Here is our Rosh Hashanah menu for eleven people this year:
Apples and Honey
Beet & Apple Salad
Brisket with Yukon Gold potatoes
Peas with Sautéed Leeks
Moroccan Carrot Salad
Sweet Potato Kugel
Wild Rice Stuffing with Mushrooms
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cupcakes
Apple Crisp
We would make everything again except for the Moroccan Carrot Salad. We used Joan Nathan's recipe in her Holiday Cookbook, but we just weren't big fans. I'm thinking of doing ginger candied carrots next year instead.
The Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cupcakes are a GREAT pareve dessert. We'll definitely be making those in the future as they were a huge hit!
Hope your Rosh Hashanah meals were as sweet and delicious as ours!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
ten - the brisket that almost wasn't and other ruminations on the new year
We were hosting eleven people for Rosh Hashanah dinner on Thursday night, and there were several dishes on our menu that all demanded oven space. We decided, therefore, to cook the brisket on Wednesday, particularly because it was an eight and a half pound brisket that would take between six and seven hours to cook. Becky put it in the oven at 325°F at 9:30am. At around 2:30pm, I was in the kitchen chopping onions, prepping another dish, and Becky was in the living room working on her sermon. Suddenly, I heard a loud electrical surge noise and a pop. I looked over to the oven on my left and the back right corner of the electrical heating element was glowing white hot and throwing sparks. I ran over to the oven and turned it off while yelling for Becky. She came in to take a look, and we watched as the white glow slowly started to migrate up the heating element towards the front of the oven, still throwing sparks.
Fortunately, our state senator had just sent us a mailing with some political information for the upcoming elections and included a list of important town and state numbers. We had placed this card on our refrigerator just two days prior, and so we called the fire department. I explained what was going on and that I just wasn't sure what to do. We didn't want to open the oven door because of the sparks, and it was still glowing and sparking everywhere even though we turned the oven off. So, the fire department dispatched a truck to our house. It rolled up our street, sirens blaring with a police car just a few minutes behind it. The very nice firemen came into the house and said, "It smells good in here." :) They pulled the oven away from the wall and unplugged it for us. The glowing and sparking stopped, and our $50 brisket was saved! But, we were now without an oven for our dinner preparations. Fortunately, our landlords (who have to replace our oven) allowed us to go downstairs and use their oven for the rest of Wednesday and for a substantial part of Thursday. We could still use the burners on the stove in our apartment, too.
Dinner was delicious (the menu will be in a separate post), and we owe a big thank you to the Watertown Fire Department!
--------------
I feel that humans are obsessed with starting anew. We celebrate the new school year, New Years Eve on December 31st, make New Years resolutions on January 1st, and now, for me, participate in my first "real" Jewish new year - Rosh Hashanah. Many people have their own rituals regarding starting fresh. For example, we celebrate most life-cycle events as a way to begin again. Jews visit the mikveh to mark the start of a new period in their lives. There is just a lot of talk in general about new years and fresh starts.
So, where did the human preoccupation with starting over come from?
On Rosh Hashanah morning, Becky gave her first High Holiday sermon at Brandeis. In it, she explained two things. First, she talked about the creation myth in Lurianic Kabbalah. She explained that it teaches that "in order to create the world God sent forth vessels of light. However, these vessels proved to be too fragile to contain God’s light, and they shattered, sending shards of divine light into the world. Humans were then created to pick up those shards of light."
Becky also explained that the midrash that states God created and destroyed several worlds before he created the one in which we inhabit was interpreted further by Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto. "The destroyed vessels from each world are reused when God creates the next world. Our world is a patchwork of new creation and reused materials – perhaps lessons learned in previous worlds or just spare iron."
So, God may have created many worlds before ours. And, after looking at his creations, He decided to start over and destroyed them before settling on our current world.
I guess I can blame God for our obsession with new years and fresh starts.
So … Happy new year, everyone, and l'Shana tova.
