Lox vs Nova

May 30, 2019 ~ Old Jewish Lady

Lox isn’t lox and nova isn’t nova.

When people say lox, they really mean nova (“Nova Scotia” salmon) even though it isn’t always from Nova Scotia like it used to be.

Anymore, delis and food stores don’t seem to have actual lox. So we use the term loosely and everybody is really talking about and eating only nova these days. But years ago, you could get lox or nova and you had to specify which you wanted. Even some real delis today still offer both. So it is still worth knowing the difference.

A cautionary note: Lox is extremely, almost inedibly salty. It is an acquired taste and that is why most people understandably eat only nova and why the word lox has changed in connotation to refer to the type of smoked salmon that people actually eat.

Instead of trying to explain the difference, let me link to an expert in this helpful story from Bon Appetit :

https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/deli-salmon-explained

Congratulations Class of 1940

May 25, 2019 ~ Old Jewish Lady

Better late than never! (To view the graduation ceremony full program, please click the link.)

BayRidgeHS1940Program

The Moonlight Flit

May 17, 2019May 17, 2019 ~ Old Jewish Lady

Two of our tenants, a mother and daughter, moved to 82nd or 83rd Street from our building on 69th Street. This was in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn during the 1930s. (They did what my husband would call the moonlight flit.) So who does my father send to collect the rent they owed? My mother and me—the two “helds” (heroes). As as we approached their building I saw the mother looking out the window. I saw her and she saw us. They didn’t answer the door. Needless to say we did not get the rent.

For Those Who Need Comfort on Mother’s Day

May 10, 2019May 11, 2019 ~ Old Jewish Lady

The most important poem I have ever read is Carrion Comfort by Gerard Manley Hopkins. I turn to it often for comfort. But I must quickly add that it is not a greeting card message or saccharine rhyme. It may take some soul searching to discover that despair can be felt as a kind of sickening comfort to wallow in, and that we must find reasons not to do so.

The poem can be read and heard here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44392/carrion-comfort

Hopkins was a priest and his work is both lofty and profound. I have recently re-posted a helpful analysis (Carrion Comfort: Hopkins Wrestles with God) by a contemporary poet (Hokku).

The poem ends with one of the most enlightened devices imaginable. For those who do not think it blasphemy to say “My God,” after reading this poem you will always say it twice from now on: The first time as a secular expression of shock, and the second as a sacred expression of awe.

In the audio clip below you will hear why the poem is so important to me, as I explain it to my daughter.

CARRION COMFORT: HOPKINS WRESTLES WITH GOD

May 10, 2019 ~ Old Jewish Lady

A thoughtful, line-by-line interpretation of one of the most important poems ever written.

HOKKU

We have seen in earlier postings how the 19th century British poet Gerard Manley Hopkins suffered from terrible episodes of depression, the worst aspects of which were depicted in his poem I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark.

We may see today’s poem as a mate to that other work, because it deals with the same topic, but in a slightly different way. It has the odd title Carrion Comfort.

We should first make sure we know what is meant by carrion. Put very simply, it means dead and decaying flesh. It has a strong undertone of something very unpleasant, as when we speak of vultures feeding on carrion — on dead animals. Many humans, too, eat dead animals, but tend to avoid any signs of decay in what they eat. That did not stop me from now and then remarking to meal mates, when I was…

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