sarah in nyc

Yesterday I went to Costco.I caved. I bought both the Shmurah matza and the regular matza. I think it's crazy to be setting out Passover food before Purim. I was afraid that the Shmurah matza would all be gone when I was emotionally ready to buy it in a couple of weeks so I caved. I am sorry for striking terror into your hearts with this purchase. Today was a challah baking day. As always, one of the first tasks in challah baking is grinding up the spices that will go into my challah.  Since you asked, this is a mic of coriander, cardamon,allspice and nutmeg. I also added some powdered ginger, powdered cinnamona few gratings of nutmeg and lots of vanilla to the dough. My husband grew up on the take out chicken from Mauzone, a kosher butcher a few miles from his home. In his house it was known as Mauzone chicken.  My mother in law really hated to cook. She liked to feed people. There was lots of Mauzone chicken served at my mother in law's table. A mi...

I am in the process of getting stuff together for my taxes. Every day the state of New York sends me a cautionary tale via email  of someone who didn't pay their sales tax and got caught. I will file in March like I always do and I am as always grateful to the state for reminding me to do my part as a citizen. When my kids were little, a big chunk of my life involved bringing kids to school and home, bringing one or another of them to lessons, shrink appointments or play dates. I spent a massive amount of my waking hours walking up and down down Broadway. During those hours  walking up and down the neighborhood I inevitably ran into friends from synagogue, fellow moms from the playground or a long ago play group, mothers who like me were navigating the complicated maze that Special Education is in the city, old neighbors, former teachers of my kids... My husband used to joke that Broadway was my office. I no longer am ushering my kids from place to place. These days I ...

There are times when in theory a task seems simple, but when you get into the weeds of it it is crazy making. I am making a  Kittel for a client. My client is a woman who hates how the standard kittel makes her look like a tuber wearing a belt. Because she will be leading services in the kittel she wants the finished garment to be flattering but not sexy. I suggested a princess lined dress or lightweight coat. After going through hundreds of possible patterns online I thought that this dress would work best with some alterations. ( The dress would need to be lengthened by quite a bit, I would add a more dramatic cuff and of course a belt). I ordered the magazine and got my code to download the PDF pattern. The pattern itself is divided up between 21 sheets of paper and several more pages of instruction.  Each page needs two slivers trimmed off of the edges so that you can properly align the sheets and piece them into the full sized pattern. E...

This has been a week full of worry. A dear college friend had brain surgery. Another dear friend lost her father and yet another friend has had to put her mother into hospice care. My reaction to all of this worry was kind of primitive. .I have been doing lots of cooking for my family and for others and doing all of it with a great deal of intent and good wishes for my friends. I baked bread for a family who is going through a medical crisis. I promise the breads looked much better after being baked. I neglected to take photos post baking.  Home baked bread is not a cure for cancer but it does taste good. I delivered the bread and it was cold and grey and rainy. Despite the gloom, I could see the swelling buds on the trees on my walk home. At some point, it will be spring. I know the internet is full of people posting pretty photos of their plates of food. I nearly always serve family-style. I prefer to let people decide how much of each dish they want...

 Monday was Tu B'shvat, the Jewish new year for the trees. When I went to Orthodox day school each student got a baggie filled with a piece of dried carob, a mini box of raisins and a tangerine. Inside the bag was a label identifying that this bag was a gift from the Leaf family in memory of  Clara Leaf. Being kids, we were often less than gracious about this annual gift. Most kids hated the carob and tossed it around the room. I loved the carob, there was something so cool about being able to put something that felt like wood into your mouth and have it be something to eat. I remember a tangerine fight in eighth grade that had a really messy ending. Each year we blacked out our teeth with the raisins. Decades later I realize that Clara Leaf's yahrzit was probably on Tu B'shvat. My mother used to mark her own mother's yahrzeit on Tu B'shbat. It was probably actually a day or two before or after. Every year on the Shabbat closest to Tu B'shvat my mother wou...

I have been at this work of making Judiaca in fabric for not quite thirty years. Because fabric is inherently fragile, in the past little while I have been asked to repair some pieces that I had worked on a long time ago. This past Shabbat my friend Doris asked me if I would take a look at the tallit bag I had made for her husband about twenty years ago and if I would remove the atara I had made ( I think) at the same time so the tallit could be cleaned. The text comes from the haftara that was recited during Ken and Doris's Aufruf.  It comes from Isiah 54:10 כִּ֤י הֶֽהָרִים֙ יָמ֔וּשׁוּ וְהַגְּבָע֖וֹת תְּמוּטֶ֑נָה וְחַסְדִּ֞י מֵאִתֵּ֣ךְ לֹֽא־יָמ֗וּשׁ וּבְרִ֤ית שְׁלוֹמִי֙ לֹ֣א תָמ֔וּט אָמַ֥ר מְרַחֲמֵ֖ךְ יְהוָֽה׃ (ס) For the mountains may move And the hills be shaken, But my loyalty shall never move from you, Nor My covenant of friendship be shaken —said the LORD, who takes you back in love. I just used the first phrase of the verse. I built the hills out of a ...