sarah in nyc

Last night was the first night of Chanukah. Amazingly, we were all together. There were so many years when one or another of my kids was away, it’s really nice to see all five Chanukiyot lit together. I took photos while we were doing our usual post candle lighting singing. We are serious about doing ritual and not so serious about how heads are covered, as long as they are. My boys are into wearing stupid hats. the squid hat is what my youngest usually wears during Shabbat dinner. The bunny hat I made for my youngest seems to have been taken over by my older son.   To remember the story of Judith and Holofernes and it’s connection to the Chanukah story I made cheese keplach . I put pureed collard greens into the noodle dough so my youngest would get some green vegetable into his body. I’m slowly getting the hang of making filled pasta. I love how the vegetable matter makes the noodle dough easier to roll. I have added a refinement to my dough rolling technique....

Several years ago I was in the local Salvation Army just before Chanukah and found what looked like a lovely  etching of the city of Akko in Israel.  The mat was discolored and the frame was a little ugly but it was a pretty piece.   It was done by Zvi Livni, a Polish born Israeli artist.  When my husband cleaned out his parent’s house he found a  portfolio of six prints of landscapes by Livni , Livni Lithographs similar to this one.  The prints in the portfolio had a sort of hairy quality to them there was a whole lot of muddy reds and greens that I didn’t find all that attractive.   I wondered if the print that we owned of Akko was in fact a tinted drawing rather than one of the hundreds if not thousands  of prints available in the set.   We spent lots of time trying to figure it out. The Livni portfolio is something that one can get inexpensively on eBay. You can often buy the entire set for $10.   The other night I...

This is tonight’s soup before. I bought three trays of chicken bones and squeezed all of them into the crock pot along with one giant parsnip, two gargantuan carrots a hand full of dried mushrooms and one medium onion.  I also added a teal ball filled with coriander, juniper berries and cloves and a glug of white vinegar. I keep adding water to the pot as the bones break down.   This is the soup today. The bones melt in your mouth.   I know it’s ugly. I had a bowl for lunch. It’s really good.   I made chicken. The chicken is sort of a Middle Eastern/ New England mash up with onion apples dates and pomegranate molasses. I will add some fresh pomegranate seeds to the chicken before I heat it up. The jasmine rice is made with chestnuts.   I made ginger custard for dessert. I think I need to buy fresh berries  to go with the custard.   I still have to make the vegetable, I think it will be a week for vaguely Asian Cole Sla...

  My parents bought me this nifty silk sweater a long time ago. I believe I was married, but I think they bought me this sweater before I had kids. I have been married since 1986, and my oldest was born in ‘88. I think that even my husband would admit that this is an old garment.  Actually, maybe not, he still has a garment or two from High School, and he graduated during the early years of the first Nixon administration. The sweater began life as  a boxy pullover. A couple of years ago I turned the sweater into a cardigan. I’m really fond of the sweater, but it really is getting ragged. It was time to replace the well worn silk sweater. I had a nice nubbly sweater knit in my stash.   I lay the silk sweater on top of the nubbly knit folded in 1/4. If I were less lazy I would have cut the sleeves separately. Now you see the nubbly knit  cut into a sweater shape.  I cut open the front on the fold. Then I sewed up the seams from wrist to he...

I was doing finishing touches on a piece.  I was waiting for the paint to dry and the making dresses itch had to be scratched. I had done my version of retail therapy…buying a mystery bundle from Fabric Mart . This time about half of the fabrics that arrived in the bundle were fabrics that I never ever would have chosen.  This green knit is one of those fabrics. It screams 1968 to me.  ( not groovy hippie wear but the sort of dress that responsible adults wore)   Clearly I have been influenced by watching the later seasons of Mad Men.  It is vaguely like what my cooler secular studies teachers might have worn when I was in elementary school ( but of course with sleeves). I more or less used my easiest dress in the world diagram  to make this dress. The yardage wias a bit shorter than I would have liked…so the cowl is less deep. I was prepared to hate this dress. What is there to like? double knit? in a kind of ugly color? I have been won over. I ...

Last week I stopped into one of the local thrift stores. I found this jacket. For you sharp eyed readers, yes, it is a Chanel.  I have lots of friends in the world of sewing, or who just love fashion for whom this is thrift store find is like finding the holy grail.   I have never lusted after Chanel. Ever. Aside from the issue of her terrible politics, Chanel clothing mostly does not ring my chimes. Once many years ago I was in a Madison Avenue boutique. A quilted Chanel bag was deeply on sale. The saleswoman kept telling me what a steal it was, and telling me what a classic it was. I bought the bag, and by the time I took two steps out of the store, I realized that I would never ever be old enough to use the bag. I turned around and returned the bag.  No, I have never had a second’s regret about that return. But back to the jacket. It was $15.  The label was cut out of the jacket but the construction is unmistakable. I had assumed that the jacket was to...

First take a moment to admire these perfect looking challot. I was not responsible for their beautiful four strand braids. My older son was. For this, I thank all of you who pay taxes in New York state. These beautiful braids were brought to you thanks to the many years of Occupational Therapy that my son was mandated to have by the state. The fact that he can also button his shirts and write  are also due to the wonderful therapists who worked with him.   I am also forever grateful to Maureen Galvin, the special educator who identified my son as someone who needed O.T. help back when he was four years old. My friend Jacqui insists that she would be satisfied with a Shabbat dinner consisted only of my challah. But she is not eating this meal ( but her son will be a guest tonight). others of us think that a good Shabbat dinner needs more than just challah. We will be having a two day soup. The matza ball dough is in the fridge and the matza balls will simmer in this...

Here is the mink set I had tackled the stole/collar yesterday. Today I had to take care of the hat. Hat is a generous term , it’s a hatlet. The guts of the hat were in terrible shape. The hat had been given shape by a couple of layers of buckram. I know that we all think that natural materials are best, but the straw like buckram had become brittle and felt like a teeny fire hazard. The layers inside the hat were two layers of a sheer silk. One layer of the coarse buckram and two of the finer buckram. I usually don’t use buckram. I don’t do tailoring.But the sewing gods were smiling on me and I had a chunk of buckram. Not only that, it was easy to find in my fabric stash. I wasn’t exactly sure how many layers I would need but I decided to start with two. I used the silk layers as my pattern and cut two layers of buckram and one of the lining. I plunked the layers inside the hat and liked the feel of the hat. It had enough body to look perky.   Then two...

I got a call today from my friend Elisheva. She had an odd sewing job for me to do. She wasn’t sure if it was quite in my wheelhouse, but thought it was worth asking. Elisheva had inherited a mink collar/stole and hat and they both needed to be re lined, would I be willing to do the job?   I wasn’t sure if this was something I could do until I took a look.  Elisheva came by with the hat and the stole. I decided to tackle the stole first.  It was really nice mink. My grandfather was a furrier and my mother is a big fur critic. That is, when we would walk down the street together, she would critique  the fur coats. “ Ugh, she’s wearing a mink, but it’s so cheap. Look how stiff it is!” “ Rabbit fur!That’s junk!” “Oooh! That’s a nice fur.” “Her tush is too fat for that fur, she needs to either get a new one or just wear a different coat.” I didn’t think that I was actually paying attention to all of my mother’s critiques, but her lessons on the finer poin...