challah: a love story.

I don't always make things that aren't vegan, but when I do, it's usually for good reason. Something about altering traditional Jewish recipes just doesn't sit right with me. Good Jewish food is something I don't get all the time...or ever...in Minnesota. So when I come home, I go crazy. Delis are no longer scarce and I seriously get my fix of them. I'm only home for few more days, and I thought I'd go out with a bang. Challah time.

Baking bread scares me. I think that's pretty understandable. But when I woke up this morning and was perusing through my great grandmother's recipe box filled with recipes for all the best Jewish food, I decided to take on the challenge.

It went surprisingly well. I used this recipe because I trust whoever runs that blog with my life.

I want to tell you something about baking challah bread. The time in between putting it in the oven for baking and taking it out is this hard to explain ethereal experience. It smelled. So good. I took periodic peeks inside my oven (even though "every time you open your oven, you let out five million degrees of heat") and was instantly taken over by a mix of squeals and laughter. When something I bake goes extremely well, I get real excited.

Tasting it was pretty much the same story, except there was dancing involved. I immediately sent a picture to my mom.