How the Money Goes

There is a Jewish "folk tale", that I think of as  well known, but perhaps not.  It is "The Choice (Bechira)".  Don't worry, it's not a horrid story, it's a nice story:
A good, poor man is on his way to work as he is every morning, when he is approached by a stranger.  "You have been allotted a great sum of money by the Lord.  Would you like to have it now, to do with as you please, with the assurance that the money will be gone in 25 years?  Or would you like to wait and have in held as a security for your old age?"
" This is too large a question for me to answer alone.  I must consult with my wife,"  says the man.
"Good," replies the stranger.  "Meet me here this same time tomorrow, and give me your decision."
The man goes home and explains the offer to his wife, who is not only wise, and good, but has great faith in heaven.  "We can have the money now to use as we see fit, or wait so that we will not need to worry about sustenance in our old age.  But who knows what the future will hold in any event? We may be wealthy without the extra gift, we may die in the next year, we may lose a hundred good opportunities in the intervening years.  Now is what we know; we have needs today, we have children to nourish and raise in a proper manner, and there are many in need in our community.  Ask for the money now."
The man returns to find the stranger the next day.  "We will take the money now," says the man.
"Go home," orders the stranger, "and you will find the fortune already arrived."
And so it is that when the man gets home, and large purse of gold has already been delivered to his wife.  They spend the money judiciously over the subsequent years, and continue to prosper.  They raise a large family of upright, scholarly children. Meanwhile their house and purse were always welcome to those in need, and they were generous to any worthy cause.  But at the end of twenty-five years, the fortune is spent and gone.
The couple realizes their great financial prosperity has ended, and they are reconciled to live life as it was previous to the gift.  The man goes out to work as he used to, and he again finds the same stranger before him.  "The Holy One has watch how you used His gift, and saw that  it was given to bring Torah and Mitzvos (commandments) into the world.  Because you made His will your will, there is no reason to withhold fortune from you."  And they once again are blessed with great providence, which continues until the end of their days.

Okay, when I first learned this story, I guessed wrong.  I though the moral was going to be "a penny saved...".  This story really stuck with me.  And although I still have a hard time truly TRULY always believing that all providence is from Heaven, still, when I do have, I really want to use it well.  Until now this has been more philosophical than practical.  But to be honest, I now find we have a substantial amount of extra funds.  And I have started to spend.  But am I spending in the right way?

We have had seders in our house for the last fifteen years, but besides the actual dishes, which were mostly wedding gifts, the table looked (correctly) like everything was from the dollar store, with a couple Target glasses and pitchers thrown in.   I wanted Pesach to be fancy , beautiful, to really look like we are royalty, as we should feel like royalty.  So yesterday I bought gorgeous Naharia hand blown wine glasses (that I have loved since I was sixteen) and Menachem picked out a silver becher (wine cup) set with the stand that that pours out into the tiny silver cups.  It really is beautiful, and I really want it to enhance our Pesach.  But am I really using the money for God's will?  Or am I just justifying my own desires?

Too excited to blog

I guess almost everyone in the world but me already knew this, but youtube is just full of hysterical videos about EVERYTHING. So many talented people in the world.  If you read my very first post, you know that I'm already in a race to catch up.  So I'm spending this time watching youtube science music parodies, although, at the moment I'm taking a break to watch a science lego parody.  But here's my undenialble fave so far  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl4L4M8m4d0
watch it, watch it!!!!

Bleahh I

Okay, I didn't put this up on facebook, but I was so steamed this morning (obviously I started this a week ago, specifically last Monday after the big snow).  After getting the kids all ready for school, packing lunches, and taking them out to the bus stop, and before leaving for work, I shoveled from the walk the snow that had been ignored and packed hard by pedestrians since it fell a day and a half ago.  Those watching me probably would guess that it is the OTHER people in my house who have back problems, foot problems, blood clots, asthma, and a job to go to today.  Of course they would be wrong.
Several years ago, my man took me to a show called "Defending the Caveman".

http://www.cavemania.com/
It's a great show, which I highly recommend as a good date for committed couples (not a great first date event).  The show is a comic monologue about the different perspectives of the sexes, and how this leads to trouble between them.  One point stuck with me, and sticks in me. To paraphase:  If a group of women get together, and the chip bowl runs low, one member will just refill it thinking "I did a favor, and later someone will do a favor for everyone, etc,"  and all the others will think "Oh, she did a favor, and later I will return the favor," and all are satisfied, because they understand the rules.  If a group of men are together, the conversation is more like, "Hey, the chip bowl is empty.  Someone should fill that."  "Hey, you gonna get some more chips?" "Well are you goin' to the kitchen soon?" "I dunno, you?" " Well, maybe I'll also get a beer, then I'll get the chips.....in awhile...maybe you should get the chips..." etc.  There is haggling, because this is a competition, and eventually the bowl is filled, and all are satisfied, because they all understand the rules.  When a man and a woman are together, and the chips run low - the woman fills the bowl and thinks, "I did a favor for him," etc.  The man thinks, "YES! I won!"
At the time, I laughed, but it has stuck around my brain since, and just gnaws at me. Now, I know I am much to concerned about "being fair", but the idea of me schlepping, and him think "I won!" just throws me over the edge.  
My good friend once said that she thought a good married couple is like the muppet song "But I like you.

