sarah in nyc

My mother had a cedar chest in her bedroom. The wool blankets lived there during the warm weather months.  There were also small shelves that unfolded inside that cedar chest when you opened it. On those small shelves were beautiful little sweaters that were made for my older sisters from some of the excellent knitters in Halifax. There were some sweaters that I remembered wearing and others that my mother told us she was saving for our children. I gave birth to the first granddaughter so after my daughter was born several beautiful sweaters came my way out of that cedar chest. Several of them were too  brittle to wear, even after careful washing. the yarns just broke with wearing. I loved the idea of my mother saving clothing so that our children could wear them. while I gave away most of my children’s clothing after they outgrew them there were some things that I kept for my future grandchildren. We were clearing out a storage locker yesterday so I brought the box of sav...

  Tomorrow we bring our youngest to college. To be frank, he wasn’t the easiest child when he was a little boy. All of us in the family have favorite stories about him. But I’m not going to share any of those stories here. If he chooses to  that’s fine, but I don’t think that it’s fair for me to in this setting. He has become quite a wonderful human being. Shockingly he has become a truly kind, empathetic person. He’s also just a good musician. Most astonishingly, he levelheaded. frankly it is much better to be the parent of a kid who is difficult when young and then is delightful from about age 9 on than the other way around.   I will share some photos that might give you a sense of what he was like as a younger kid. My son loved this photo so much that he put it in his high school yearbook. This was a routine he used to do whenever he wore his sweatpants. Yes, we all laughed. I love this image for it’s sheer dweebieness. My son chose his wardrobe. Yes, you...

Yesterday was my last day of jury duty. In the morning we heard our last witness. Each of the lawyers then did their summation. We broke for lunch. Thank you New York City taxpayers for buying us lunch. My tuna wrap was delicious. After lunch we were given our charge by the judge. The judge really impressed me. He carefully explained the parameters of the law that we were expected to rule on. He explained that the job of the prosecution was to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, that is, a doubt that could be explained through reason. A gut feeling is not enough to either prove or disprove. We went into the jury room. I had been chosen to be the forewoman of the jury. I have been around enough social workers to know that before you do anything in a group we all need to introduce ourselves. We had one law to rule on--gun possession but that is made up three parts, one was that the fire-arm be operable, the second was that the firearm was in the defendant's possession--tha...

Given that I can’t legally talk about the case I’m sitting on and given that it is forbidden to take photos inside the court building, I am not about to break the law.   I can however show you pictures from the neighborhood. The courts themselves and the buildings in the area are full of notable details. This is a bigger view of the Tweed court house.   This branch of Modell’s Sporting Goods is fronted by a wonderful , but dirty colonnade.   The bank a block further east has the best doors. They didn’t stint with any of the details when they built this bank. There is a pair of these spectacular light fixtures flanking the entryway. This Art Deco light is in front of a Department of Health building. Friday afternoon there was some sort of a Korean cultural festival taking place in the park. The traditionally dressed dancers were enjoying the hip hop performance. I report back to the court tomorrow morning.

A few weeks ago I got that familiar summons to do jury duty. Today was the day.  I went downtown early this morning  and took this photo of the Tweed Courthouse before I reported for jury duty. The last couple of times I had jury duty I loved the officer of the court assigned to the jury room. He was outrageously funny.  He made the process  actually fun.  He must have retired and he now has a replacement. She hasn’t had as many years to hone her materials her predecessor did, but she has a similar dry wit.   They have updated the informational introductory video. I was sort of looking forward to seeing the giant shoulder pads   from the old video that was filmed at some point in the 1980’s.   The previous times I reported for jury duty the highlight of my experience was the beautiful speech made by the retired judge. In that speech he talked about how our judicial system is flawed, but it is the best and the most fair in the w...

If there were some sort of a world wide competition for the nicest person our friend Mike would certainly be one of the finalists. My husband first met Mike when they were in Hebrew High School together back in the 1960’s. Our son’s ( who share the same first name) became at kid’s services when they were maybe three. Since then, we have been fortunate to have Mike in our lives.   Mike broke his foot a few months ago in a pretty spectacular way. He has just become mobile  a couple of weeks ago.   This past Shabbat, Mike told me that he wanted me to make him a white wool tallit for the high holidays. In my experience beautiful thin white wool is what my Southern friends call spendy.      Yesterday I went to the garment district with an out of town sewing friend.  I found several wools that might work for a tallit. They were all beautiful. They did have a really wide price range, I could have spent anywhere from $180 down to $18 per yard...

Tonight a dear friend is coming for dinner, my older son’s third grade teacher. My son had a big part in the planning of the meal. He suggested chicken with amba. Amba comes from Iraq and in many ways is a keystone between Indian and Middle eastern cooking. It is made with pickled lemons and mango. For both me and my son the smell, and the taste of amba pushes a crazy button in my head. I smell it.. I MUST have some. I guess other people get excited about chocolate, but that complicated pungent smell gets my juices going.   Cooking this chicken was easy. I put some amba inside the chickens and coated the outside  with lots more amba.  Then I cooked until done. That’s the recipe. Once the chicken was cool I cut it up into serving pieces. The amba has a strong  and complicated flavor. I think the rest of the meal  needs to provide a gentle balance.The jasmine rice with cardamom is cooking right now and I still have to make the green salad.   ...