Slow morning

Not much to write about this morning (aside from the news about Heather Mills stealing all that money from Sir Paul, but you can read about that at wrekehavoc). I was up late last night baking 5 dozen Hamentashen and I have at least another 5 dozen to go tonight. So I would not expect much from me tomorrow either.

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Song of the day

Put musical talent together with great and often meaningful songwriting and we have Paul Simon. I have always loved Paul Simon from his start with Art Garfunkel to today. I think he is one of the most talented singer/songwriters out there.

Picking a song from Paul Simon is hard as there is hardly a bad song among them. However, the best album, I believe, is Graceland. This album blends African sounds with Paul’s own style and is remarkable. This album helped to bring world music to the forefront.

To pick one song from this album is hard, but I will choose the title song, Graceland.  As an extra bonus, also from the Graceland album, one of best video’s ever made.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtT7Og2LBbE&hl=en]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOiVaE-pKqM&hl=en]

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Just too funny

I had to add this in today.  Its hilarious.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fT-jX11poU&hl=en]

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A date with my daughter

My daughter Shayna is 2 1/2 years old, but because I work in NYC, I don’t get as much time to be with her (or with any of my kids) except on the weekends. Yesterday, both boys had birthday parties to go to, and mykidsmom was busy at our Synagogue packing baskets for Purim. So Shayna and I did some errands. We hit Home Depot and Target. I had about an hour to kill for lunch before we had to pick up one of the boys, so I took her to Lox, Stock and Deli, our local kosher deli.

Shayna, was the perfect lady. She sat opposite me at the table, and she used her utensils to eat, and her napkin to wipe her mouth. She ate more than half of my pastrami sandwich, but I will forgive her for that. During the meal, she kept saying “So abba…” and I would say “what?” It seems she knows that she should talk with me, but does not yet know how to do that totally. It was so cute, and I will remember our date for a very long time.

I did not have a camera with me, but here is a recent photo of her.

Shayna

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Hamentashen

If people have not guessed yet, food is a somewhat important part of my life, as is Judaism. Luckily for me, food is also an important part of Judaism, so life, at times, it quite good. Years ago I used to write a Jewish food column on an early Jewish website called the Jewish Communication Network. I am posting my Purim entry from that site here today.

We are now beginning a period of time in which many Jews think of so much food it can make them go crazy. Purim is just around the corner, and right behind that is Passover. Today I would like to talk about Purim and Hamentashen.

In the Purim story the Jews are living peacefully in Persia, but Hamen, one of the kings advisers, does not like them because they are different. He gets the King’s permission to destroy all the Jews. A Jew named Mordecai and his niece Esther save the day, the King moves his support to the Jews, and they win the war and kill Hamen and his people. For more info, read the book of Esther.

Esther then proclaims a holiday for all time to commemorate this. There are not really any traditions about the foods to be eaten at this meal, but there is one special traditional food for Purim, and that is known as Hamentashen.

Hamentashen is a three cornered cookie like pastry with some sort of filling in it. It is very easy to make, and I hope that you will print out this recipe and make it tonight! The recipe makes about 18 Hamentashen, and can be doubled, tripled or even quadrupled without any problems. I hope you enjoy.

Well, enough talk, on with the recipe:

  1. 1 stick Margarine – softened
  2. 1 c. Sugar
  3. 1 large egg
  4. 1 tsp. Vanilla
  5. 2 tsp. Baking Powder
  6. 2 c. Flour
  1. Place the Margarine in a bowl and add the sugar.
  2. Mix the two together with a fork or beaters until totally incorporated. This is called creaming.
  3. Add the egg and mix together.
  4. Add the Vanilla and the Baking Powder and mix.
  5. Add the flour a little at a time until the dough is no longer sticky. Use more or less flour as needed.
  6. Flatten into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Put in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
  7. Turn the dough out onto a floured board or table. Roll it out to about 1/4 inch thickness and then cut circles with a cookie cutter or use an “old-fashion” glass.
  8. Set aside your cut cookies. You may stack them with a bit of flour between each layer.
  9. Take one circle and put about 1/2 teaspoon of the filling in the center. Bring up one side and then a second side and pinch together one corner. You will now have a “third side” to bring up and pinch together the two remaining corners.
  10. Place on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray and put in pre-heated 350° oven for about 10-15 minutes or until just beginning to turn color. I like my Hamentashen to be just turning brown.
  11. Remove from oven and cool on racks.

FillingsThis is not meant to be an endorsement, but I have tried them all. The best filling that one can buy for Hamentashen is Solo brand pie filling. It has the best consistency of the pie fillings I have found. Traditional flavors would be Prune, Poppy or Apricot, though they have many different flavors. You could also use Chocolate Chips, or Nutella, which is a hazelnut chocolate combination.  Be careful with Chocolate chips though as the cookie will dry up when baking.  I like to put a small amount of raspberry or strawberry filling in the center and put two or three chocolate chips in the filling.
If you would like to make your own fillings, you should take your fresh fruit, peel then and take out any seeds or pits and then cut them into smaller pieces. Place in a pot and put in some sugar to taste. If the fruit dried, like apricot, you should just cover the fruit with water.  Cook this down slowly until you are left with a thick syrup. If it is not the right consistency, mix one teaspoon of corn starch with 1 teaspoon water in a glass. Pour into the fruit mixture. It will thicken up quickly.

