherwise the edges blow into the air as you’re trying to work).
To whip up the egg whites, you’ll want your mixer bowl and beaters to be perfectly clean, with no grease or residual butter on them. The best way to super clean them is with a wipe of vinegar.
Your eggs should be at room temperature. Use large but not “jumbo” eggs, which tend to have a higher risk of salmonella (again, farm eggs are easy to find around here and give you beautiful whipped whites).
Add the salt to the whites.
The mistake most of us make when whipping egg whites is to treat them with kid gloves and to underbeat them. The longer you beat your whites, at high speed, the stronger they’ll become (up to a point, of course).
For this reason, if you can, you want to use a stand mixer not a hand mixer. If you beat them for about 20 minutes, you’ll get glossy whites that are smooth and creamy; when you turn the beater upside down, the whites should droop nicely into a little elf cap.
While the whites are beating and the oven is heating, combine in a very large bowl (I used my favorite extra wide ceramic salad bowl) the coconut, condensed milk and vanilla.
After your whites are nice and glossy and strong, gently add them to the coconut mixer and gently fold them together, using a sturdy spatula to reach under the mixture and fold it up and over, repeatedly, turning the bowl after each turn.
Then take two large spoons, or one big spoon and an ice cream scoop. My ice cream scoop doesn’t have an auto eject feature, it’s just a deep spoon, but it worked fine. The trick to making nice scoops, which I learned from Dave Cadwell from the former Cadwell’s Corner in Cornwall, is that you have to tamp down the ingredients in the one spoon before scooping them out with the other spoon. This gives you nice sturdy cookies.
Don’t delay unduly in getting your cookies onto the sheet and into the oven, or the liquids will start to separate and leave a milky residue around your cookies.
Each cookie should be about the size of a golf ball.
Bake them for about 25 minutes, until they’re lightly browned on top. Take them out and let them cool completely before you try to move them or they’ll break apart.
If you want to top them with chocolate sauce, wait until they’re cool. Put the warm or room temperature chocolate sauce in a bowl and dunk the top of the cookie into the sauce and turn it until you get as much coverage as you’d like.
Refrigerate them quickly so the chocolate “sets.”
You can store these in a plastic container at room temperature for a week or so.
The Mobile Health Unit will be returning to Millerton on April 9 to provide basic health services and guidance on insurance and addressing greater health needs.
MILLERTON – Dutchess County’s Mobile Health Unit is returning to Millerton. On April 9, members of the public can receive vaccinations, STI screenings and assistance with general health needs.
Public health education coordinators will be on-site to provide information on tick removal as well as hands-only CPR and Narcan training. For those in need of further care, guidance will be provided as will assistance with insurance navigation.
The Mobile Health Unit will be located at the rail trail parking lot from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., just down the street from the North East Community Center, located at 51 South Center St. in Millerton.
Paquito D’Rivera performs at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington on April 5.
Natalia Bernal is the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center’s education and community engagement manager and is, in her own words, “the one who makes sure that Mahaiwe events are accessible to all.”
The Mahaiwe’s community engagement program is rooted in the belief that the performing arts should be for everyone. “We are committed to establishing and growing partnerships with neighboring community and arts organizations to develop pathways for overcoming social and practical barriers,” Bernal explained. “Immigrants, people of color, communities with low income, those who have traditionally been underserved in the performing arts, should feel welcomed at the Mahaiwe.”
Partnerships with organizations like Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires (VIM), the W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee, and Community Access to the Arts (CATA) have helped bridge that gap. But for the Latinx community, there’s an even more targeted effort: the Spanish-language Community Advisory Network (SCAN).
“Six years ago, we started an advisory group of Spanish speakers in the community,” Bernal said. “They tell us what the community wants to see, how they’d like their culture represented. Today, SCAN has 12 members. We meet four times a year and are in constant communication. It’s because of them that we’ve hosted free Spanish-language film screenings and live performances.”
For Bernal, this work is personal. “When I first moved to the U.S. in 2003, it was because I got a Latin American scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music. That first year, I went home to Uruguay for Christmas and saw Paquito D’Rivera perform at a jazz festival. I was determined to meet him, and I did. Later that year, Paquito came to Berklee and invited me on stage.”
Now, two decades and 16 Grammys later, Paquito D’Rivera is coming to the Mahaiwe on April 5, and there’s a chance history might repeat itself. “He saw a post we made about his concert and commented, ‘Ay, chica, que maravilla, are you gonna sing a song with us?’ I almost died,” Bernal laughed. “I don’t know if it will happen, but it would be a dream.”
About the possibility of a guest appearance by Bernal, D’Rivera said, “Natalia is a very dear, valuable colleague, and jazz is about improvisation, so the surprise factor is always part of the fun here.”
D’Rivera’s concert is just one example of how the Mahaiwe is making world-class performances accessible. “My whole day has been about offering ‘pay what you can’ tickets for this show,” Bernal says. “We also issued a 50% discount to our partners. We work with ESL teachers, public libraries, literacy agencies, anyone who can help us get the word out.”
That kind of grassroots effort has been transformative. “Last year, we screened ‘Florencia en el Amazonas,’ the first opera written in Spanish ever performed at the Met,” Bernal said. “I sat in the Mahaiwe in tears. As someone who loves opera, it was the first time I heard one written in my own language. It was so powerful.”