Fortunately, our state senator had just sent us a mailing with some political information for the upcoming elections and included a list of important town and state numbers. We had placed this card on our refrigerator just two days prior, and so we called the fire department. I explained what was going on and that I just wasn't sure what to do. We didn't want to open the oven door because of the sparks, and it was still glowing and sparking everywhere even though we turned the oven off. So, the fire department dispatched a truck to our house. It rolled up our street, sirens blaring with a police car just a few minutes behind it. The very nice firemen came into the house and said, "It smells good in here." :) They pulled the oven away from the wall and unplugged it for us. The glowing and sparking stopped, and our $50 brisket was saved! But, we were now without an oven for our dinner preparations. Fortunately, our landlords (who have to replace our oven) allowed us to go downstairs and use their oven for the rest of Wednesday and for a substantial part of Thursday. We could still use the burners on the stove in our apartment, too.
Dinner was delicious (the menu will be in a separate post), and we owe a big thank you to the Watertown Fire Department!
--------------
I feel that humans are obsessed with starting anew. We celebrate the new school year, New Years Eve on December 31st, make New Years resolutions on January 1st, and now, for me, participate in my first "real" Jewish new year - Rosh Hashanah. Many people have their own rituals regarding starting fresh. For example, we celebrate most life-cycle events as a way to begin again. Jews visit the mikveh to mark the start of a new period in their lives. There is just a lot of talk in general about new years and fresh starts.
So, where did the human preoccupation with starting over come from?
On Rosh Hashanah morning, Becky gave her first High Holiday sermon at Brandeis. In it, she explained two things. First, she talked about the creation myth in Lurianic Kabbalah. She explained that it teaches that "in order to create the world God sent forth vessels of light. However, these vessels proved to be too fragile to contain God’s light, and they shattered, sending shards of divine light into the world. Humans were then created to pick up those shards of light."
Becky also explained that the midrash that states God created and destroyed several worlds before he created the one in which we inhabit was interpreted further by Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto. "The destroyed vessels from each world are reused when God creates the next world. Our world is a patchwork of new creation and reused materials – perhaps lessons learned in previous worlds or just spare iron."
So, God may have created many worlds before ours. And, after looking at his creations, He decided to start over and destroyed them before settling on our current world.
I guess I can blame God for our obsession with new years and fresh starts.
So … Happy new year, everyone, and l'Shana tova.
Monday, September 6, 2010
nine - a lesson on slope-intercept form
I had a really good class last week. It just clicked. It was our second meeting of the school year, and yet it was as if they had been my students for months.
At the end of each semester, I give my students an evaluation form on which they evaluate the course and me as their teacher. Two pieces of feedback that I received last year from my math students was that they wanted more group work and wanted me to better integrate word problems into the course on a day to day basis. So, I'm trying out ways of doing these two things this semester.
It was a simple lesson on slope-intercept form of linear equations. I didn't have high hopes for this class to be a stellar one. The material can be boring because it is review for every single student in the room as they have all taken Algebra 1 before. It's not ground-breaking and quite frankly, linear equations just aren't that interesting. I mean, who likes to be linear? :)
I began class by creating six groups of two or three students; they remained with these partners for the rest of the seventy-five minute class period. First, they went over the homework assignment with their group members. They compared answers and tried to account for and correct any discrepancies. As they did this, I circulated around the room, making certain that every student had fully completed the homework, and I engaged each student in a conversation about what they found easy and difficult. Once the groups had all finished, I answered a few general questions on the board that several students asked. Then, I started reviewing how to write equations in slope-intercept form from a variety of given information.
(For those of you reading who need a bit of a refresher, slope-intercept form looks like this: y = mx + b where m is the slope of the line, b is the point at which the graph intersects the y-axis, and (x,y) represents any coordinate point on the line.)
