Second Night of Chanukkah 11'21

 

The second night of Chanukkah went  much like the first  

and the cats continued to  join us 

while we said the blessings over the candles.

We decided that it might be a bit dangerous keeping the Menorah 

on the coffee table with the cats so close, 

so we moved it to the top of the fireplace mantel

where it was less likely to get knocked over.

After devouring a delicious plate  of latkes, with sour cream, green onions, and applesauce, 

Bruce and I have watched a Youtube Chanukkah story built around a remix of the musical 'Hamilton'. The performance was given in 2016 at the White House by the Chorale Group Six13. So the video has been around a while. Still, it was new to us, and given that we just saw Hamilton for the first time a couple of weeks ago, we probably enjoyed the remix a great deal more than we would have if we had seen it before we saw Hamilton.

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWcd-K8_X34

First Day of Chanukkah 11'21

 In some ways,  having to downsize Thanksgiving

 due to Covid's social distancing was a blessing,

 because this year,  the first night of Chanukkah

 fell on the Sunday night that Thanksgiving weekend ended.

Having fewer Thanksgiving ornaments to put away

made it much faster and  simpler to 

transition into  Chanukkah.

One of the first things we set out was Bruce's Menorah. 

 He has had this with him since he joined the Navy at age 18, 

and we cannot imagine celebrating this holiday without it.  

Next, the dining room table was reset

with blue and white dishes

and a Judaic latke dish and spatula.

I also put up a  blue bottle menorah in the front window.

We don't light it due to the potential fire hazard, 

but we do shine a spotlight on it,  so that everyone 

can see it from the outside.

And of course,  we celebrated by lighting the first candle 

followed by a lovely meal of roast duck and ended the evening by watching the 

National Menorah Lighting ceremony.

Thanksgiving 2021

 Thanksgiving 2021

was relatively subdued this year.

Due to the HOA construction projects

  going on in our front yard, 

we were only able to put up Tom Samoset,

and a few of  our favorite 

scarecrows.

It was just enough color 

to keep the house look festive and welcoming.

 Due to COVID, we couldn't invite our family or friends

over for a big Thanksgiving get-together.

 But that did stop us from dressing  up the table with 

all of our Thanksgiving dishes.

And even though it was only the two of us eating, 

we prepared a  full traditional feast of:

 roast turkey, stuffing,  wild  rice,

 roasted broccoli and mangos,

  roasted sweet potatoes,

cranberry-orange sauce,

 and of course, homemade pumpkin pie.

Two Ingredient Bagels??? 10 ' 21

 

Bruce and I  both love Bagels.

 It is hard to find any decent fresh ones in this area, and even harder to make them, 

So you can imagine how delighted I was when  I spotted a Bagel recipe  recipe 

that only called for two ingredients

( Greek Yogurt and self-rising flour). 

I got to work on testing the recipe out this morning and to my surprised

it made the best bagels we've had in months.

See recipe at :

https://18doors.org/recipe/two-ingredient-bagels/?fbclid=IwAR1EBujLKjAAgT7EBimPK9xHQhmy9-pbTo8R5jg_ogthHKRoVjs5r03ZS_E

Self-Crusting Coconut Pie: 10 ' 21

 

Yesterday, a Betty Crocker recipe for a self- crusting coconut pie caught my eye. I must admit I was a bit skeptical, and the crust is always the most unpredictable part of any pie . But then, I already had all the ingredients in the house, so why not give it a try. I must admit, I am impressed with how well it turned out.

While in the oven, the pie puffed up gloriously, and the coconut filling formed a beautiful caramel-colored crunchy topping that smelled as wonderful as it looked. After I took it out of the oven, the pie filling began to collapse in upon itself, but still looked quite pretty. Once it was cool enough to cut open, I found that the recipe did indeed create a thin crust all around the pie's dense filling. The pie filling tastes like a cross between a coconut custard and a rich vanilla pound cake.

