Sipping Some Shabbot Sangria

Happy Friday everyone!  Tonight we celebrated Shabbot dinner with some good friends.  This was the first Shabbot since we moved in that we had guests.  Even though we only had 3 guests (it's not the quantity but the quality) it does take some preparations to get the whole fabulous Shabbot dinner together!  I enlisted the help of my pickneys (Jonah & Vera).  Tonight is also the last full night of Passover and we have a little tradition that I have been doing the past 6 or 7 years now.  We take all the left over sweet Manischewitz wine and all of the left over matzah and kaleidoscope those babies up into some yummy sangria and matzah chips.  Then you cook up some fish with salsa verde, make a big salad, a bowl of guac, a bowl of queso, a bowl of salsa and finish it off with some spinach with raisins on the side and that equals a fabulous Mexican Fiesta Shabbot - Passover Style!  Plus it is very kid friendly.

So even though Vera intended on helping, she decided to take in some extra zzz's during her afternoon nap and it was just Jonah and me.  Sangria Time!  We made three pitchers: (1) red, (2) white and (3) juice.  Jonah did all the pouring, mixing and adding of the fruit and he loved it!  Then we washed up and Jonah broke up a ton of matzah pieces into a basket for dinner.  Finally, we made some Passover brownies from a box  (see how much we love box mixes for Passover with toddlers here) 

Tonight was fun!  Before everyone got here for Shabbot, Jonah, Vera and I were dancing around the kitchen singing our favorite Shabbot songs ("Bim Bam" and "There's a dinosaur knocking on my door...").  We did all our prayers and dinner turned out pretty good. We sipped sangria and laughed a lot!  There was a house tour and lots of Jonah running around and playing with all his toys and with our "buddy" guests!  Vera was fast asleep by 7:30 and Jonah stayed up till 10 and then finally passed out in his bed.  Another week living in our new place and it is finally starting to feel less new and more like home.  Tonight we managed to spill lots of Passover Shabbot wine and drop lots of Passover Shabbot crumbs on the floor.  We are off to a rockin' start!

Shabbot Shalom!

three pitchers of Shabbot Sangria!  adding the kiwis!  (looking a little like a bartender here... or a chemist..)

mixing up some Passover brownies

I can totally do it by myself now!

and I am quite good at licking the mixer!

Perfectly Passover

Today we spent pre-Passover and the first seder with some of our best friends in the world and met some new great passover buddies as well!  My kids love my bestest friend's kids... seriously, my almost three year old Jonah will tell you he "LOVES" all three of them - doesn't matter that they are 13, 11 and 8...   I am so happy about this.  So we were at their house early this morning and spent the day "carrying on" in every way.  It was plain fantastic.  I met "A" in 1990 on a plane going to Israel to spend my year abroad at the Hebrew University and tonight was evidence that we were supposed to sit next together on that plane!  Thank you A and family for one of the best Passover seders!  We will always remember it and the food was delish.  We used my "Heather Haggadah" and I led the wacky crazy extremely participatory seder.  A and her family did all the hard labor, cooking, setting up, etc.  I usually do that, so I know how hard it is.  Again thank you!  The guests were fun and totally into it!  From the grandmas, moms, dad, unlces, aunts, cousins, kids and even Uncle Greggy everyone seemed to have a good time and I had a blast!  We are back at the hotel and exhausted.  Here are a few choice pictures to show you how great our day was!

pre passover seder tv and snacks!

pre seder getting our wiggles out in a real car!  awesome!

interesting passover craft:  eye dying!  there is an egg on the seder plate, and we always start the seder by eating an egg.. that is right after we play the EGG GAME (the same egg served as theplace card)!  and crown the egg head!!!  so let's color those babies up and add face stickers for good measure!

not so bad for a bunch of wandering jews!

getting rid of the last bit chamatz!  Searched for it!  and then disposed of it!  go Team Kids!

Team Kids side to the table

rest of us... there were 19 of us in total!  whoop whoop!

what a gorgeous seder plate-with pretty nifty glass cups!

the four questions using finger puppets!

the plagues!  hail and lice are pretty good friends!

Vera building a pyramid! 

mama and Jonah playing the egg game!

Ms Egg and Mr. Matzah... she knows what is coming tomorrow morning... Matzah Brie... he is drunk and thinks he is getting lucky tonight... oh well!

searching for the afikoman!

ending with chad gadya and a dollar for everyone who tried to find the afikoman

CHAG SAMEACH
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Project Please...

