Purim Prep

The family that makes Hamentaschen together...

um, I can't think of a rhyme for Hamentaschen.

Resident hamentaschen mavin Israel Kirsch brought in reinforcements from New York and Chicago to help with the Hamentaschen baking - his daughter and two nieces.

Yachad - Manna and Jewels

Lets catch up on our Yachad program.

This is me holding a bowl of chopped figs that I steeped in warm orange juice. Why? We'll get there. For our first time readers, let's recap a bit. Here's a little reprint from my blog post of January 18:

Yachad (the word means "together") is a group of special needs young adults and high school volunteers who meet once a week for Jewish themed activities.

It's a National organization with local chapters, and Sarah Taub has been this chapter's director for 25 years. Once a month, for the past 12 years, Sarah has brought the group here for inter-generational programming.

Our theme for this year is "Food for Thought," where we discuss the upcoming Torah portion for the next time they will be here, and create a "recipe" based on that portion. The recipe is more like a list of ingredients, and those ingredients are not necessarily based on any foods literally mentioned in the portion. They are based on a theme or an idea found in the portion.

So, here I am blending up some ingredients for a smoothie. Not just any smoothie, but a "Manna in a Jar" smoothie. January's Torah portion was the one where G-d sends manna down to the wandering Jews so they'll have what to eat in the dessert. Aaron saves some of the manna in a jar as a testament for future generations. Also, G-d turns the bitter waters sweet.

So, we came up with a list of ingredients that one might find in that region of the world. The list included oranges, bananas, figs, dates,pomegranates and...avocados. Yes, avocados.
(Avocados, of course, grow in that region, but here's the culinary explanation for avocados in a smoothie: they're creamy. And they have a pretty neutral flavor. Since we need to create foods that are parve - neither diary or meat - we stuck them in to add a richness and creaminess. It worked. It was delicious.)

The figs and dates were tough and chewy, so I chopped them up, covered them with a little OJ, and put them into the microwave for about 30 seconds. They sat for a while in the warm liquid and were perfect for blending by the time we got there.

Everyone loved it. Even Gila.

Last month we discussed the portion where G-d explains to Moses how to construct the Holy Ark and what kinds of materials to use. Moses appeals to the people to donate their goods and talents. Essentially, it was the first Jewish fund-raising drive.

We took some of those items - precious metals, dyed yarns and fabrics, gems, etc. - and equated a fruit with each one. Mangoes represented gold, Honeydew, for its silvery rind, was for silver, acacia wood was represented by pineapple because of its woody exterior, and the part of goat hair was played by kiwi.

 

The Jewish people had to put all of these smaller, precious items together to create one large item, even more valuable than the sum of its parts. Sort of like a fruit salad. Which is what we created: Sinai Salad.

Next month, we'll be creating "Moshe's Supreme Sacrificial Dessert Pizza."

More on that next time.

 And, it just wouldn't be a blog about Yachad without a picture of Breezy, the best therapy dog I know.

(However, she did eat a cookie off of a plate while she thought I wasn't looking. Breezy, you're my kind of people.)

I'd like to give a shout out to my friend Leon Adato who, along with my cousin Naomi Chase and a group of other fine people, created the spark for this idea many years ago. I've had the good fortune to share many Shabbat dinners and Torah discussions at Naomi and Leon's homes where we all had to bring a food based on the Torah portion. Leon now helms a website dedicated to this called Edible Torah. You can find it here: http://www.edibletorah.com/

Todah Rabbah!

The Future is Here

G-d bless the Internet. When all of our electronics are working properly, and all the stars are aligned perfectly, magic can happen. Welcome to the future - the George Jetson Future!

Over the past couple of weeks we've helped some of our residents Skype with family members all over the world . (From Wikipedia: [Skype] allows users to communicate with peers by voice, video, and instant messaging over the Internet. Phone calls may be placed to recipients on the traditional telephone networks. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free of charge.)

Here's one of our residents "playing" with his great grandson in Chicago, IL.

And here's another resident with her daughter talking to her family in London, England. That's our resident's great grandson on screen.

And this is George Jetson (seated) talking to Mr. Spacely, circa 1962, on what looks like Skype, about 40 years before Skype was invented.

George Jetson, modern day prophet.

Me? I'm still waiting for Rosie.

Happy New Year!

Still catching up on blogging...

Here are some images from our New Years party:

 This is one of my favorite shots from the evening. I'd ask you to come up with captions, but I think it speaks for itself.

The fabulous Logan Wells performed and provided some special lighting effects for one or two numbers,

I probably have footage on the Flip camera. One of thesed ays I may even download it and publish it here.

Finishing up Chanukah

Catching up on my blogging...

Just a few more images from Chanukah:

The 8th Annual "Rock For All Ages" Chanukah Concert 

with Noah Budin and the Promised Band

I had a little dreidle,

I couldn't make him go away...

The last night - always bittersweet.

Food For Thought

Our Yachad program, "Food For Thought," continues.

Yachad (the word means "together") is a group of special needs young adults and high school volunteers who meet once a week for Jewish themed activities.

It's a National organization with local chapters, and Sarah Taub has been this chapter's director for 25 years. Once a month, for the past 12 years, Sarah has brought the group here for inter-generational programming.

Our theme for this year is "Food for Thought," where we discuss the upcoming Torah portion for the next time they will be here, and create a "recipe" based on that portion. The recipe is more like a list of ingredients, and those ingredients are not necessarily based on any foods literally mentioned in the portion. They are based on a theme or an idea found in the portion.

(This is my daughter Rachel, an excellent baker and artist. She volunteered to decorate our food for this program, an essential element in this month's recipe, as you'll see.)

December’s Torah portion was the end of the Joseph story. The theme that emerged was the quality of something being hidden. Joseph’s identity is hidden from his brothers; Joseph hides a golden cup in Benjamin’s sack.

We talked about foods that have a “hidden” quality to them. Eggrolls and sushi, for instance, are wrapped foods, hiding some ingredients within. Carrot cake and zucchini muffins are sweet, dessert-like foods that “hide” unexpected savory vegetables in the batter. The “recipe” that we came up with was “Joseph’s Many Colored Sushi Cake,” and the mandatory ingredients were rice, zucchini, carrots, coffee and sprinkles.

The chefs came up with a cupcake recipe using the first four ingredients, and  Rachel and Marla decorated the cakes using sprinkles, frosting and candy to mimic the look of sushi.

Here is the finished product.

Here are some other moment from the evening:

Here is January's recipe:

And this is Breezy (the blonde on the left), one of the best dogs I know. Breezy is a therapy dog and comes to almost every Yachad program.

Can we get a little privacy please?