Shabbat short takes
Sep. 7th, 2003 12:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioThe morning minyan switched to the new format this week. It worked well; we just hit the start of the torah service when the rabbi had to leave, and the member who volunteered for this week did a good job with it. We need to do some tweaking of physical setup (in particular, making a fast transition between study and service), but we knew we were going to have some bumps along the way there.
Minor logistical thing: we used to have snacks during torah study; now that we've flipped things, we declared that snacks would be after the service. But the rabbi didn't get any, because he left. (I was actually walking around the back of the room with a pile of cookies for him, but he ducked out before I got there.) The later service doesn't end until something like 12:45, which is a long time for him to go without food. We need to fix this.
Friday night was a larger-than-normal crowd. There were some people I wanted to talk to but didn't get to. On the positive side, I spoke to several newcomers and helped make them feel welcome, which is important.
I've received several compliments on the committee meeting I ran on Wednesday. Apparently I give good meeting. :-) Actually, I'm just organized and perfectly willing to step into a conversation that's drifting and bring it back to the agenda. I didn't think this was all that unusual, but in thinking about other meetings I've been to, maybe it's not as common as I had thought.
The flowers my rabbi sent were a beautiful addition to the Shabbat table. Some of the blooms opened up today, and others will probably open up tomorrow. They're very pretty.
Friday's mail brought a birthday present from Dani's mother, a goregous silver havdalah set. I inaguarated it tonight. (I had previously been using a hodge-podge of tools on hand; I didn't have a set.) (Havdalah is the ceremony marking the end of Shabbat. It involves wine, a candle, and a spice-box.)
Today I worked on my upcoming torah portion (in a few weeks). It's short, and after resolving one ambiguity that required consultation with someone actually fluent in Hebrew (today's torah reader, in fact), I now have the portion from the right-hand side of the book (with vowels and trope). I should be able to move to the left-hand side within a week. Plenty of time, as it turned out. (I've been conservative in my estimates of learning speed.)
Minor logistical thing: we used to have snacks during torah study; now that we've flipped things, we declared that snacks would be after the service. But the rabbi didn't get any, because he left. (I was actually walking around the back of the room with a pile of cookies for him, but he ducked out before I got there.) The later service doesn't end until something like 12:45, which is a long time for him to go without food. We need to fix this.
Friday night was a larger-than-normal crowd. There were some people I wanted to talk to but didn't get to. On the positive side, I spoke to several newcomers and helped make them feel welcome, which is important.
I've received several compliments on the committee meeting I ran on Wednesday. Apparently I give good meeting. :-) Actually, I'm just organized and perfectly willing to step into a conversation that's drifting and bring it back to the agenda. I didn't think this was all that unusual, but in thinking about other meetings I've been to, maybe it's not as common as I had thought.
The flowers my rabbi sent were a beautiful addition to the Shabbat table. Some of the blooms opened up today, and others will probably open up tomorrow. They're very pretty.
Friday's mail brought a birthday present from Dani's mother, a goregous silver havdalah set. I inaguarated it tonight. (I had previously been using a hodge-podge of tools on hand; I didn't have a set.) (Havdalah is the ceremony marking the end of Shabbat. It involves wine, a candle, and a spice-box.)
Today I worked on my upcoming torah portion (in a few weeks). It's short, and after resolving one ambiguity that required consultation with someone actually fluent in Hebrew (today's torah reader, in fact), I now have the portion from the right-hand side of the book (with vowels and trope). I should be able to move to the left-hand side within a week. Plenty of time, as it turned out. (I've been conservative in my estimates of learning speed.)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-09 12:11 am (UTC)I can try and get the recipe for you if you like.I made them once, and they were really, really good.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-10 09:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-10 09:14 pm (UTC)3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 scant cup poppy seeds
4 extra large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
cinnamon sugar made with 1 cup granulated sugar with 1/4 cup ground cinnamon
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease cookie sheets with Crisco
Sift together flour, baking powder salt and poppy seeds into large bowl.
Make a well in dry mixture and add liquids.
Mix well with hands.
Divide dough in half, and kneed half the dough for about 5 minutes. Add more flour if necessary to make soft but not sticky. Roll out to 1/4 inch, and cut out cookies with a juice glass. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon sugar and bake for about 20 minutes. Repeat with other half of dough.
(Recipe lifted from "Growing up on the Chocolate Diet" by Laura Brody, Jewish cookbook writer extrordinare.
(Actually, her cookery really isn't all that Jewish, but her family memories and writing style is.)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-11 02:59 pm (UTC)People who are subject to drug-testing should be cautious about eating those cookies--ordinary culinary amounts of poppy seeds can cause a positive result for opiates.
http://www.snopes.com/toxins/poppy.htm
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-11 07:57 pm (UTC)Yes, I've heard of the poppyseed-cookie phenomenon on drug tests. Fortunately, I am currently free to eat poppyseeds to my heart's content. Not that I've ever actually cooked with them before, but I enjoy eating them so it's about time to learn. :-)