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.) ( Read more... )

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, ( Read more... )

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.