Yay! One of my fave pies!
Really specific too...I pretty much like bananas in anything. It seems like such a unique fruit to me. Cream makes it even better.
Purim starts Wednesday night, and ends Thursday night. For places like Jerusalem and other 'walled' cities, they celebrate Shushan Purim a day later instead. Anyways, we observe it by wearing costumes, masks, getting candy, eating Hamantaschen (or filled cookies in triangle form), throwing carnivals, drinking a lot of alcohol, watching skits or plays based on the story behind it, and more.
Purim lit. means 'lots'. Like, you're casting lots. It's based on the story of Esther. We're required to hear the story every year. It can be retold in many different ways, though. Also, every time a name is read, the audience reacts in some way. Like, for Haman (the villain of the story), people boo, stomp their feet, use groggers or noisemakers, etc. Some write out his name in chalk on the floor, and every time his name is said, stomp and move their feet over it. (Some spit on it, too.) 'Blotting out' his name. For Esther, they might say 'ahhh' or 'right on!'. For Mordecai, 'yeah!'. He's considered one of the heroes, too. (Esther is definitely a heroine...
) With the king, 'duh'. It can be pretty fun. The adults are told to drink so much that they can't tell the difference between Haman (the villain) and Mordecai (the hero). That's a lot!
I can't drink, because of my meds, so this doesn't apply to me. Pretty entertaining to watch other people who can, though.
Also, Hamantaschen are triangles that represent the shape of either Haman's triangular hat or his ears. It can be filled with a variety of fillings. Savory or sweet. I love the apricot, chocolate, and strawberry ones. Another popular one is poppy seed, which I hate.
I'm thinking of making some this year. I have an idea that might make it much easier than when I did it a couple of years ago. That time I made the dough from scratch, and it yielded over 50 cookies. Too much for me...
If I get to do what I'm thinking, it should be a lot better. Maybe I'll add melted margarine to each corner as a 'glue' to keep it from opening as much as it did then. My Paris calendar features the Musee de Louvre, aka The Louvre Museum. It's one of the world's largest museums, and is a historic monument. It contains more than 380,000 objects, and displays 35,000 works of art in 8 curatorial departments. Bringing in around 10 million visitors a year, makes it the world's most visited museum.
My Jewish calendar's main pic's of a tribute to the opening of a factory called Hollandia. It's a tile panel, made by NV Plateelbakkerij (PBD) Delft, out of ceramic and wood, from Hilversum, Netherlands; 1917. Not sure why this would be featured in a Jewish museum's calendar...
The artist might be Jewish? And/or maybe the company made specific Judaica products? Can't really tell what they made from the scenes depicted. The museum in located in Amsterdam, so maybe it's a local thing? Interesting. Cool to see an interesting somewhat old piece (the majority of the items that are shown in their calendars are older), still. The 2nd pic's of a megillah (lit. 'scroll'. There are technically 5, but most people think of the Purim one) or scroll of Esther, which holds the whole story. It has an anonymous maker, made out of silver and parchment, Jerusalem, Israel; 1926. A lot of the older megillot (plural form of megillah) have a decorative case, similar to this one. This one has a crown at the top, and an interesting weave and flower like pattern throughout the rest of it. It's cool looking.
The month-long holidays are: National Celery Month, National Flour Month, National Noodle Month, National Peanut Month, National Sauce Month, International Women's Month, Irish-American Heritage Month. Some are for important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. Interesting food-related holidays. Women definitely should have a month! Yay!
I'm part Irish, so it's also my month that way. Oh, a month after Purim is Passover or Pesach. Pesach usually requires quite a bit of planning for the food and seder part. It's a week long, and there are restrictions on what we can eat during that period. I'm thinking of trying to make a lot of the things I like for myself, instead of getting it store-bought. I love to make my matzah granola for breakfast. (A lot better than store-bought Pesach cereal...
) It's good stuff!
Glad I'm the only one that'll eat it now. (Means more for me!) I probably could eat it all year round. I'll make the popovers again. Our friends will probably want them at their seder. There's a bunch of other stuff. I also have to remember that I'll be the only one eating most of this stuff during the week.
Plus, we're thinking of just having a family seder for ours this year. It'll just be Dad and I. I like both the ones where we have guests (like last year), and ones where it's just us. They both have a different 'feel' to them.
We'll probably still end up eating a lot. Dad's thinking of making a Greek lamb and potato dish for it. Normally, it might be something like roasted chicken as the main dish. Sounds good, and fitting in a way. Anyways, I still need to make a list of what I want/need, what I might make, and look at what stores are selling online. The last part might help with finding good deals on some items, and remind me of others.
One of the big named companies is Streit's, but they're going out of business. So, their stuff might be really cheap for Pesach. Also, Amazon had some interesting items too, from when I briefly glanced at it. I got my Hanukkah present a bit late this year, but at least I got it!
