Blue Man Group

Finally took the kids to see BLUE MAN GROUP.  Adam and I have been waiting patiently.  Back when it first came to Boston, we were dating, and we went to see it.  We loved it.  There is one part of the show that the Blue Men come into the audience to pick a female to be part of a skit.  Lucky me.  They picked me.  As I was being escorted to the stage by THREE TALL BLUE MEN, the woman next to Adam said to him "I hope she is okay up there."  Adam turned to her and said "I hope I am okay when she comes back down.  She hates the stage."  The skit was about Twinkies. . .   and involved Twinkie goo.  It was a good experience.

Fast forward a few years, we are married, and we go back to the show with friends.  We purposely pick seats in a different area. . . . . and yes, this time Adam gets picked to be the male volunteer of the show.  And yes, he lived to tell.

This time, all four of us managed to sit in our seats for the whole show.  We were sitting in the section that involved ponchos.  The kids had a great time, and really enjoyed it.  Mark enjoyed the part of the show when people are late.  Naomi BELLY laughed her way through the marshmallow skit.  I thought she was going to have a stomachache from all that laughing.  The GiPad skit was cute too.  And of course the music and the pipes.

A good time was had by all.

Cookbooks

I love cookbooks.  I have quite a collection.  Some of my favorites are:

The Temple Emanuel Sisterhood Cookbook - as you might recall, Esther Muhlfelder and I co-chaired this book.  There are many tasty recipes in the book.  All tested.  My favorites are the Chocolate Mousse Cake and the Hamentashen recipe.

The Flour Cookbook - by Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery.  I love her cookbook and look forward to her savory one in 2013.  My favorite recipes from Flour are the Oreo Cookies, The Sticky Buns, The Banana Bread and the Brownies.

The Pie and Pastry Bible - This book changed my life.  I love pies, and had been having a hard time making pie crusts.  Rose Levy Beranbaum explained how to do it in the book, complete with the scientific reasons.  Now I don't skip the resting of the dough, because I know it is important to the finished product.

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook - this cookbook is new this year, and I have only made a few of the recipes.  I have used her blog and I love it.  She is an amazing photographer and home cook.  Her blog recipes include a salted chocolate brownie recipe that I love.

My Binder - I have a three ring binder full of tested recipes that I love.  It is not published and one of a kind.  My favorite recipes are the lemon scones, Carol's BBQ chicken, vegetarian chili 9000, my mother in law's chicken soup and chocolate chip Mandelbrot.  This binder gets additions every year.  I would be lost without this cookbook.

The Call

The call that every mom dreads. . . . "HI, this is the school nurse. . . . your child X is in my office."

Yup, I was the recipient of that call yesterday.  Yup, the ten year old was not feeling well.  And there were THREE other kids from his class OUT sick.  Yup, time to get the kid.  Luckily my husband was able to get him and work from home from the rest of the day.

And then . . . . . this morning I thought I had it all set.  Bring the ten year old to my parent's house, and the other one can go to school.  I am half way to my parent's house (which is an hour away), when my husband calls me on my cell. . . . ."Um, the six year old just threw up."

WONDERFUL!

Just what I needed.

So the poor guy worked from home, again.  Luckily the six year old is feeling MUCH better and can't wait to get back to school.  The ten year old - well the jury is still out on what tomorrow will bring.  He has a cough (not a bad one, but one that an adult would power through).  He has the sniffles.  Again, nothing too bad.

But tonight was the synagogue's Hanukkah party. . . . and the six year old is part of the children's choir.  I was so proud of myself for not only remembering to put her choir shirt in my work bag today, but I also managed to remember to bring the camera!  I was ready for the performance.  So, Little Miss Prepared was overly prepared.  But what I did not have for tonight was dinner!  We were supposed to be eating potato latkes and applesauce with friends.  Instead, the little one and I had pancakes.  Daddy had soup, and the ten year old feasted on latkes at Grandma and Papa's.

So, hopefully tomorrow goes better.

Potato Rosti

Dinner was an old favorite - Potato Rosti

1 egg
1/4 cup flour
2 medium baking potatos, peeled and grated
1/2 c grated Gruyere cheese
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/4 t caraway seeds
1/2 t salt
pepper
1 1/2 T butter

In a large bowl, whisk the egg and flour.  Then add the grated potato, the grated cheese and the chopped onion.  Stir to combine.  Add caraway seeds, salt and pepper.

In a 9 inch non stick fry pan, heat over medium heat 1/2 of the butter til it melts.  Add the rosti, and pat it to form one large pancake.  Cook for 10-12 minutes.  When the bottom is dark golden brown, invert the cake onto a plate.  Put the other 1/2 of the butter in the pan.  Once it melts slide the rosti into the skillet and cook the other side for 9 minutes.

When done, put the rosti onto a cutting board and slice into six wedges.

Enjoy.

Spaghetti with garlic and lemon sauce - three out of four Weitzman's give it a thumbs up!

It is not every night that we can get EVERYONE to agree on the success of dinner.  However, it is rare when THREE out of FOUR of us give it a THUMBS UP.

Here is the recipe:

1 pound of spaghetti
1/2 c olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 lemons, - zest of
3 T fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 t salt
Pepper

Cook pasta until done.  Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water.  Drain pasta.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook for 3 minutes - stir.  Add lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Stir.  Add 1/2 cup of the pasta water.  Bring to a quick boil.  Toss pasta into skillet.

Serve

The Star of the Day in our Family

Singing at Senior Hebrew Life in Roslindale