kochleffel

In some cultures, putting eggs inside other foods is an established custom. My father thought that a line of hard-boiled eggs down the center of a meatloaf was a delicacy. My mother disagreed, mostly on the basis of the appearance. For myself, I think that the combination doesn't even taste good. A friend who studied in Hungary told me that, there, eggs can be a substitute for sausage as a stuffing in something else.

We get some high winds here, but not like Mt. Washington. A grilled cheese sandwich is not even under consideration until Passover ends, but for my community, that's tonight. Some communities celebrate it for another day. My closest friend is a lawyer. Arugula is fine with me but if the pesto contains any cheese, I wouldn't be able to have it with chicken. No on the cocktail or any drink with pineapple juice. If you want to bring a bottle of the wine over, I'll help you drink it. I haven't been to the port. Today is the seventh day of Passover, which is considered the day on which the crossing of the Reed Sea took place, and the Torah reading for the morning service contains the description and the song of praise for it; the song is set out in the scroll as poetry. You can see it, and hear the way it's changed, in this video (starting at about 1:30). My plan for this afternoon, after a nap, is to wash all the Passover dishes that need it, including some that have been in the garage for several years and probably need disinfecting. Dinner tonight is planned to require no pans, so there will be very little more to wash before I can start putting them away. The time for putting Passover dishes away is sometimes called Rumpelnacht - rumble night - because of the noise of hurry to do it and sometimes breaking a few dishes. In some historic communities it was like a charivari, and people might save old or chipped dishes to break intentionally.

Thank you. So have I. But I wish there were also a way to block entire threads, because when one of those people starts a thread, I don't want to read any of it. Yes, or two cats. Originally they were Addison and Fergus, who were littermates. Sasha came after Addison died, because Fergus was very social and I thought he needed a companion. When he went, however, I thought that Sasha would do better as an only cat. The city shelter has been trying to place a bonded pair together and if they are still there, I will ask to meet them.

Is someone waging an orchestrated campaign against the Oosterdam, in the form of negative "questions"? In the fall I saw one post claiming that the Oosterdam was a rust bucket, the food was garbage, and the service was terrible. I also saw several favorable trip reports, including from last year's Spanish Farewell (I'm booked on this year's.) Recently there have been several posts, ostensibly asking questions about negative reports presumably heard somewhere. Seeing several on the same day made me think of the classic political smears: "Have you stopped beating your wife?" "Is it true that you're a spy for Grand Fenwick?" "Is anyone paying you to vote for/against [whatever]?"

I never had an eight-track player. I do have a functioning cassette deck, which I use for copying from cassettes to the computer. I like barbershop quartets when they aren't too twee and I miss having a pet. (I'm about ready to change that.) No on the meal, at least for home cooking, and definitely no on the drink. I might like the wine, but at that price will probably never know. I haven't been to Fiji, but you could have guessed that. Taking trash and recycling out in just a minute, then maybe back to bed.

For a former address, I have used the top of the first page of my income-tax return as proof. I keep the forms, although not all the supporting material, forever.

I took a golf class in college and didn't enjoy it. I thought it would be outdoors, but most of the sessions took place at an indoor driving range--the campus had a three-hole golf course, but was in a climate where it rained almost every day that term. Up the road from me is Farm Sanctuary, a rescue for farm animals. I approve of siblings in general, but don't have any. I have avocados! But crab doesn't figure in my plans. Not sure about the drink but I'll mention having found a recipe for a vegan (imitation) tuna salad, based on mashed chickpeas, that used nori to impart a fishy flavor. I tend to like Shiraz and sometimes buy the Banrock Station brand (cardboardeaux). In the south of France, Cannes is the only port I've visited. I'm working today and will go to the office in the morning instead of just the afternoon, in order to work on a mailing list for something that needs to be sent soon. I mentioned the taste of rye matzah yesterday. There is a general feeling that no matzah has any flavor. In reality, it's possible to tell different brands apart. I prefer the Yehuda brand, from Israel, but it didn't arrive in time and this year I have Streit's plain matzah, from NYS, which is also good. Manischewitz is the dominant brand in the U.S. and my only source for whole-wheat matzah. Osem, from a major food company in Israel, is the least desirable, imo.

Two pastors who are friends of mine on "Spacenook" posted this evening about finally getting a break after all the work of Lent and Holy Week. It reminded me of how rabbis and cantors feel when the Jewish holidays in the fall--Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, seven or eight days of Sukkot, and then Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah--are over. One of the daily blessings for Sukkot praises God for telling us to sit in the sukkah. Rabbis and cantors change it after all those holidays close together to "who told us to sit on the sofa."

Some of the few Yiddish words that are in use outside Yiddish-speaking enclaves aren't very polite!

One could. "Happy Passover" is probably more common. The most traditional would be "A sweet and kosher Passover" (said in Yiddish) but I haven't heard it in real life for a long time.

