sarah in nyc

 A few years ago I bought a cotton quilt (cotton batting covered in cotton broadcloth)  for us to use during the summer. Truth be told, we use this quilt year round because my husband likes sleeping under a big pile of blankets. A week or so ago I realized that there was a big tear in the quilt about an inch from the edge. about four feet's worth of tear. If my mother owned this quilt she would have tossed it. My husband always sees the good side in people and also in objects. Why should one toss something that is nearly good?  I live with my husband and not with my late mother so I knew that I needed to come up with a way to mend this quilt.  My husband has lived with me for a long, long time so he suggested that I fix the tear using my serger or perhaps machine stitch the tear to a long strip of cotton. Neither one is a bad suggestion. I have been doing a whole lot of mending these days and I have come to learn that aside from fixing a tear mending needs to not be ...

 Often when I cook chicken I will assemble an array of spices to rub over the chicken and by the time dinner comes around or by the time I sit down to write a blog post I have entirely forgotten exactly what got put into the chicken. This week I took a photo of what went into the chicken so I could give allof yo.u an honest reporting of what went into it. It's ground dried lime, black pepper, coriander, cayenne pepper and a bit of mild Jamaican curry which is high in turmeric. I am not exactly sure what I was going for but I suspect that it will taste good. The chicken was cooked a few hours ago, I cut it up and I will add either cider vinegar or lemon juice to the pan when I warm the chicken for dinner. We are also eating roasted potatoes and mushrooms which are not yet fully cooked and asparagus which still has to be blanched. I just finished embroidering the letters for Nini's atara. Clearly there is lots of thread picking and clean up that still needs to take place. Perhpas...

 First of all, the wedding tallit in use as a chuppah. I can't even begin to tell you how pleased I am. Yes, I love the tallit that I made, but I really love this couple and wish them many, many years of happiness together.  They were so kind to one another during the entire process of making this tallit. it bodes well for the two of them. There has been a whole lot going on around here, (not even including the rockets from Iran), so I haven't had the mental focus to post. So, prepare yourself for a hdge-podge of a post. Here goes: We have done a few local adventures, including going to Roosevelt Island. We hadn't been since Covid. there has been more development on the south end of the island. It is nice to get a different perspective of the East River. The day was beastly hot and muggywhich cut down on our exploring time. After we headed home on the tram we stopped off at a Japanese supermarket, because why not??? I liked howthese frozen treats didn't try to over-prom...

  We have had so many days in a row of cold damp and foggy weather that I have begun feeling like  Joe Btfsplk, Al Capp's hapless character who lives under a dark cloud. My husband always warns me not to stand under the pigeons' favorite roost. The new war  between Israel and Irandoesn't help my mood and just has me feeling anxious every moment of the day. Despite the darkness, there are a couple of bright spots. Yesterday, Ezra and his bride came to pick up the wedding tallit.   There were some tears when they first saw the tallit which made me feel like I had done my job. I am so happy that Ezra's mom can be part of the wedding , at least symbolically. Another bright spot is that our friend Steve is leading a series of Central Park walks.  The Best Central Park Walks Ever .  Be in touch with Steve if you want to join him on one of his themed walks. I have two meetings in a row tonight. I made this for the participants of the second meeting so we don't get...

 I spent one night this week with my cousin in Brooklyn. My cousin lives on a high floor. usually her view is this. It was incredibly foggy out so instead  we got this. There were moments whebn there was even less visibility. Now that the wedding tallit is completed, I am back to working on Nini's  Nova Scotia tallit.  This time I just chalked out the outlines of the letters and embroidered along that line. I have mostly finished adding to bulk up the letters. There is another half verse that will be sitting on the tree-line. Tonight we have been invited to a dear friend's  for Shabbat dinner.  I made bulgher wheat with walnuts and pomegranate molasses. I was inspired by a conversation my son had  with me about eating Georgian, that is Russian Georgian as opposed to American Georgian), food. They are deeply fond of the combination of walnuts and pomegrqnate.  I am not deepy fond of walnuts but the combination is pretty fabulous. I also made a batc...

The wedding tallit is just in need of pinot/ corner pieces .  So let me take you on a tour of the tallit.  All of the floral strips have been cut from the skirt of the dress that Ezra's mom wore to her 1986 wedding. (Ezra is our lovely groom.) The darker stripes are lined with blue silk noil. The lighter stripe was lined with white noil. I painted the irises  on the atara onto silk charmeuse . The sweet stuffed butterfly on the atara comes from the waistband of the dress. Hanae Mori who designed the dress loved butterflies and often featured them in her dresses. Ezra's mom is no longer living. While her physical self won't be at this wedding her presence will be there.

 Just a couple of photos of the wedding tallit... A Shabbat song sung by the wonderful Yehoram Gaon  and a hope for peace....sung by Geula Gil. and the same song in a charming choral setting. Shabbat Shalom!