Countdown to the holidays, part 2

Tonight, as I was sitting down to do some studying, my husband interrupted, mentioning that I had promised to wrap presents tonight, and to go over all of the gifts we've gathered so far. I sighed and then stared at all the bags and boxes he had unearthed from our bedroom closet and under our bed. I knew that it had to be done, but it always seems like such a chore. Six years ago as we were preparing for the arrival of our son, we got all of the presents ready before Thanksgiving, just in case he was born early. Ever since, we've tried to be ready for Hanukkah a few days before. It took us a couple of hours, but we sorted out the presents for each of our kids, and wrapped all of them. We need to get a few more things for our daughter. It's always a relief to have the the presents ready before the holiday. They will be getting a lot of books this year. The kids really do enjoy the presents, and we enjoy their happy smiles.

Earlier in the week, I stopped at a local coffee shop that carries the beeswax candles that fit our Menorah, which was handcrafted by my father. The beeswax candles are the only type that fit the candle holders, which anchor the candles with spikes. Years ago, I used to buy the wax from a bee keeper and make my own. My husband and I would spend a couple of nights cutting the wax into the right size, heating the individual pieces with a hair dryer and then rolling a wick into the wax. Obviously, we haven't had time for this luxurious craft in years. When I found the $12 box of pre-made candles, I knew that my candle-making days were over, and now I buy them every year.

Tomorrow, I need to order some nut-free chocolate!

Countdown to the holidays, part 1 -- gathering presents

December is always an especially challenging month for our family. At one point, I did enjoy the holidays, but now it's just one more overwhelming thing. I try to do less each year, but it seems that the events take on a snowball effect. I think it's fun for the kids, but for my husband and me, there are so many tasks at hand and most of them have to do with gathering presents. We celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, and my son's birthday is December 16. It's easy for his birthday to get lost in all of the other celebrations, especially if there's an overlap when Hanukkah happens on the same days as his birthday or Christmas. And for him, it's the best part of the year, but he complains because he has to wait so long to get his presents.

This year, each event can be celebrated separately. Hanukkah runs for eight days, then we'll have a 3-day break until my son's birthday party and birthday. And then 8 days until Christmas eve. Last year it all came together, with Hanukkah starting on the day of his birthday.

My husband and I started gathering presents the week before Thanksgiving, but we haven't wrapped anything yet. We are planning to get started with that tonight. Our closet is starting to bulge, and the space under our bed is filled with books. I even have a stack of books hidden on the file cabinet, in plain view in my dining room. I have the spines turned inside. The kids will get a lot of books for Hanukkah. Toys and other things for Christmas. We used to send out about 100 cards to our friends and family, but last year we couldn't keep up with it. We sent out a Kodak photo album to our friends, but later realized that many people didn't even open it up, or didn't receive it. I'm still going to try it again this year. I may just send an email note with a photo or two actually in the email.

As I'm writing this, I am suddenly interrupted by the some annoying noise from my upstairs neighbors, and I need to pause to put some music on Pandora.com. OK, I'm back and now I'm listening to a radio station featuring music by Pink and related songs.

A few nights ago when I was studying late into the night, I smelled smoke and heard a guy jabbering away on a cell phone. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from until I peaked out my front window only to find that there was a guy sitting on his window sill, smoking away. I think I startled him, but then I stormed away and went to bed. It was after 1:00 a.m. anyway.

Countdown to birthday party

I don't know how I did this, but we will be celebrating my son's birthday for about 3 days. On Friday, December 14, I will need to bring in 2 dozen cupcakes for his class to celebrate. On Saturday, December 15, we have the party at the karate studio from 2-4, and there will have to be a cake or more cupcakes. I invited 30 kids including his whole class plus a few others. So far, I've only heard from a few people, and many have declined. It's such a busy time of the year. I figured if I had at least a 50% acceptance rate, I'd have a good crowd for him. I bought a pinata, and now I have to order the treats to fill it. I will also have to provide goodie bags, which are such a waste of money. And I have no idea why I scheduled the party one day before his birthday, when I could have scheduled it on Sunday. At the time I scheduled the party, I was probably under the impression that the karate studio was closed on Sundays. So, on my son's birthday, we'll have yet another celebration, probably anticlimactic, but the presents will keep coming.

