matzo, matzo ball

matzo ball soup
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

the cauliflower called out to me with it's lovely off-white florets, so i had to take it home with me this weekend. i've been craving matzo ball soup. the past two visits to wild oats for matzo ball mix proved to be unfruitful (is that right?). it seemed like a few months ago, because of passover, matzo ball mix was available everywhere, and in the family-size containers, too! i can't believe how long it's taking for them to re-stock. aren't there jewish people in long beach? i'm kicking myself for not stocking up when it was readily available.

after wild oats, we tried olives, a small gourmet grocer not too far from home. disappointment yet again.

this evening, on the way home, i stopped at henry's market in costa mesa. they didn't have any either, although i did end up leaving with gummy cola bottles. ralph's was my last resort. we don't visit ralph's or any of the "regular" grocery stores very often except for the occasional run for coca cola ( i'm an addict ), since we try to buy mostly organic, but i know i bought matzo mix from ralph's before. i was happy to see they have an entire aisle to ethnic & kosher foods, but tricked! what liars. there was nothing resembling kosher foods. i asked the lady at the checkout, and she said that they were low on some items because they were going to be closing for remodeling...

i couldn't take it any more so i went home. in the end, i scrounged up barely enough matzo mix leftover to make soup, and honey pie was sweet, and stopped at a ralph's on the west side of LA to pickup two containers of matzo mix. matzo matzo mix! hooray!

i'm not jewish, and neither is my honey, but i love matzo ball soup. do you remember the story about stone soup? i imagine it's something like matzo ball soup--comfort food, which i guess i needed after driving all over the place. there aren't any "exotic" vegetables in it. i don't follow a recipe and like putting lots of "stuff" in the soup - mushrooms, celery, carrots, cauliflower & cabbage. it's almost a stew. i may have gone overboard this time with the extras. seems like i need more matzo balls now...