For each example problem that I put on the board, I had the students work with their partners to solve the problem and then I would call on a group to either come up to the SmartBoard to write their solution or to provide the solution verbally as I wrote the steps. I also included five word problems spaced throughout the lesson for the class to work on in their groups. I did not walk them through any example problems first. I just gave them the problem and let them figure it out together. If there was a problem on which the whole class was stuck after a few minutes, I would talk them through it step by step.
I got really lucky on this day. For one, the groups that I randomly created the night before worked together extremely well - so well, in fact, that I think I will have them keep these groups for at least the next one to two weeks before I switch them up again. I was able to pace the class such that I had about 10-15 minutes of extra material in case I needed it, but I still was able to cover each point that I intended to during my planning without using my extra material. I felt that the students were engaged with the material even though it was review, and I felt that each student left the class having learned something new - whether it was about how to work with a classmate, how to pull information out of a word problem, how to read function notation, or how to write an equation in slope-intercept form.
Although this may seem like a straightforward and very simple lesson, there are so many things that could have gone wrong. I could have run out of time and not been able to cover all the material I had planned. I could have not prepared enough material and then had extra time to fill at the end of the class. I could have given a homework assignment that was either too easy or too hard the previous class, thus resulting in students that complained about the homework or asked too many or too few questions about it. I could have put students into groups that failed completely - students who were introverted and preferred to work alone, students who were too chatty to focus on their work, students whose math level was too disparate so that one student completely dominated the discussion while the other sat passively. I could have written word problems that were too easy or too difficult, leaving the students bored or frustrated. I could have failed to teach them about slope-intercept form. I could have failed to teach them anything at all.
Yep, I got lucky. I hit on a class in which the kids and I were clicking, and I felt that we were all engaged with both the material and each other. Of course, after six years of teaching, I know that I shouldn't get used to this. Contentment and laurel resting are dangerous things. Plus, the unpredictability of teenagers leaves no room for such self-indulgences.
However, leaving school on Thursday with the feeling of "wow…that was a really good class" was a great way to start the new school year.
At the end of each semester, I give my students an evaluation form on which they evaluate the course and me as their teacher. Two pieces of feedback that I received last year from my math students was that they wanted more group work and wanted me to better integrate word problems into the course on a day to day basis. So, I'm trying out ways of doing these two things this semester.
It was a simple lesson on slope-intercept form of linear equations. I didn't have high hopes for this class to be a stellar one. The material can be boring because it is review for every single student in the room as they have all taken Algebra 1 before. It's not ground-breaking and quite frankly, linear equations just aren't that interesting. I mean, who likes to be linear? :)
I began class by creating six groups of two or three students; they remained with these partners for the rest of the seventy-five minute class period. First, they went over the homework assignment with their group members. They compared answers and tried to account for and correct any discrepancies. As they did this, I circulated around the room, making certain that every student had fully completed the homework, and I engaged each student in a conversation about what they found easy and difficult. Once the groups had all finished, I answered a few general questions on the board that several students asked. Then, I started reviewing how to write equations in slope-intercept form from a variety of given information.
(For those of you reading who need a bit of a refresher, slope-intercept form looks like this: y = mx + b where m is the slope of the line, b is the point at which the graph intersects the y-axis, and (x,y) represents any coordinate point on the line.)
For each example problem that I put on the board, I had the students work with their partners to solve the problem and then I would call on a group to either come up to the SmartBoard to write their solution or to provide the solution verbally as I wrote the steps. I also included five word problems spaced throughout the lesson for the class to work on in their groups. I did not walk them through any example problems first. I just gave them the problem and let them figure it out together. If there was a problem on which the whole class was stuck after a few minutes, I would talk them through it step by step.
I got really lucky on this day. For one, the groups that I randomly created the night before worked together extremely well - so well, in fact, that I think I will have them keep these groups for at least the next one to two weeks before I switch them up again. I was able to pace the class such that I had about 10-15 minutes of extra material in case I needed it, but I still was able to cover each point that I intended to during my planning without using my extra material. I felt that the students were engaged with the material even though it was review, and I felt that each student left the class having learned something new - whether it was about how to work with a classmate, how to pull information out of a word problem, how to read function notation, or how to write an equation in slope-intercept form.