As you read this blog, you will learn that we do a lot of projects.  Usually centered around a theme and/or a holiday of some sort.  Yesterday, I mentioned that one of the reasons that we moved was to give each kid a bedroom so that they would start to sleep better and that is true.  Another big reason that we moved is that my partner, Jocelyn, was totally done with dealing with the accumulated 'bins' of arts and crafts supplies for my aforementioned projects and she was equally unamused by the 'masterpieces' created during said project times overtaking the walls, ceilings and usable space of our already crowded condo. 

So like I said yesterday, New House, New Rules.  All of my craft/art/holiday/celebratory bins are now located in our basement.  And all 'masterpieces' are to be hung in only two rooms, the playroom and the kitchen.  Jocelyn is very excited about this development.  I am also excited about it and already bought this very cool wire hanging thingy from IKEA (check it out) and it is already up and ready for our projects.

Last night right before we were going to watch our bedtime show, Jonah looks at me and asks, "mom, I want a project?"  At first, I had no idea what he was talking about (I was wondering what new show he was asking for) but then in a flash I got it.  He wanted to do an art project.  In the last few weeks, the run up to the move, the move and the recent unpacking, we haven't done anything like that.  We have had lots of outside time, playground time, visiting cousin time, babysitter time and yes, TV time... (the TV has gotten a bit out of control and I know this because Vera's first real word is "map" as in let's ask the "map" on Dora...)  So when he looked at me so sincerely and asked for a project I jumped up.  I tried to figure out a 10 minute project that wasn't messy as he was clean and ready for bed - so we tried water painting... BIG FAIL!  He just looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "No mom, I want a real project with real paint..."  He went to bed a little disappointed and I went to bed with a resolve to do a project today.

So today after Vera went down for her morning nap, when I should have been unpacking, I brought up the art bin and the Passover bin from the basement!  Whoop Whoop!  He was very excited.  It is almost Passover and Easter (how can that be I have no idea).  I am Jewish and we are raising our kids in a Jewish home (Shabbot every Friday, kosher, celebrating all the holidays) and Jocelyn's family is Episcopalian so we go to her family's house and celebrate Easter and Christmas.  We also celebrate any and every other holiday I know about.  Life is too short and hard not celebrate when you get the chance.  If the holiday fits with our family motto "be a good person and do good things" then we are up for it! January, February and March were chock full of such holidays:  birthdays of Martin Luther King, Jr, Lincoln, Washington and Dr. Seuss; hallmark holidays of St. Valentine and St. Patrick; cultural holidays such as Chinese New Year, Tu B'Shevat, and Purim; and last but not least, my all time favorite: Ground Hog's Day!  

Since St. Patrick's Day, we haven't done any holiday projects, so we were ready.

PASSOVER: We started by reading a Passover book. Then I gave Jonah some matzah!  (and we compared it to bread for good measure) We ate the matzah with butter, cream cheese, peanut butter, jelly, and cheddar cheese.  And then I went into the Passover bin and broke out the matzah man, the play matzah, and the play matzah balls.  We were ready to make us some make believe matzah. The fact that we have recently accumulated tons of "art supplies" as a result of the move just made me even more excited!!  (I have enough packing paper, cardboard boxes, bubble wrap and dowels, etc. to stock numerous preschools!) We made three kinds of make believe matzah:

(1) White Cardboard Rubbed with Brown Crayon Matzah

(2) White Packing Paper Rubbed with Brown Crayon over Brown Corrugated Cardboard

(3) White Packing Paper Rolled with Brown Paint using Bubble Wrap around Dowel

It was fun.  Except when Jonah insisted on eating the brown paint.  What is up with that???

In the afternoon I took Vera to her one year doctor's appointment and she got a total "thumbs up" from our beloved and revered pediatrician.  That also made me very happy.

Later in the day, while I was trying to unpack (ironically a box of my good passover dishes - not planned I tell you just the next box), Jonah insisted on making everyone matzah ball soup.  He cooked it up in the pot and then served it in little bowls. 

Tonight at bed time I asked him how was his day today (I always do) and said, "Mom it was a good day, good."  I also asked him if he liked the project today.  And he looked at me and gave me a thumbs up! 

A day that includes a thumbs up from my pediatrician and a thumbs up from my kid, well that is a very very good day for me - notwithstanding the fact I still have way too many boxes to unpack, there were way too many temper tantrums and I am exhausted... it is still a very very very good day!  Next project please...
  

Vera's Check up: Thumbs Up!

 

bread...

matzah!

totally different...

rolling it out!

really???

showing off the new picture wire!

time to make the matzah balls!

ignore the baloney and swiss chesse on the tbale, we do keep kosher-it is play food!

