Hand work of various kinds and Food Friday

This seems to have turned into the summer of hand work. Because the ends of an atara frame the face they often have a bit of extra embellishment going on. My client mentioned that he wanted silvery blue. Like me, my client grew up surrounded by Jewish ritual art. Couched metallic cord was a big part of how Jewish ritual objects were decorated. 

I chose to go for a free-form sort of a look. I wanted an old technique to look contemporary. There is something oddly soothing about doing this work. What you see here isn't quite finished but it is well on its way.

The materials used to create this work are pretty simple, metallic cord, sewing thread, and a needle.

 I have also been working away on a sweater for one of my great nieces.

So far I have made a front and a back and have done a bit of one sleeve. It's a pretty acrylic yarn because babies get messy, it's their job. Wool is nicer but it isn't fair to expect parents of a baby to deal with laundering it.

And yes, it's Friday. We invited friends who moved apartments this week.

 It was a challah baking week and fortunately, it was just warm and not hot and muggy. My youngest braided these challot.


The chicken is vaguely reminiscent of the takeaway rotisserie chicken my late mother in law adored . Every chicken she served in her home in Queens came from Mauzone. For my husband, this tastes like love itself.

I made this with

 sweet paprika, hot paprika, smoked paprika, black pepper, cayenne, sumac, and turmeric. I juiced a lime over the chicken before cooking.


 Our grain tonight is

I suppose you could either call it a baked pilaf if you were feeling generous or "random odds and ends from the pantry" if you were not. It is rice, barley lentils and the end of a box of bow tie noodles cooked in last week's chicken juice and some gochujang paste.

For the vegetable portion of our meal, we are eating a wilted kale salad with additions.

I am probably serving the salad as a first course. it makes for a relaxed meal.

Dessert tonight is fresh lychee and fresh figs.

Shabbat Shalom!