Last year, we had my son's party at the New York City Transit Museum ("subway museum"). We had the place to ourselves for about 2 hours. Instead of giving cheap, yet expensive, goodie bags, I gave each child a book about trains. I went crazy with the cake though because I found a train cake pan at Williams-Sonoma and made individual trains and cars and then decorated them all. They looked good, but I don't think that the kids actually ate them. I made chocolate and vanilla, and used various colors of icing.

This year, the kids will go crazy for the cheap treats in the pinata and maybe I'll make chocolate chip cookies and give each child 6. That would be relatively easy. Who really needs another pencil or sticker or cheap plastic toy anyway?

My Daughter's Piano Recital

I stayed overnight in New Jersey on Friday night, and on Saturday morning, my mom and I drove back to Brooklyn and arrived by about 9:45 a.m. We were just in time to clean up the apartment to prepare for my daughter's piano recital. The floors needed to be vacuumed and mopped and we needed to put away toys. The dining room was arranged with chairs in a semi circle behind the spinet piano. When we arrived, she was already dressed in her best party dress and ready to perform. The piano teacher arrived at 11:45 as arranged, but we waited for grandpa, who couldn't find a parking spot. While we waited, the piano teacher played for us. Grandpa eventually arrived and the recital began. My daughter played beautifully. Her expression was beautiful and her technique is improving. She has made great strides since her first lesson this fall. Even though we didn't have a full house, it was worth the experience to give her the motivation. We gave her the last pink rose of summer from Grammy's garden.

The Day After Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving pretty much in the same style as we have for over fifteen years here at my mom's house in the north section of Newark. My parents have been divorced for over 12 years now, but my dad always returns for this weekend. My brother always comes in from Portsmouth, NH and my husband's parents would come over too, until last year when Doug's mom passed away. Usually there are a few guests as well. Yesterday, our group of 12 included my parents, my brother, my family, and one of my dad's voice students from Mount Scenario College, in Ladysmith, WI with his wife and her son. We had not seen them for a while so the conversation was lively as we all caught up with each other.

The menu was traditional: turkey, giblet gravy, stuffing (made with bread, butter, celery and onions, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pineapple sherbet and pie for desert.

My mom's house is impressive. Built in about 1929 before the stock market crash, it features beautiful fittings, alabaster lamps, interesting brass door knobs and leaded glass windows. It's about 3,500 square feet with: 3 bedrooms, each with their own interior bathroom (2 with shower one with a tub; panelled library filled with books; finished attic with 3 cedar storage closets; kitchen with pantry and back staircase to the second floor; full dining room with a large table; finished basement with a bar; laundry in the basement; living room with coat closet and a sun room; formal entryway; front staircase with landing; window seat and a mural on the walls and 2 half baths (for a total of 5 bathrooms). She has a beautiful garden with a fountain, many flowers, lavendar, herbs and vegetables.

The Night Before Thanksgiving

Last year, I spent 2 hours in traffic between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on my way to Newark to see my family. For years we've been gathering in Newark for Thanksgiving. This year, I decided to stay home on the night before Thanksgiving simply to avoid the traffic and to do a little more preparation. I spent the day writing a paper and studying, and really couldn't spare the time to pack suitcases or to cook anything. In the meantime, my mom made 2 pumpkin pies, 1 blueberry pie and a shoefly pie, plus pineapple sherbet. I really didn't miss cooking this year.

My house needs to be cleaned. I'm starting to count the dust bunnies accumulating in the hallway and in my bedroom, but the laundry is done and my husband kindly and generously folded all of it! We call him The Folder. The weekend will be full and I'll be sure to journal the hightlights in the days to come.

Corn husks

This afternoon, I noticed that my daughter needed corn husks to bring to class tomorrow. She had mentioned that she was going to make the corn husk dolls in class, but never told me about the requirement of bringing in the corn husks. I finally read the note on her homework reminder sheet. On the way home from school, I kept thinking, where in the world am I going to get corn husks in Brooklyn with less than one day's notice. But it was my lucky day. A few weeks ago, my husband bought two sets of mini dried colored corn at the green market, with dried corn husks. So, I cut off the tops and put them in her backpack.

