Got some time to waste...

er, I mean, to spend in sharpening and proving your mental acuity??? And don't mind being insulted...

Then try this:

the idiot test

And if that's not enough:

the idiot test 2!

Brady Bunch Battle of the Bulge

Did you notice the cool alliteration in the title? I know, it’s not that cool, oh well, I try.

Anyway, we watched the latest “Celebrity Fit Club” on TV last night. I actually only watched it because Maureen McCormack, who played Marcia Brady on the Brady Bunch, was on it.

I was sorry to hear that she’s been having a rough time because her mother passed away, and she’s been caring for her handicapped brother. She turned to food for comfort. Of course I felt bad for her, having been through the death of both of my parents. But I have to confess that I had the slightest bit of satisfaction in knowing that someone like her, the perfect teenager of my “generation” is struggling with her weight. We certainly aren't getting any younger.

I’m sure she’ll be back to “fighting weight” in no time. Oh Marcia, Marcia.

Comforting Words

Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

One thing I have desired of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.

For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 27:3,4,5

Trying to make sense of a tragedy

I'm grieving for the innocent victims of a lunatic murderer at Virginia Tech. I know of only one place to go for comfort, into the arms of the One who comforts the comfortless, heals the brokenhearted and calms the raging seas. I'm praying for all the bereaved family members and friends, those injured, and those traumatized by the experience.

This Bequest of Wings

He ate and drank the precious words,
His spirit grew robust;
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was dust.
He danced along the dingy days,
And this bequest of wings
Was but a book.
What liberty A loosened spirit brings!

Emily Dickinson


Books I've Read in 2007:

The Princess and the Wise Woman by George McDonald

Emily Bronte and her Sisters

The Book of Hours by Davis Bunn

Codex by Lev Grossman

The Good Nanny by Benjamin Cheever

The Jane Austen’s Guide to Manners by Josephine Ross

Lileth by George McDonald

Phantastes by George McDonald

Middlemarch by George Eliot

An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Amazing Grace, William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Christ in the Passover by Cecil and Moishe Rosen

The Fight for Jerusalem by Dore Gold

Prometheus Bound by Aescylus

He is Risen

And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from haven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered, and said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo:
I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Matthew 28

This Bequest of Wings

He ate and drank the precious words,
His spirit grew robust;
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was dust.
He danced along the dingy days,
And this bequest of wings
Was but a book.
What liberty A loosened spirit brings!"

Emily Dickinson

Books I've Read in 2007:

The Princess and the Wise Woman by George McDonald

Emily Bronte and her Sisters

The Book of Hours by Davis Bunn

Codex by Lev Grossman

The Good Nanny by Benjamin Cheever

The Jane Austen’s Guide to Manners by Josephine Ross

Lileth by George McDonald

Phantastes by George McDonald

Middlemarch by George Eliot

An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Amazing Grace, William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Christ in the Passover by Cecil and Moishe Rosen

The Fight for Jerusalem by Dore Gold

Passover Menu

I love to cook ethnic dishes. In fact I really only enjoy cooking for special occasions and cooking either something ethnic or something I haven’t done before. My mom was the best cook ever. Growing up French in New Orleans, we ate gumbo, jambalaya, panne meat, oyster stuffing, shrimp creole, stuffed mirliton, po-boys, doberge cake, king cake, and more, just thinking about it makes me hungry. So for traditional holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, I like to cook Cajun/Creole.

Once, I attempted to cook a traditional Indian meal for a visiting minister from India. I also invited some British friends over when I attempted to make Yorkshire Pudding, actually it turned out pretty good. The Indian meal was okay, but when I asked our friend if it tasted Indian, he told me it was “American Indian”. Okay, it was the spices. I also had my two kids who were eating with us so I couldn’t burn their little mouths. Real Indian food is SPICY! I’m getting my appetite juices ready for tonight: there’s a new Indian restaurant in town and Chuck and I are going to try it out tonight.