"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ0FgvRkbdw  And I can agree with that to a large extent.  It's okay if you like music boxes, while your partner likes a marching band.  But it's not okay if your partner laughes at you every time you stop to listen to a music box.  And if your partner's idea of a good time is to throw your music box under a marching band...

Cakes I

I was asked to post some baking blogs.  Never one to turn down a follower’s request, I’m going to start with the extremes: the hardest and easiest cakes.  Here are two of my favorite cakes, that took about  8 hours each:

I’m not sure what was inside.  Usually, I make a yellow cake with fruit paste or custard filling.  Both were butter cream frosting with royal icing flowers made ahead of time.  TIP: You can’t see it so well in these photos , but tops of all the rose cakes, as well as the entire morning glory cake, is covered in finely drizzled icing.  You don’t strictly even need a decorator tip for this (although a #1 or #2 tip is recommended.)  Just cut the tinniest tip off the end of a disposable pastry bag (or even a sturdy baggie).  Also make sure your icing is of medium to loose consistency (the peaks should quickly fold over all the way when a spoon , etc is lifted out of the icing.  Decide whether you  want lots of little loops,  or no loops at all.  Personally, I like no loops (the lines of frosting weave around each other, but never cross), which gives a nice lacey pattern called Cornelli. With loops is called Sotas, similar to what you can more clearly see drizzled down the side of the rose cake, but in 2-D, not just lines.  Anyway, this can all be done with minimal equipment, and really gives a very professional look.  BUT it does take forever to do a really nice job, and even with a wrist bandage, expect numb or sore fingers and wrist for the next day or so. 

Surprisingly, the easiest dessert is the same cake, same butter cream frosting, but toned down design.  The easiest recipe is the one you know so well, you could make it in your sleep, and I really think this will just be different for everyone.   First of all, find a recipe that works well, that tastes good, and uses  ingredients that you always have on hand (If you always have Nepalese fermented yak’s whey in your cabinet, and you like that in your cake, then there is nothing wrong with that.  I like lekvar and cardamom in my cakes, as well as in other dishes, so  I always have them at home.) Make that recipe until you have it memorized, and really understand how it works.  It is then easy to modify and adapt it when you  want some variation.  As you get familiar with cakes this way, you will recognize your “standard cake” in other recipes.  Most cakes are dressed up pound cakes, chiffons, medieras, or sponge / angel food cakes.  I’m sure I’m missing some other general cakes, but you get the idea.  I would suggest a nice yellow cake, a good all-purpose  recipe, easy to make in larger or smaller batches.  I love the Lady Baltimore recipe in the Joy of Cooking (my copy is several additions back, I don’t know exactly what’s in the newest addition).  Very easy, very all-purpose, easy to modify.  And  then there is always Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines - whatever floats your boat, I’m not judging, but it still comes down to : is this always in your pantry, and do you like it?  If it becomes a pain to run out to the store for mix, or you just don’t like it to the point where you are always trying to dress it up, then it is not easiest. 

So you’ve got your cake, and you have icing (I will hopefully talk about icing in a future blog).  Slather on the icing, making a nice wavy pattern if you don’t want to go the extra of making it smooth (also a future blog).  Then using that pastry bag or sturdy baggie, you can make an easy drizzle or simple pattern with matching or contrasting colored icing.  And that really is what I do when I need something in a hurry. 

This Ledgend of ZeldaÓ birthday cake is somewhere in between.  The cake was my standard yellow cake, minus about 2/5 the sugar, swirled with a brownie mix to get an incredibly moist marble cake, that  can still handle the extra sweetness of the frosting.  The sweetness of the frosting was also cut slightly by using double the salt, and lemon juice  instead of vanilla or any other flavoring additive.  I added a reverse shell border along the top, and a star-puff border along the bottom , which requires a star tip (#16 in this case).  But otherwise, all decoration, besides the fondant and jelly bean treasure chest, was done with a #2 tip or no tip at all as described above.  Link was traced from a promotional brochure.  I unfortunately don't have a good photo of the fondant and jelly bean treasure chest added at the end.  Oh, and I painted the face on with food coloring.  The whole thing, including baking, but not cleanup, probably took about 3.0 hours. 