Sometimes the number of things that are required from parents approach the ridiculous. There are many many tests and permission slips to sign, and many opportunities to donate food to parties. For example, there's a Thanksgiving feast in the classroom on Wednesday. I had to admit that I can't cook for this event. I bought a cherry pie that I might bring to Thanksgiving Dinner or I could give it to the classroom. But I also have a gallon of apple cider that will work just fine.

Not that I mind participating, but I do feel overwhelmed. I don't like it when I miss something that I was supposed to do and it affects my daughter! I need to remind her constantly to participate in reminding me!

Fantastic Day

It was a marathon day today. Staying up late meant that I needed to sleep in a bit today and got ready just in time to leave the house at 11:00. I needed to be in the city for a class at the Humanities and Social Science Library (NYPL) at 42nd Street. I really enjoyed the class and was so fortunate to have friends in town. We've known each other for about 20 years and went to a atudy abroad program in Copenhagen together in 1988.

In the meantime, my daughter carried on with her piano and karate lessons, and had a playdate with a friend. I heard that there was a leaf-hunting walk in the park.

We met on the library steps and then took a bus down 5th Avenue to the Forbes Museum where it was quiet and just the place to talk and catch up. After that we went on a search for New York Cheese cake and found it at Juniors in Grand Central Terminal. We stayed in the food court for a while and then ended up at the bar at the Cipriani.

At about 6:30 p.m., it was time to go and we made our way to the shuttle back to the west side. Two friends were heading back to their hotel for evening activities at the conference they were attending, and one friend and I were headed back to Penn Station. But I fainted on the shuttle because I wasn't feeling well. So instead of taking the train home, my friend kindly got a taxi and we make our way back to Brooklyn. My husband then took him to the LIRR station here in Brooklyn for his trip to Long Island. My kids read Sesame Street stories to me in bed.

I'm here writing and may have to go through and edit this a bit later, but it's all I can do for now. The house is a mess, especially the kitchen...due to the malfunctioning sink and dishwasher but now it's back to bed for me. I think I have a fever.

TGIF

As Fridays go, this one wasn't so bad. The afternoon was rather calm with the kids. I decided to order pizza and salad and then had time to make banana bread. I really couldn't have cooked though because our sink is clogged and the adjacent dishwasher is clogged too. My husband promised to try to fix it with a drain cleaner tomorrow, because pouring hot water down the drain did nothing. We may have to call the plumber after all, and pay an exorbitant fee for it. Hopefully it will all work out -- otherwise my take-out bills will be sky high.

I need to stay up late tonight to study for a quiz which will take place the week after Thanksgiving. Saturday will be a busy day and I will have to miss kickboxing again.

Mom, why do the towels smell like garlic?

I suppose that the long answer to why our towels smell like garlic is that the apartment is small, and even if all of the windows were open, the cooking smells would be absorbed into the towels in the bathroom, which is really only about 15 feet from the kitchen, around the corner in the hall. Also, the ventilation hood for the stove top is set up in the microwave, which is installed just above the stove top, but if you are cooking on the front burner, the aromas don't reach the fan, just behind, and cooking steam goes straight up to the ceiling.

But the short answer is that I made a delicious soup that had a lot of garlic in it.
Here's the recipe ( from A King Arthur Flour recipe booklet):

Albondigas Soup

Meatballs:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup diced onions
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1 large egg
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano

Soup:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups diced onions
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cans (about 28 ounces) diced or crushed tomatoes with green chilis
(or 2 cans diced or crushed tomatoes and a separate can of green chilis)
1 8-ounce zucchini, diced
6 cups (48 ounces) chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sliced scallions (optional)
juice of 1 lime
cilantro sprigs for garnish

To make the meatballs:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• In medium saute pan, heat the olive oil and add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
• In a mixing bowl combine the beef, pork, egg, cornmeal, cumin and oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir in the 1/2 cup cooked onions.
• Mix well and form into 1-inch balls.
• Place the meatballs on a baking sheet and cook for 20-25 minutes. (Cooking the meatballs this way sets the proteins in the meat and will keep the soup from getting cloudy when it simmers.
• Remove the meatballs from the oven and set aside.

