I haven't figured out a title to tie all of the threads in this post together---

Today I am trying to get a post in before candle lighting.

It's snowing! Not enough for a snowball fight or to build a snowman but enough to make the air quieter.

There has been so little snow for the past couple of years that this is enough to bring me a little bit of snow joy.

When I helped Laura deal with the textiles in her late mother's apartment a few weeks back, she encourage me to take a light blue linen tablecloth. I was a little reluctant to take it it was a sweet pale blue probably from the late 1950s or 60's. There was no fancy embroidery. It was exactly the sort of cloth my mother would have owned, complete with narrow white pearl stitching at the hem. Unfortunately though, there were also some tears near one end. I had washed and dried the cloth and it was taking up lots of space in my needs to be ironed pile. I realized that if i actually fixed the cloth it would have a home among my tablecloths.

I cut off the section of the cloth that was damaged and ran the entire cloth through my serger. I figured that it would be easier to create an entirely new hem than to try to match the pearl hem.

When I was helping Laura I noticed this set of china on display.

Of course it was the fancy dairy china. My mother owned pieces from a companion set.

Laura's mom's dishes were as familiar to me as the face of a childhood neighbor. I knew that the pale blue linen cloth was used with the dairy china.

After I serged the cloth it was time to hem it.

I used this decorative star stitch to secure the hem because it reminded me of Laura's mom's dishes.

I did miter all of the corners because both my mother and Laura's mother would have approved. I assume that this little flourish will mean nothing to any of the people who will use this cloth in the future. For me, each time I see the cloth and the sweet star stitches in the pale blues that Laura's mother loved I will think of Laura's mom who I have never met and her refined taste.

Earlier this week my husband and I went on an adventure with our friends Alfie and Judy. I don't think that most people would think of it as an actual adventure.

We spent a few frigid minutes admiring the view of the New York side of the Hudson from the Palisades.

It was cold even for our friend who had lived in Minnesota for several decades.

Our actual destination was Bingo, the frum equivalent of Costco. I had gone to the Brooklyn branch of Bingo before Passover but I assumed that the suburban branch would be even more wonderful.

I did not buy the whole brisket despite the incredible price.

I also didn't buy the beef fat.

They had an impressive selection of havdalah candles

I loved their toy department. Lots of very religious kids don't partake of popular American culture as presented on TV. Here are some toys created for this niche market.

I had purchased a small set of these figurines before Passover.

You can purchase a puzzle that depicts these toys in a shopping for Shabbat scene.

There is a religious version of the children's game Guess Who.

There were also tons of card games for long Shabbat afternoons

You could also purchase a toy tallit and t'fillin set.

This may have been my favorite item in the toy section.

I had misread this sign. For those of you who don't know Hebrew---the last two words are Hebrew. It's too much effort to translate for a small chuckle. But if you know Hebrew, enjoy your small chuckle.

I did cook for Shabbat with food that I purchased at Bingo.

Candle lighting is near...so last week we had music and no words, this week words and no music.

No, I don't believe in the sign below---Shabbat Shalom to all

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...

A Passover loss

My parents bought this tablecloth during their 1955 visit to Israel. It is made out of linen from the first post 1948 flax harvest. The linen is heavy and almost crude. The embroidery is very fine. We used this cloth every Passover until the center wore thin. You can see the cloth on the table in the background of this photo of my parents and nephew My Aunt Sheva bought my mother a replacement cloth. The replacement cloth is made out of a cotton poly blend. The embroidery is crude and the colors not nearly as nice. The old cloth hung in our basement. We used the new cloth and remembered the much nicer original cloth. I loved that my aunt wanted to replace the cloth, I just hated the replacement because it was so much less than while evoking the beauty of the original. After my father died my mother sat me down and with great ceremony gave me all of her best tablecloths. She also gave me the worn Passover cloth and suggested that I could mend it. I did. Year after year ...

sarah in nyc

Search This Blog