Last Day of Chanukah

We missed a few nights of candle lighting due to Chaim getting a rare eye condition called Iritis, but now things are slowly going back to normal. We had our customary non kosher dinner this evening. Chaim cooked an international meal of: Belize conch with Korean sauce, a white rice casserole made with sausage from Schaller and Webber, Feta and Parmesan cheese, and a bit of red sauce. We aren't trying to be anti-Jewish, in fact we realized that we always eat this way and just noticed it during Chanukah.

We exchanged gifts, even though we said we wouldn't buy into the commercial hype. I got an electric toothbrush, a gift that may at first seem very unromantic, but in the end, it's about taking care of one's health, so it turns into a loving gesture. And I got Chaim a sample kit of popcorn; 8 different kinds of popcorn with some coconut oil (which is like 98% saturated fat) and movie spices. It's called the Amish country popcorn kit, and we wondered what coconut oil has anything to do with the Amish.

On the Third Day of Chanukah My True Love Gave to Me...

Chaim went to Manhattan Chinatown for lunch, and brought back my favorite Vietnamese Sandwiches, and just like our past two nights of non kosher eating, we feasted on Shrimp with special sauce over rice, and the crumbled pork between delicious French bread.

Today's appropriate Times story is titled "A Holiday Medley, Off Key", where they discuss multi-religious and interfaith couples. The article lists examples of many Jewish families that have Christmas Trees, and most families try to balance out their separate religions and try to have an equal amount of decorations strung up around the house.
This year we don't have a tree. First we don't have space for it amongst the boxes and mess, and secondly, we don't know where any of the boxes of ornaments are. Just the other day I did unearth a cooler full of Christmas Tree lights, but decided it was too much to deal with. Chaim set up a holiday display on my Aluminium CD rack (replacing an Aluminium tree). On the top shelf is a Nutcracker doll, then some random tree ornaments he found on the street, the most humorous of them being the Family Guy, then under that is another Menorah Chaim found somewhere in an Upper East Side thrift shop, displaying some Day of the Dead figurines.
So far, celebrating Chanukah, has been a good replacement, a contained ornamented holiday with lots of time in the kitchen which is a double bonus because it warms up the house.

Oh and by the way, a Babka update. The dough finally rose after about 8 hours, and this morning I kneaded and twisted it into a nice sticky mess, and placed it into the oven to bake for 45 minutes just like the recipe called for. And much to my surprise, it is actually good. Chaim says "wow this is the real deal!, it tastes like it was made by a women who wears a wig". It doesn't look as good as the picture in the times, and I think it tastes like coffee cake.

Chaim works for the NYC Ballet, teaching dance appreciation to the schools, and so he seems to be in a lot more of a Christmas mood out of the two of us. The project he brings to schools is the Nutcracker Suite and so you can often hear him humming "Dance of the Sugar Plumb Fairies".
Since my birthday is on Christmas, even with out a tree, wreaths, mistletoe, and lights, we will always have something to celebrate. So when ever we hear a Christmas Carol being played on T.V. or radio, Chaim immediately starts to sing along, but makes it into a Birthday song for me:
so instead of

"We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
and a Happy New Year!",

Chaim will sing
"I wish you a Happy Birthday,
I wish you a Happy Birthday,
I wish you a Happy Birthday,
to-oo Mick-i Jesus!

Also today we got phone service, through Verizon. The technician was due anytime between 8am-12pm, and he actually came at 8:15 and was done in two hours!!!! That's what I call a great Chanukah present!

On the Second Day of Chanukah my true love gave to me...

Well actually no presents were exchanged but I won my first game of Dreidel. I won a whole $3.00. It was a short game in that on the second spin, when it was my turn to call the ante, I went all in, because my wrist hurt, and won the pot when Chaim landed on the shin letter, and he couldn't put one in.

For today's gastronomic experiment, I saw that the Wednesday food section had a write up on Babka, so I decided to give it a try. Chaim's friend Darra Goldstein, (who curated his plastic spoon collection into the Feeding Desires Show at the Cooper Hewitt) was quoted in the article defining: "Babka comes from baba, a very tall, delicate yet rich yeast-risen cake eaten in Western Russia and Eastern Poland." Unfortunately, it involves yeast as Darra says, and definitely not my forte. I am now waiting, ( have been for about an hour now) for the dough to rise, and I don't think the mound has moved in the vertical direction one inch.

We lit our candles tonight, this time three, and because last nights candle burned the right side of tonight's candle, the third candle burned much shorter than it should have. I hope the dough rises before the candles burn out.

Are we supposed to eat Latkes for 8 days???

Happy Chanukah!....
Some spell it Hanukkah, but now that I am married to Chaim, anything with a "hu'gh" sound with forever be spelled with a CH.

Trying to get with the spirit of my new borrowed holiday, I took out our new menorah, given to us by Pat and Mia. (We had put two of them on our gift registry thinking that we could use them all year round as candelabras, but since Mia works at the Skirball Center in LA, they probably were on to us, and only got us one from the Jewish Museum gift shop).

It's great to be able to begin using our wedding gifts for our home. The only candles I could unearth were the two packs of Manischewitz Shabbat candles I had bought years ago for the 9-11 emergency kit. Since the cans of Dinty Moore beef stew had been consumed, the candles were the only things left in the kit, so I figured this would be a good time to use them up as well. Only, I learned that Shabbat candles and Chanukah candles are different sizes and burn different lengths. Chanukah candles are much smaller so I had to shave off the bottom inch of the Shabbat candles to fit them into our new menorah. I stated shaving and filled all 9 candle holders, only to be told that you are only supposed to place only the candle you are burning into the menorah. Stubbornly I left them all in and so the first candle began to melt the second night's light, so tomorrow will be a little shorter festival of light.

I came home tonight with three potatoes and 4 beets thinking to make some Latkes for Chaim, in honor of the holiday. For some reason, I had in my mind that beets had something to do with this holiday..... I didn't have any chicken shmaltz, so I used a mixture of olive and vegetable oil. In addition, I added some of the fresh sage from Jill and Aaron's garden. The last batch, I shredded some beets and we put a little bit of wasabi on them (we didn't have any horseradish) for an interesting twist. Chaim and I both wanted apple sauce on the latkes instead of sour cream, so I sent him out to the Dynasty to get some. On his way out started chanting "pork chops and apple" sauce to myself, something from an old Brady Bunch episode, and 15 minutes later, Chaim returned with the apple sauce and some pork chops, telling me that this is not really kosher.

So this is what I learned today:
Beside the fact that you are only supposed to put the candles you are lighting in the menorah, the 9th candle is called the shamas, and this one lights all the other candles. And unlike the punk sparkler you use to light fireworks, this candle stays lit the whole time the other candles are lit, so just like taking antibiotics, on the first night you take two and light both. I also learned that since Chanukah candles are smaller, you are not supposed to use them for the Sabbath, since the burn time is much shorter. Therefore, our Menorah candles are actually on for way too long according to the family Jew. But I say we are just having a deluxe first Chanukah in our new Woodside home.

My only question is, are we supposed to eat latkes for the next seven nights???????