Chris' Journal

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today's liturgical earworm
I've started praying a brief set of Hebrew prayers, the Nissim bChol Yom (Everyday Miracles), every day when I wake up in the morning. Sometimes I do it and then I'm done; other days, one particular prayer stays with me on my cranial tape loop for minutes or hours. Today, for some reason, it was the first one:

Baruch atah Adonai, eloheinu melech haOlam, asher natan lesechvi vinah lhavchin bein yom uvein leila.

This might be loosely rendered into English as

Blessed are you, was-is-will-be, ordainer-sustainer of all, that gives the heart understanding to distinguish between night and day.

Perhaps this means to me, today, that there are times for each thing, and we are blessed to be able to do this now and that later, to have a rhythm to our days and our lives.

Shavua tov! (Have a good week!)

what are your favorite podcasts?

I listen to podcasts at the gym, while doing dishes, and while doing my morning and evening self-care routines. That ends up eating a lot of words, and I'm running out of stuff I like! I love Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me and like The Splendid Table and the NPR Food and Environment podcasts. I tried Escape Pod and Podcastle, but I found most of the stories a little creepy for me. I've been shopping around the itunes store and have a few more things on my phone to try. What do you love?

I don't think that word means what you think it means
This morning's pretend play: Michelle is feeding Rebecca some "college". I'm not sure what food group college is in, but apparently you serve it in a bowl and eat it with a spoon. Huh.

a theme continues
Rebecca: I'm makin' some zombies!
Me: Cool! What do you make zombies out of?
R: Wood!
Me:
It turns out that she was making the zombies by stacking up alphabet (and aleph-bet) blocks. A little later, I turned out the light in the part of the room where the "zombies" were so as to encourage the girls to sit with me on the couch for bedtime stories and not run around playing with blocks. They both vociferously insisted that I needed to turn the light back on. I didn't get a clear answer on the subject of why (their most common answer to any "why" question is "yes"), but it seems quite possible that these zombies are afraid of the dark.

party prep
So, we're all going to a belated Ukranian New Year's party this afternoon. The girls are excited because they can wear costumes. They're also very big into pretend cooking. We were sitting around the dining table and I got out a cookbook, explaining that I was looking at the recipe I was going to cook to bring to the party. rebecca demanded a cookbook of her rown and said:

R: I'm going to cook for my party!
Me: You're having a party? That's great. Who's going to come to your party?
R: Zombies are going to come to my party!

So, if you get an invitation from Rebecca, be cautious!

that was fun!
Usually on a Tuesday morning, I take the girls to the gym. They hang out at the drop-in daycare while I use the exercise bike and weight machines. I have to hustle a bit to get them and myself there and back before our nanny comes to relieve me so I can go off for a therapy appointment and the week's grocery shopping. Today I feel like I have a bit of a cold, so I want to rest and help keep it from getting bad (relatively speaking; there's no complete rest when you're watching toddlers). So we stayed home. We read a bunch of books -- they have a great new one called Belching Hill from the Friends of the Library book sale. It's about an old lady in Japan who outwits some ogres, and the pictures are colorful and gorgeous. Then they bounced on the guest bed for a while, then I tried to get them dolled up and take some photos (Grandmom Lea is heading for a celebration with old friends and wants pictures). This ended when Rebecca pulled the rubber bands off her pigtails and declared "I don't want to be cute!" Well, as someone who subscribed to Ms. Magazine throughout her teen years, I can't really argue with that. (Don't worry, Grandmom, I did get some good ones.)

Then for the most fun of all -- they were getting cabin fever, so I pulled the tarp off the enormous sandbox out front. We climbed and crawled and built and drew and smashed and buried for 45 minutes or so, then came in and took a bath together because we were all so sandy. It was terrific fun.

Everything in our normal scheduled week seems important (one day with a class for them, two gym days for me, one day playgroup, and one day that I get off and they go to the park with the nanny). But it was really great to have an unpressured day where we didn't have to rush to or from anything. We need to do that at least once in a while.

a nuanced performance
So, one of the classic items in the "terrible twos" behavior portfolio is testing boundaries. The kids needs to know what the rules are, and what happens if they're broken. Michelle has been at this a long time. She will do something she knows or suspects is not allowed, like standing up on a chair, while intently watching the nearest adult to see what the reaction will be. She also seems to wait to drink the bathwater (not allowed, and she knows it) until Harold has Rebecca on his lap to be twoel-dried and thus can't easily intervene. Rebecca hasn't been doing this kind of thing as much as Michelle, but the other day she turned in a masterwork performance of this particular art form.