I was wondering whether the Energizer bunny had finished helping with egg deliveries and could drop off some flashlights and batteries.

Although rye is usually combined with wheat for making bread, it does contain some gluten. Wasa rye crispbread and Ry-Krisp aren't very different from matzah, except that they taste better than rye matzah. Oats, OTOH, contain little or no gluten. Nevertheless, a bakery in New Jersey makes gluten-free oat matzah, from a gluten-free strain of oats. Because of all the supervision, starting at harvest time, that's required for it to be certified for Passover, it's very expensive. It's also scarce, and most who need or want to avoid gluten rely on "Gluten-Free Matzoh-Style Squares," which technically are not matzah at all. Thus, they shouldn't fulfill the requirement to eat matzah at the seder, but no one is required to eat something that would make them sick.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate it. I have also visited the Cabinet War Rooms, as they were called then, in London. It was in the afternoon of the day on which, earlier, I had fallen in front of the Royal Festival Hall and ended up in the ER at St. Thomas's for sutures. Shrimp is off my list. So is couscous until after Passover, and Roy's alternative doesn't work, either. No on the drink, probably yes on the wine. I haven't been to Puntarenas. For dinner last night I made a tofu stir-fry with bok choy, served with rice, and there is a story. Religious law restricts five grains--wheat, barley, oats, rye, and spelt*--during Passover. They're not forbidden, but can only be made into matzah. Jews in central and eastern Europe added the custom of not eating any other grains or legumes, on the theory that they could also be milled into flour and could cause confusion, but those in the Mediterranean never adopted those precautions and so eat rice and legumes during Passover. My family practice is eastern European, but a few years ago the Masorti movement in Israel, and subsequently the Conservative movement in North America, rules that everyone should follow the Mediterranean practice. So, while my ancestral practice wouldn't have allowed it, my current practice allows tofu, wheat-free soy sauce, rice, corn, beans, etc. The not-shepherd's pie on Friday included peas, corn, and green beans, too. BTW, I don't have a wok; I use a paella pan. *Spelt is a sub-species of wheat but is listed separately. There is also a question about whether "oats" might really be some other grain. Today I teach Hebrew on Zoom at 9:30 and II Kings at 10:30. On the first morning of Passover, one my adult students asked me to be a witness at his Jewish wedding next month. He and his husband are already married, in a civil ceremony.

Another on the semi-aquatic mammal topic: A man in Queensland, Australia, has been charged with kidnapping a wild platypus. This is a serious offense in Australia, with a maximum fine of $289,000, and he can't surrender it, because he apparently set it loose. The platypus is a mammal that lays eggs, and has a bill like a duck and webbed feet. Males also have venomous spurs. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/world/australia/platypus-australia-train.html?smid=url-share

None of the special days really grabs me, although I like zoos. I suppose I could make sesame zoodles in consideration of Passover but I don't think I will. No on the cocktail and probably also on the wine. It's a Bordeaux-style blend, but with Merlot predominant. Bordeaux blends typically contain Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, and I like them better with less Merlot. The same blend is sold by some wineries, including several in my region, as Meritage, a trademarked name (so they have to belong an an association and follow its rules) that avoids calling an American wine Bordeaux. I haven't been to Puerto Plata or Amber Cove, but seeing how many cruises call at one of them, I probably will get there eventually. The synagogue ritual for the Sabbath during Passover customarily includes a reading of the Song of Songs. It's not really explicit, but it is certainly suggestive. We read only part of it, and the two women (adults, not adolescents) who split the reading blushed, giggled, and almost collapsed in embarrassment. We also sang two modern settings of parts of it; here are links to iconic performances by the composers. I'll be having some of the not-shepherd's-pie as soon as it heats up a little.

For dinner tonight I'm making what would be a shepherd's pie or cottage pie if I had used lamb or beef, but it's with turkey, and I added tomatoes to the vegetables and sauteed onion to the potatoes (the meat mixture has shallots). Ending up with what seemed like every pot and utensil in the kitchen dirty, although it's really not that bad, was an unwelcome surprise, and it took me about ten minutes to remember how to assemble the food mill. Some of the second bottle of Pinot Noir from last night is left to drink with it. Suddenly, today, Wegmans had both Passover cookies and kosher chicken, both of which were conspicuously absent before. I texted the synagogue's kitchen manager to ask if any cookies were needed; she replied that she had tonight and tomorrow taken care of with leftover cake from the second seder, but needed cookies for the last day of Passover next week. The missing dishcloth has not turned up.

Although some Catholic dioceses permitted corned beef on St. Patrick's Day, bishops aren't allowing hot dogs for MLB opening day. https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/04/06/good-friday-meat-mlb/ The ball-park concession stands probably also don't have matzah, not that you can wrap a matzah around a hot dog, anyway.

