Food Photo Friday Sunday - Hurricane / Pre-Rosh Hashana Edition

While everybody else was out at the store on Friday stocking up on bottled water and flashlight batteries, yours truly was buying yeast, bread flour and parsnips.

What others saw as an impending disaster, I viewed as a good excuse to get some heavy-duty cooking and baking done for Yom Tov.

Hurricane for me meant a big pot of soup for the freezer and 5 lbs. of raisin/craisin challahs.

I had been wanting to experiment with the Croation Star shaped challah for Rosh Hashana ever since Chaviva linked this blog post over at The Challah Blog. The round shape, coupled with strategic placement of raisins and craisins seemed so well suited for this purpose.

The results were even more stunning than I had hoped.

And the best part?

I got to do it all with my evacuated little granddaughter - as we played dress up ;)

Our First Hurricane Party Game

Thanks to the Gothamist, for providing us this wonderful little game to keep us occupied tomorrow.

HURRICANE IRENE BINGO

If anybody has suggestions for additional squares on other cards, let me know....

Food Photo Friday - Blueberry Cobbler Crisp

The way I've cooked this week, you'd think a HURRICANE was coming!

Pastrami egg rolls, (yes, again), sweet and peppery noodle kugel, red cabbage and angel hair salad (note all the carbo loading foods for my {favorite} son in law's half marathon this Sunday which has since been cancelled....[donate to his and Joey's tzedakah marathon run in November here]) and these lovely individual berry cobbler crisps.

Any leftovers will be served at our Hurricane Party on Sunday.

Who's in?

Because it's MY blog and I CAN.....

I know this video has nothing much to do with anything, nor does it really tie in with the few "themes" this blog actually has (food, family and community), but I really liked it so I thought I'd share.

I admit to being a bit of a "gym rat" and spending what some may say is too much of my day surrounded by treadmills, which may be why I was so impressed with this performance. These guys certainly have more fun on the equipment than I ever do.

The Things We Stopped Doing Along The Way...

... not sure quite when.

But they sure were fun.

Please add your own to the list

• Finding "twin" cherries and wearing them as earrings
• Blowing bubbles in your chocolate milk with a straw
• Turning round and round until the room spins
• Lying on the floor and imagining walking on the ceiling
• Purposely running out into the rain (sometimes with your mouth open)
• Trusting people

Food Photo Friday - Pastrami Egg Rolls

.... otherwise entitled - Why Do I Start These Projects?

Life has been busy.

It's been a few weeks since the G6 table was in "full-house" mode, and I was eager to try something new.

I'm not sure where or why I got the idea to attempt pastrami egg rolls at the very last minute without a recipe, but I must say that the results were quite satisfying.

I began by combining a can of stir fry vegetables, chopped fine, with some sauteed chopped red cabbage and some finely diced pastrami. I seasoned it with soy sauce and a secret ingredient or two. I rolled the mixture up in egg roll wrappers and fried them quickly in super hot oil.

The results were pleasing to both the eyes as well as the palate.

Of course I just had to cut one open to give you the full benefit of the crispy goodness.

And once the roll was cut, it wasn't suitable for guests any more.

So Jennifer and I took the full burden of ensuring that this lonely egg roll did not go to waste....

Oh, how I LOVE Food Photo Fridays......

Fish Camp Is Over

To all those of you who have been wondering - YES, that is indeed the same goldfish that Erica brought home from camp over 15 years ago - in a plastic bag.... on a Friday afternoon.... Yes, it is remarkable. (Just go with it, ok? Though we may not have small children around anymore, we now have grandchildren, and frankly, I've always found the "burial at sea" thing just a tad disturbing...)

In any case, our fish bowl has been empty for the past several weeks, because... {insert silencing glare here}, our fish "went to Fish Camp". But since we expect a visit from our granddaughters soon, it was time for our fish to return from camp. Wouldn't you know it? Our fish even brought a new friend with her back from camp (lucky fish)! In my experience though, when our fish returns from outings with a playdate in tow, generally the friend has to return home shortly thereafter. (Sometimes, our fish even goes back to the friend's house to play there for a while too)

We shall see......