Potato Pancakes

It has been forever since I last made potato pancakes, definitely since before I had cancer which means at least nine years ago, but I would bet it has been longer. I really only eat them once a year, or at least just in this time of year, and if someone else makes them, then I don't and that has happened pretty routinely, it turns out. I am writing this down because it avoids the thing I like least about making them, which is when the potatoes get grey before they are cooked. 3 lbs. potatoes, grated (I use the food processor) 1-2 onions, grated 3-4 eggs 2-4 Tbs. of flour, potato starch, or bread crumbs salt and pepper to taste Grate the onions and potatoes together, and submerge in water until ready to start frying. Drain and pat dry, add the other ingredients and start the oil up to fry them immediately. I used a #30 scoop but you could go smaller. Fry until you can see them browning nicely then flip. Makes enough for 10 people to have quite a few.

Pandemic Atoning

Here we are, Yom Kipur has rolled around and it is once again time to take stock of the year and how it has gone. Since it was laregely taken up with the pandemic, it was much easier in some ways to avoid messing up with people. On the other hand, if we look at community and what each of our personal role is in that community it became even clearer that for about a third of people, there is no sense of community. If they would not do something for themselves, then they would not even consider doing it for someone else. And I have been seeing something else as well. That the people who do things for their community do not want to have to shoulder the burden of those who do not. They are tired of not just their attitude, but also of bearing the consequences of their reactions. So as COVID is raging in the non-vaccinated and resources are once again stretched, there is more talk of rationed care, and there arre far fewer people who are outraged by that. The pendulum is swinging to the opposite side, and unless things change a lot in the next few weeks, there will not be room in hospitals to care for those who choose to put us all at risk. I hope the year is sweeter than it is starting out is all I can say.

Sephardic Haroset

We begin this Passover season with the COVID pandemic still in full swing, despite the limited availability of vaccines. At our table we have fully and partially vaccinated people, gathered for a mask free event of more than one bubble for the first time in over a year. While there are still plenty of reasons to be cautious, there is a reay of hope this year, and we are celebrating with two types of haroset this year, maximizing the sweetness over the bitterness. Chag Sameach! 1 1/2 cups red wine (recommended: cabernet sauvignon or Manischewitz) 1 pound (2 1/2 cups) red raisins 8 ounces (1 1/2 cups) dried dates, chopped fine 4 ounces (3/4 cup) dried apricots, chopped fine 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste 8 ounces (1 1/2 cups) roasted almonds 1 teaspoon orange blossom water (optional) Bring wine to a light simmer on medium heat, then stir in fruit and spices. Cook uncovered until fruit is well hydrated and wine has reduced to a thick syrup, about 15 minutes. Add salt to taste and set aside. In a food processor, roughly chop almonds in short pulses. There should be no whole almonds remaining; a mix of large chunks and small crumbs is preferable. Remove almonds from food processor and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add fruit mixture to food processor and pulse until fruit just begins to come together into a paste, 2 to 3 one-second pulses. Do not overprocess—large chunks of fruit should be intact. Transfer fruit to mixing bowl and combine well with almonds. Stir in orange blossom water and additional salt if needed. Flavor of haroset will improve over time. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Celebrating a New Year

One of my SIL tested today wishing all of her siblings and families a Happy New Year, and another replied that she hoped that next year was better than this year. It would be hard to argue that this has been a sweet year by any measure, wither on the planet or in the United States.  The inevitable effects of our continued lack of attention to man made climate change just continues to explode into our everyday lives month after month.  We have raging fires in the west, a derecho in the Midwest, and a second major hurricane in the Southeast.  Making matters worse is the ongoing pandemic, with US COVID deaths exceeding 200,000 with about 1,000 new deaths each and every day.  Today emails were released demonstrating that the administration pressured the CDC to suppress accurate information about virus prevention for fear it would make them look bad, fearing neither an increasing death count nor unnecessary infections as a cornerstone of  their legacy.

So, how does next year look?  Only the election results can answer that.  In November, vote like your life depends on it, because it could, and do what you can to ensure a sweeter new year with fewer carbon emissions.