( Find Recipe at) https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/impossibly-easy-coconut-pie/dca95b46-58a1-4253-81ae-6091f4abf47c?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social_organic&utm_campaign=MSP_XX%3F&mktgimp=pancakedrymx&fbclid=IwAR3_LrQoaNH0PGAK1f7RHMQqhN_SxyCxO3LvTpxFA11t8SDbbGGDwq-gJu8

PI Beach Walk: 10 '21

It was a beautiful day for a walk on the south end

 of Pawleys Island Beach.   

The sky was brilliant ( but awfully hard on the eyes).

Date Nite 10 '21

We had a lovely light dinner 

on the Litchfield Inn's Ocean Front patio this evening.

It's the first time in a long while that we've felt safe eating out.

Black Calla Lily

My Black Calla Lily

 I've seen photos of Black Calla Lilies for sale online,

but assumed that the photos of the plant were photo-shopped.

Callas would never be black, I thought!

Then this beauty showed up in the florist section of my local Food Lion.

I stand corrected.

The flowers are a deep maroon color, which at a distance,  

look quite black against the plant's green leaves.

It's the perfect flower for Halloween.

Guinness Challah Bread, 10 '21

Guinness Challah

 I tried making  Guinness Challah today, and both Bruce and I loved the way the loaf turned out.

I  followed the recipe from below, except that I cut the ingredients' measurements in half so that I only made one loaf, and instead of egg white, I basted the loaf with melted butter and sprinkled dried parmesan cheese and coarse salt atop the loaf just before baking.

 The result was a  wonderful rustic-looking loaf with a sourdough-like textured bread with a  crusty top, and a wonderful taste, and aroma.  This one is likely to become a standard on our table.

For Recipe see:  https://www.shemakesandbakes.com/home/guinness-challah?fbclid=IwAR1Pn-1YfMm7cDWWVoQv-25xj21MUr73QF80RUJwoJfXrDfXB89Cvdx-4pM

Halloween Exterior Decorations: 10'21

 

Decorating the outside of our home is proving challenging this year.

Our HOA has two different contractors working on two different projects both in our front yard,  and in the back of our home.  I was able to hang ghosts and lights around the front porch, but I had to wait a couple of days until the contractor complete before I could put any other decorations in the front yard.

Usually, we set up a lot of ghosts in the front yard flowerbeds, and arrange a pumpkin patch with scarecrows in the back yard, but this year, it is not at all certain that the contractor's working on the back of the house will be complete the project by Halloween. 

Ultimately,  we decided to place

most of the scarecrows into the front yard.

How much of any of the back yard, and sunroom will get decorated will depend upon whether the contractor moves the building supplies out of those areas before the holidays are over. 

Halloween is coming: 10'21

 As soon as Sukkot ended, my attention turned to  Halloween. 

Its' always been my favorite holiday of the year,

 and  

I always look forward eagerly to the first day of October when I can bring my collection of seasonal decorations out of storage.     Opening each storage box feels like I am like having a reunion with an old friend. 

I have years and years of  Fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving decorations carefully labeled and stored in the attic.   Many of them are generic enough that, with a little rearrangement,  I can keep utilizing them across the entire fall season.

Our 2021 Halloween Door Wreath

For example, I have a lot of fall foliage, that can be mixed with Spooky signage to form a Halloween wreath.

 

Our 2020 Thanksgiving Door wreath

Or, the signage can be swapped out for a  scarecrow for use at Thanksgiving.

Or, the foliage can be mixed with a crow for some indoor seasonal color. 

You get the idea, how this works.

The first order of the day was to decorate the inside of our home. With distributing the Fall foliage around the great room insuring that there were cheerful bits of bright Fall colors everywhere.

Then I started adding  black candles,

black cats, 

and other  Halloween accents

everywhere space allowed.

e.g. A Witches hat hangs on the banister and 

the Lil' Boos and Ghouls Room had their own greeters.

Some areas got special attention.

But the Dining room table is the start of the season.

Bats hang from the chandelier,

And each table setting 

has its own set of 

skulls and bones.