Well all of that was by way of introduction to our family’s Passover menu. I’ve been cooking Passover dinner now for a few years, so I have my menu pretty much down. Since I don’t have any background in Jewish cuisine, I’ve had to get everything from cookbooks. I’m getting quite good at making Matzah Ball soup, if I do say so myself. I have a great recipe that requires boiling a whole chicken with some vegetables on the first day, removing the chicken and vegetables and cooling it overnight, defatting the broth, and then starting over with another chicken and more carrots and onions. Means you have to plan ahead because it takes at least two days to cook. Plus, my daughter Aimee is quite an expert Matzah Ball roller, so the soup was good.

Last year I added a potato kugel and cooked it again this year. I’m not going to get my cookbook to look up the names, but it requires some great Yiddish ingredients which include schmaltz and gribbbez?. Please excuse me if I’ve butchered the names, like I said I’m not going to look them up. But schmaltz is melted chicken fat and the gr. stuff is made when you take the chicken fat, melt it and cook thin onion strips and chicken skin for about 45 minutes so it gets really crunchy. Then you mix it in with boiled potatoes, add some chicken broth mash it up and bake them in a casserole for a potato kugel.

Then there’s the charoset, which is a mixture of apples, walnuts, raisins, cinnamon and grape juice or wine. Charoset is a reminder of the mortar used by the Israelites to make bricks for the Egyptians. It goes on the Seder plate and I also serve it with dinner. Then there’s steamed asparagus with lemon juice, avocado salad, matzahs, oh yes and roast lamb. For dessert we always have this great chocolate cake made with matzah meal, grated apple, grated semisweet chocolate and six egg beaten egg whites and sugar. Since there’s no baking powder, soda, etc. to make the cake fluffy, the egg whites and the grated apples do the trick.

Now what are we having for Easter?

A Visit to the "Old City"

Okay, it wasn’t really the Old City of Jerusalem but it was as close as we could get without spending thousands of dollars on a trip to Israel. The Jewish Feast of Passover starts tonight. Our family likes to celebrate Passover. It has become a family tradition, even though we are Christians.

There are many reasons why I love to celebrate Passover, not the least of which is that my Lord Jesus Christ inaugurated the New Covenant at a Passover seder, saying “Do this in remembrance of Me”. So we celebrate Passover in remembrance of The Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, who was slain for us.

Because I don’t have a family background in celebrating Passover, I’ve sort of put together our own family traditions through the years. I picked up a Seder plate when I visited the Holy Land many years ago, and an “Elijah cup” sometime later. But I thought this year it was time to upgrade our Passover equipment. I looked online for Judaica stores but you really have to see the stuff before purchasing it. So a trip to the Fairfax district of Los Angeles was in order.
Here are a few of the stores we visited:
Ufaratza Judaica Center
The Mitzvah Store
Shmulies Judaica
Solomon’s Bookstore

I haven’t been to the Fairfax district, where most of the Jewish stores in Los Angeles are located, since I was studying Hebrew at UCLA in the 1980s. I remember I picked up a pocket version of the Hebrew Scriptures, called the Tanakh, which I still have. Actually, I have been in the area since then, but for a different purpose. When I was driving my kids all over Los Angeles for auditions we visited W. Pico and Fairfax Blvd. many times. It’s a lot more fun to go there for the purpose of browsing in Jewish stores than rushing to get to an audition on time, finding the address and a parking spot and rushing back on the freeway to try to get kids back in time for sports, acting classes etc. Whew, I don’t miss that one bit.

On our trip we bought a Matzah tray, an afikomen bag, portion cups for the seder plate, silver (plate) candle sticks, and a wine fountain. The wine fountain (pictured above) is the coolest. It is certainly not required for the seder, but it looked so cool that Chuck and I both decided we had to have it. You pour the wine in using the top cup and it comes spurting out into eight little cups below. Since four cups of wine (or grape juice) are obligatory for the service, this will come in handy and did I say it’s really cool too.