It Would Have Been Enough

There is so much that has gone wrong with the US COVID-19 response.  It is hard to know where to start.  The concept of Dayenu, ot it would have been enough, is prevalent in the Passover story, and sadly fits our current debacle.
The first is that we do not have a leader who is capable of managing a day care center, much less a national response to a pandemic. Dayenu.  Second, he put his SIL, a man child who has nothing but a list of failures to his name, in charge of preparation.  Dayenu.  His aversion to expertise is on public display and as the death toll has risen, hospitals don't have enough PPE, he has become increasingly irrational and rambling. Dayenu.    The distribution of resources based on how much you praise him, the confiscation of imported items, and the graft in the bail out package all speak to a massively failed response.  Dayenu.  Now the GOP, which is the disease, is looking to shut down the post office so people won't be able to vote by mail. Ok, now you have gone too far. 

The Four Questions

The repetition in the Passover story, the leaving behind a life of slavery, and heading out into the desert, not to a life of luxury, but rather one that has new struggles, is something we do year after year.  The fact that it is inextricably linked with the Easter story does distract from its significance, and it is true that this might be somewhat limited to Jews and those that love them.
Obama saw the link between this story and that of African-Americans who survived slavery.  Here is an excerpt form his 2015 announcement of the White House celebration of Passover:
We are "retelling one of humanity’s great stories of liberation.  The Exodus was neither easy nor quick.  The Israelites’ journey to freedom required them to choose faith over fear and courage over complacency.  Above all, it required the works of an awesome God, who led them out of bondage with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
The story of the Exodus – the signs and wonders that appeared when hope seemed lost, the Jewish people’s abiding belief that they would one day reach the Promised Land –  has inspired countless generations over the years.  It inspired Jewish families to hold fast to their faith, even during times of terrible persecution.  It inspired young Civil Rights leaders as they marched across an Alabama bridge in search of their own Promised Land, half a century ago.
And it continues to inspire us today.  Tonight, my family will read the passage of the Haggadah that declares we must see ourselves as though we personally were liberated from Egypt.  The Exodus reminds us that progress has always come slow and the future has always been uncertain, but it also reminds there is always reason for hope.
Like the Israelites who Moses led out of slavery long ago, it is up to us to never lose faith in the better day that lies ahead.  In our own country, we can continue our march toward a more perfect union.  Around the world, we can seek to extend the miracles of freedom and peace, prosperity and security, to more of God’s creation.  And together, we can continue the hard but awesome work of tikkun olam, and do our part to repair the world."

Holiday Paradox

It has been an unusual melding of religious holidays and secular ones this year so far.  Ash Wednesday fell on Valentine's Day, and now we have Easter on April Fool's Day.  Then add in that Good Friday is the first night of Passover and we are really onto something, because as we all know, the Last Supper was a Seder.
So what to make of this.  We as a country and myself in particular live in a mixed up jumble of cultures and religions.  We hang onto our pagan past, trying to dress it up with meanings that aren't strictly tied to ancient beliefs, so it is nice when we can truly mix it up a bit on the up and up.  There is something quite hilarious about the prankster edge of April Fools Day, mixed in with Jews celebrating their release from slavery and Christians celebrating the miracle that is at the center of their beliefs.  We are not a people who make sense, and we need to embrace those differences, both within us and between us and celebrate what we have while we work for a better world.  May the universe arc towards good, and hurry up about it.

Festival of Lights

To recap the story of Hanukkah, the historical events upon which the celebration is based are recorded in Maccabees I and II, two books contained within a later collection of writings known as the Apocrypha. In the year 168 B.C.E., the Syrian tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes sent his soldiers to Jerusalem. They outlawed practicing Judaism and the Temple was renamed for the Greek god Zeus.  Antiochus offered Jews two options:  conversion or death.  A resistance developed and a third option, war, was successfully waged against the Syrians, who had superior numbers but were none-the-less defeated.

Hanukkah, which means “dedication,” is the festival that commemorates the rededication of the Temple following the defilement caused by the Syrians.  When the Maccabees entered the Temple, they immediately relit the ner tamid (eternal light). They found only a single jar of oil, which was sufficient for only one day. The messenger who was sent to get more oil took eight days, and miraculously, the single jar of oil continued to burn until his return. The rabbis of the Talmud attributed the eight days of Hanukkah to the miracle of this single jar of oil.