A friend in Israel considers it auspicious that today is the second day of Passover AND Good Friday AND a Friday in Ramadan (Friday being the top day of worship for Muslims). No beer for me until this time next week. I would like the swordfish, and the wine. I'd probably also like the cocktail, but I don't know where I could get cherry bitters. I have been to Saint John, New Brunswick. Potato crisps (chips) in the city market: Second-night seder last night at the synagogue. The Sisterhood went all-out with the menu and the brisket flowed freely. The ritual was more than a bit odd, with a new haggadah from a progressive group that added lots of new stuff, such as not only the ten Biblical plagues, but also ten modern plagues, and an extremely long skit read by 13 unrehearsed members. A hand mic was passed around and everyone present had to read a part of the rest of the seder, but half the people didn't speak into the microphone and were inaudible. The synagogue served only sweet Concord wine, but allows bringing other kosher wine. I brought two bottles of kosher Pinot Noir from Austria, and a friend brought a Moscato, which we shared among a group of six or so friends.

The Garden Club will probably know that the California poppy is Escholzia, while the Eurasian poppy is Papaver. There is a Jewish tartan that is listed in the Scottish Register of Tartans! A tartan, not only for the Jewish population in Scotland, but for Jews and non Jews anywhere in the world. Initiated by Rabbi Mendel Jacobs of Glasgow [shown in the photo] it was designed by Brian Wilton of the Scottish Tartans Authority. The central gold line on navy blue represents the gold from the Biblical Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant and the many ceremonial vessels. The silver is from the Scroll of Law and the red represents the traditional Kiddush wine. The brightest section of the tartan is the blue and white of the Israeli flag. There are seven lines in the central motif and three in the flag - both numbers of great significance in the Jewish world. It can be seen at http://www.jewishtartan.com/contact.htm. I will skip the pork stir-fry and the drink, and the wine is beyond my budget. I haven't been to Grand Cayman. Jacqui, it's not belated! Today is the first full day of Passover, and the celebration lasts for seven or eight days.

The Paschal Yam is out of the oven and now Brussels sprouts are roasting. Brussels sprouts have no symbolic meaning and aren't part of a traditional seder meal at all, but I usually make some kind of roasted vegetable in order not to have to deal with timing the cooking of a vegetable at the last minute. Before I could prepare the Brussels sprouts, I sharpened the Passover paring knife, since I remembered from last year that it was dull. Yes, even my only-moderately-thorough observance entails having all separate dishes and utensils for Passover. A few years ago, one of my colleagues was having a guest whose observance, they thought, might be stricter than their own, and they agonized over whether they needed to buy a Passover teakettle.

Pizza is off my list for the coming week (Passover). Banh Mi is also off, because of the bread, even if made with tofu instead of pork, and so is Roy's alternative. The cocktail is a low priority because of the coconut, but if you want to bring the wine, I'm ready even though it's not even 9:00 a.m. yet. I haven't been to Barbados, but I can tell you that the "local" beer, Brion, in Curacao is actually brewed in Barbados. Traditional Passover cooking, in my eastern European tradition, is not very healthful, and I've gravitated toward Mediterranean traditions, with more reliance on fresh vegetables and fruits. This means that the refrigerator is currently crammed with them. I also have eggs on the stove, because a roasted (!) egg is a requirement for the seder and it works better to hard-cook the egg before trying to brown the shell. Peculiarly, although the egg is required, the traditional seder text never mentions it. After that, charoset (chopped fruit and nuts, with a little wine). Then baking a sweet potato, which is a complicated joke. One of the required symbols is the shankbone of a lamb. It is hard to get a kosher shankbone, especially at Passover, and many people substitute a chicken bone or, in Chabad-Lubavitch practice, a chicken neck. Vegetarians usually substitute a roasted beet--because a beet bleeds red, I suppose it's considered the most meat-like vegetable. I use a sweet potato, so that I can call it the Paschal Yam. Actual cooking will begin after that.

[deleted]

Living almost within sight of the state line, I've prepared scads of multi-state tax returns, and they are always a mess. The general rule is to prepare the non-resident ones first, and then claim credits for those taxes on the resident-state return. Once I did a filing for someone who worked for a medical-temp agency and had worked exactly one quarter in each of four different states. There is no clear rule for determining the resident state in that specific case, and the person intended to file as a New York resident, considering New York "home" even though they hadn't lived or worked in New York at any time during the year. That would have had the worst possible outcome, because New York wants to tax worldwide income and has higher state-tax rates than any of the other four. I filed it as resident in the last of the four states, partly because they were remaining there for an additional quarter of work.

One of my friends deals in steam kettles and has sold them to maple-syrup producers. They are not used for boiling the sap down; that's done in flat evaporator pans. The steam kettles were to warm the syrup for bottling. He says that many food products are warmed for ease in packing.

In about 2008 I attended a conference at the University of Vermont. The sheer amount of maple syrup in the dining hall was astonishing. Maple syrup is also made here in New York. I will be having matzah brei instead of pancakes, though.