I was making meatballs, rolling the meat mixture between my palms and placing the shaped balls on racks set in cookie sheets to be baked. Rebecca was having a snack at the other end of the table. She gets down from her chair and comes to one closer to me. She reaches out to touch one of the meatballs on its rack.
Me: "Don't touch that! It's raw meat, and besides, you've just been having a milk snack." So, she touches the tray.
Me: "Don't touch the tray, either."
R: (suiting the action to the word) "I'm touching the table."
Me: "That's ok, you can touch the table."
So she starts running her finger along the edge of the tray while still touching the table. She was clearly going to explore every shade of behavior she could find to know the exact boundary between the permitted and the forbidden. Writing that sentence, I realize that this may mean she has the makings of a rabbi...I decided to let table-plus-tray slide. Among other things, with my hands coverd in raw meat, my options for intervening were limited.

puff pastry party snacks (vegan!)
These are always a hit at Winter Lights, and the only savory I took the time to make, rather than buy, this year. Sherrie asked for the recipe, so here it is:

Take a package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry (two sheets) and thaw according to package directions.

Unfold one sheet of pastry on a sheet of baking parchment or silicone baking sheet liner. Roll it out a bit thinner, not much, maybe extend it by 10% or 15% in length. Prick the center all over with a fork to reduce puffing. If you want, you can make an edge by folding up, pasting on strips, or some such, but this year I skipped that and no one seemed to mind. Spread on filling, leaving a rim of plain pastry. Brush the edge with egg wash if you like. Bake in preheated 400 deg oven 15-20 min or until golden. Cut with pizza wheel or sharp knife and serve hot.

Topping 1, caramelized onions: Make this ahead. Take 4 or more medium-sized red onions (it's impossible to make too much of this stuff; it's totally delicious). Cut in half, then slice thinly. Sautee slowly in olive oil (or butter, if you're not going for vegan/parve) until they are soft, much reduced in volume, darker in color, and give off an excellent smell. Can refrigerate overnight or longer. Also good on pizza or pasta or in a crepe.

Topping 2, Indian-ish: Spread Trader Joe's Tomato Chutney thinly on uncooked pastry. Sprinkle on a bit of thinly sliced raw red onion. Take a handful of cooked chickpeas and put in a sealed bag or storage container with some curry powder. Shake to flavor with curry. Add to pastry and press gently down. Bake as directed. After baking, sprinkle on fresh chopped cilantro.

Topping 3, Nicoise-ish (not veg): sprinkle on grated parmesan and add anchovies, good black olives, and sliced tomatoes (didn't do this one this year).

I did an herbed cheese spread this year too, but don't think it was very successful -- it browned too much for my taste.

Enjoy!

dialog
Rebecca: It's a gray day today.
Me: Yes, it is.
(later)
R: It's also a white day today.
Me: Yes, there are a lot of white clouds in the sky.
R: I'm going to climb up a ladder with a spoon.
Me: You're going to climb up a ladder and eat the clouds?
R: Yes!
Me: What do you think the clouds taste like?
R: Diamonds and gumdrops!
[I think there's a line in one of the books we read where something shines "like diamonds and gumdrops", but I don't remember which. Anyway, it seemed to me quite a poetic imagining.]

"What means גלידה?"
We use Hebrew as our "secret language" when we don't want the girls to know what we're talking about. The jig may be up soon. Tonight Harold asked me, in Hebrew, if I wanted something from the ice cream shop -- we were going home in separate cars, and he would stick it in the freezer until the girls were in bed. Michelle piped up with "What means גלידה? What means גלידה Daddy?" גלידה means "ice cream".

I am grateful
I have so many blessings to be grateful for:

Basics, which no one should have to do without, but so many do: a warm, safe house; clothing; good food; energy for heat and light; books; a nation with strong civic institutions with relative peace in the streets; medical care. And I have not only all these basic blessings, but nice versions of them, and the luxury of plenty, giving me the chance to pick and choose which bit or which sort of them I want on any given day.

My Crohn's is under good control right now, and I have a really good doctor helping me with it. She's smart and knowledgable and communicative and listens to me and follows up on issues.

My family: two strong (and strong-minded!) beautiful, growing, healthy girls. A partner who is a full co-parent, a good support for me, truly loving, and with whom I share so much. So many, many hugs every day.

My friends, near and far. People with whom to share joy and heartache, parties and gatherings, cooking, crafting, childraising, gardening.

Judaism and my spiritual path. The immense library that is the world of Jewish thought and knowledge, those who built it in the past and are building it in our own day, the many teachers and fellow learners who are helping me explore some small bits of it. the opportunities that I have to learn and think about myself and how I want to live.

For all this and more, I am thankful. May we all be blessed with peace, health, prosperity, and love; and most of all with friends who help us out when things are hard.

