Pesach time!
Apr. 17th, 2019 06:20 pmI have two quajado in the fridge, my huevos haminados are in the slow cooker, I have lamb ready for a good roast this weekend, and my Passover food shopping is done. Tomorrow, when I'm off work and Kidlet is in school, I will sort out the chametz, and I will feel ready for Passover.
I am feeling on top of things and accomplished.
(Quajado espsinica is like a frittata with a lot more veg than egg. It's not hard to make, but it's time consuming, because day one is washing and cutting the spinach, and then letting it dry overnight. Day two is mixing it all together and baking.
Huevos haminados are slow-cooked eggs. My family makes them in a slow cooker with onion skins.)
I am feeling on top of things and accomplished.
(Quajado espsinica is like a frittata with a lot more veg than egg. It's not hard to make, but it's time consuming, because day one is washing and cutting the spinach, and then letting it dry overnight. Day two is mixing it all together and baking.
Huevos haminados are slow-cooked eggs. My family makes them in a slow cooker with onion skins.)
Bath time!
Oct. 9th, 2011 09:11 pmKidlet had her first bath in a tub today; she's really too long for the sink now. She loved splashing around, and loved playing with the duckie. The only part she didn't like was getting her face and hair rinsed off. One of the items on the to-buy list is a hose showerhead for the upstairs secondary bath. This was the second or third time we've used that tub since we moved in, and we didn't bother with replacing the showerhead.
Still and all, it worked out very nicely.
And Yom Kippur sent well. Kidlet got to meet one of her great-grandaunts, and she got to see the Torah, and hear the story of Jonah, and hear the shofar blow. And she was very good about it all. A little fussy, but not too much.
We also had our first parent group meeting. It seemed to go very well, and the people in this group seem to be very interested in talking and making friends and contacts. Kidlet is one of the oldest kids there, but it's not too bad; they're all within four months of each other. And we're all in the same twenty mile radius or so. It would be nice to be closer, but, you know, we'll take what we can get.
Still and all, it worked out very nicely.
And Yom Kippur sent well. Kidlet got to meet one of her great-grandaunts, and she got to see the Torah, and hear the story of Jonah, and hear the shofar blow. And she was very good about it all. A little fussy, but not too much.
We also had our first parent group meeting. It seemed to go very well, and the people in this group seem to be very interested in talking and making friends and contacts. Kidlet is one of the oldest kids there, but it's not too bad; they're all within four months of each other. And we're all in the same twenty mile radius or so. It would be nice to be closer, but, you know, we'll take what we can get.
The things that happen when you parent...
Sep. 29th, 2011 04:23 amThat was interesting. Kidlet generally sleeps for two to three hours in a row at night, and then fusses until she is picked up and fed. So I get up at 3:45ish, really wanting just a half hour more sleep, please. But a child does not have a snooze button, more is the pity.
So I get up, pick her up, and take her into her bedroom, while she slips down my body, trying to get to the breast. We get the upstairs nom pillow and get settled in feeding positions.
And then it is 4:15, and she is asleep in my lap and I have not even pulled the breast out of the bra for feeding. I literally have no conception of the time passing, except that the clock has suddenly jumped ahead, so we must have fallen asleep in the chair.
In other news, this is Kidlet's first Rosh Hashanah. We went to my parents' house for the seder, which was very nice. Kidlet did enjoy herself, but I think there was too much noise and too much action for her to properly eat. I tried feeding her twice throughout the night, and she'd only eat a little before pulling off the breast multiple times. And when we got in the car, we hadn't gotten much more than a couple of miles before she started screaming. So we found a parking lot, and she had a good, solid feed. Then I got in the back with her and held her hand, and we both fell asleep on the way home. The moral of the story? Take the child into a quiet room to eat, not just slightly away from the gathering.
I'm not going to services this year; I've been away from work too much lately, and I'd only be going to the children's services anyway. But I will at least be going to the Yom Kippur children's services, with Kidlet, natch. I might do more services next year, when I don't feel quite so guilty about leaving Kidlet at home, and when I don't need to pump during the day.
L'shanah tovah tikatevu!
So I get up, pick her up, and take her into her bedroom, while she slips down my body, trying to get to the breast. We get the upstairs nom pillow and get settled in feeding positions.
