Thanksgiving in pictures

Here's a photographic menu of the delicious food we ate on Thanksgiving!

Rub for Turkey 

Basted turkey ready for cooking!

Roasted to perfection!

Asparagus and Red Peppers waiting to be roasted

Piping hot out of the oven!

Beautiful Romanesco Cauliflower!

Sauteed Romanesco Cauliflower with shallots and garlic

 Mashed potatoes with sauteed onions and garlic

 Thanks to all the family who came and helped cook, as well as everyone who came to eat!

Quick thoughts on Shabbat Candles

It's almost Shabbat and I've been thinking about the special part lighting candles play in welcoming Shabbat. Last week, my daughter asked me why we were lighting candles and my (off the cuff) answer of "So we know Shabbat is here" didn't seem to sit well with her. All week I've been replaying that scene in my head trying to think about how I could have answered her question differently and better.

On a very Kabbalistic level, I think that lighting candles at the start of Shabbat is supposed to remind us of two key things. The first would be that as we enter the day that Hashem sanctified by resting on, Hashem's light shines in every corner of our life, just as the light of the candles does. The deepest, darkest corners can become holy and sanctified in His light and when we transform them through our mitzvot. The second idea is that as we head into a day focused on Hashem, that we are not alone in this world. We have been tasked with being "a light unto the nations" and we need to remember that our actions, both good and bad, shine before the world.

On a the level that a 3 year old can relate to, lighting candles is a very public way to show the world that we are keeping Shabbat and Hashem's mitzvot. I can't change my response but this week when she asks me, I'll be better prepared to answer.

Shabbat shalom all!

Crocheting and Emunah

Today I started the next big craze, crochet-walking! LOL

In all seriousness, I started a new baby blanket today and was so enraptured by the potential it contained, I couldn't put it down when I got off the bus this morning. Instead I continued to crochet as I walked the 9 blocks to work. In those 9 blocks, I didn't walk into anyone or into any objects and miraculously, I didn't have any run ins with NYC's infamous drivers.

As I walked home in the rain, I thought back to this morning. When I got to work, I was thinking "Nothing happened, as I predicted!". Looking back on my morning and those 9 blocks while walking them in the rain gave me a new view point on the experience though. Those 9 blocks were dangerous obstacle courses in the best of weather and situations. They are scattered with potholes, people weaving through the crowds, cars racing to make lights and constant construction! It made me start thinking about what is going through someone's head when they make a decision to do something dangerous and why they choose that option.

Everyone knows, logically, that texting while driving is incredibly dangerous. There have been studies done that show that an 18 year old's reflexes are slowed to the same pace as a 65 year old's when texting and driving. Unfortunately, there are many well publicized examples of terrible accidents caused by texting while driving. People still do it!

Not only do they continue to engage in what they know is dangerous, they justify it a little more every time they engage in it and nothing terrible happens. They think "See, I told you nothing would happen!". Here's where my mind turned to Emunah.

That little voice that says "I did it and nothing bad happened so nothing bad will ever happen when I do it." is the yetzer hara (evil inclination) talking. It's convincing us slowly over time that we are in control of every aspect of our life and that we are better than everyone else.

After we make a decision to do something dangerous, we have to consciously engage in teshuvah in order to correct it. We have to acknowledge that we aren't in control, Hashem is. Teshuvah is saying "Even though I made a poor decision that put myself in danger, I survived because Hashem protected me". We have to have Emunah that Hashem is trying to teach us something in every situation we come across and that if we can only learn His lesson, He will reward us.

Parenting Lessons Part One

I was in the car on Friday morning and it was one of those run-of-the-mill mornings. One that goes according to plan and you forget it shortly afterwards. Nothing spectacular has happened and nothing devastating has happened either. 

Both kids were with me and we were on our way to school. While I was driving, I asked my daughter of she wanted to listen to music. She got all excited and said "Yeah! The challah song!".  I asked if she knew was day it was and in an even louder voice she said "Yeah!  Shabbat!".  I smiled and thought about how great it was to see her so excited. She proceeded to tell me who the Shabbat Ima was that week in her class and sing through her songs. I got into the spirit and started singing with her. Then her singing got REALLY loud! 

I realized that I had been missing out on an essential part of parenting; the part where you instill joy in your child for mitzvot. I realized that I fell victim to something very common for parents, responsibility.  I got caught up in the day-to-day responsibilities of being a parent, like feeding, clothing, bathing, taking them to school etc, and had lost sight of the most important things we are supposed to teach them. We are in a rush to get to work and forget that allowing them to dress themselves is an important skill we need to teach.  We bring them to school and forget to teach them that to love to learn. 

With this realization, I sang even louder and we spent the rest of the car ride talking about how excited for Shabbat we were. Yes, getting them to school is an important first step. But parenting shouldn't stop there and I won't let it. May we all have the patience and understanding to become the parents we want to become. 


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Laughter really is contagious!

Fun in the Kitchen

This week has been a little crazy but I had the chance to play around in the kitchen on Wednesday and Thursday.  I had a lot of fun using the time to make some new recipes from scratch!

On Wednesday I started with sautéed chicken breasts that my mother-in-law had made as a base for dinner. I turned that into what I'm calling "Farmers Market Chicken" because I mostly looked in the fridge and used the veggies we had. I cooked ziti and seasoned it with a little olive oil to keep it from sticking. I cubed the chicken breasts. Then I took the two peppers, onion, and broccoli we had and sautéed that with some minced garlic, salt and pepper. I mixed the vegetables, pasta and chicken and threw some honey Dijon dressing on top for taste.  For an experiment, it was really yummy!

On Thursday, I knew I wanted to use this whole wheat pizza dough we buy at Trader Joe's. At $0.99 a pound, it's a steal and I buy several so I can keep some in my freezer and take them out when I'm ready to use them. I came up with this recipe, which I'm calling "Sephardi Style Chicken Calzone".  

I cubed chicken breast and sautéed it with olive oil, cumin, turmeric, paprika, curry, salt and pepper. Then I par boiled miniature potatoes, drained and cooled them. Once they were cool, I quartered them. I cut up 2 onions and sautéed them in the dirty chicken pan so I could scrape the seasonings out of the pan. I rolled the dough out into a long rectangle, and layered onions, chicken and potatoes over half it. Then I folded the other half over the chicken, potatoes and onions and pinched the edges together. Baked it for 12 minutes on 450 degrees and it was done. I made one large calzone from each pound of dough because I was pressed for time but this recipe would be better if the pound of dough was split up into 3 or 4 pieces and individual calzones made. 

All in all, the recipes came out yummy and the eating was good! :)

Hanging out on Sunday Afternoon