This is not your grandmother’s Pesach. It’s also not your mother’s or even ours as we remember it not too long ago. The basics are still there — matzo, potatoes and eggs — but there’s much more and greater variety, in almost unimaginable permutations and combinations. more

Last night, as I got dressed for a Chabad dinner honoring my dear friends Janet and Lior Hod, I inhaled and zipped up my dress. “Hmmm, this zipper won’t break, will it?” I thought. Not willing to think I gained weight since I wore it last, even though I know I did, I chose to take a chance as I was running late. more

Napoleon — that delicious flakey pastry oozing with rich pastry cream. How did the pastry get it’s name? In attempting to define “Napoleon,” I found many different explanations as to where and how it was discovered and why the name was chosen. more

The Cedarhurst Business Improvement District honored Gourmet Glatt as its Merchant of the Year for 2013 in a ceremony on Monday. more

By the time you read this column it will probably be T-minus 2 days to Purim. Are you panicking yet? Have your shaloach manot been packed? Your seudah shopping completed? Your costumes picked out? Back in the day, I don’t remember any panicking. more

And so, it was Oscar time again. I really shouldn’t have watched it live, as I had not yet finished my column that was due the next morning. I told myself I would just watch the opening monologue as I love Ellen DeGeneres. All of a sudden, it hit me, I could write about the Oscars, and tie it in with a recipe. more

I received an invitation to a Purim costume party with a “historical figure theme” a few weeks ago. I love costume parties —until I actually have to come up with a costume. So I tried to come up with some creative ideas. more

When I met my husband Jerry, I knew a lot of his good friends from years back, but every now and then he would say, “Look, there’s a close friend of mine.” Then, usually, he would have a conversation with the guy, and not introduce me. He would, though, always profusely apologize afterwards, for not introducing me, as he forgot his friend’s name. “You’re really good friends with the guy and you don’t know his name?” Weird, I thought. more

I remember as a kid being glued to the TV in 1972, watching Mark Spitz (my future husband, or so I thought at the time). He was my favorite Olympian. He was handsome, talented, won seven gold medals, was planning to go to dental school, and he was Jewish — a great catch. more

Remember when coffee was either regular or decaf, water came from the tap, dried fruit strips were called shoe leather and eggs were just eggs? Today we have coffee in every flavor, strength and blended concoction (for as much as $6 a cup), water comes from all over the world (and costs as much as if you had to pay its travel fares), eggs in a variety of sizes can be free-range, brown or organic. more