Gardening
We've been interested in moving towards having some edibles in the yard. Harold was intrigued, on seeing the yard of our friends Linda and Yair, with being able to pluck something off a bush or vine and eat it, just like that. One day the girls and I were over there for our playgroup. When I picked Rebecca up in my arms, she smelled of sweet, fresh, sunwarmed strawberries and tomatoes. And then when I spent a week doing cat feeding and garden harvestong for Matt and Janet, I was wowed by the fresh raspberries and figs. I was also a bit dismayed by the paucity of raspberries on the long row of canes, but I gather they were well past their peak.

I've been doing our back yard in all native CA plants. The only edible thing we've got there (that's fruiting yet) is a prolific wild grape. The fruits are small, with large seeds, so they're not much good for eating out of hand. I did freeze enough to make some jelly from, if I ever find the time. There are also a hazelnut and golden currant, but both are small and slow-growing and I don't expect fruit any time soon (like, it'll be years). I started to consider raspberries... and then was thrilled to discover several related fruits native to California! There's blackberries, raspberries, salmonberries, and thimbleberries. Thimbleberries are THORNLESS and supposedly have very tasty fruit (you don't see the berries for sale because they are too fragile to ship). I just planted three thimbleberry bushes in our back yard, between the hot tub and the back fence. The plants we bought are fairly small -- the nursery had sold out off the ones they considered truly ready to sell, and pulled some more for us from the back. They gave us 3 for the price of 2 because they were small. I've got them in the ground and waatered them. Later this week it would be good to clear the weeds for a wider distance around them and add some mulch.

But most of our edibles are going to slowly replace the front lawn. Low-effort is key to gardening when you're parents of twin toddlers. What could be easier than cutting out a bit of the already-spray-irrigated turf and dropping in a nursery annual? In spring, I want to put in 2 or 3 tomato plants that way, and maybe one sweet pepper. I'm also thinking of herbs, because spending two bucks for a handful when all I need is a teaspoonful always seems like such a waste. And if it's all there fresh in the yard, I can cook spontaneously, without having to buy all my week's fresh herbs in the one weekly trip. I need to figure out which herbs belong down in the irrigated section and which belong up above it in the non-irrigated planter (which is also getting some freesia bulbs real soon now -- I ordered them last week). Our very first front-yard edibles went in today -- CA wild strawberries, in a bald patch that wasn't getting enough sun to be proper lawn anyway. The girls helped plant them and then lay out a stone border to heep off treading feet and lawnmowers and such. I envision the lawn gradually becoming a patchwork of different edibles, with meandering borders of re-used materials and maybe some quirky statuary.

girl linguistics
The other day in the car:
Me: "...and besides Michelle and Rebecca, I also like to hug Daddy"
Michelle: "Mommy fond of Daddy!"

Well, yes, I am! "Fond" somehow seems like a very grown-up word.

Tonight at dinner:
Me: "Next week Grandma Toni and Grandpa Jonathan are going to come."
Rebecca: "From Pennsylvania!"

I have no idea if she knows what "from Pennsylvania" means, but it is excellent recall and appropriate use of a 5-syllable word.

five things make a post
My two daughters lisping through the Shema (one of the msot important Jewish prayers) in stereo is one of the cutest and sweetest and best things ever.

We spent our first night together away from the girls last night, at the Hilton Santa Cruz/Scott's Valley. They did fine without us -- apparently it was not until 11 am today that Rebecca asked, "Where's Mommy?" (We had of course told them what the plan was.)

I have not yet baked even one batch of cookies for my big December party. I think we're looking at pot luck, here, folks! (December 19, btw -- save the date).

My inlaws are staying with us and, unlike us, occasionally watch broadcast tv as it is aired (we catch a few things via the tivo-lite Harodl has rigged up on our server). I got sucked into Gray's Anatomy the other night and might beome a fan if I had the time. 8^)

We have the latest Discworld book! Harold's further along in reading it than I am, though I suppose I could make some serious headway during the girls' naps this week.

I hope all of you out there are well -- we're doing pretty good here.

Rebecca-isms
Rebecca has some charming mispronunciations. They will surely vanish as time goes on, so I thought I'd record a few of them here:

compumputer
mukis (music -- Michelle uses this one, too)
effelant

And one that was not really a mispronunciation, but a misunderstanding. Rebecca LOVES tomatoes, and for a long time she referred to them as 'napples". It took me a while to figure out why: we have a word-and-picture book that has a big collage of fruits and vegetables. Two moderate-sized tomatoes are superimposed on a big pineapple. She must have thought I was pointing to the tomatoes when I said "pineapple"...anyway, she kept calling them "napples" for a long time, with us insisting that they were tomatoes. Then for a while she compromised with "tinapple". Nowadays she actually says "tomato".

