cellio | weekend

Shabbat was good. Attendance at services was light because lots of people (including the senior rabbi) are away at the UAHC -- oh, excuse me, now URJ (Union for Reform Judaism) -- biennial convention. (Why is it "biennial" rather than "bi-annual"? I've never heard of an "ennial" event.)

Shabbat morning I ended up leading half the service, because the associate rabbi was there by himself and had a double bar mitzvah to get ready for. We had talked about that in advance, though my timing was off and I thought he'd be able to finish p'sukei d'zimra. So I hadn't practiced that part and was melodically off in a couple places. We coped. And the rabbi apologized for completely spacing on Thursday's ma'ariv service, which I led.

I have successfully twisted arms to get a torah reader for December 6, so I won't have to read so soon after my previous reading (that being next week). Good. I'll next read in January; I think Sh'mot looks good. ("Good" is defined as: doesn't seem to have anything weird or confusing.)

I invited a friend back for lunch on Saturday. (I had actually invited her Thursday night, so I knew to make some extra chili.) She brought along some salad and pita, and we had a good time. She and Dani hit it off.

Saturday afternoon our friends (and my former coworkers) Erik and Bridget appeared from DC. A surprise party was being planned for a mutual friend, and they stopped in to visit us, change clothes, etc before the party. The last time I saw their older daughter she was short! She's 13 now and taller than I am. I had not previously met their four-year-old daughter. My, how time flies.

The party was fun, and we got to see some folks we haven't seen in a while, including some past coworkers from Claritech. Jean, the target of the ambush, was suitably surprised. The party was held at an art gallery, so her husband faked an invitation to an opening and used that to get her to go. That almost backfired, as they also received an invitation to something else on the same date and she said that sounded like more fun than the opening. I'm not sure how he fixed that.

The lunar eclipse was during the party. It was cold outside, but there was a nice garden (well, nice in different weather), so lots of people were outside watching it. I tended to pop in and out, using the windows to track progress. Watching the moon turn red was neat; I'm glad we didn't have cloud cover. And the party had hot chocolate, so being out in the cold wasn't too burdensome. :-)

We had On the Mark practice this afternoon, and then Sunday dinner this evening. I must now gush about dinner. It was a turkey-stuffing casserole (with veggies) from a recent cooking magazine that Ralph clued me in about, and it was wonderfully tasty. I had missed this one in my browse through that issue of the magazine, but I have now marked it for future use. Only one ingredient substitution is needed to make it kosher, and I think I even have some turkey breast in the freezer at the moment. (I'll have to check. I had some before the freezer thawed, and I think I've replaced it.)

Cooking for my party is going reasonably well. This afternoon (after practice) I made the salmon gefilte fish. (The store doesn't usually have the salmon variety, so when I saw it I grabbed it.) I also bought more tart shells for the cheese/onion tarts; I made a bunch last week, but not enough. The spinach balls are done. The pantry is populated with pop, beer, juice, and assorted non-perishables. Lori has offered me much cake goodness. One more shopping trip and a bit more cooking and I should be set.

Monica

weekend

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