A Day of Marathon Cooking Followed by a Day of Sewing

I cook for my mother last week. Now it has become time to cook Rosh haShanah food for my family. This year, the two days of holiday are followed by Shabbat, the dreaded three days of Yom Tov. While in theory it can be lovely, three days in a row of long services and big meals can frankly be a bit wearing, and wearying.

Yesterday I tackled the laundry that my boys had sort of done while I was gone. I also began cooking. I made two small roasts and a tzimmis.

The pot below is large enough to hold a 30 lb. turkey. It was completely filled to the brim with raw sweet potatoes, white potatoes, carrots and meat. Both the meat and the tzimmis take a long cook.

I also baked a bread, and we made pizza for the family.

Yesterday was one of those pricelessly hot and muggy New York days. Cod Ed held back power. We were unable to run the air conditioner. I could not stand the heat, but I stayed in the kitchen.

The meat and the tzimmis are all neatly packaged in my freezer, ready for the holiday. I still have more to cook, but the big stuff is done.

I had bought my son a book on artisan bread baking. The basic premise of the book is that you mix up a large batch loose bread dough that you store in the fridge. When you want bread you just hack off a lump, form it into a loaf and bake it. We are still fine tuning the process. The first batch yielded teeny but delicious loaves. My son mixed a second batch on Sunday night. It feels like something out of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. Monday morning we awoke to find that the dough had emerged Alien-like from the bowl and had taken over the bottom shelf of the fridge. My son cleaned up the mess and I baked a bread.

By early in the afternoon, the bowl was of it’s own volition full again. This called for drastic measures. So I made personal pizza’s for each of us. We each chose our toppings. I made an extra lump of dough that I turned into a dessert pizza with Nutella, peanut butter and Israeli chocolate spread. After 12 hours straight of the oven on at full blast, I kept the oven off today.

Friday night, my daughter mentioned that she needed a more grown up bag to take to work than the canvas one she currently uses. I lent her one I had for the time being, but warned my daughter that it was heavy.

I thought that I could make my daughter a bag. I remembered that my old issue of Cotton Friend, a Japanese sewing magazine had directions for a bag that where the construction was cool yet simple. That seemed just about my speed.

Here is the photo from the winter 2010 issue.

Here are the directions.

The outer fabric is a Marc Jacobs plaid coating that I bought at Fabric Mart. The lining is vintage cotton that I inherited from a friend. The closure is the belt from a late 1980’s dress that I used to be really fond of but haven’t worn in about ten years.

Some interior views.

My daughter requested pockets. I’m pleased that I figured out how to attach zippered pockets without wanting to stab myself from frustration.

The result is sturdy and lightweight.

מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים

וְנֶאֱמָן אַתָּה לְהַחֲיוֹת מֵתִים: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים You are faithful to restore the dead to life. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Resurrector of the dead. That particular line is recited at every single prayer service every day three times a day, unless you use a Reform or Reconstructionist prayer book . In those liturgies instead of praising God for resurrecting the dead God is praised for giving life to all. I am enough of a modern woman, a modern thinker, to not actually believe in the actual resurrection of the dead. I don't actually expect all of the residents of the Workmen's Circle section of Mount Hebron cemetery in Queens to get up and get back to work at their sewing machines. I don't expect the young children buried here or the babies buried here to one day get up and frolic. Yet, every single time I get up to lead services I say those words about the reanimating of the dead with every fiber of my being. Yesterday, I e...

Connecting with the past

A few months ago I had a craving for my father’s chicken fricassee. If my father were still alive I would have called him up and he would have talked me through the process of making it. My father is no longer alive so I turned to my cookbooks and the recipes I found for chicken fricassee were nothing at all like the stew of chicken necks, gizzards and wings in a watery sweet and sour tomato sauce that I enjoyed as a kid. I assumed that the dish was an invention of my father’s. I then attempted to replicate the dish from my memory of it and failed. A couple of weeks ago I saw an article on the internet, and I can’t remember where, that talked about Jewish fricassee and it sounded an awful lot like the dish I was hankering after. This afternoon I went to the butcher and picked up all of the chicken elements of the dish, a couple of packages each of wings, necks and gizzards. My father never cooked directly from a cook book. He used to re...

The light themed tallit has been shipped!!!

I had begun speaking to Sarah about making her a tallit in the middle of August. It took a few weeks to nail down the design. For Sarah it would have been ideal if the tallit were completed in time for her to wear it on Rosh HaShanah., the beginning of her year as senior rabbi of her congregation. For me, in an ideal world, given the realities of preparing for the High Holidays I would have finished this tallit in the weeks after Sukkot. So we compromised and I shipped off the tallit last night. I would have prefered to have more time but I got the job done in time. This tallit was made to mark Sarah's rise to the position of senior rabbi but it was also a reaction to this year of darkness. She chose a selection of verses about light to be part of her tallit. 1) אֵל נוֹרָא עֲלִילָה God of awesome deeds ( from a yom kippur Liturgical poem) 2) אוֹר חָדָשׁ עַל־צִיּוֹן תָּאִיר May You shine a new light on Zion ( from the liturgy) 3) יָאֵר יְהֹ...

sarah in nyc

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