Although this may seem like a straightforward and very simple lesson, there are so many things that could have gone wrong. I could have run out of time and not been able to cover all the material I had planned. I could have not prepared enough material and then had extra time to fill at the end of the class. I could have given a homework assignment that was either too easy or too hard the previous class, thus resulting in students that complained about the homework or asked too many or too few questions about it. I could have put students into groups that failed completely - students who were introverted and preferred to work alone, students who were too chatty to focus on their work, students whose math level was too disparate so that one student completely dominated the discussion while the other sat passively. I could have written word problems that were too easy or too difficult, leaving the students bored or frustrated. I could have failed to teach them about slope-intercept form. I could have failed to teach them anything at all.
Yep, I got lucky. I hit on a class in which the kids and I were clicking, and I felt that we were all engaged with both the material and each other. Of course, after six years of teaching, I know that I shouldn't get used to this. Contentment and laurel resting are dangerous things. Plus, the unpredictability of teenagers leaves no room for such self-indulgences.
However, leaving school on Thursday with the feeling of "wow…that was a really good class" was a great way to start the new school year.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
eight - sweet pea and rum don't mix
I love my car. Sweet Pea is a black 2007 Mazda 3 hatchback. She was the first brand new car that I ever bought, and I try to take care of her as best I can. I take her to the dealer for all her checkups and oil changes, and she gets washed on a regular basis.
Becky and I were headed to a friend's house for a Labor Day bbq on this evening. For my birthday party several weeks ago, we made a lemonade, rum, and mint punch that was a huge hit, and we promised to bring some to the bbq. We made 4 quarts of the punch in our extra large pitcher and climbed into Sweet Pea for the short ride to Newton. I was driving and Becky was holding the punch on the floor between her legs so it wouldn't spill. Less than a block from our house, a squirrel ran into the road, and I slammed on the breaks so I wouldn't hit it. The next thing I know, Becky is swearing and the floor of the passenger side of the car is filled - yes, filled - with a few inches of rum punch. I threw the car into reverse and backed up down the street to our house while the punch sloshed back and forth on the floor, sprigs of mint leaves floating on top. Becky bailed the car out as best she could, but the rest seeped into the carpeted floor of my car.
We used towels and paper towels to soak up as much of the rum punch as we could for now and left the car windows open for the night, but it is still pretty damp. That, and it smells like a bar. Becky is hopefully going to take the car to a car wash to use the wet-dry vac and get the carpet shampooed tomorrow. Hopefully, that will fix it.
Let's just hope she doesn't get pulled over for anything. The cop will definitely think she's been drinking once she rolls down the window!
Becky and I were headed to a friend's house for a Labor Day bbq on this evening. For my birthday party several weeks ago, we made a lemonade, rum, and mint punch that was a huge hit, and we promised to bring some to the bbq. We made 4 quarts of the punch in our extra large pitcher and climbed into Sweet Pea for the short ride to Newton. I was driving and Becky was holding the punch on the floor between her legs so it wouldn't spill. Less than a block from our house, a squirrel ran into the road, and I slammed on the breaks so I wouldn't hit it. The next thing I know, Becky is swearing and the floor of the passenger side of the car is filled - yes, filled - with a few inches of rum punch. I threw the car into reverse and backed up down the street to our house while the punch sloshed back and forth on the floor, sprigs of mint leaves floating on top. Becky bailed the car out as best she could, but the rest seeped into the carpeted floor of my car.
We used towels and paper towels to soak up as much of the rum punch as we could for now and left the car windows open for the night, but it is still pretty damp. That, and it smells like a bar. Becky is hopefully going to take the car to a car wash to use the wet-dry vac and get the carpet shampooed tomorrow. Hopefully, that will fix it.