And then it is 4:15, and she is asleep in my lap and I have not even pulled the breast out of the bra for feeding. I literally have no conception of the time passing, except that the clock has suddenly jumped ahead, so we must have fallen asleep in the chair.
In other news, this is Kidlet's first Rosh Hashanah. We went to my parents' house for the seder, which was very nice. Kidlet did enjoy herself, but I think there was too much noise and too much action for her to properly eat. I tried feeding her twice throughout the night, and she'd only eat a little before pulling off the breast multiple times. And when we got in the car, we hadn't gotten much more than a couple of miles before she started screaming. So we found a parking lot, and she had a good, solid feed. Then I got in the back with her and held her hand, and we both fell asleep on the way home. The moral of the story? Take the child into a quiet room to eat, not just slightly away from the gathering.
I'm not going to services this year; I've been away from work too much lately, and I'd only be going to the children's services anyway. But I will at least be going to the Yom Kippur children's services, with Kidlet, natch. I might do more services next year, when I don't feel quite so guilty about leaving Kidlet at home, and when I don't need to pump during the day.
L'shanah tovah tikatevu!
Holiday musings and ramblings
Dec. 26th, 2010 06:37 amChristmas Eve and Christmas day were very nice this year, but in the back of my head, there was a niggling little voice that kept saying "This is the last Christmas like this." That voice was there for Hannukkah too, but not quite the same. Hannukkah is much more spread out, and so the "adults-only"-ness also got spread out and diluted. But, especially the last two days, I kept thinking about how Kidlet would react to all of the tissue paper, the boxes, the lights, the trees, and all of the trappings that make up the Christmases that I married into. And, honestly, how much Kidlet will be enjoying it. Kidlet is going to have three sets of grandparents for which Kidlet is the only focus of their attention, and all of them love having little kids at the winter holidays. That's the big reason my mother hasn't hosted a Hannukkah celebration at her house in years -- the party, decorations, and trappings got dull without the kids in the house.
So next year, I will inherit the old decorations (and possibly get some new ones as well) and pick a night (or afternoon) to have the family Hannukkah party. (And I will make latkes with my mother, because I need to learn to make them well. The latkes this year were edible, but I wouldn't serve them to guests.) And Kidlet will start in on the joys of Sock Night, and Book Night, and Latke Night. And, (saddest of all for me), Kidlet will inherit the menorah that I have used since I was a very small child. My mother bought it in Israel with the intention of giving it to her first-born, which was me. And I always thought that I would give it to my first born. So night eight was a little bittersweet for me this year. Still, it's not like we don't have extra menorahs around the house.
I just looked up Hannukkah for 2011. Chabad says that it's December 20-28th. When is the weekend of Hannukkah? The 24th and 25th. This is going to get interesting. Perhaps there will be a Hannukkah party on Friday night, and we can light the Shabbat candles and the hannukiah at the same time. We shall see. I think![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wanderingfey may go into over-socialization mode by the 26th.
So next year, I will inherit the old decorations (and possibly get some new ones as well) and pick a night (or afternoon) to have the family Hannukkah party. (And I will make latkes with my mother, because I need to learn to make them well. The latkes this year were edible, but I wouldn't serve them to guests.) And Kidlet will start in on the joys of Sock Night, and Book Night, and Latke Night. And, (saddest of all for me), Kidlet will inherit the menorah that I have used since I was a very small child. My mother bought it in Israel with the intention of giving it to her first-born, which was me. And I always thought that I would give it to my first born. So night eight was a little bittersweet for me this year. Still, it's not like we don't have extra menorahs around the house.
I just looked up Hannukkah for 2011. Chabad says that it's December 20-28th. When is the weekend of Hannukkah? The 24th and 25th. This is going to get interesting. Perhaps there will be a Hannukkah party on Friday night, and we can light the Shabbat candles and the hannukiah at the same time. We shall see. I think
wanderingfey may go into over-socialization mode by the 26th.
I made my first ever batch of grown-up latkes! See, I've never bothered before, or just had some from Mom or my sister. But Latke Night is one of those things which must be done, so tonight was latke night.