(Got it last Tuesday.) It's the Sims 2: Seasons Expansion Pack. I've had the Sims 2 for a while, and thought it'd be cool to actually have some seasons added to the game. It's been really fun, and there were a lot of added challenges to it. Now you can grow your own produce, too. You can earn gardening badges. There are quite a bit of clothes added to it, as well. Apparently, your sim can now die from being too hot or cold, so you have to watch their thermometer. There's a penguin that's been showing up when it snows or rains, too. By the way, they can now be struck by lightning, if they step outside during a storm. My sim that I've started off with in the new neighborhood, now has an aspiration to be struck by lightning...
There seems to be sunsets now, at least during the spring. They added a couple more career tracks, too. They really went into detail with this expansion, which is really cool.
I can have my sims from before experience the seasons, too. That's been interesting. I'm happy overall with it, and I'm finding new things every time I play it.
I'm feeling a lot better than I did for most of February. I really do think I ate something weird, or it was from something in the air.
Imodium really helped me. Hopefully, I won't need to take it again for a while. Even though it would briefly hit my tongue, it still left a nasty taste behind. Plus, it was so large, it would get lodged in my throat occasionally. Letting out some of that nasty taste as it slowly melted and made its way down.
I felt like throwing up just from that at times.I'm slowly getting back into my fitness stuff. Already kept up with doing my sit-ups twice a day for the past week again, and starting with the second week now. This time I'm restarting them at 10 each time. I went back to the way I was eating before, today. That's 1200 to 1600 calories overall a day. I end up with 5 small meals. It's really helped me, and I don't feel deprived.
Especially because I can eat what I want, but in small portions. Plus, I know I can savor the leftovers later. And, it won't be that much time in between each meal. I'm hoping to get back to my 2 2-mile walks tomorrow. Might start with doing one a day for the rest of the week, then doing both next week. Kind of ease into it. We'll see how I feel after the first walk tomorrow.
I like to plan the first one around when I get up, like right after taking a shower, or before, or (if it's not a shower day) after/before washing my face. The 2nd one is usually around sunset. That way I end my day with a beautiful view, and it makes me want to keep doing it.
I went through my mom's Jewish books recently. There was a lot of them, and it took up most of the day. I think I kept only about 10% of it. There were a lot of paper stuffed between/inside books. Some were her Sunday and Hebrew school's homework, some were from when I went to Sunday and Hebrew school, some were misc. printouts of things, and more. Also, found my grandfather's Tanakh that was given to him from his congregation as a present for his Bar Mitzvah. A Bar Mitzvah is when a boy becomes an adult in Judaism, so a coming of age for them. It's when they turn 13. Usually there's a ceremony. The female version is a Bat Mitzvah. Having a ceremony as a Bat Mitzvah hasn't been around for very long. It's when they turn 12 or 13. Mine was when I was 13. It seems traditional that the president of a congregation the person's a member of gives a Tanakh to them. I got one too. Also, found my mother's for when she was a Bat Mitzvah. I think it was around her generation (maybe just before hers) when girls were finally able to have a ceremony of some sort. It's cool to look at all 3 generations' Tanakhs. They all have different commentaries and/or interpretations. (I don't think mine has any commentary. Which is kind of rare...
) There were a lot of interesting reference books that I'll be keeping, as well. Since I'm interested in looking more into modern orthodoxy, a little while ago someone recommended some books that I didn't think we had. Lo and behold, I found them in that bookcase! Yay for me!
I didn't remember most of these books, because she would put books in front of books, and then pile more on top of them. (kind of like book inception...
) It was a mess. I got back into cleaning this past Friday. This time was the bathroom again. I'll continue with that room this coming Friday. I was amazed at some of the stuff I didn't see last time. Some of it was down right scary.
White mold that looked crystallized in the door frame (at least I think it was mold...), and a giant old spider nest that looked like a big rock blocking part of the upper window tracks, were just some of the crazy stuff I saw. Once I got the spider nest out, the windows were able to move freely. Apparently, the mold was affecting the door so that it became harder to open from the inside. Now that it's gone, I can move the door freely, too. At least I was able to gather up my courage to take care of them.
Decided to try some new spreadable cheese from Safeway. It's garlic and herb flavored. It's really cheap, and looked interesting. Just tried it, and it's pretty good. It's only 30 calories a wedge. The wedges are huge!
I'm really surprised at the amount of calories it has. Might try their other flavors in the future.Went to Red Lobster Saturday night. They've changed their menu. I can't have the 4-course meal deal anymore, because they pretty much got rid of everything that I could have, except the very few options for the entree and dessert.
Plus, they made it more expensive. Olive Garden's new 4-course meal deal is much better with it's options. And, it's cheaper than what Red Lobster originally had it as. I got the parmesan encrusted chicken Alfredo with broccoli and pasta. It came with a salad option, so I got a Caesar salad with it. Got a dessert, too. It was the apple crostada. It's one of the best desserts on their menu. So tasty!
All that except the dessert, plus the Cheddar Bay biscuits made for quite a lot of leftovers. I couldn't finish the dessert. It normally comes with ice cream, but I thought that would be a lot of empty calories (plus it's not usually the best ice cream) so I got it without.
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