NOTES:
You can use 1/2 stick of regular Margarine and 1/2 stick light margarine to cut down on some of the calories.

You can use your food processor for this recipe. Put the Margarine and the sugar in the bowl of the food processor, and process for 30 seconds. Add the rest of the ingredients except the flour and process for about 1 minute until mixed through. Add the flour and process until the dough begins to form a ball in the center of the bowl. At this point, take it out and finish it on your floured board.

It is best to chill the dough before rolling so it is easier to work with.

Enjoy!

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Song of the day

I think growing up in the 70s and 80s is what gave me my eclectic taste in music. There was so much going on in those decades, and so much of it was really good. I was going to pick a song by one of my favorite groups, and then my friend Wrekehavoc decided to pick one of their songs for her song of the week. Well, since I am not up at the crack of dawn to write, I figured I would choose someone else, but then listening to the music on the way to work, I decided they are good enough for both of us to pick on the same day.

So I am talking about Styx and my song is “Fooling Yourself (Angry Young Man)“. Perhaps I like this song because one of my music gods wrote a song called “Angry Young Man” also, or perhaps its just a great song.

Enjoy!

PS. I could not find a clip of the original group, but this one is with the more recent line up (which does not include Dennis De Young)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwPS19swwiA&hl=en]

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Passover Haggadah Project

For the past seven or so years, I have been working on a Passover Haggadah. I am about half way through this project (I do a little each year in the month before Passover). At this point I am looking to get comments from friends, family and anyone who is willing to give their two cents. I have posted the first four pages and over the next weeks I will be posting more.

Passover.wordpress.com

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Retirement

Today is the last official day of work for my father-in-law.  On Monday he wont be going to work anymore and will begin to enjoy his retirement.   It is a wonderful milestone to achieve.  My mother-in-law is honoring him at our Synagogue this Saturday afternoon.

This got me thinking about my own career and where I will be when I get to retirement.  It is very interesting that my father-in-law, and my father both have had basically only two jobs their entire professional life.  My dad started at one accounting firm and then joined another a few years later.  He became a junior partner at that firm, and years later bought out the other partners.  He then later merged it into a large NYC firm and although he stepped down as a partner at 65, he still works there.  My father-in-law was the same.  He is an actuary and worked for one firm for a few years and then joined the office of the actuary for the city of New York, where is is retiring from now.

Wow!  I have already had two CAREERS!  Let alone two jobs.

What a different time we live in today.  Things are so much more complicated and the cost of living so much greater.  I wonder sometimes if I will ever be able to retire.  My parents do a lot of travel and I would love to be able to do that someday, but I tend to doubt that my family will have that luxury.

It’s not that I don’t want to keep a job more than a few years, its just that in the US today everyone seems to be trying to find that next job thats going to pay just a bit more or have just a bit more benefits.   I just finished a year at my current job.  Who knows, perhaps I will be here for many years to come.

I only hope that some day I will be at a point in life like my father-in-law and be able to look back at a great career and enjoy the rest of my years in retirement.

Congratulations to Brian Kheel, my father-in-law, on his retirement!

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Song of the day – Special Double Header

Today is the final day of my exploration of “middle” Beatles as I have been calling it. I have chosen songs from all 4 of my original “middle” Beatles Albums, “Help”, “Rubber Soul”, “Revolver” and “Sgt. Peppers”. My original plan was to add one more song from that last album. But after a discussion the other day, I have added “Magical Mystery Tour” to this list.

So………….

I will present both songs.

First from “Magical Mystery Tour” I am choosing (of course) “Strawberry Fields Forever“. For a long time if I had to pick a favorite Beatles tune, this one is it. There is so much to say, that I will just leave you to the wikipedia article that the title points to.

And for the 2nd song for today, I pick “A Day in The Life“. This is the final song on the “Sgt. Pepper” album and is just an amazing piece of work. The music is beautiful including strings, brass, and woodwinds. It is noteable for a few reasons. First it is a perfect example of a song written by both John and Paul. John wrote the bulk of the song and Paul contributed with the center piece (“woke up, fell out of bed…”). It also features two amazing cacophonous, part-improvised, orchestral crescendos. The second of which ends in what I like to think of as the most famous chord ever played in modern music.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4kgh1-NVxQ&hl=en]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgQrI-crnUk&hl=en]

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Out of the Mouth of Seven Year Olds

mykidsmom told me this story to me last night.  Avi has a playdate scheduled with a friend from school for Sunday morning.  He comes home the other day and says:

“eema, I don’t think I can have my playdate with _____. ”  When mkm asked him why not, he said: “Because he has a hole in his heart and if we play it might make it worse.” (or something to that effect).

Understanding that there could be conditions like this, mkm tells Avi that if it were a problem, _____’s parents would have done what was needed to make it better.

The next day at the bus stop, mkm asked _______’s mom about this.  She asked ______ and we found out that the day before, ______ had a pimple on his chest that popped and he bled a bit.  At school the nurse had to change the bandage, so everyone in class found out that he was bleeding from his chest (a hole in his heart).

I laughed at the story as it is funny.  I also felt very proud of Avi at his concern for his friend.

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