Let's just hope she doesn't get pulled over for anything. The cop will definitely think she's been drinking once she rolls down the window!
seven - finding the extraordinary in the ordinary
My sister started blogging again last week. She has blogged in the past but hasn't for several months, and I've been nagging her to start again. She is back living in India, and her writing is always riveting and poignant.
Yesterday, she wrote in part, "I've been struggling to write recently. It used to be so easy, because this place was so new and, even after so many months spent in Mumbai, so different that most days and habits and simple situations were a revelation. Now, it is just another home and I can no longer see with open eyes … it is much harder to be reflective and see differently what has become routine, mundane."
I agree with her completely. I made the decision to start blogging to think more, be more reflective about my everyday life, and to write more. However, I have realized that it is not easy to see the extraordinary in the ordinary…or to make the ordinary into the extraordinary. Perhaps I should focus more on the simple and everyday and not feel like it needs to be remarkable or surprising or unusual in any particular way.
Yesterday, she wrote in part, "I've been struggling to write recently. It used to be so easy, because this place was so new and, even after so many months spent in Mumbai, so different that most days and habits and simple situations were a revelation. Now, it is just another home and I can no longer see with open eyes … it is much harder to be reflective and see differently what has become routine, mundane."
I agree with her completely. I made the decision to start blogging to think more, be more reflective about my everyday life, and to write more. However, I have realized that it is not easy to see the extraordinary in the ordinary…or to make the ordinary into the extraordinary. Perhaps I should focus more on the simple and everyday and not feel like it needs to be remarkable or surprising or unusual in any particular way.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
six - another great dinner
Another winner for dinner tonight! This time, it was Becky's turn and she made another new recipe from Cooking Light. We highly recommend trying it!
Curried Quinoa Salad with Cucumber-Mint Raita
- Cooking Light
* 1 teaspoon olive oil
* 2 teaspoons curry powder
* 1 garlic clove, crushed
* 1 cup uncooked quinoa
* 2 cups water
* 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 diced peeled ripe mango
* 1/2 cup finely diced celery
* 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
* 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
* 3 tablespoons currants
* 1/4 cup finely diced peeled English cucumber
* 2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint
* 1 (6-ounce) carton plain fat-free yogurt
* 1 (5-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
Preparation
- Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add curry and garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add quinoa and 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 16 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat; stir in salt. Cool completely.
- Add mango, diced celery, thinly sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, and currants to cooled quinoa; toss gently.
- Combine 1/4 cup cucumber, 2 teaspoons mint, and yogurt in a small bowl, and stir well.
- Serve quinoa atop a bed of spinach and topped with raita.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
five - summer's bounty
Mmmmm … I love the fresh vegetables of the summer. Lately the corn and tomatoes have been amazing!
Last night, I made dinner for Becky and me. I tried a new recipe from the recent issue of Cooking Light magazine, and it was delicious - corn fritters.
I served the fritters with slow roasted tomatoes and a salad of baby arugula and shaved parmesan with a lemon juice and olive oil vinaigrette.
Corn Fritters
Ingredients
* 2.25 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1/2 cup)
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/3 cup fat-free milk
* 1 egg, beaten
* 1.5 cups fresh corn kernels (~3 ears)
* 1/3 cup finely chopped green onions
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
- Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add milk and egg; stir until smooth. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, corn, green onions, and salt.
- Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Drop batter by level tablespoonfuls into pan to make 6 fritters; cook 2 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges are golden. Carefully turn fritters over; cook 2 minutes or until golden. Repeat procedure with remaining 1/2 teaspoon oil and remaining batter.
Slow Roasted Tomatoes
Ingredients
* 4 ripe tomatoes, halved (about 1 pound)
* 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Arrange tomato halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Drizzle tomatoes with 1 teaspoon oil; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bake at 375° for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and have lost a lot of their moisture.
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