Kicking it up for Charoset! Carribean Style!

So we are full swing into Passover/Easter preparatory celebrations!  For the fist time in a long time, we are not hosting our wacky creative Passover seders this year.  Rather, we are making a pilgrimage to NY to spend the first night of Passover with our best friends and the second night with my family (Nana, Pop, Uncle, Aunt, cousins & GG - we will also celebrate GG's -that is Great Grandma- 95th birthday).  Then on Sunday we will be in Brooklyn with Grandma and Grandpa and do some Easter fun!  Monday we will return home... exhausted but hopefully happy from all of the family, friends, fun, food and festivities!  

For the two Passover seders, we will be bringing my Haggadahs (those are the books you read during the meal).  Right before Jonah was born, I wrote my own Haggadah, filled with tons of wacky songs and silly customs from around the world.  It is not short, but it is fun! One of the things we do every year is make Caribbean style Charoset.  Charoset is one of the symbolic foods that sit on the seder plate.  It is traditionally made with apples, walnuts, sweet wine and cinnamon.  It is supposed to look like mortar, to remind us of the bricks the Jewish slaves had to carry and with which they built the pyramids during their time in bondage under the Egyptain Pharaoh.   It tastes sweet to remind us that Moses & God helped us to gain freedom from slavery and we can celebrate that today.  So, because Jocelyn's family is from the Caribbean (more on that in later posts) I try to incorporate Caribbean customs and foods even when we celebrate Jewish holidays.  You see there were (and still are) Jews throughout the Caribbean!  I found this Caribbean Charoset recipe years ago and now it is our custom!  Tonight, the kids and I made some to bring to New York.  It was fun and tasted pretty good too!  Take a look!  Our recipe is simple: apples, mangos, papaya, pineapple, coconut, walnuts, almonds, grape juice, cinamon, and ground ginger.  Put it all in the food processor... yum!

My 2 chefs!

little passover reading time too!

smelling and tasting the mangos!

yummy!

mixing it all up!

voila!  carribean charoset

Post Passover with Pete's aPizza Plus the Penguins... Priceless

Finally!  Amen!  Hallelujah!  Time to bite a slice, sip a brew and lick a scoop!  Good bye Passover, hello taste buds!  This year I was really the only in my household who held strict to the Passover restrictions and I was wanting my annual ceremonial Post-Passover Pizza Party!  And well my kids, you say party and then say, "yeeaaaahhh" and then ask when, where, what should they wear and if there will be cupcakes?

So in honor of tonight being the end of the first Passover in our new house, we decided we were going to order in from the recommended pizza place of choice in our new 'hood and have some fun!   But first we had to live the day. 

The day was pretty fun.  It was the first day that it was just the four of us, together, hanging out and doing a lot of nothing and not much of something... but I think we needed it.  The kids seemed delighted to just hang out inside and outside with both mommy and mama.  There was one outing to a store which was uneventful except for the fact Jonah decided to nap on the way home in the car.  The kid never naps???  So then when it was time for our pizza party- guess what?  Yep.  Jonah slept through it. 

That's ok, Vera thoroughly enjoyed it (every bite).  We thought overall that Pete's New Haven Style aPizza was ok to good.   I am kind of a pizza snob, and I liked the crust, but didn't love sauce.  It definitely was not my favorite New York Style pizza but then again it didn't claim to be.  This was New Haven style pizza-I don't really know what that is.   I did really like my salad and the pasta dish.  The pasta dish was baked with pasta, cheese and spinach and Vera gobbled that up too-yum!  I guess we would order again, but I think I may like the actual pizza from Flippin' Pizza and Homemade Pizza better - but the jury is still out.

Finally we woke Jonah up to eat dinner.  The guy was a little cranky but he negotiated a viewing of "Happy Feet Two" for him and Vera and then all was right with the world... the kid should go to the Middle East - he'd solve that problem in no time.

I must say, I give the move TWO THUMBS UP!  And I must admit, I did get choked up at the end (there were some tears-mine).  Jonah and Vera loved it (it was Jonah's second time seeing it) and even Mama liked it.  I have a feeling we may be buying the DVD and more viewings are in our future.  The baby penguins are super super cute, the story is unpredictable, it has a moral that teaches we can all change the world & it is ok to be different, and if I understood the storyline correctly - there are gay krill (Matt Damon and Brad Pitt) with a relationship arc in it?!?!  Talk about a progressive children's animated movie.  Like I said, I loved it.

don't even think about taking away my pizza!