The recipe I found needed another egg, I think. It jsut didn't bind quite enough. And if there's more egg, I think the latkes themselves will come out better; less of this too-thick on one side and too-thin on the other.
We also made cottage-cheese-and-matzah-meal latkes, which get fried in oil like potato latkes, but are otherwise dissimilar. They were surprisingly good. And they will probably re-heat well, which I'm certain that the potato ones will not. (Which was why we ate all the potato ones and save most of the cheese.) Again, they could have done with more egg.
Also, when the latke recipe says, "Serves 4," apparently, what it means is "Serves 4 as the entire freaking meal" because I cut the recipe in half andwanderingfey and I had nothing but latkes and applesauce for dinner. Tasty, but really heavy.
Happy Hannukkah, y'all!
The recipe I found needed another egg, I think. It jsut didn't bind quite enough. And if there's more egg, I think the latkes themselves will come out better; less of this too-thick on one side and too-thin on the other.
We also made cottage-cheese-and-matzah-meal latkes, which get fried in oil like potato latkes, but are otherwise dissimilar. They were surprisingly good. And they will probably re-heat well, which I'm certain that the potato ones will not. (Which was why we ate all the potato ones and save most of the cheese.) Again, they could have done with more egg.
Also, when the latke recipe says, "Serves 4," apparently, what it means is "Serves 4 as the entire freaking meal" because I cut the recipe in half and
wanderingfey and I had nothing but latkes and applesauce for dinner. Tasty, but really heavy.Happy Hannukkah, y'all!
Religious differences
Apr. 25th, 2010 07:15 amI am going on inspection, and as such, I need professional business pants with no cuffs, and I would like professional shirts that don't gap or do other stupid things at the breast line. So, armed with gift cards we've had for a while, wanderingfey and I head off to the downtown Nordy's, on the assumption that if it's in a Nordy's in western Washington, it'll be there, and I want a quick-and-dirty shopping experience. (I'd forgotten about the Rack on 2nd, or I would have stopped there first.)
After trying on probably every 14W cuffless pant in the store,wanderingfey found the one 14W Petite in the store, and it fit pretty much perfectly. And just as I was on my way out, the incredibly helpful and awesome clerk Margit pulled a breezy, cool white blouse from the sales rack that just only a very slight pulling on it. So, all in all, an extremely successful shopping trip. Except that I thought there was a Lane Bryant in downtown Seattle. Turns out that there's not, but there's one in Alderwood, and at Northgate. So I may go there later this week.
( The religious differences start behind a cut )
wanderingfey and I head off to the downtown Nordy's, on the assumption that if it's in a Nordy's in western Washington, it'll be there, and I want a quick-and-dirty shopping experience. (I'd forgotten about the Rack on 2nd, or I would have stopped there first.)After trying on probably every 14W cuffless pant in the store,
wanderingfey found the one 14W Petite in the store, and it fit pretty much perfectly. And just as I was on my way out, the incredibly helpful and awesome clerk Margit pulled a breezy, cool white blouse from the sales rack that just only a very slight pulling on it. So, all in all, an extremely successful shopping trip. Except that I thought there was a Lane Bryant in downtown Seattle. Turns out that there's not, but there's one in Alderwood, and at Northgate. So I may go there later this week.( The religious differences start behind a cut )
Synagogues and books
Mar. 20th, 2010 08:30 amI finally got a chance to go to Kol Ami the other night. It turns out that they share a Methodist church, which made it a bit confusing for purposes of finding the place. But I was not late, and it was very nice. People talked to me; it's a smaller congregation; and it's exceedingly musical. It might be a little more staid Reform than I would like, but I think it's easier to feel a kavanah in a small staid place than a large one, so there's that. There were a lot of kids running around, and even a decent number of teens, so yay for that.
Still, I couldn't help but think, "Wow, there's a lot of het people here. That's weird."
I've just finished two incredibly good books and one incredibly good short story. The short story is found in Clockwork Phoenix 2, which I had purchased a while ago, but not read. It's called "Hooves and the Hovel of Abdul Jameela," and it's the first modern fairy tale that I've read that could be a fairy tale from long ago and far away. It's this amazing story that perfectly balances plot, characterization, and theme into a perfect gem. Very good, as is most of the rest of the anthology. The story is up for a Hugo, and I hope it gets it.
