Holiday 2018 Issue

Photography By | Last Updated November 14, 2018
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Edible Jersey Holiday 2018 Magazine cover

A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
 

Gingerbread architecture can be a world of crazy excess. I recall an exhibit years ago that featured a replica of Falling Water, the Frank Lloyd Wright house built over a waterfall in rural Pennsylvania. A gingerbread Falling Water is a serious real estate investment. One online tutorial mentions 12 hours of design and 40 hours of building. And that’s time as measured by experts in the gingerbread construction business.

I couldn’t imagine the hours I’d need.

This issue, we asked expert baker Andrea Lekberg to offer some gingerbread construction advice for amateurs, see page 24. Lekberg has world-class talent; she’s worked at the Coyote Café in Sante Fe, NM, at Sweet Melissa’s Patisserie in Brooklyn and Batch in the West Village. Lucky for us in the Garden State she brought her easy smile and her charming bake shop to Morristown. At The Artist Baker, the light fixtures are made of spoons, a revealing detail. Lekberg knows what’s important. In life and in gingerbread: Have fun.

Baking is challenging. Precision is required. This time of year, expectations run high. Rose Levy Beranbaum, the Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Cake Bible, and (drum roll) now an enthusiastic resident of the Garden State, has just released Rose’s Baking Basics. The book offers step-by-step instructions, with photos, to assure success (and confidence) in the kitchen. Lucky again for us, food writer Marissa Rothkopf Bates is a friend of the revered cookbook author. The resulting interview, on page 30, offers a sweet, intimate peek into the Beranbaum kitchen and day-to-day life in quiet Warren County.

In this, our Holiday issue, we also offer a shout out to all those families who put aside their differences and disagreements, at least for one day, to gather in celebration at the Thanksgiving table. A personal essay by Jessica Robles offers a poignant reminder of the power of such a gathering. See page 18.

We are most proud this issue of our Immigrants & Restaurants story, page 36. In NJ, restaurant owners today face a severe labor shortage, plus surprise inspections by ICE. Our comprehensive story, by Anthony Ewing, details the effects of immigrant policy shifts on the restaurant business in the Garden State, where one in five residents is foreign-born.

Meantime, I’ve been inspired, following an online search, by an adobe gingerbread house created by California pastry chef and chocolatier Ramon Perez. It’s one story, a few windows, with a chocolate-bar roof. It’s slathered in white icing, which likely would mask mistakes. It looks possible for me to build. It looks as though it could be the home of a screenwriter in Los Angeles, which, in Jersey, is just enough different to be a conversation starter. Best of all, it looks fun.

Cheers,
Teresa Politano
Editor

P.S. See page 79 for details of the Edible Jersey James Beard Dinner, with Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen and The Winemakers Co-Op, on Dec. 6. (A power failure forced us to reschedule our summer dinner.) Hope to see you there!

HOLIDAY 2018 FEATURES

Patience & Puff - The Secrets to a Perfect Gingerbread Holiday

Constructing a gingerbread house
Being in pastry, I find the most enjoyment in baking for the holidays.   Working the ovens at holiday time is equivalent to working...

Immigrants and Restaurants

waiter serving food
Few sectors of our economy rely on immigrants more than the food industry, especially in New Jersey.

The Notorious RLB - Cake Bible author Rose Levy Beranbaum releases another classic

Rose Levy Beranbaum
Since the publication of The Cake Bible 30 years ago, Rose Levy Beranbaum has helped legions of people around the world become better bakers.

Cape May - Victorian charm plus new energy in the city by the sea

Holiday Parade - old fashioned fire engine wieathed in Christmas lights
CARRIAGE RIDES AND CANDLES, BUT ALSO A CHOCOLATE BAR, TACOS AND A DISTILLERY

Exploring Gingerbread: History and Events

snowflake shaped iced gingerbread cookies
The friendly gingerbread man is the face of the holiday season, and annual events throughout New Jersey highlight both the gingerbread man and gingerbread house.

Kombu Mushroom Consomme’ at Laurel & Sage

Chef Shawn Dalziel
A lovely winter-fall thing when it is starting to get cold.

Gin Cocktail with Cranberry Jam - How Fresh Cranberries became My Favorite Ingredient

Gin Coctail with Cranberry Jam
The day I go to pick cranberries marks a bittersweet end to the year’s harvesting calendar.

Sweet Treats Offer Hope - Holly's Cupcake Bouquets Carry On a Sister's Legacy

Hollyl's cupcake bouquet
If food is love, then baking may be its sweetest expression.

Did you Know: Chocolate

information and puzzles about chocolate for kids
EJ for Kids: Chocolate!

A Sprinkle of Marlene - Honoring Grandma at Dysfunctional Thanksgiving

My grandmother was an African-American woman whose parents were from the South. She was born in Harlem, then moved to a Jewish neighborhood...

Genesis Farm Celebrates 30 Years of Food and Community

Harvesting lettuce at Genesis Farm
Genesis Farm is quietly paving the way for locally grown, organic food.

Conclave Brewery Is Not a Secret

Carl Alfaro, co-owner of Conclave Brewery, smiling behind a selection of beers set up to taste.
Is it a brewery or a storage unit?

Escarole

What to do with escarole

Great Grains - Oats provide a warm and hearty dose of nutrition

Oats
A hearty bowl of oats keeps you full in more ways than one.

Reward

cartoon of fudge on an assembly line
the power of fudge

2018 Holiday Food & Gift Guide

Edible Jersey 2018 Holiday Gift Guide
This season - gift local.

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