What Next?

That's my latest work of art, the hat with some tops I have to match. Now, my problem is what to crochet next.

A few years ago, before I crocheted hats, when I was still doing needlepoint, I met someone who told me how much fun she had crocheting hats. She also told me how many she had--dozens and dozens--I can't remember the exact number. But I do remember that my reaction was:

"I don't want to have so many hats. I don't need so many hats."

Then I ran out of wall space, and airplanes stopped allowing scissors (needed for needlepoint) so I began to crochet.

And, yes, I've lost count of how many hats I've crocheted. And yes, again, I don't need so many. But really, crocheting isn't that awful a vice. And I do wear hats every waking moment of the day.

My big problem is that I don't know how to crochet anything other than hats. OK, when my grandson gets older, I'll be able to crochet him kippot. I used to crochet for my daughter, but she does nicer stuff.

I have all sorts of yarn and string left over, and I'd like to use it, instead of buying more. That way the hats, or whatever, won't cost anything. Two of the colors I used in my last hat were left-over from other projects/hats.

Networking With The Greats

There has been anarchy in one of my classes. When teenage boys go wild, I'm not going to endanger my health. But one thing I must do is to blog about it and send the post to The Carnival of Education and get the advice of teachers from all over the world.

Here's the latest edition.

Easy, One-Pot Vegetable Soup

I must admit that, as I write this, the smell of the soup is driving me nuts, but it's only half an hour until the end of the fast.


Usually I make a two-pot vegetable soup, which is always delicious. But then I make too much, and I just made it last week during Chanukah, so I decided to make a quicker, easier and smaller one.

First thing I did was to take a handful of beans, check them, rinse them and put them in a pot with boiling water.

• I let them cook 15 minutes, then sit, covered*, for an hour.


• pour out the liquid, since people say that beans are easier to digest if you pour out the first liquid


• next some split peas, check, rinse, add to pot with more boiling water and cook at least a half hour. Sit covered.


• Then I added cut-up onion and carrots


• Tomato paste and rice and lots more water, and cook for an hour.

Put in salt, pepper and whatever a few minutes before turning off the flame. And let it "sit" a bit more.

*Cover with a heavy towel to keep the heat in the pot.

I hate fasting

Is it in bad taste (tasteless --oops again) bad pun, or anti-religious to say that I don't like fasting?

According to Jewish Law there are a number of fast days, which move so slowly, throughout the year. Today, the Tenth of the Jewish Month of Tevet, is one of them.

With the exception of Yom Kippur and the Ninth of Av, the fast days are only during daylight, from the first rays of the sun until darkness.

The 10th of Tevet is both the best and worst of the fasts. It's the shortest, because there are few daylight hours, and it's the worst, because it's so cold, and by not eating, I get cooolllllldddeeerrrrrrrrr and even cccoooooolllllllllddddddeeeeeerrrrrrrr.....

Sometime this after noon I'll probably cook a vegetable soup which is a great fast-breaker.

Rotten Return

When I entered the Teachers Room yesterday, after a nice long Chanukah vacation, I was rather surprised to see the "Supervisor," my boss from the Education Ministry. After that, if you can believe it, things went even further down hill.

It definitely could have been a better day.

A Teacher's Life

This is not original. It has been going around on the internet and was sent to me by a fellow teacher, a cousin of mine.

The Teacher Applicant

After being interviewed by the school administration, the teaching prospect said, "Let me see if I've got this right: You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning. You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride. You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job. You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the state exams. You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English and Spanish by email, letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card. You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a chalkboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps. You want me to do all this and then you tell me........ I CAN'T PRAY?"

This about sums it up!

Back to Work

It was so nice being on vacation, a week and a half, actually more.

I didn't do all that much, besides relax. And yes, go to the Dead Sea with a friend. It was Chanukah, and that's the winter break here. In Israel we live according to the Jewish Calendar.

This morning I have to get myself ready to greet all my students. I just hope that they're ready for me!

Recipes, The Carnival

No, not KCC. That's due to be served to you on Thursday. It's almost ready, just waiting any last minute guests, hint, hint!

The Carnival of Recipes is posted. There's a nice mix of recipes. Of course, some aren't kosher, but they can be ignored or adapted for the kosher kitchen. I just couldn't resist the dessert table...