Book one is N.K. Jesmin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Outcast girl gets summoned to The Royal Court to compete to be her grandfather's heir. Sounds trite, but there's so much more to it than that. It's...wow. I won't say that you don't know where it's going, but it spins some somewhat familiar grounds into different ways. Plus, gods! And universal metaphysics! Which I will now proceed to judiciously filch from.
I'd heard about the book back during Racefail '09, IIRC, and I've been waiting for it to come out ever since. Well worth the wait and well worth the price. Definitely on the shelf for re-reading.
Book two is getting a lot of well-deserved press. It's Rebecca Sklootz's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It is a non-fiction book that I could not put down, which almost never happens. It's the story of Henrietta Lacks, who had her cervical cancer cells biopsied and turned into the world's first immortal cell line. It's the story of the Lacks family, who thanks to race and lack of education, had their lives spun around like tubes in a centrifuge because no one would take them seriously. It's about privilege. It's about the ethics of biologics. (Which, if you're interested, are also regulated by the FDA.The biolgics, not the ethics. As least not any further than we're told to by the FD&C.) And it's about writing the book. It's amazing, and it's wonderful, and it's eye-opening.
I swear, this should be required reading for every science major in the country. If you work in any sort of scientific work, I think that there's a tendency to either talk over the average person's knowledge, or to dumb it down into misunderstanding. It's somewhat hard, once you know the jargon and the meanings, not to use the shorthand that you know. And this book is a clear explanation of why it's important to bring that educational gap.
But tILoHL is also just a really interesting story. I was told in Bio201 about HeLa cells, and that they came from a woman called Henrietta Lacks. And that was it. I'd wondered a bit about the hows and whys of it, but I never went much further than that. And wow, there was a lot behind that.
Good stuff. Go and read. (Sorry about the lack of links; my computer is having trouble loading pages and some programs that use the internet. It doesn't seem to be a virus, and it's not all pages, just some of them. I really wish I knew what was going on.)
Still, I couldn't help but think, "Wow, there's a lot of het people here. That's weird."
I've just finished two incredibly good books and one incredibly good short story. The short story is found in Clockwork Phoenix 2, which I had purchased a while ago, but not read. It's called "Hooves and the Hovel of Abdul Jameela," and it's the first modern fairy tale that I've read that could be a fairy tale from long ago and far away. It's this amazing story that perfectly balances plot, characterization, and theme into a perfect gem. Very good, as is most of the rest of the anthology. The story is up for a Hugo, and I hope it gets it.
Book one is N.K. Jesmin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Outcast girl gets summoned to The Royal Court to compete to be her grandfather's heir. Sounds trite, but there's so much more to it than that. It's...wow. I won't say that you don't know where it's going, but it spins some somewhat familiar grounds into different ways. Plus, gods! And universal metaphysics! Which I will now proceed to judiciously filch from.
I'd heard about the book back during Racefail '09, IIRC, and I've been waiting for it to come out ever since. Well worth the wait and well worth the price. Definitely on the shelf for re-reading.
Book two is getting a lot of well-deserved press. It's Rebecca Sklootz's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It is a non-fiction book that I could not put down, which almost never happens. It's the story of Henrietta Lacks, who had her cervical cancer cells biopsied and turned into the world's first immortal cell line. It's the story of the Lacks family, who thanks to race and lack of education, had their lives spun around like tubes in a centrifuge because no one would take them seriously. It's about privilege. It's about the ethics of biologics. (Which, if you're interested, are also regulated by the FDA.The biolgics, not the ethics. As least not any further than we're told to by the FD&C.) And it's about writing the book. It's amazing, and it's wonderful, and it's eye-opening.
I swear, this should be required reading for every science major in the country. If you work in any sort of scientific work, I think that there's a tendency to either talk over the average person's knowledge, or to dumb it down into misunderstanding. It's somewhat hard, once you know the jargon and the meanings, not to use the shorthand that you know. And this book is a clear explanation of why it's important to bring that educational gap.
But tILoHL is also just a really interesting story. I was told in Bio201 about HeLa cells, and that they came from a woman called Henrietta Lacks. And that was it. I'd wondered a bit about the hows and whys of it, but I never went much further than that. And wow, there was a lot behind that.