The Year Has Begun

It is once again a time of reflection and renewal.  I like to think about all the things that are good and beautiful about life on this amazing planet of ours.
I started out the new year a bit under the weather, so not the most joyful beginning, but I was able to have apples and honey and since I have a good job with good benefits, I was able to take the time I needed to recover. 
And that is not a given in the United States.  Something that has been true for a very long time, our whole time as a country, in fact.  The thing that briefly fooled us into thinking that we might have progressed in a significant way as a society was that our legislators passed laws that made a very flawed system of insurance available to a broader group of Americans who previously could not afford health care and did not get it through their jobs.  We are a strange people, where the majority of people want health care, and they want to retain it for themselves and their family, but they do not realize that in doing so, many of them require government help to do so.  There is yet another threat in the Republican run Congress to dismantle health care coverage for most, and hopefully this is not the year where we take a giant step backwards.

Jews in Shanghai

 Passover is the season to celebrate freedom.  The Jews who left Austria and came to Shanghai's Hong Kuo neighborhood didn't entirely leave Yiddish culture behind them, but they also blended in with the Chinese around them. 
This little museum to the ever so brief time that Jews lived in Shanghai during WWII and left when Mao came to power.  This was not the first time that Jews lived in China.  They were there as early as the 7th century, and had a trading presence through the Song, Tang, and into the Qing dynasties, but always as little communities and often times assimilating.  Jews who came from Austria worked to learn the language and be a part of the immigrant rich Hong Kuo neighborhood.  They were largely accepted as well.

The temple that was established by those refugees is now home to the Shanghai Refugee Museum, which is a very inspirational place to go.  There are lots of things that people brought with them and then left behind, as well as photographs and videotaped stories of many people who took shelter in this neighborhood after literally fleeing with their lives. They talked about all the great things that happened to them, and left out all the terror and misery.  They were very grateful for what China did for them, even though at the time, Shanghai was an occupied city.  So they didn't escape war, but they did escape concentration camps and almost certain death.

Ma Nishtana

And so it begins.  Why is this night different from all other nights?  It is different because on this night we celebrate freedom.  Our ancestors experienced slavery but we are free.  Life may not be perfect but for one week every year it seems reasonable to look back into the past and acknowledge that in fact we have some real pluses.
Two thoughts from me on this.  The first is that human trafficking is a very real thing for women from impoverished countries.  Some are imprisoned as sex slaves, some are sold into it, but slavery is not over for everyone on the planet.  That is a very bad thing.
The other is that given the totalitarian nature of our current government that we should not take our own freedoms for granted.  The rise of racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, and the open lack of tolerance for differences is just bad for us.  It gives us nothing and it takes away a lot. So speak out, support democracy, say something when you see something.  The time for silence is over.  And Happy Passover to all!

Hanukkah Reflections

The truth be told, Hanukkah is a very minor holiday that celebrates an event that was not a big deal involving people who were not so very nice.  However, while I would ordinarily downplay this as an excuse to light beautiful candles, which I love, and to eat fried food, which is yet another pitfall of the holiday season, this year I feel differently.  I remain quite upset about the outcome of the presidential election, where we as a country managed to elect, not by majority vote, a man who is frightening.  He is openly racist, degrades women, people of color, immigrants, disable people, you name it he thinks it is beneath him.  The people who claim that this is not what the take home message from the election is, that it is the decline of working class white Americans and their anger at being abandoned that elected such a man.  I say bullshit.  These things were not deal breakers for them, and that reflects their values.  They are much more willing to accept the fiction that this sort of man would care at all about them, that he would not rob the country blind, which will leave them even worse off, that his cabinet wants to take every little thing they have left, and leave them without healthcare, retirement money, and jobs with a future.  I only hope that we still have the ability to vote when he is done with us, and that he will unite progressives and force them to action in a way that no other man has.

Day of Atoning Comes Around Again

It is yet again time to atone for sins.  And to fast.  And to think about life.  This last several months has been so busy for me that I haven't really been able to slow down enough for the high holidays, but as I have sat around a number of different tables with various members of my community, I have definitely had time to think about the things that are good in my life.  I think this election season has unleashed a lot of behavior that leaves a lot to be desired.  I am not at all sure that those folks are seeking atonement, mores the pity.  As is so often the case, those that need it most are least likely to seek it.  I myself am working on my own foibles, and in the absence of making big changes, at least trying to down size my life to what I think are important elements of it.  That, and trying to get to November 8th without losing the friends that I share values with.