Games, Forbidden Island

Hey, I have time for a quick blog. 
Got a new game, Forbidden Island, at the cool-O toy store yesterday, Rhinocerous Toys in Jenkintown.  It's more of a multi-player puzzler than a traditional game.  BTW, this is a tile and card based game, not electronic, which for me is a definite plus.  2-4 player, you have work together to collect treasure and get off a sinking island. The boys and I played on the novice level.  We sank.  This game is super cool, BUT only play with people you don't really care about OR love so much you will be able to weather yelling and name-calling.

Harry Potter Review II : the books and elsewhere

I don't really have all that much to say without starting a headlong ramble into minutia.  I started reading the books after Goblet of Fire came out, and quickly became a big fan.  Goblet of Fire was my favorite, and I think the books went downhill from there, possibly because the desire for secrecy before publishing dates may have meant less outside editing.  I still cried at the end of Half Blood Prince, but I was fairly dissapointed when I finished Deathly Hallows.  So many, many hints and good story avenues, just abandoned.  After all, wasn't that what the fans loved, looking for the hints, guessing where we would go next.
I never really became involved in the Harry Potter chat rooms, but I did become a follower of one particular site, http://redhen-publications.com/Potterfics.html .  I was highly influenced by these articles; most of the theories are bang-on, and the ones that are not should be, they would have made a better story.  I also particularly liked one of the fan-fiction stories at http://redhen-publications.com/files_to_post/Publications/GoldenAge.pdf .  Light reading, provacative ideas.  But it heavily skews the way I look at the story now.  I really felt its influence as I watched the latest movie, found several "honorable" characters as fairly repulsive.
 I pretty much put away the Harry Potter books after the final  installment, not least of all because of the strong christian narative in the sagas ending.  This was not a total surprise.  Ms. Rowling had said that the story was a christian story, and commentators such as Rev. John Granger had found considerable of christian symbolism in with obvious alchemy lesson.  But Deathly Hallows was just too much for me.  So Harry Potter went the way of the Narnia books when I was little.  Yes, I did go to the midnight opening of the movie.  So sue me, I'm weak.  I would probably go to the Narnia movies too if they were any good.

Let's play pretend

I'm here at work, because I seeded a new cell line, and it has to be babied.  Don't worry about what that means specifically.  The point is, I'm looking out my window of beautiful snowflakes (a nice surprise for Thanksgiving day in my region), and wondering, "How in the world did I end up in molecular biology?"  In the proper alternate universe, I am a performer, whose creativity, joy and talent are shared with the world.
I guess it's possible that everyone has this dream.  Although, my boss told me she wanted to be an astronaut.  But her mother did not think that was a sensible career choice, and so she is now a biophysicist / cancer researcher.  And I'm a lab mitschlepper.
So where to go from here?  Well, I do have several viable paths at the moment.  I have been learning tribal belly dance for over three years, and the studio has many performance opportunities throughout the year.  But for a couple of reasons, including modesty and scheduling, this does not seem like the best option.  Still, I do love being able to dance with friends once a week, so in a way, this is already a performance outlet of a limited nature.
Another vehicle is guitar, but this is still in the works, since all I can play right now is "Ode to Joy", "Minuet in G" (first half) and "This Land is Your Land".  I am very close to having "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", and can kinda play the the Harry Potter theme and the chords to Beatles' "Your Mother Should Know".  I have been learning along with a child who is taking real lessons.  I would really like to be able to play stuff for friends in my living room, and have them sing along.  One hundred years ago it was expected that people would use their talents to entertain others in their loving rooms.  I went to a college with a well-respected conservatory, and there were students playing music all the time, in scheduled performances, as well as just impromptu sessions in the dorms, out on the grass, etc.  A visiting friend once said "It's like Fame." That was an overstatement, but still I think of just taking out a musical instrument and playing as totally normal.   Alas, I was too sort-sighted to actually take any music classes myself.
I gave a couple cake-decorating lessons a few years back.  That was immensely enjoyable.  I know it doesn't seem like performance art, but it was to me.  The obstacle here is the great deal of preparation, mainly all by myself, and I just don't have the time or energy at this moment.
When I was in junior high, it seems we would spend whole afternoons together putting on silly little skits.This was definitely one of my favorite activities.  By high school, playing skits was less acceptable, but going to the mall with my best friend and modeling all the prom gowns was a hit.  I think at this stage, finding some like minded friends and saying "Hey Judy and Mickey, lets clean out your garage and put on a show!" is the least realistic option.  Slightly ahead of that may be trying to arrange a standing role-playing game, but only slightly, as I have never heard any of my circle mention any desire for such a thing.  Am I wrong?  If anyone would like to come on over to play pretend, or dance or sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, or listen to me recite Lady Macbeth's soliloquy, stop on by, the door is always open, even if I have to pry it open.