Inspired. March

Friday Food – Easy and Loved by All

For the Picky Eater, and Easy for the Cook

I made two weeknight meals recently that were a complete hit with my family, even the picky eater. They were both easy, and the goulash was with leftovers, so it was doubly exciting for the kitchen and the checkbook. There was a minimum of prep for each, and it was so great that the goulash is already planned for dinner for Monday night.

Recipes and pictures below the cut:

Election Connection – Watching Virginia and Maryland

We are 269 days out from the 2024 Election.

Two races I’d recommend getting involved with are Harry Dunn and Eugene Vindman in Maryland and Virginia, respectively. These two names may seem familiar.

Harry Dunn is a former Capitol Police officer who was at the Capitol the day it was violently attacked by insurrectionists. He has a book out Standing My Ground: A Capitol Police Officer’s Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th, and he is running for Congress in the 3rd District in Maryland.

Eugene Vindman is a retired Army officer targeted for retaliation by the Trump Administration when he and his brother, Alexander, also an Army officer at the time came forward as whistleblowers when the then President Trump extorted the Ukraine government. Eugene is now running for Congress in the 7th District in Virginia.

^{Harry Dunn}
^{for Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District.}
²⁰²⁴

^{Eugene Vindman}
^{for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.}
²⁰²⁴

Please give them whatever support you can.

Friday Food. Simple and Easy.

They look hard, but they’re Simple, Easy, and Delicious.

Election Connection: The Fight Starts Now

We have 301 days until Election Day.

This seems like a long time but judging by last week’s Meet the Press where Hide-in-Plain-Sight Insurrectionist Barbie from NY’s 21st spouted lies and didn’t answer direct questions, we have a lot of work cut out for us. For one thing, anyone calling the January 6th defendants “hostages” is not a serious person and should be viewed as an accessory after the fact. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson having prayer sessions on the House floor is inappropriate and unacceptable. And these two examples are minor things compared to threats against our representatives and democracy as well as recent swatting terror acts.

Start by speaking out. When your representative does something right, call their office and let them know. If they question how a vote should go, call and email. Offer your opinion on what the right thing to do is.

Know your sources.

I have left Twitter for Threads, but there are bad actors there also. Before reposting misinformation, do some due diligence. There has been so much misinformation about the Israel-Hamas War that by the time the truth comes out, no one remembers. Hamas is a terrorist organization that uses the Palestinian people as shields and cannon fodder while their leaders live like billionaires in other Arab countries. Defeat Hamas; then rebuild. This is a war that Hamas started (during a ceasefire by the way).

We also cannot ignore the onslaught against women’s rights and bodily autonomy. Women are not second-class citizens. We are half the population, and we should be treated with the respect that is due to us. We should not be relegated to incubators who are left to die because men in power don’t understand biology and doctors care more about legal ramification than their oaths to heal.

Women are dying, partly due to misogynistic laws being passed by ignorant men in power, and a religious fascism that thinks their way is the only way. We are a multi-cultural, multi-faith society where everyone’s beliefs should be accepted. Laws should not be made on one religion, especially when it violates others’ freedom of religious expression.

Pay attention to the small things because the small things are not so small.

Check your voter registration and make sure the information is correct.

Sign up for Democracy Docket. Attorney Marc Elias is on the forefront of litigating election cases and has been for years.

This upcoming election is one that no one can afford to sit out.

Election Connection will appear as needed and when things arise that need to be addressed. Next month, I will provide other recs of people who are fighting for all of us and are reliable with the information they offer.

Do you ever ask yourself why after Republicans spend and offer huge giveaways to the rich it is up to the Democrats to fix things? Then they do, and Republicans come back and destroy it again. Why do we let that continue to cycle? Teachers can’t deduct a pack of crayons, but the wealthy can deduct the gas from a private jet. Where is the justice? Where is the fairness?

One more reminder: Voting third party or not voting is a vote AGAINST democracy. President Biden is the only candidate that can guarantee the continuation of free and fair elections.

The only poll that matters is November 5, 2024.

There is much to be done before that day.

Election Day is November 5, 2024.

Mental Health Monday – Post Holidays

Many of us have been in Christmas mode since mid-December. And that’s not to leave out any non-Christians and their holidays. Our work week revolves around the Christmas holiday, and while we celebrate Chanukah and a couple of birthdays, we all share the same days off during the holidays. Some have even had one to two weeks off from work, and those two weeks have probably not been relaxing. Family and holiday responsibilities can take it out of us. Even though I work from home, with the kids returning to school and work, and one more Christmas dinner with our family, it is important to be aware of how we’re feeling, now we’re coping, and how we’re getting through the days in reorienting to the sometimes less exciting days that follow the holidays.

Five quick tips to re-enter the world after the holidays.

Give yourself a little extra time in the mornings before work. Whether that means meditation, prayer, reading a book chapter, or having a hot cup of tea, take the time to acclimate to the morning with something refreshing and soothing before you hit the traffic and the workday.
Listen to music on the way to work in your car or through headphones on your commute.
Journal. It doesn’t need to be long or poetic; just jot some thoughts down in a notebook and keep it going for this first week back.
Plan your meals for the week. It can be incredibly de-stressing just knowing what’s for dinner even if you still need to go shopping for the groceries. For the first time in a long time, we planned five days in a row, which is a minor miracle in this house.
Give yourself breaks during the day. This first week back can seem like a month. Take the time you need. Stretch. Drink lots of water. Have a cup of tea or a snack (chocolate chip cookies make a great snack!)

