This year’s tree and table are the best. See for yourself:
The idea of a Jewish table was somewhat foiled. I initially wanted to add this really great Sephardic dish to the Ashkenazi and Soviet Jewish dishes. I realized, however, that this would be too much food.
I will still do the Sephardic dish and show you but it will have to wait.
The colorful thing in a glass is a verrine. And if you are planning to say that there is no place for shell-fish on a Jewish table, you need to read up on Soviet Jews of whom I am one.
The cake is the Sachertorte. Everything is made from scratch, of course. The red salad is the famous “Mistress Salad.” The idea behind the name is this: the salad is so delicious that a husband will eat it and realize that he can’t risk losing all this amazing home cooking for the sake of some useless mistress. So he exchanges the mistress for the salad. I researched this online today and was kind of horrified, but it was too late to undo the salad.
I forgot to place some oats and water on the table because we are ringing in the Year of the Horse, and the horse has to be mollified. (Once again, Soviet Jews, Soviet. If we feel like worshipping the Chinese calendar, so we will.)
Happy New Year!
Clarissa's Blog 
If you have carrots, apples, or beer anywhere on your table, horses will be mollified. 😉
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The salad is not at fault for its name. If it’s tasty, have it whenever you want!
I had a pretty fun New Year’s table too – made a couple salads and used them as sushi roll fillings, together with some smoked salmon and seafood. Sushi rolls are a great thing to have for a small, intimate party because they’re so fun to assemble – and the leftover fillings can be used for savory crepes the next day. I’ll be having a crepes-and-champagne breakfast at some point during today.
Anyway, hope you had an awesome New Year party and will have an even more awesome year!
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Thank you, dear Stille!
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Happy New Year Clarissa!
Is there any chance you could share the beet salad recipe? I’m a big fan of beets, so anything with them makes my mouth water. And of course the added bonus of keeping the husband around must be great.
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I bake some beets in foil (they can be boiled, too), grate them. Grate some fresh carrots, add some walnuts, raisins, squish a few cloves of garlic into the whole thing. As dressing, you can use a bit of olive oil, mayonnaise or sour cream.
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Thanks a bunch, I’m definitely making this salad in the near future.
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“I researched this online today and was kind of horrified”
Why? Assuming the Russian is содержанка (or something based on it) I would assume the name refers to a rivalry between a wife and mistress won because of the salad (I had assumed the mistress kept the man with the salad, but that’s still the same basic idea).
The only other interpretation would be a man having….. relations (ahem) with the salad itself which would (hopefully) keep most people from eating it at all.
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Happy New Year Clarissa!
There is a book about a family of Sephardic Jews in Sarajevo during the two world wars, which I think you might find interesting. Here it is in English (original is in Serbian):
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Happy New Year, Clarissa!
I just recommended a novel about Sephardic Jews in Sarajevo, but I got into moderation – possibly because I put an amazon link… Anyway, the book is by Gordana Kuic, the title is The Scent of Rain in the Balkans (original is Serbian).
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Happy New year!!
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Happy New Year! So is it a Soviet tradition to have a New Year’s tree? Or is that tree leftover from Christmas? (I just love Christmas trees.) 🙂
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In the 1920s-30s it was forbidden to have a tree but then Stalin allowed for it to come back and it became a huge tradition. We call it New Year’s tree.
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