By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – Often you will meet women who either are in their second careers, or have become very proficient at their hobbies, at the Artisan Festival sponsored annually by the Women of Temple Emanu-El.
On Sunday, I found that to be the case when I interviewed artist Enid Texler and cookbook author Linda Moskovics.
Texler, 77, recently retired as a pit boss at the Sycuan Casino, where she made guests welcome while supervising dealers in her area. In a 40-year casino career that took her to Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, and California, she had dealt all the card games, so she knew what dealers should and shouldn’t be doing.
She was there as the women’s movement made inroads into the gaming industry. When she started in 1965 in Las Vegas, she recalled, “Women weren’t managers; they didn’t even deal. In Reno and Lake Tahoe, they could deal, but they wouldn’t put you in management. Then when Atlantic City, New Jersey, opened up, I think it was one of the best things for women in the business. They gave us the opportunity to go on the floor”
Texler first was attracted to the gaming industry at age 19 when she watched a dealer in Las Vegas and thought “he looked so awesome.” But the restrictions on women’s advancement in the industry discouraged her, so she moved to San Diego, and worked at restaurants, including the Butcher Shop in Kearny Mesa. Eventually, she decided to go to gaming school to learn roulette, and baccarat, and from there went on to management school.
Art was her way of relaxing following a busy day at the casino. “I would come home about midnight, sleep, get up, have my coffee, and then I would draw and paint in the morning,” she said. She doesn’t follow any prescribed technique, she said, Instead, at her kitchen table, “I play, whatever comes out, that is what will come out. Sometimes I don’t sketch, sometimes I just drop the paint, put some alcohol in there, and look at it, and I think, “I should put a menorah in there, and perhaps some gelt.”
Though she doesn’t follow any “rules,” Texler has had plenty of art training — having augmented her natural talent in drawing and sketching with classes emphasizing various media including pastels and watercolors.
Although she was raised Catholic, Texler began studying about Judaism after she married her Jewish husband. At first, she had no intention to convert, but simply wanted to know more about her husband’s religion in order to teach it to their four daughters. But the more she studied, the more interested she became. Rabbi Morton Cohn of Congregation Beth Israel supervised her conversion in 1967-68. Over the years, she has gravitated more and more to painting Jewish subjects in watercolors. How might a painting begin? “I see the dreidel on my dresser, and the I will go and play with it, or I see the menorah by the coffee pot, and maybe I will throw a bagel in.”
Texler is in the process of learning Hebrew, all the better to make her first trip to Israel – which she says is a big item on her bucket list.
Her drawings and paintings are reproduced on three sizes of greeting cards. She focused in this exhibit on those with Chanukah themes. A small card sells for $3.50, but five of them cost only $12. Similar volume discounts are given with the medium size cards ($4.50, five for $16) and the large size cards ($5.50/ five for $20.)
Art, said the former casino pit boss, definitely “is a good deal.”
Linda Moskovics retired six years ago as the librarian at the Benjamin branch of the San Diego Public Library. She told me that writing The Fiber Rich Kitchen Cookbook was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. “I realized there was a need for recipes for people to get more fiber in their diets,” she said. “You need your fiber to keep healthy. It helps with a lot of things like digestion, diabetes, heart health, keeping yourself regular.”
She said she became an advocate of a fiber-rich diet after her cardiologist recommended a vegan diet, with lots of plant-based foods. While some people think vegetarian diets are bland, she said, “you can spice it up. A lot of my recipes say ‘Adjust seasonings to your taste.’ I personally didn’t grow up eating a lot of spices.”
In creating the cookbook, “I tried to vary the recipes – one-pot meals, salads, breakfast foods, snacks, main dishes, desserts.” She said she personally has cooked, tasted, and served every recipe in the book, using friends and her “significant other, Ray Bronco” as her official tasters. Most of the time her lunch or dinner guests liked the recipes as she prepared them, Moskovics said, but occasionally they suggested a little more of this or a little less of that.
She has many favorite recipes, such as Zucchini, Black Bean and Rick Quick Skillet, Dark Chocolate Nut Bark, Sweet Potato Pancakes, and the recipe from the $28 (on Amazon) cookbook which she gave me permission to republish below: Linda’s Saucy Red Lentils and Corn.
With Chanukah in mind, Moskovics told me that her book, available on Amazon, “makes a really nice gift, and the recipes are easy – with not-hard-to-find ingredients.”
She hasn’t lost her librarian skills. When I asked where in the library, her book would be shelved, she promptly replied under Dewey Decimal Number 641 in the Cookbook Section.
Linda’s Saucy Red Lentils and Corn (from The Fiber Rich Kitchen Cookbook)
This is a quick, easy, one pot vegetarian meal. Serve it with a salad and a vegetable on the side for a delicious and nutritious meal.
Makes 4 servings, 1 cup lentil mixture and ½ cup grain each.
* 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil or oil of choice
* 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (approximately ½ cup)
* 4 garlic cloves, chopped.
* 1 ½ cups vegetable broth or stock (or use chicken broth or stock for a richer flavor)
* ½ cup dried red lentils, rinsed.
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
* 1 cup frozen corn, preferably organic or use fresh corn
* 1 cup tomato sauce
* 1/3 cup tomato paste
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
* 2 cups hot cooked brown rice, wild rice, barley, or farro
* ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese of choice
Coat a medium size saucepan with cooking spray. Add oil and sauté onion and garlic; approximately 5-10 minutes.
Add the broth or stock, red lentils, chili powder, and cumin. Slowly bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until lentils are almost tender.
Stir in corn, tomato sauce, tomato paste, oregano, and vinegar. Slowly return to boil, and then reduce heat again. Cover and simmer 10 minutes more, or until the lentils are tender.
Serve over rice, barley, or farro. Sprinkle the cheese on top.
Variation: Substitute salsa for the tomato sauce for more zip.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com