Perfect Way to Start the Day

There's nothing more beautiful than a Shiloh sunrise in the winter...

A nothing more interesting to read with one's morning coffee than....

Here's the link.

www.CustomSignGenerator.com has hundreds of online image generating gadgets (banner ad maker, sign generator, label designer, custom e-cards, button creator, etc). Make your own words show up in images to use on your website or blog!

They Sure Don't Make Shopping Bags Like They Used To!

Who could ever resist that hot pink and black bag? Certainly not any of us from the '60's.

Davka, the New York Times has an article about the great shopping bags the stores are giving out with your purchases there.

Last week after buying the whole family Chanukah presents, I figured better safe than sorry* and bought myself some presents in "Crazy Line." The bag was worth it! And when I asked the saleswoman for some more bags, to make it easier to carry all the gifts, she was very generous. You would have thought I had ought myself a whole new wardrobe there, instead of just a few tops.

So, the message is, you don't have to shop in New York to get great, free shopping bags from stores.

*just to make sure I had some gifts, too, of course

A Couple of Things

First of all, take a gander at the latest Gantseh Megillah, filled with a great variety of articles.

And I'm busy with this month's Kosher Cooking Carnival. Please submit your posts and any you deem suitable for KCC via blog carnival. The Kosher Cooking Carnival is more than just recipes. Any post about kosher food or kashrut is welcome. If you're interested in hosting one, please let me know. Thanks

Teaching Tricks

This isn't "magic" tricks. This is about teaching tricks, meaning tricks for teachers. I read "How my day was saved" on Frumteacher and I remembered something I did recently at work.

I've been teaching EFL English here in Israel for ten years, into year eleven now, and up until just over a month ago, the "mefakachat," supervisor never showed. I know her, because she taught me "Testing and Assessment" when I did my teachers license a few years ago. We got along fine then.

But I went into a total panic when I heard that she was coming to visit and observe. My 10th grade group is a challenge. Sometimes the lessons are great, and sometimes... not so. Of course, that's the class she was going to observe. And I know those kids wouldn't cooperate.

I had been teaching them "questions," how to understand and how to write them. So I made up a form, with all the question words and space to write questions. They had to write questions to ask the guest. She got bored before they finished; they are sort of slow. So my "guest" wrote "answers" on the board and asked the kids to guess the questions.

I'd be lying to say that it was a rousing success, but it wasn't a total disaster.

For Shabbat

Do you see that funny little metal thing? It covers the "light fan switches" for the fridge/freezer, and it's attached by two small magnets. Do you want to guess how much it costs?

A couple of weeks ago, when I was sick of course, I couldn't get the Shabbat light-stopper to stay on. That meant that we could neither open nor close the fridge, since by opening it the light went on and closing it went off, which is forbidden on Shabbat.

On the old fridges it was easy. As soon as the fridge arrived we would just unscrew the bulb and live happily ever after, until the death of the fridge. Our previous fridge had a little thing which held back the light switch. We put it in Shabbat mode and that's how it stayed until we dumped the fridge.

We were told that this new one was more complicated and we spent a fortune for a little plastic thingee, which began misbehaving. Like some severely hyperactive kid, it just wouldn't stay put. This fridge isn't even two years old. I called the store and they said that I can buy a special "magnet."

OK, but the store is only open in the morning and not every morning. I finally made it there yesterday. The lady remembered my many calls and handed me this little metal thing. When I balked at the price, she even offered to hold my check in case it didn't work and only deposit it if I gave my OK. Yes, I could return it.

As You can see in the picture, it does work.

Do you want to guess the price? Would you believe ns100? Yes, one hundred shekels. At today's rate, that's $25- including tax!

But it's for Shabbat...

Catch It While You Can!!

Chez Gita is closing down. Yes, that lovely little restaurant on Chavatzelet Street in downtown Jerusalem.

Instead of my usual rushed felafel, I made a point of having a meal there and even treated myself to a piece of cake... which was so rich I couldn't even finish it.


I sat by the window and enjoyed the view. OK, you probably think I'm nuts to enjoy watching a "construction scene," but I always get a kick out of the reflections on windows.
There's a certain elegance to the restaurant, though some other diners were speaking so loudly, it was hard to control myself. I felt that I should join their conversation. The music was lovely; I tried to concentrate on that and the view.

