Category Archive

I was going to write about the wedding we went to yesterday, but I realized that probably a lot of my readership has never been to an Orthodox wedding and there is so much explaining that it made me want to lie down and take a nap. (Or maybe I want to lie down because AM is cutting two more teeth, and Miss M has a nighttime cough that doesn’t bother her in the slightest, but keeps me awake for hours.)

(Although I cannot resist for those in the know. Chuppah: about an hour and ten minutes. I kid you not.)

Anyway. niobe tagged me for a book meme. Pick up your nearest book, turn to page 123, count 5 sentences in and reveal the next three to the world. Here goes:

We are about halfway through the crossword. My attention has drifted.

“Read that one again, child,” says Grandma.*

I have to say this is not the best representation of this book, which I love so much I put it down so that I would not read it yesterday–Taxman was at work and I had to take care of the kids, plus go to a birthday party before the wedding.

This is pretty much the least stressful meme in existence; if anyone cares to participate–I tag thee.

While I am at it, I had wanted my Leap Day post to be a tally of all the books I’ve read so far this year. May as well do it; better late than never.

The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud**

The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan

The Double Bindby Chris Bojhalian**

Mister Posterior and the Genius Child by Emily Jenkins

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

An Unfinished Season by Ward Just**

* from The Time Traveler’s Wife  

** = For a book club

BrooklynGirl tagged me for a go-round of the “six things about me” meme. I have a “regular” version floating about in my archives (here), so I thought I’d do one focusing on my quirks regarding things edible and potable. ‘Cause I am fun like that.

Oh, I am supposed to post the rules.

1) Link to the person that tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least 3 people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6) Let the fun begin!

1. I will pretty much eat any (kosher) chocolate. I am not snotty about milk, dark, butterfat, cocoa percentages, what have you. Certainly some are better than others, some are more “special” and reserved for celebratory occasions (or when once of us passes through Grand Central), but overall I don’t discriminate. But I draw the line at cherry cordials. Those things give me the creeps. Gooey and alcohol-y and gross. Blech. But I won’t judge you if you like them–I like coconut, so different strokes and all that.

2. I am a total snob about certain ingredients/condiments. Like mustard. And soy sauce. Because they are strong tasting and quality makes a difference. There are certain brands that I use and lots that I don’t.

Here’s a telling little anecdote: a neighbor once came to borrow soy sauce. He said he’d need a lot of it and took what I had. He returned (weeks later, when I had long replaced the bottle he took) with a bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce. I sneer in its general direction from time to time.

3. I think eating a vegan diet would be excellent for my health and excellent for the environment. (When the kids get older I think I’d seriously consider vegetarianism.) But I think without dairy in my life I’d be a royal bitch.

4. Variety is the spice of my tea shelf. I have about 16 kinds: black, decaf black, decaf green, herbal, rooibos. I’d have more but I can’t do caffeine as long as AM is nursing. What I don’t get is people who ask me for tea and then don’t have a preference among the 16 choices. Chamomile isn’t the same as Lady Grey, you know?

5. It sounds ridiculous, but there are some brands of bottled water that I just can’t stand. It must be whatever minerals are in them, but I hate the taste. Like Evian. Fiji. Yuck.

6. I have never made cholent. It’s hard to explain why this is so weird, but this is a staple Shabbat lunch food item in my Ashkenazi, Shabbat-observant world. (It’s like a Jewish cook not making chicken soup. Which I don’t do either, really. I can, but I prefer to make vegetarian soups. And my mother-in-law’s chicken soup is very good, so why fight it?) I like to test-run my shabbat main dishes for Taxman and myself before I serve them to company and there is no way to make cholent for 2. It makes a whole crock-pot full, and what if it’s awful? Dude, I have a reputation–I think I am a fairly good cook, or so my husband tells me. (Read: I am a legend in my own mind.)

BONUS TIDBIT: I don’t think I’d ever get sick of eating a croissant every morning for the rest of my life.* Not that I do, or would, but I wouldn’t mind.

* As long as I am occupying a fantasy universe in which eating a croissant every morning won’t kill me or make me fat, Pesach has ceased to exist.

As for the tagging, I am curious to hear from Caramama, B, and Grandmere.

Courtesy of CCW, some random stuff about me.

1. I don’t cry at the movies. I think it’s too public a venue; I am too uptight to be vulnerable in public (even in a darkened theater). I cry sometimes over movies/tv (when I was pregnant, Everwood made me cry every week) but only at home. All this is practically moot because I’ve been to the movies twice in the past three years.

2. My favorite childhood book was Charlotte’s Web.

3. I named a gray stuffed seal–a present for my fourth birthday–Wilbur. He’s as well traveled as I am (Spain, Denmark, Israel). But now on the rare occasions that Taxman is gone, I have actual warm bodies to fill the void, so poor Wilbur hasn’t had a snuggle in a long time.

4. My favorite class in high school was AP bio. There were 11 people (10 girls) in the class. Our teacher was Mr. Max, a bizarre gnome-like guy who scared the crap out of the freshman bio classes. He was tough, but boy did we learn a lot–most of us got 5s on the test. We dissected a rat over a period of weeks and had to take it home to study. I named mine Templeton (see facts #2 & #3).

5. I have had a few vehicular scrapes, but never with another car in motion.

6. I hate baths. (NB: not bathing) I will never understand how people find them relaxing. The water is instantly too chilly and porcelain could never be described as a soft surface. You wind up, to borrow a phrase from my mom and others, stewing in your own filth. Why is this good?

7. I hate crowds. And traffic. I will do almost anything to avoid them. Like go food shopping late at night or early in the morning. I used to travel between Philadelphia, where my dad lives, and Boston, where I went to school, in the middle of the night to avoid traffic on the NJ Turnpike. Seriously–I used to leave his house at 2 in the morning and arrive at 8.

8. I was born 2 weeks past my due date but have tried to be punctual ever since.

This meme is going around…so I don’t know if I can come up with eight people who haven’t been tagged. Anyone want to do it?