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Nearly Shabbat

 It has been a busy week.


Hanoch came up from Philadelphia to tie his titzit.




Yes, he was really happy with the tallit.


He had purchased really beautiful tzitzit in Jerusalem.



He was really happy with the result.



I am still working on the atara and will ship the tallit as soon as it is completed and stitched in place and I have trimmed all of the loose threads from the tallit.







We celebrated my sister's birthday.


And tonight I made Shabbat dinner.


I soaked dried limes in boiling water


and then broke the hard shells



before stuffing them into whole chickens. The dried limes pack a flavor punch.


I know this doesn't look terribly pretty but it should taste wonderful.

I didn't take a photo of the roasted vegetables or the semolina that I made.  But I did make two pies.

I made a blackberry pie that is topped with an almond milk custard that has been flavored with rum. There is a little drizzle of pomegranate molasses to cover the less than beautiful color of the custard.


I also made a blueberry pie.



Tomorrow I am joining Shawna's husband and his family to make Shawna's Yahrzeit. I am leaving out the drama that went into the making of both of these pies. Let's just pretend that the disasters didn't take place and i will smile broadly when I serve them.


When I opened the freezer to take out two challot for Shabbat I discovered that a dinner guest from a couple of weeks ago had brought us a container of blueberry lemon sorbet!  I wish I had served it when our guest was here but it just might be the perfect thing to serve with the pie.

There is still a giant stack of dishes to wash before dinner.







I know that this isn't the most beautiful melody, but this is how we sang this text. I could listen to this family all day long.



Below is a more melodic setting for this same liturgical poem.



And something to help you get ready for the high Holidays.


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