Natalia Bernal, Mahaiwe’s education and community engagement managerPhoto by Martin Cohen
For Bernal, it all comes back to representation, on stage and in the audience. “My son is eight. I bring him to everything I can. Spanish shouldn’t just be something that happens at the dinner table. It should be in the world, in all these shapes and forms.”
And that’s what SCAN is helping build: a future where Latinx voices aren’t just included, they are central. “Our SCAN advisors are volunteers, cultural ambassadors,” Bernal said. “They help us distribute surveys, talk to the audience, and strengthen the community. Nobody should feel alone. Everybody should feel like they belong here.”
Education and outreach are central to D’Rivera’s work as well. He said, “It is an important part of our mission to plant and nurture the seed of quality music in our communities.” He continued to say, “Using our visibility and influence in favor of justice is always a very effective vehicle in denouncing violations of human rights around the world.”
This shared mission of education and social justice extends beyond the Mahaiwe. “We are one of the few arts organizations in a monthly meeting with BASIC (Berkshire Alliance for Immigrant Services). We have direct ties to the Berkshire Immigrant Center, VIM, and others so that we are well-informed and ready to serve,” said Bernal.
That commitment to community, culture, and access is why Bernal’s dream panel—Women in the Music Business—would feature Paquito’s wife and longtime manager, Brenda Feliciano. “She’s a tower of power. She’s been managing his career for at least 45 years. If I could organize an event one day, she would be the cherry on the cake.”
Until then, Bernal will keep doing what she does best: making sure the Mahaiwe is a place where everyone, regardless of language, income, or background, feels at home. And maybe, just maybe, she’ll find herself back on stage with Paquito D’Rivera, just like that first time, all those years ago.
For more info and tickets to Paquito D’Rivera, visit mahaiwe.org
There is magic in a home filled with the things we love, and Mary Randolph Carter, affectionately known as “Carter,” has spent a lifetime embracing that magic. Her latest book, “Live with the Things You Love … and You’ll Live Happily Ever After,” is about storytelling, joy, and honoring life’s poetry through the objects we keep.
“This is my tenth book,” Carter said. “At the root of each is my love of collecting, the thrill of the hunt, and living surrounded by things that conjure up family, friends, and memories.”
The creative director at Ralph Lauren for almost four decades, Carter began writing this book during the pandemic, a time of rediscovering comfort. “I found more time to appreciate those special things that give our homes warmth and connection.” Working with Ralph Lauren, she learned that the best spaces tell a personal story. “His desk was filled with toy cars, miniature shoes, superheroes, English dandies, cowboys on horseback. The walls? A gallery of his children’s paintings, iconic photos of Frank Sinatra and Gary Cooper. Everything told a story.”
Carter acknowledges how homes can become overwhelmed with stuff but sees a difference between clutter and collection. “To live happily, create environments that inspire and comfort rather than encumber you! Look around and ask, ‘What is truly meaningful? What makes you smile? What recalls the people and places you cherish?’” Then, she added, “weed out the rest with discipline and courage!”
Provided
Each home in Carter’s book reflects its inhabitant’s spirit. “The first time I walked into Bethann Hardison’s apartment, I knew right away how authentic it was to who she is.” Hardison’s walls are lined with artwork from friends Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Haitian paintings, testaments to a life well lived. “Though her mantra is, ‘the lighter the load, the freer the journey,’ she also admits some things ‘delight your environment’ and can’t be parted with. Amen to that!”
Having survived two childhood fires, Carter deeply understands what truly matters. “It’s not the things, but the people and memories they evoke.” She loves her collections, but they don’t possess her. “They make me happy, but they do not define me.”
She delights in how people showcase treasures. Paula Grief, for instance, lives in a ten-foot-wide house and had to part with many books. “She tucks the ones she can’t live without through the rungs of her staircase. I love that ingenuity!”
When asked about her most cherished possession, Carter tells a story of loss and serendipity. A childhood portrait of her in a blue velvet dress was lost in a fire. “Years later, the artist’s daughter found another version. Now, it hangs in our apartment, surrounded by flea market art and one of my favorite saints, Our Lady of Guadalupe.”
Adding to the cozy feeling of this book, Carter’s son, Carter Berg, took the photographs, and her sister, Cary, contributed the illustrations. “Cary once stayed in our apartment and painted a dozen objects from our cluttered kitchen. I hung them immediately. When I started this book, I knew she had to capture my favorite objects.”
Four of the featured homes are local to the Northwest Corner, including Carter’s in Millerton, Joan Osofsky’s in Lakeville, Robin Bell’s in Salisbury, and Paula Grief’s in Hudson. They all gathered at the White Hart/Oblong Speaker Series on March 27.
After perusing the richly colored pages of this book, you may feel tempted to shop. “You don’t need money to create a meaningful home,” Carter insisted. “Some of my favorite paintings cost no more than $10 or $25. Value is personal. It’s not about provenance but the story an object tells you or the one you make up.”
Carter’s advice? “Fall in love with the wackiest thing. Surround yourself with what matters, and you’ll live happily ever after.”