sarah in nyc

My mornings begin these days with morning minyan. I usually take my camera with me because I like to capture a bit of something that appeals to my eye. In retrospect I realize that what I have chosen to photograph makes my neighborhood look far lusher and more beautiful than it might to most people walking down Broadway. I was in love with the quality of the light. I love the thin translucent  leaves of spring. The health food store leases it’s sidewalk space to the flower vendor. By yesterday, we had come to the end of the challot I had baked for Shavuot. I made bagels. A couple of years ago a cousin had eaten some of my bread and asked it if baking it required complicated equipment. This is all you need beyond a cup, spoon, bowl, and baking sheet for making bagels. You use the spatula to lift the boiled bagels from the boiling water ( with added brown sugar). The baked bagels need to be tested by my sons to see if they taste good. This b...

Well, all the fluids in my head have been replaced with Elmer’s glue. I’m not exactly sick, nor am I exactly healthy.   I ran some errands yesterday and took some photos of birds in the trees across Broadway from my house on my way home.   I spent most of yesterday addressing invitations for my client. The nice thing is that I’m done. The fact that I was feeling too  crummy to do anything more energetic or interesting made it a perfect day to address nearly 200 envelopes. Today my son and I made bagels. He kneaded the dough. I formed the bagels.  The dough felt unusually silky when it was time to roll the bagels. My son mentioned that he did an extra long knead. As I keep baking bagels I have made some refinements. The bagels like a rest between being shaped and being boiled, and another between boiling and baking. The bagels also look cuter if you twist the rope of dough as you form it.   The bagels are much improved if you add a lup of ...