Blintzapalooza's books-and-bagels recipe turns out better than ever in 2010
Good food. Good books. Good people. Good causes. No wonder Blintzapalooza 2010 was so successful last Sunday at Temple Beth Hatfiloh.
The annual charitable event organized by South Sound’s Jewish community raised $10,000 for four worthy causes while creating a joyous atmosphere in which Jews and gentiles could mix.
“That’s the most we’ve ever raised,” said Oscar Soule, who in 1988 became one of Blintzapalooza’s founding fathers. “We sold more books than ever before, and we even ran out of blintzes.”
This year’s beneficiaries are Crisis Clinic, Interfaith Works, the Kiwanis Club’s food bank garden and the Cielo Project at Radio Ranch, a nonprofit volunteer agency that supports the Latino community.
Besides fulfilling the Jewish value of “tzedakah,” or charitable giving, Blintzapalooza combines a popular used-book sale with even more popular Jewish food, including bagels with lox and cream cheese and blintzes smothered in fruity toppings.
I started with some book-browsing to work up my appetite. It took me only about five minutes to pick out four used books that I’ve had my eye on at Orca Books. Paperbacks were $2, and hardcover books were $3. Book buyers were encouraged to enjoy their books but not get too attached to them. That way they can donate them for next year’s book sale.
The recycling theme extended to the trash generated by the hundreds of people dining on bagels and blintzes.
Teaming up with LeMay Enterprises, volunteers from the temple turned Blintzapalooza this year into a zero-waste event. All the paper plates, cups, forks, knives and food scraps were fit for composting.
“It’s consistent with our community values,” Blintzapalooza kitchen volunteer Brian Boyd said.
Standing in a food line that serpentined from a temple side entrance into the dining hall, I chatted with Cheri Greenwood of Lacey. She filled two shopping bags with books for $42, stashed them in her car, then came back for food.
“I’ll donate the books back next year, if I have them read by then,” she said.
After I helped devour two blintzes, it was time to head for the judges’ chambers. Soule had roped me, along with state Sen. Randy Gordon, D-Bellevue, and Seattle-based public artist Tina Hoggatt, into judging the Bagel Bake-Off.
I quickly figured out I was the least qualified of the three judges. Gordon has been eating bagels since he was a young Jewish boy growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y. Hoggatt is married to a Jew and knows a thing or two about bagels. Me? I’m a goy who buys his bagels at the grocery store and didn’t know until last Sunday that they can be prepared either steamed or boiled before they are baked.
We judged the entries on eight criteria, with scores ranging from 1 (at least I didn’t pay for it) to 5 (superior, even without cream cheese).
The task was simplified by the paucity of entries – two, to be exact.
One entry, quickly dubbed “faux bagel” by Gordon, bore a striking physical resemblance to a kaiser roll. It didn’t have a hole in the middle, which went against one of the criteria.
“It smells like bread,” Gordon said.
“It’s not your mother’s bagel,” Hoggatt added.
Faux bagel had some springiness and was only slightly larger than the preferred size, which Soule prescribed to be roughly palm-sized. But it wasn’t dense enough per the judges’ instructions, which said: “A fluffy, airy bagel will not do.”
Total average score: 1.75.
The winning plate of bagels, sprinkled with either sesame or poppy seeds, cleared the first hurdle: The bagels had holes.
They were dense, tasted and looked more like a bagel than the competition, and smelled pretty darn good too.
Gordon dubbed them “aspiring bagel,” and the judges gave this entry an average score of 3.4.
A consensus score sheet in hand, the judges returned to the dining hall to announce the winner.
Wouldn’t you know it? The winning entry was baked by Russ and Raven Lidman, who are temple members and frequent contestants in the blintz or bagel bake-offs. Russ was one of the creators of Blintzapalooza, and I have it on good word that his views on what makes a good bagel played a role in the 2010 bagel-judging form.
First prize was a toilet seat cover inscribed with the words “Let My People Go.”
I dare anyone to suggest that the congregation at Temple Beth Hatfiloh doesn’t have a sense of humor.
John Dodge: 360-754-5444
jdodge@theolympian.com
www.theolympian.com/soundings
This story was originally published March 28, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Blintzapalooza's books-and-bagels recipe turns out better than ever in 2010."