Happy New Year

I has been a difficult year for me, but that is no reason to not celebrate the new year.  I have had major abdominal surgery,  been on chemotherapy almost the entire year, and I have been unexpectedly hospitalized on more than one occasion this past year.  On the traditional calendar, I had met my deductible for the year within the first few days, because I was in the ICU and those bills add up quickly.  No more niggling copayments.  Come in for a liter of fluids?  Not a problem.  Not that I would hunt for bargain basement prices for my healthcare, but it is indicative of the seriousness of the situation.
So what is there to celebrate?  Thankfully quite a lot.  One thing about being seriously ill is that I was the recipient of hundreds of acts of kindness.  I spoke early on with a woman who was a couple of years ahead of me in the ovarian cancer maze, and she told me how much the cards she received meant to her going forward, so I saved them all in a box for future inspiration.  I received lots of beautiful things that were helpful to me in terms of spirit, as well as being actually useful.  It was humbling and heart warming, and I am looking forward to what I can do this year to reciprocate some of the wonderfulness that I got last year.  So celebrate everyone!

Reflections on Passover

Once again the week of Passover has come and gone, and once again I have managed to mistakenly eat hametz.  This time my excuse is that I woke up from surgery and the only thing that was appealing on the list of possible things to eat was graham crackers.  I was well into my second bite before I realized and switched to ice cream.  I have had a much more celebratory holiday season since I started eating kitniyot two years ago (which means that I am only avoiding the 5 grains that the Torah says to avoid--wheat, spelt, barley, rye, and oats--rather than all the legumes and additional assorted grains, as the Ashkenazy tradition has dictated for eons.  That is a game changer.  It means that Mexican food (corn) and Asian food (rice) are on the menu, and it is less of a hardship and more of a holiday.  But it still means that I think about the restrictions for eight days, and with that I think about the toll that slavery takes.  We are in the midst of a resurgence in open prejudice in the United States.  Some people want to blame immigrants and those living in poverty for their life troubles, rather than those who make literally thousands of dollars an hour balking at paying a minimum wage of $15/hour to their employees.  It is absurd in the extreme.  The theme of personal freedom and social justice run rife with the Passover story, and while I am not a huge fan of matzah and I am surprised each year by how hard it is to keep Passover, it is well worth the time to think about these themes while enjoying the fourth or fifth matzah ball of the week.

Thanksgivukkah

It is a historic convergence of two great cultural celebrations--Hanukkah and Thanksgiving, one religious and one societal.  It is the first and likely the last time in my lifetime that it will occur, and it seems particularly significant to me, because it represents both mine and my husband's cultural heritages.

I come from seriously old New England Puritan stock.  My ancestors left England not to seek their fortune, but to pursue their religious freedoms (which, given the restrictive elements of Puritanism, do not seem all that free, but it was important to them, and a hundred plus years after their arrival in this new land they fought for it's independence from England).  While the exact timing and location of the first Thanksgiving are unknown (and there are serious questions about whether or not it actually happened), the idea of celebrating survival in a new and fairly harsh environment was definitely something my relatives would resonate with.

My spouse is from an Ashkenazi Jewish heritage--his people immigrated to the United States more recently and while they have whole heartedly adopted the concept of being thankful about what one has, Thanksgiving has a different place in their cultural heritage.  On the other hand, Hanukkah, the festival of lights, is most certainly in his genes. It is a relatively minor Jewish holiday, but the act of lighting progressively more candles over the course of 8 nights makes for a joyful holiday, none-the-less.  We have often each lit candles on our own menorahs so that by the fifth night, they represent a thing of beauty or a significant fire hazard, depending on your point of view.

So this is the first time that something significant to both of us going back dozens of generations will occur simultaneously is something to celebrate in and of itself.

The Book of Life

The new year has begun.  The Days of Awe, a time for reflection, self-assessment, and the asking and receiving of forgiveness, are behind us.  The fast of Yom Kippur has come and gone (for another year), and the shofar has blown.

I am struck every year by the beauty of this tradition, which goes back literally centuries.  Assessing the gifts we have, the flaws we balance them with, and the ways to keep balance, harmony, peace, and goodness in our lives, to critically evaluate ourselves and our world, in order to both be grateful and to ask forgiveness is something that we might forget to do if we weren't following this tradition.

I am doing a lot of college level reading these days.  My youngest son is an auditory learner, and needs to listen to all of his assignments for his various college classes, and at this point, my husband and I are doing the bulk of that reading out loud.  I have been reading about cinema for his film analysis class, and there is a lot about philosophy and art wrapped around the readings that focus on the mechanics of writing and producing a quality film.  One of the concepts that struck me was the idea of 'slow film'--in the era of multitasking, where we might be simultaneously writing an essay, texting a spouse, chatting on Facebook with a friend, and emailing, all while listening to music, it made me pause.  The paper was juxtaposing some very slow filming, even filming in slow motion, can reveal things that the fast pace of movies like 'The Bourne Identity' cannot.  There is value in slowing things down, even to the point of what might be considered boredom, in order to better reflect on what brings passion and satisfaction to life.  So, I am taking a moment to reflect as I have a bagel with whitefish salad.

