At long last...my to do list is done!!!

This morning Arianna came over to tie her tzitzit.

I like to have my clients tie tzitzit in the manner of Rabbeinu Tam.

this image comes from https://www.tekhelet.com/tekhelet-tying-tools/tying-tzitzit/

 Lots of rabbis put time and effort into variously lovely and meaningful methods of tying tzitzit. I use the tying method on the very left. I like the spiraling ridge that goes around the tzitzit.

Many kids of a certain age know this particular knot from making friendship bracelets. It is known in the of friendship bracelet making universe as Chinese staircase. Yes, the use of the word Chinese to indicate something that is not usual isn't really polite but i knew that if I used the term it was a short-hand way for Arianna to know exactly what I expected her to do.

Not surprisingly, Arianna knew exactly what i was talking about and she was an expert practitioner.

Arianna tied the first corner with one strand of her grandfather's tzitzit that I had dyed blue a long time ago. Yes, I dyed it the color of techelet.  I was so touched that these bits of the tallit worn by the grandfather who had died years before Arianna was born meant so much to her. 

Arianna's nimble fingers meant that the task was quickly done.

Tomorrow some of you will be seeing Arianna wearing her tallit at her synagogue at her bat-mitzvah.

This piece has ended a busy six months of  full out work for the past six months. Arianna and her parents left, and I spent a chunk of the day "lying in state" as my dear friend S likes to put it. 

I did get some things done despite mostly being horizontal.

I finally put the two egg-whites that have been sitting in my fridge for a couple of weeks to good use.

They egg-whites are now almond cookies.  Since you asked of course I didn't follow a recipe. I will, however, tell you what I did. You can ask a ten year old who can use a hand mixer to make a batch of these for you.

You beat the egg-whites in a big bowl. Add a bit of salt to the egg-whites to give the foam a bit of stability. I could have used a bit of the ancient jar of cream of tartar, but the salt was handier. After the mixture was beaten until it was white i added a 1/4 cup of sugar per egg-white. I had two egg-whites so that was half a cup. I beat the mixture until it no longer looked grainy. Then I pulled out the bag of almond flour that I had purchased for Passover out of  the fridge. I added  almond flour and then continued mixing by hand. I added the almond meal until it looked thick. It was probably something less than two cups. I then added vanilla. If I had some orange flower water I would have added that. I guess you could add almond extract or lemon peel or orange peel. The vanilla made the mixture too wet so I added a bit more almond flour. 

Using two tea spoons I portioned out the cookies on a parchment paper line baking tray. I added a whole almond to the center of each cookie I baked until they were slightly browned at 325. They are crisp and light. My husband who tends not to clamor for sweets has already eaten two. If I had baked for less time or at a lower temp or added less almond flour or more these cookies would have had a different but also delightful texture.

I had forgotten to add one of the yucca roots to the tzimmis so I turned it ( with the help of my air fryer) into fried yucca.

You have to boil the yucca before doing anything else to it.

The yucca feels much starchier than a potato. I flavored the yucca with smoked paprika and cayenne. I added a drizzle of cider vinegar to balance the flavor.

I also cooked eggplant in the air fryer with zaatar.

Our protein is the other half of the chicken I had cooked last week with cherries. 

My cousin Eunice sent me this charming and slightly daffy video of King Charles III greeting Jewish supporters.

You will have to forgive me...another royal tablescape.

Shabbat Shalom!