A Passion for Television

It turns out that my question as to whether The Passion would be censored when makes it to TV is already being addressed. Gibson and his production company are insisting that it not be censored or cut at all as a condition for whoever purchases the broadcast rights. If that is the case, it seems unlikely that the "regular" networks will be buy it and more likely that some cable network like HBO will where the "standards" for showing violence are more lax. One also wonders whether a religious cable network would buy the rights.

Cast Your Bread Upon the Driveway...

I heard an weird story over the holiday. A person in the area saw a stranger pull up into his driveway on Passover, open the trunk, pull out a bag filled with bread, dump it on the driveway, and drive away. I'm not sure whether to be amused or offended. Maybe I'll do a little bit of both.

Adventures in Potato Starch

Every year, around Pesach (Passover), more and more "kosher for Passover" products appear and I'm amazed sometimes at the sheer availability of specialized products. This is especially so for products which are traditionaly considered as chametz (leavened) where they make a non leavened version of it. Its amazing what one can do with a little matzah meal and potato stach and a lot of sugar. In the "they said it couldn't be done" department, this year has seen the introduction of Kosher for Passover beer. Based on the description, it sounds like it tastes more like malt (which is usually non alcoholic). The only problem I have is that some products just cannot be simulated. Like "Matzanola", an equivalent of granola. Or Kosher for Passover pizza. If I wanted broken pieces of Matzah I'd do it myself.

An Ounce of Gold is Worth A Pound In Matzah

One thing I have always wondered but have yet to find out a good answer is why does hand made shmurah matzah cost so much, especially when compared its non shmurah machine made counterpart? We can take into account that having the grain shmurah (watched since the time of harvest) is more costly than not as well as the added expense of having it made by hand instead of mass produced by a machine. But does that really add to the cost to the point where it costs six to seven times as much? By the way, all those who say that machine made tastes better than the hand made, you don't know what you're talking about.