Gefilte Fish Pate

 For more than 20 years I have been not making gefilte fish for Passover.  Our friend that we always celebrate did not come home until the first night of Passover and she asked us to hots it--what?  Make gefilte fish?  I don't think so.  But this recipe is very simple, came out beautifully, and is more flexible in terms of serving size options.  It slices like a dream.  The only thing is that this amount of gefilte fish did not fit into my bundt pan, so I did two of them, and it was at least enough to serve 25 or more people.  Halving the recipe and putting it in a 7-cup or 8-cup bundt pan will do nicely for most celebrations.

This comes from Joan Nathan, a trusted name in Jewish Holiday cooking.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 medium sweet onions (about 2 pounds), peeled and chopped
• 3 pounds whitefish fillet, bones removed, finely ground (I used the food processor to grind, but it is a fine grind that way.  I also used a 1/4 lb. of smoked salmon to add a little bit of that flavor, which I like, and you can eliminate the sugar that way because it adds a bit of sweetness)
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups cold water
• 6 tablespoons matzah meal
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground white pepper
• 2 tablespoons sugar (or less)
• 2 large carrots, peeled and grated (I chopped in food processor)
• Fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
• Horseradish, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
   
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until translucent. Remove from heat and let cool.
   
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine fish, cooled onions, eggs, water, matzah meal, salt, pepper, and sugar. Beat on medium speed for 15 minutes. Add grated carrots and mix until well combined.
   
4. Transfer mixture to 12-cup bundt pan, smoothing top with a spatula. Place bundt pan in a larger baking dish and fill baking dish 2-inches high with water. Transfer to oven and bake for 1 hour. Cover bundt pan with parchment paper-lined foil and continue baking until center feels solid when a wooden skewer is inserted into the center, about 1 hour more.
   
5. Remove bundt pan from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Invert onto a flat serving plate and refrigerate overnight. Slice and serve garnished with parsley.
   

Festival of Lights

I love a good show of light, there is no doubt about it.  And so does the rest of the world, it turns out, because festivals of light are common.  This picture is from a Diwali celebration, which looks to be the winner in terms of the celebration of light.  Such gorgeous, ornate, and elaborate displays are put on in India.  They have the tradition of color that helps to make the displays all the more  pleasing to the eye.

Today is the beginning of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights.  Religiously speaking, it is a minor holiday, but it serves as a reminder of how powerful ritual is in the human experience.  Regardless of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, across the globe, man celebrates recurring events around the calendar.  The older the ritual, the more connected with our ancestors we are.  When we light menorahs tonight, we are following in the foot steps of people across centuries.  That need for connection and community--across geography and across time--is something that we all share. So tonight, lighting a single candle with a shamus ('the servant' or the kindling candle) and be connected to a tradition as old as people on this earth.  Back then they could not surf their smart phones lying in bed, but we can all share the inspiration of light.

Apple Challah

Happy New Year!

1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1/4 cup  honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2  egg yolks plus 1 whole egg
1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) table salt
3-4 cups all-purpose flour

2  apples diced

Make your dough: Whisk yeast and 1 teaspoon honey into 2/3 cup warm water and let stand until foamy, a few minutes.
In the bowl of a stand mixture, whisk together yeast mixture, oil, remaining honey, eggs and yolk. Switch to dough hook and add flour and salt. Use dough hook on a moderate speed until it pulls all of the flour and wet ingredients together into a craggy mass. Lower the speed and let the dough hook knead the dough for 5 minutes, until smooth, elastic and a little sticky--add flour until it is the right stickiness.
 

Transfer dough to large oil-coated bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour, or until almost doubled in size.
Add apples to the dough--fold them into the dough.
Dough can be either woven into a round loaf, or made into a long rope and wound together in a spiral.

Beat an additional egg until smooth and brush over challah. Let challah rise for another hour but 45 minutes into this rise, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Bake in middle of oven for 40 to 45 minutes. It should be beautifully bronzed; if it starts getting too dark too quickly, cover it with foil for the remainder of the baking time.