For the soup:

• In a 6-quart pan, heat the olive oil.
• Add the onions and cook, stirring iccasionally, until they become translucent and begin to pick up some color. Stir in the garlic and zucchini, and cook for 5 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes, chicken broth, bay leaf and salt, and bring to a simmer.
• Carefully drop in teh meatballs.
• Reduce the soup to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes.
• Five minutes before serving, add the scallions and lime juice.
• Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired.
• Serve with fresh cilantro on top.
• Yield 12 cups, 8 12-ounce servings.

P.S. Several of my favorite shirts smelled like garlic and onions so now I have to wash them again. Next week I'm making beef stew. Does that mean I have to encase my clothes in plastic?

On November 13th...

It's November 14th, and this should have been posted yesterday. However, it was a half-day for the kids, plus parent-teacher conference meetings in the afternoon. Plus I had class in the evening, which meant that I had to drop off the kids at their grandpa's house and then my husband had to pick them up after work. Grandpa drove them all home after dinner.


Anyway, here's the Odd Couple reference upon which I based this blog:

"On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"

I'm Felix, and I live with three Oscars.

Blissfully quiet

Everyone is out of the house right now and it's quiet. While my daughter attended Sunday school, my husband took my son to his first basketball clinic. In the meantime, I've ignored the mess in the kitchen so that I could do some prep work on my website assignment. I think that I now have enough material for a good start. I still have many hours of quiz prep to do, so that will have to take place this afternoon and this evening. The kids are off from school today and Tuesday afternoon, so most of my work has to get done today. I will probably take them on a field trip to a science or children's museum, depending on what's open.

I was going to make a special soup this afternoon, but I forgot to buy the main ingredient so I'll have to do that tomorrow afternoon. I haven't touched the laundry, but at least the apartment is still relatively clean.

They will be home any minute clamoring for lunch and then my daughter is having two friends over for a playdate from 2-5. Hopefully, my son and husband can go back out for a while to the park. The leaves are gorgeous right now, and I can see a few trees with striking reddish leaves.

I CAN'T believe that you threw that out!

We finally made some progress in tossing out some more things today. My husband went to Ebay to try to sell a few things, mostly books. We had boxes of books in our trunk for about a month, and I had saved a few things for my daughter's Hannukah presents. It turned out that Ebay didn't take a lot of the things. So, he went to the Salvation Army to drop off what they wouldn't take....including the 3 items I had saved for my daughter! When he got home, he proudly announced that he had cleaned out the trunk. I hit the roof. Then he gave me the keys so I could drive (like a maniac) back down to Flatbush Avenue to the Salvation Army to get the items I wanted. When I got there, I breathlessly explained my situation. Turns out they had put out the flower press and the bead kit and had already and priced them! I'm glad I made it there in time.

I dashed back home and had enough time to make a pear galette and dinner for the kids. Our dinner guests arrived later than expected, so it will all work out OK. We're planning to go out for dinner at a nearby restaurant.

E.T.

As a reward for general good behavior during the last two weeks, I rented a movie for the whole family to see tonight. The kids needed some extra encouragement to get out of the house calmly in the mornings and to transition from the idea of leaving our cozy home and going outside for the walk to school. I set up a chart next to the door that includes all of the routines for morning, bedtime and our after-school activities. If there was a smooth morning or evening, the kids got a sticker for the chart. We had more sticker -days than non-sticker days, so I have to say this system is working for now. We have tried other reward systems that help to get over certain problems, and found that it will work for as long as we support it.

Back to the movie. The kids worked out a dance routine to do just before the movie. A "now enjoy the show" sort of routine. Fantastic! I first saw this movie when it came out in the early 80's, and really loved seeing some of the famous parts again such as the wonderful relationship between Elliot and ET, the dress-up scene, the scene where ET hides in stuffed animal.

I need to go back to studying now. The kids will be off from school on Monday, and I have a quiz on Thursday, so I need to work in studying whenever I can this weekend, and even though I will feel guilty doing it, it's a matter of academic survival at this point.