Happy New Year!

Friday Food. Latkes.

I use a box to make my latkes. I don’t do fancy additives – no basil or chives or any of the other things I’ve seen online. I might consider melba sauce, but I haven’t gone there yet. I always go back to Carmel. I think last night’s were my finest. They were crispy on the outside, none burned. I’m a both kind of person when it comes to latkes: applesauce AND sour cream. My daughter who doesn’t like them grabbed one on her way in the door from work. She still didn’t like them, but I must give her credit – she tried it even without me blackmailing her with gelt.

^{I don’t know if there’s a reason or requirement, but I always fry my latkes in vegetable oil.}
^(c)2023

^Latkes.
^{With applesauce and sour cream (not pictured but trust me, it’s there).}
^{First Night of Chanukah.}
^(c)2023

^{My favorite brand, although Streit’s and Manischewitz are also good!}
^(c)2023

As I mentioned in yesterday’s Inspire, I went all out this year. Antisemitism will have that effect on a person. I am halfway between don’t do anything public and do all the things. Over the next week, I’ll share some photos and thoughts each day. Lights, door hangings, multiple menorahs, dreidls, gelt, I even found some Chanukah cookies and a book: I Saw an Old Lady who Swallowed a Dreidel by Caryn Yacowitz, illustrated by David Slonim, and of course, I bought a dreidl stuffy for my new great-niece.

Inspire. December. Chanukah.

I’ve been searching for the write inspiration for December, and this first night of Chanukah brought things into perspective. A little bit of perspective. While the internet and the news are filled with antisemitism and protests from people intent on gaslighting the Jewish experience and deny Jewish people the indigeneity of their homeland, I have been on a quest to celebrate Chanukah publicly. I’m a little wary about it. I live in a nice neighborhood, but I don’t put my head in the sand and think that it couldn’t happen here. I know it can.

Still….

I went out and bought blue and white lights for outside, something I’ve never done. I have an interactive menorah hanging on my front door, again, something I’ve never done. In fact, since I’ve been on my own (and with my own family) I have not put Chanukah lights in the window. That unfortunately will continue because I know that if I put candles on my windowsill, my mother would come back from the grave and blow them out with a raucous, and loud message of fire safety.

Most people don’t know the story of Chanukah; perhaps some teachers wanting to bring multiculturalism to their classrooms, and now the story of the Maccabees is being co-opted to match the narrative, anything to turn the words of Jews and their history against them. The Festival of Lights isn’t about war. It isn’t about victory. It is about faith. The miracle isn’t that the Maccabees won against their most recent oppressor. The miracle is the lights themselves. When we retook the temple, amid the destruction, they went to light the candelabra to rededicate the temple, the menorah – not the nine-branch one that most are familiar with, but the regular, ordinary menorah that is always lit in the temple. There was only enough oil to keep it lit for one night. There was no other oil. So, what did they do? They lit it anyway.

And it remained lit, not one night, not two, not three or four, not even five or six or seven, but it remained lit for eight days. One day’s oil lasted for eight days. That is the miracle. And that is why we light eight candles on a new type of menorah used just for this holiday: a hanukkiah.

Tonight, I will say the prayers (that I don’t normally say). I will fry the latkes in oil. I will fry the chicken in oil. I will light the first candle on the same menorah that I lit as a child; the one that I grew up watching the candles burn down on the dining room table that was my grandmother’s. It will be placed on that same dining room table in my own house. My kids will see the lights on the same menorah, the same table, and they will be able to see through my eyes, even amidst the clutter that seems to grow multi-generationally on this dining room table.

This year, however, this old menorah has a special, additional meaning. I saw this menorah in Toronto at the Royal Ontario Museum in their Judaica exhibit, in the Chanukah window. A copy/replica of MY Chanukah menorah sits in the largest museum in Canada. The exhibit label states that it is from Gdansk, Poland, brass, from the early 1900s.

Happy Chanukah.

^{Royal Ontario Museum Judaica Exhibit.}
^{Hanukkah menorah, “Danzig” type,}
^{Gdansk, Poland, early 1900s.}
^(c)2023

^{Ready for sundown.}
^{You can view it lit later tonight on Instagram (link in sidebar).}
^(c)2023

עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי

Friday Food. Experimenting.

Experimenting in the kitchen can be very freeing as well as inspiring. I sometimes feel very creative in other areas after making a great meal from scratch. For me, “from scratch” doesn’t necessarily mean a two-to-three-hour production. In the third photo below, the rice I used was Minute Rice. Both dishes can be made with leftover chicken. I used baby potatoes, but you could easily take the larger russets or reds and cut them into the smaller pieces, and again it’s a great way to finish your bag of potatoes.

Both meals used one pan and one metal bowl, and the second meal used a pot to make the Minute Rice. As I finished cooking something on its own, I moved it to the metal bowl until the next item was cooked and then everything was combined and simmered for a short time.

Inspire. November.

These are a few of the things that have inspired me in the last several months and that keep inspiring me.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Griffins and Ginger Snaps

-I write, and I have a blog because of course I do-

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