Oh yum!

Looks like a little bit of heaven.

Breads look beautiful but the lemon drop jam sounds like it is to die for!!!!

trail,
You can get "carried away" anytime you'd like.... with that outcome - how can anyone complain about you being 'carried away'

Looks wonderful!

They both look wonderful. I love these inspiring pictures you post for us. Keep them coming!

ooooh, now I'm hungry! The round challah is beautiful. I'd say practice makes perfect, but they all look perfect.

Since those are only practice loaves of Challah, if you want, you can send them my way, now that I have a kitchen area to eat in. I'll be glad to test them for you.

You guys are always such a sweet audience. I love to share and this is the BEST place to do it. I wish we could all sit down and have hot tea and bread and jam sandwiches. The jam is absolutely the best I have ever made. My tree lost all its leaves in the 20 degree temps we had. I pulled them all off and am hopeful that it will recover.

OK nalcar...I can see it now on that fantastic buffet area...you let us ALL know and we are going to have a potluck at your house !

The folks on the Kitchen Forum know that I do travel....so get ready LOL. c

that's awesome! friday I was shabbat mom, so I got to make 17 miniature challahs with my son's preschool class-- it was really cute. The kids did a fantastic job. Can't wait to have my kitchen operational so I can start baking again too-- in the meantime, keep posting pictures, I can bake vicariously through you.

Yum! ("Cookie Monster" style.)

I can't do anything like this, so yes,...perfection!

danielle..I sure wish you had pics...do you ?? I bet everyone would love to see.

socal..you too can do this. I have a bunch of folks on this forum that are now making Challah. It is easy peasy. Please let me know and you can give it a try. c

Wow! Those look great. I only know the regular straight braid. Did you take a regular straight braid and make a circle out of it, or is there a separate technique?

Quick side story: for two years DW braided DD's long hair because I told her I didn't know how. Finally she said "It's just like when you make Challah!" And so it was. We split braiding it now.

I will show you the link for the technique. Essentially what you do is make a tic tac toe of 4 strands. Then the one on the bottom goes over the one on the top next to it. You pull that one over and it gets paired with the one in the next group and you go the other way around the circle. Keep going clockwise then counterclockwise pairing with the one that is in the next group each time. Seems confusing till you try it. I sometimes make a really large one . You have to make long strands when you do that. I also tried using 6 strands and making a huge tic tac toe a couple weeks ago but that was harder....I got lost in the middle. No one new though and they loved it. Here is the link...

Here is a link that might be useful: round Challah

Hello Tailrunner,

I love your pics and your Challah looks devine! I have never had Challah in my life, although I have seen many pics, yours is the best looking! But I am such a Lemon LOVER could I get your recipe for your Lemon Drop Jam??? I would Really Love that, please :)
Thank you so much, Homemade

unfortunately, there were no pictures until the very end, but my son is a twin and I get to do the same thing in my daughter's class next month (hopefully the kitchen will be ready, otherwise I'll get to use the temple's kitchen (with a hobart mixer!).

thank you homemade. These are a cross between lemons and kumquats. I don't know how I got so lucky to find this tree at the Lowes store. Someone else had ordered it and they didn't pick it up. It was sitting with the Meyer lemon trees. The peeling is edible like kumquats. I am not sure how you would use reg lemons. Perhaps sub 1/2 kumquats and 1/2 Meyer lemons. Anyway you wash and dice up the fruit very small and remove the seeds. I also removed some of the inner white pith on a few of the larger ones. Put in a large heavy pot with 1 1/2c white sugar per pound of fruit. I had 3# of fruit. Boil to 220. Stir as needed . I didn't take off foam as it seemed to disappear as soon as I turned the heat back. I have always skimmed other fruit jams. I then placed in hot jars and they sealed just fine. I got 6 -- 1/2 pint jars from this amount.

danielle I so hope you will have pics. I can't think of anything more wonderful than seeing the children making Challah. c

Trailrunner-- I declare, your work should be in magazines, but I'm really glad you often give us all gander; it always makes me hungry, even if I've just eaten. But I have a silly question for you: what do you do with all that food??? I'm under the impression it's just you and your dh, so I'm guessing you entertain A LOT? Sorry to be nosy, it's just that I've always wondered.... Can I come live with you?

sj _ you are too kind !! We do have just the 2 of us at the house. I give some to neighbors and to friends but I freeze also so we have extra . We eat a LOT of bread. By the time we have toast at breakfast and DH has a sandwich for lunch and I have bread and cheese and then we usually have a piece or two with dinner a loaf lasts 2 days. I don't usually make a double recipe but we have company coming today so that is why.

Yep pack your bags....we have plenty of room !! LOL.

trailrunner - Thanks for the great link! I'm going to have to try it out.

You have to try it. There are also some great videos of how to do 4 5 and 6 strands and also high and low strands...if you want I will send a link to you...do you have e-mail through GW? c

trailrunner - I activated my email via forms on GW. I'd love the link if you would send it. Thanks!!!

Are you in Calif or Arizona? Our oranges froze last night, but it was just the end of the juice oranges so it wasn't a big deal. I want to plant a lemon tree and now I am curious, can you make lemonade from the fruit of your lemon drop?