Honey Cake for Sukkot 9 '21

 

While we had a  lot of great meals during Sukkot,  

my personal favorite new dish was Honeycake.

My past attempts to make this Jewish Classic have been hit and miss as far as flavor, but this year I found a foolproof recipe that uses a boxed cake mix as the base.  It came out so well that It might become a regular offering at all of our Jewish Holiday meals.

Here's the recipe for anyone who wants to try it

Honey Cake Recipe:
1 box Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup water or cooled brewed coffee
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup Gefen Honey

 

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

2. Mix the ingredients together in the bowl of a mixer or by hand, until everything is incorporated.

 

3. Spray a Bundt pan well with cooking spray and immediately transfer the batter to the pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

4. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then loosen the edges with a knife. Invert onto a large plate or cake dome.

5. Cool completely before icing (see below).

 

 

Apple Cider Icing Recipe:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon melted margarine
1 and 1/2 to 3 tablespoons apple cider or apple juice
1 teaspoon apple pie spice

 

Directions:
Combine all the icing ingredients in a bowl. Start by adding in one and a half tablespoons of cider or juice and add up to three tablespoons as needed. Pour over the cooled cake.

Jewish High Holidays 2021

 The Jewish High Holidays seemed to have come a lot earlier and  a lot faster this year.

It felt like we were celebrating a new holiday every other day.  

That's not far from the truth!   Four of the most important Jewish Holidays of the year, all fall back-to-back of one another within a month's time of one another the month of September. 

ROSH HASHANAH: The celebration of the Creation of the world and the new year as well as the Day of Judgement.

YOM KIPPUR: A fast day that is traditionally filled with prayer and collective confession and atonement. It is said that “on Rosh Hashanah, the Book of Life is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed.”

SUKKOT: In ancient times when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, this was a pilgrimage holiday to celebrate the harvest. Rabbinic tradition now holds that this week-long holiday is when we remember the experience of the Israelites’ years of wandering in the desert.

SIMCHAT TORAH: It celebrates the end of reading of the year’s Torah cycle and starting it anew for the new year.

We celebrated all four of these this year, which has really kept us busy.  

Two of the Holidays Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, are about self-reflection and setting resolutions for personal growth.

We had Pomagranites everywhere during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

While neither of these two holidays has a religious mandate for any external prompts to be used, I find it useful to decorate our great room with traditional plant species associated with some of the rituals of this holiday.  The special holiday foliage and fruits help to remind us that' time-is-a ticking' to make our New Year's resolutions. For Example, The pomegranate is one of the Seven Species mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as being native to the Land of Israel.many Jewish families serve the fruit on Rosh Hashannah (the Jewish new year) in the hope that the coming year will bring many blessings, much prosperity, and the opportunity to do good deeds.

Our 2021 Sukkah

Sukkot, on the other hand, mandates that we celebrate the holiday with the building of a Sukkah (a temporary shelter reminiscent of the portable makeshift building the Israelis lived in after they exited Egypt).  While the  Torah says to build it outside with a leafy cover open to the stars, there is no way our HOA would allow us to construct one outside. So this year, like last year, so we set our Sukkah up in our living room with paper stars.

It is incredibly peaceful inside and there is plenty of room for eating and dining.

But there was not enough room to leave the table set,  so I extended the Sukkot decorations out onto the dining room table where I would serve the food, before we carried our meal into the sukkah, to eat.

Sukkot tableware waiting for the meal to be served.

New Kitchen cookbook case: 7 ' 21

Bruce made me a bookcase to hold all of my cookbooks and recipe binders.  The books had been occupying three full upper shelves of a kitchen cupboard. They were hard to access, and taking up some valuable storage space in that location. This is so much more convenient.

Korean BarBque Dinner 7 '21

 

Tonight's Dinner Menu:

Korean BarBQue Beef Short Ribs 

with

KimChi

Sesame Sugar Snap Beans, 

Jasmine Rice

and

Grilled Pineapple