"I'm in the suitcase!" declared Michelle
What she meant is "sukkah" (under construction).

well, THAT could have been a lot worse

Harold and I were sitting in the living room after dinner, when I noticed that things had been a little too quiet for a little too long. Any parent of even one child, let alone twins, knows the kind of suspicious silence I mean. The had vanished into some other part of the house and were clearly way too intent on something. I headed down the hallway, and saw the door of Harold's office open. Now, Harold's office houses his computer, the printer, his treasured comic book collection, and most of his tools, to name just a few. This is why the door is normally kept shut, with a child-defeater on the knob. There's a pack-n-play in there, where Rebecca takes her naps. Michelle used to be the one who napped there, but on a recent occasion she really didn't want her nap and managed to lever herself out of the pack-n-play, so now Rebecca gets that very-un-childproof room. Rebecca is probably also physically capable of getting out of the portacrib, but she's more tractable and hasn't tried it yet. Anyway, I figured correctly that Harold had neglected to shut the door when he picked up an unhappy Rebecca at the end of her nap today. This evening, they found the open door and went in. And, with all those goodies at their disposal, what did they get up to?

( This )

honey cake recipe, for Abi and others

I made a status post on Facebook that said "Christina Zable is watching the girls play at Cubberly. Later we'll go to Peet's to buy coffee as an ingredient for an apple-honey- spice cake for Rosh Hashanah." In a comment thereon, Abi asked for the recipe. Now that the cake is baked and the girls are napping, it seems the perfect time to post the recipe. The cake is wonderfully flavorful and moist, btw.

The recipe is from The World of Jewish Cooking, by Gil Marks. Marks is wonderful -- everything I've made from any of his cookbooks has come out well the first time. It was matzo balls from his recipe that prompted someone to ask, "you made these matzo balls, and your name is Chris!?" He labels the recipe "Lekach (Ashkenazic Honey Cake)"

There's a lot of play in the recipe.

3 1/2 cu flour -- all white, or 2 1/2 cu white and 1 cu whole wheat (I did the latter)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice, cardamom, or ginger (I did the ginger, will try cardamom next time -- need to buy some)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cu granulated or brown sugar (I used 3/4 cu white, 1/2 cu light brown)
1 1/3 cu honey
1 cu hot strong coffee or tea (I used Peet's decaf)
1/4 cu oil
2 Tbl whiskey, brandy, oj concentrate, or apple juice concentrate (I used brandy)
1 Tbl grated orange zest (optional; I omitted it)
1 to 1 1/2 cu raisins, chopped pitted dates, or a mixture (optional, omitted)
blanched whole almonds for garnish (optional, omitted)
variations:
increase honey to 2 cu, reduce coffee to 1/2 cu and sugar to 1 cu (didn't do this)
add 3 cu grated apples (did this, yum!, happy new year!)
add 4 cu finely grated carrots

Makes 2, 9x5" loaves, 2, 9" squares, or one 16"x11" rectangle. Prepare pan(s) by lining with waxed paper or aluminum foil, then grease and flour. (I used parchment paper. I don't have waxed paper on hand, and I'm trying to use less aluminum foil, as I have the impression it's rather energetically expensive to make, plus our recycler won't take it if it's food-soiled. Lining *and* greasing and flouring seems like overkill, but it did release beautifully.)

Combine dry ingredients. Combine coffee, honey, oil, and brandy. Beat eggs and sugar until light. Add dry and wet ingredients alternately, beginning and ending with dry. Gently fold in raisins, apples, or other adulterants. Put into pans and bake -- 1 hr for loaves (that's what we did), 35 min for squares, or 1 1/4 hour for a single big pan.

Enjoy!

playgroup has space, kids 3 & under, Palo Alto and vicinity
So, for the last year or more, my girls and I have had a weekly playgroup we go to. It meets at members' homes. The parents chat and the kids play, and the hosting parent usually provides lunch. Lately, we've had 4 regular familes, meaning 4 moms and 5 kids who showed up more often than not. Two families have just "aged out", with their kids starting preschool. Of the core, this just leaves me, with my 2-year-old twin girls, and one other mom of a 2-year-old girl. It would be nice to have a few more in the group. I've got feelers out to a couple of friends, one with a 9-month-old boy and one whose baby girl will be born any week now. If you know of anyone who's at home with one or more kids 3 years or younger, in or around Palo Alto, who you think I'd find sympatico and who would like a Wednesday morning playgroup, let me know!

unexpected ways having an iPhone has made my life better, #231

My friends Mika and David and I get together every week (or so) to work on our Hebrew. We read and translate articles from Yanshuf, a newspaper in easy Hebrew for language learners. The paper is on summer hiatus, so we're rereading old issues. Tonight we read (again) about the zanvan (זנבן), a small, fearless bird. A few months ago, we probably just looked the bird's name up in our Hebrew-English dictionaries, didn't find it, and moved on. Today I was able to pull out my iPhone and look the word up on morfix.co.il and discover that the English name of the zanvan is...

( (drumroll please) )This is a wonderful, wonderful phrase; knowing of it has made my life richer; thank you, Steve Jobs.