sarah in nyc

I have some dear fiends who are part of the Chabad world. On occasion I get an email from one of them asking me to think about a particular woman as I take challah.  ( The bread is named for the challah – or small portion which is taken fro the dough before the loaves are formed. before the destruction of the Temple, the bread was given to the priests, now it is burned ) usually the woman in question is barren, or ill or needs a good shidduch. I always feel a bit awkward when faced with such a request.  I  guess that I’m far too rational to think of the Divine paying attention to my thoughts so carefully that just thinking about someone who I don’t know while I was baking challah would do the person in question any good at all. Which brings me to today’s challah baking. My friend’s mother died earlier this week.  Not only was Ruth a really good daughter to her mother, Ruth is an all around good friend. She is one of those people who is deeply dependable. There ...

The wedding gift for the bride and groom is now complete with a sleeve for hanging. Feel free to admire. I ship it off tomorrow. I love the green glen plaid suiting used as binding. I’m pleased beyond words that I can now miter corners.  Mitering was one of those  sewing tasks that took me forever  ( 15 years of bad attempts) to master. Sometimes it takes me a really, really long time to learn things. Also sewn by me today were these two pairs of boxers for my older son. I had made boxers for my older son for years. Then  for the past few years he wanted store bought ones.  yesterday he mentioned that he needed two more pairs and was willing for me to make them.  I realized that  since my yonger son’s boxers are nearly all orange, I can’t make my older son orange boxers  or laundry will be be a problem.   The yellow pair is made out of some of the mystery delivery of fabric  that arrived in my lobby for me a few wee...

I finally finished the dress that I’m wearing at my niece's wedding.  I ripped out the previous neckline and tried again. The fact of the matter is that my sister, the bride’s mother would look carefully at the imperfect stitching in the previous iteration and it would bother her—a lot.   So I ripped out the cute but imperfect scalloped edging and made a tidy seam edging out of blue tulle. It’s a bit boring, but very clean and tidy, and that will make my sister happy. She is my audience for the dress. I will wear a collection of pearl necklaces and I’m done. Of course I’m planning to wear a black full slip under the dress. Tonight I went to a shiva house. On my way home there were lots of ambulances and fire engines and police are in the middle of my intersection.  A taxi had hit a pedestrian. Two bad accidents in two days on the same block.  If I were the suspicious sort I would spit three times ( Poo! Poo! Poo! ) and say lo aleinu / not on us. ...

  Several posts ago, I wrote about  this restaurant and how I found the name amusing. I took the photo on my way to the supermarket diagonally across the street.   This morning this very spot was the site of a tragedy.  A teen in a not quite SUV was being chased by police and plowed his big black car into a grandmother and her four year old grand daughter.  They were out walking at 8:15 am, as are many other adult and child pairs walking  to the three schools that are within spitting distance of this spot. The little girl was killed. Her grandmother is alive but damaged in body and I’m sure in soul. An hour after this horrible incident took place, my husband and I came upon the scene on our way to the funeral of a 91 year old woman, the mother of a friend. The irony of the moment is hard to avoid.   The local news interviewed one of the familiar cashier from the supermarket who saw the tragedy unfold from her post.   It is on t...

Today was a crazy day in which nearly every task I attempted was made difficult through no fault of my own. Yes, we have food to eat for Shabbat. Some of the tasks got done.   There is life after shabbat. I found this thoughtful essay about tallit. tallit essay Amazon.com Widgets Shabbat Shalom to all.

While we were in Boston we spent time with a dear friend who met me when I was twelve. Our friend is really serious about Jewish stuff ( he is a rabbi)  and yet approaches it all with the most delightful sense of the absurd.  The result makes doing any Jewish ritual with him both profound and potentially outrageously funny.     When we visited, we brought  our friend an assortment of goodies from the Russian market across the street from my mother’s apartment. We brought “highly carbonated water with organic materials,  chocolate with the picture of a very surprised looking baby on the label, preserved cherries and a few other oddities we thought out friends would enjoy, perhaps for their  value as food but as much for the joy of reading the labels. In the same spirit, our friend gave me this from his pantry. Our friend grew up in New Orleans. He likes having this taste of home in his pantry. I also think that he likes the sheer perversity ...

Last Wednesday night I took the 11:00pm bus to Boston. I had a meeting Wednesdays night and  needed to be in Boston in time for my mother’s noon appointment.     In case you were wondering, there are taxis at South Station at 3:15 am.   One of my other tasks during my time in Boston was re filling my mother’s freezer. My husband arrived Thursday evening. Friday we picked up a rental car in Needham and went to the Costco in Dedham. In case you were wondering, there is no fresh kosher meat in that Costco but there are  kosher frozen capons.  Four chickens are now cooked and cut up into single servings are now in my mother’s freezer. Of course I bought her other foods and necessities at Costco, but don’t worry, I won’t bore you with the complete shopping list.   What flavor chicken you ask? Two were cooked vaguely Israeli with Zaatar, smoked paprika and lemon. Two were cooked vaguely French with fresh thyme, oregano and marjoram along with...