If you can, pop in for a lovely meal or snack.

Good luck Gita...

Finally tried it out

For whatever reasons, I kept thinking that the Shammai 12 restaurant in Jerusalem was similar to the Hillel chain.


Maybe that's because the streets are parallel. But the Aroma chain is the one similar to Hillel. Shammai 12 is something else. It's one of those "Italian" ones.


I finally tried it out not long ago.


The waitress tried to talk me out of having spinach ravioli in pesto sauce. She said that many customers are turned off by so much green, but I liked it. The only mistake was that I was at a "social occasion," the screening of Refusenik afterwards, and I kept having to clean my mouth with mint strips because of the garlic.


The location, music and food, all fine.

EDUCATION-- Read all about it!

The Latest Carnival of Education is truly great! The various posts from all over the world deal with important issues.

Take a gander!

ps thanks to sara g for the correction

What's Your Favorite Chanukah Food?

What do you eat with your latkes?

Do you prefer yeast sufganiyot or the quickie type?

What's you favorite filling for sufganiyot?

In what type of oil do you fry all that special Chanukah Food?

Have you eaten in any good kosher restaurant lately?

Shemitta: How has it changed your life?

TU B'Shvat's approaching: What's your favorite fruit?

Do you celebrate the holiday with a special "Seder TU B'Shvat?"

and now...

If you've blogged about these things and other kosher food topics, and if you haven't... nu? How about it? Please send me your posts for the next

Kosher Cooking Carnival!

If you're interested in hosting a future KCC, please let me know, shilohmuse at yahoo dot com. Please submit your posts and any you deem suitable for KCC via blog carnival. The Kosher Cooking Carnival is more than just recipes. Any post about kosher food or kashrut is welcome.

Thanks

Strange Tag

I was tagged to the the 7 Strange Things About Yourself meme.

Now, strange and me, that's an easy combo. Let's start with the obvious...

1. I was actually double-tagged. I just got back from the morning in the Dead Sea and was excited to see two comments to my blog, both tags. One from Babka and the other from Fern Chasida. They had both been tagged by Juggling Frogs, and they both tagged me.
2. My married name (before we Hebraized it) rhymed with my "maiden" name; I went from Spiegelman to Winkelman.
3. Not only isn't "muse" my real name, but Batya isn't either.
4. I am one of the oldest female jbloggers. I know of one older than me, for sure.
5. But most people can't tell how old I am, since I inherited good genes.
6. I may be eligible for "senior discounts" before I decide what I want to do when I grow up.
7. My very first TV appearance, probably before most of you were born, was on the "Allen Berk Show," the summer of 1967. If you want details, please ask... yes, it would make a great post.

And I tag: my husband, (poor guy, being married to me can't be easy,) Cosmic X, Soccer Dad, The Muqata, and Joe Settler. And please, if anyone else is interested, please, post the meme and let me know.

The Rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs
4. Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog

Must Get Picture CD's Organized

Somehow I must make time to put them in some sort of order, and it would help to get better "holders."

When my camera was new, I took some pictures at a friend's party and she said she never got them. At least I found them on the other computer. If I can't find the CD, I'll have to burn them again and email the pictures.

Other things to do now...

New Version of Potato Latkes

Yes, Baruch Hashem, the house was pretty full last night to celebrate the 7th night of Chanukah.

I tried a new version of the classic, raw potato Potato Latkes (pancakes.) Using my food processor, I shredded about half the potatoes, onions and a nice big carrot. Then I used the knife attachment to "chop" the rest really fine. Everything was then put in a big bowl with the eggs, seasonings and matzah meal to sop up the liquid. No, I don't pour out any liquid from the potatoes and onions, and I didn't soak the potatoes in water, nor did I bother peeling the potatoes.

Everyone agreed that it was a great success! Doing it this way is the "best of both worlds."

Exact measurements? Sorry. There's really no way of measuring exactly. I'd estimate that you should have approximately twice the bulk potatoes to onions. You can add carrots and squash. This isn't some exact chemistry formulae.

And this is our traditional game. Pin the candle on the Menorah.