Naomi and her new bike

My baby is growing up:

Too Good to be True

So, last month, my mom won a raffle prize. A Kosher for Passover Seder for 10, from a local butcher on the north shore. My mom was thrilled. No need to cook! She called the butcher, and they decided on a menu (more sides, especially vegetarian sides, and no desserts). She picked up the meal on Sunday. In fact it was so nicely organized in her fridge, she took a photo! In years past, we had to play, try to fit all the Kosher for Passover food in the fridge. Instead of spending days cooking, she was free to do whatever!

Last night was the big meal!

First course - gefilte fish. Mark and I thought it was good. Mom and Dad did not share our love for it.

Second course - chicken soup with matzah balls. It was okay. It was a broth with NOTHING in it. No carrots, no parsnips, no chicken bits. My mom quickly cut and added some carrots. But still the flavor was okay and I missed my bits.

Main Course - chicken, meat tzimmes, potato kugel and brocoli kugel. The chicken was good. The meat tzimmes was disgusting. Tasted like NOTHING. So disappointing. I had never met a tzimmes I did not like! The potato kugel was bland, tasteless and not great. Adam said that the brocoli kugel was the same. Actually it looked like the same kugel, except dyed green.

Desserts - Mom provided a chocolate sponge cake and mandelbrot (yum), I provided a honey cake (YUM-O). My inlaws provided a lovely fruit platter.

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/passover/passoversweets/recipes/food/views/Passover-Honey-Nut-Cake-in-Soaking-Syrup-109151

Passover

So, I was supposed to host Seder #2 this year. I had invited my parents, and some friends.

And then the flood happened. My entire basement was brought upstairs and placed into my dining room. It is still there.

I called my mom . . . . "I can't host seder. Can we come to your house?"

She of course, said yes.

I then asked "Can I invite our friends that I had invited to our house?"

She said "Yes."

Great.

On top of that, my mom won a raffle prize: free seder for 10! Kosher for Passover. What luck!

BUT, Passover still requires alot of preparing. This weekend I am making the following Passover foods:

Potato Latkes (to freeze for later in the week when I am rushed)
Granola (double batch - Mrs. Sachar's recipe)
Chocolate Chip Cookies (A Martha recipe)
Charoset with dates, raisins and nuts (a double recipe of course)
Flourless Chocolate Torte from the Cake Bible
Cranberry Orange Sorbet

This will be done Sunday, since Passover begins Monday evening.

Flying Glasses

Surprises. I like certain surprises, but for most things I like to have things planned out. I like knowing all the details.

Imagine my surprise, when I get a call from Mr. Mark’s After School Director on Wednesday afternoon at 2 PM. She started out the call by letting me know that Mark was fine. Super. Mark showed up to the program without his eye glasses.

I thought, how unusual.

She said let me put him on the phone . . . .and the next thing I hear is Mark’s voice, except it is a smaller version of his voice. It was very quiet and squeaky. I am then speaking to the director. She is explaining that Mark’s glasses fell out the window of the school bus on the way to After School.

Let me pause for a moment.

Yes, my son’s $300 eye glasses fell out the window of a school bus.

How is that even possible???? Of course, I am creating lots of stories in my head, but push comes to shove, the kid needs eyeglasses, and I am going to have to pay for a new pair. (Side note, he has had these glasses since November, 2007, so they have lasted a long time.) Now I am pondering, what was he doing on the bus?

I am steaming mad. Plus, I also am thinking that he has to pony up some money for these new glasses. He has $86 saved in his bank account. He is saving for a DS system. I am not about to drain his whole bank account, that has taken over a year of saving, however, I want him to know that this is going to be painful to our bank account also.

I try to get back to my work.

Finally 5 PM is here. I rush out of work and to After School. Mark is standing next to the director, finishing his homework (a sigh of relief from mommy). We gather his stuff, and out the door we go, on our way to Weston Optical.

I calmly ask “What happened on the bus today?”

His response “I was sitting in the back of the bus (the second to last row), and I was explaining to E (name of friend) how the Weight Loss Machine that Rube Goldberg designed worked. I was rubbing my hands against my checks, and the glasses flipped off, and out the window.”

I ask “What happened next?”

Mark – “I was very upset.”

I ask “What did you do?”

Mark “I cried alot.”

I ask “Then what.”

Mark “The bus driver could hear me, so he sent T and A back to me. They are fifth grade boys who are the bus monitors. They tried to make me feel better, but they were telling me that glasses cost a lot of money and how made you and daddy would be.”

Pause

Mark “Then we got to Rec Place and K asked where my glasses went.”

Back to the beginning of the story.

It was not malicious.

Funny, if it did not cost me $300+.

New Thing

Mark's class is studying Ghana. Last week some of the parents made some food from Ghana, including a dish of black eyed peas and rice. Mark said he really liked it, so tonight, I will be making Rice and Beans from Ghana.

Hope it is as good as he remembers.