Good stuff. Go and read. (Sorry about the lack of links; my computer is having trouble loading pages and some programs that use the internet. It doesn't seem to be a virus, and it's not all pages, just some of them. I really wish I knew what was going on.)
Meal planning
Mar. 17th, 2010 09:21 pmNguh. Part of me wants to invite more people to second night seder, and part of me is going, "Are you nuts?" There's Treecon and Mom-helping that weekend, a Sooj concert Sunday night, and first night (natch) on Monday evening, so almost no time to prepare. At the same time, Norwes isn't on the first or second nights, and I really want to take over second night. (Mom has first night, natch.)
So I have two quajadus and one-and-a-half tins of prasa in the freezer, so that's the more ... OMGtimerestraint stuff out of the way. But I want fruit and veggie platters, because wow, it's so much easier to eat during Pesach if you have all this pre-cut fruit and veg hanging around your house. And I'll need an entree and side dishes. At the moment, I'm thinking lamb, pink rice, and this nifty eggplant-and-cheese dish that seems like it would freeze (or just chill) well. But we'll see. No fish course, I think. It's just soemthing that I don't know how to do well, and I don't want to try and pull it off at the moment.
And cookies. I need to bake cookies...
So I have two quajadus and one-and-a-half tins of prasa in the freezer, so that's the more ... OMGtimerestraint stuff out of the way. But I want fruit and veggie platters, because wow, it's so much easier to eat during Pesach if you have all this pre-cut fruit and veg hanging around your house. And I'll need an entree and side dishes. At the moment, I'm thinking lamb, pink rice, and this nifty eggplant-and-cheese dish that seems like it would freeze (or just chill) well. But we'll see. No fish course, I think. It's just soemthing that I don't know how to do well, and I don't want to try and pull it off at the moment.
And cookies. I need to bake cookies...
Because you do things
May. 2nd, 2009 07:18 amI did not go to the SJ Tucker concert last night, despite having had it on the calendar for the last month. I got home last night, and [info]wanderingfey mentioned a call from my mom. As it turns out my mom's best friend since forever is being bat mitzvahed today. And that? Pretty much trumps a concert. (Though I did keep repeating to myself that it's not like [info]s00j is never going to come back to Seattle.)
I haven't felt as much of a pull towards Jewish practice here as I did in the Bay Area. Part of me wonders how much of it was lifestyle, how much of it was lonliness, and how much of it was that it was really easy to get to services. I also don't think that I want to make B'Nai Torah my central synagogue. I really feel no kavanah there, except that which I bring in. My soul is not fed. And part of me wonders how much of it has to do with the dead acoustics which mean that I cannot hear the congregation sing.
We are going to look at more houses today. I am coming to terms with the idea of a two-car household. I am repeating to myself that when I am old, I am buying a condo in the city. Gosh darn it. (Maybe with the equity from having a house that can hold a family, I can support the cost of a 900 - 1100 sq ft condo in the city. Because I can't do it now.) But still, (repeat it with me) "It's cheaper than the Bay Area."
Anyone interesting in seeing the rebroadcast of the This American Life live performance with me? It's on Thursday, May 7, at largish movie theaters.
I haven't felt as much of a pull towards Jewish practice here as I did in the Bay Area. Part of me wonders how much of it was lifestyle, how much of it was lonliness, and how much of it was that it was really easy to get to services. I also don't think that I want to make B'Nai Torah my central synagogue. I really feel no kavanah there, except that which I bring in. My soul is not fed. And part of me wonders how much of it has to do with the dead acoustics which mean that I cannot hear the congregation sing.
We are going to look at more houses today. I am coming to terms with the idea of a two-car household. I am repeating to myself that when I am old, I am buying a condo in the city. Gosh darn it. (Maybe with the equity from having a house that can hold a family, I can support the cost of a 900 - 1100 sq ft condo in the city. Because I can't do it now.) But still, (repeat it with me) "It's cheaper than the Bay Area."
Anyone interesting in seeing the rebroadcast of the This American Life live performance with me? It's on Thursday, May 7, at largish movie theaters.