A 25- hour day

Sometimes it seems as if we feel that if we only had a few more hours in a day, we could do more. I think that if we had more hours in a day, we would find more to add to the schedule. This seemed to be the case last Saturday and Sunday, only i wasn't trying to add anything.... It was a snowball effect, seemingly out of control. We were extremely over booked. Here's what the schedule looked like:

Saturday:
son has doctor's appointment in morning
mom makes carrot-cake cupcakes with cream cheese icing
daughter has piano lesson and karate lesson back to back
daughter has play date for the afternoon
son has birthday party in the afternoon
mom has coffee with a new friend (while the party is going on)
back home again.
Husband finally home from playing golf all day in NJ
Mom drops off husbands shirts at dry cleaners and drops off cupcakes at the desert location for the evening's progressive dinner, then goes to shop to buy cheese and bread
Ends up with picking up daughter from playdate.
Home again to get ready for hosting the cocktail party and progressive dinner for school event.
Babysitter arrives
The kids go with babysitter out to dinner at nearby restaruant
Guests arrive for cocktail hour. We expected 10, but only got 6
We left for dinner several blocks away
Back up the street again for dessert at another house
It was nice to see other places in the neighborhood
Stopped at one more house for more dessert
Got home very late -- close to 1:00 a.m.
But it wasn't 1:00, it was really only midnight because of the time-change.

Sunday --
research and write paper all day
In the meantime, daughter has Hebrew School in the morning
daughter's best friend comes over
daughter goes to birthday party in the afternoon.
Son and husband go along.
Everyone meets at home for a late dinner of butternut squash soup

Preparing for cocktail parties and more

I spent the last half of last week getting over Halloween, working on a presentation for one of my classes, studying and preparing for a 6-8-page long written paper assignment. On Friday during the day, I also hired someone to help me clean the apartment in time for a school event on Saturday. The bathrooms and the kitchen were cleaned, the living room was vacuumed, my daughter's room was straightened up and cleaned, and almost all of the important papers were organized badly into piles of paper that I couldn't locate. In fact, this week, I couldn't find a test that I was supposed to sign for my daughter. I found it last night, but not after looking through all of the badly organized piles of papers and magazines. I moved the boxes from the living room to the hallway and should have moved them back to the living room, but they are still there. Then on Friday night, we went to a special potluck dinner and service for my daughter's Hebrew School. She took part in a Friday-night service. I thought the dinner was going to precede the service, and we were a little late. It turned out it was the other way around.

A review of last week's events:
Wednesday - Halloween
Thursday - class and meeting with son's therapist in the evening
Friday - study, cleaning, pick up kids from school, take son to play therapy,
make side dish for potluck, service and potluck at temple

I'm saving Saturday and Sunday for the next blog.

Halloween

I finally had a chance to load up my pictures from the Wednesday-night Halloween extravaganza. We invited two of my daughter's best friends to go trick-or-treating with us, and we all met at the apartment for something to eat and to get the costumes on. All I had to offer was mac and cheese (a huge tray from Fresh Direct) apples, and some cider. I couldn't put together much of a party because I've been swamped with school responsibilities -- for example a quiz the day before and a Power Point presentation, plus a paper due next week! The main thing was that we had fun together.

Our tradition is to go trick or treating and then meet my husband at the parade which starts at 6:30 at 7th Avenue and 12th Street. The parade is attended by practically every family in the neighborhood and it's a zoo! We usually walk with the parade about 16 blocks to Carroll Street where we see a wonderful puppet show and then we do a little more trick or treating and then head home. Check out this video on youtube, which is a show from a previous year. It's set up in the window of the basement of a brownstone. (Note, you may have to cut and paste this into your browser)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hKlYiA9eNY

Butternut Squash Soup

This recipe is one of my all-time favorites, and everybody in the family likes it, even the picky ones! I found it on www.allrecipes.com last year.

Butternut Squash Soup with Spinach Ravioli

Ingredients:

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sliced onions
3/4 cup sliced leeks
2 1/ 2 to 3 cups peeled, seeded and cubed butternut squash
1/2 cup dry white wine
5 cups chicken broth
1 pinch of cinnamon
1 pinch of ground ginger
3/4 up light cream
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place the cumin seeds and nutmeg in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook until lightly browned. Stir in the butter and saute the onions and leeks until tender. Mix in squash, wine and chicken broth. Season with cinnamon and ginger. Reduce heat, and simmer 10-15 minutes.

2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ravioli and cook 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.

3. With a hand mixer, puree the soup mixture. Blend in light cream and season with salt and pepper. Mix in the cooked ravioli just before serving.


Enjoy!