Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Last night started Passover. I admit I did a little Wikipedia research on Passover a few weeks ago just so I had some idea of what was going on. I liked having a reason to give the kitchen a thorough cleaning and Oliver made the stove look new. I bought all of the suspect foods for $1. The dinner was super-yummy: Spinach-eggy-lasagna-type thing (with matzo as the noodle layers), roasted potatoes, carrot salad, fresh horseradish from the garden, salad, and an apple-salad called haroset.

I really enjoyed Passover, and I think the Jewish holidays as a whole have been so much more fun than the Holidays I'm used to with my family. There's a good chance that this is because holidays in my family are just a good excuse to get together with family and friends and have a huge homemade Italian meal. Religion never had a place in my home. My parents never talked about God or their beliefs and I never really asked. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've been to church. This is all fine with me, as I find church boring. I remember my neighbors used to put a candle in a cupcake on Christmas and sing happy birthday to Jesus. This weirded me out and I've never seen or heard of anyone else doing this.

The thing is, I think Christian rituals are kind of meaningless. Most of the big holidays are not even accurate in their timing; they were timed to coincide with Pagan holidays to sort of over-ride them. You can't have a fertility celebration that leads to an orgy on the day Christ came back to life, that's just not right. And what the hell do chocolate, egg-laying bunnies have to do with Christianity anyway?

OK, these points have all been made before by other people, in more eloquent or fiery ways. So what is my point? My point is that I respect that the Jewish holidays do their own thing, as far as I can tell. They have stories and reasons behind everything. I may not really understand the point of having an entire set of dishes that you only use once a year because you don't want trace amounts of chametz on the plates, but at least I can understand the story and symbolism behind it. I understand the historical significance of it, even if the logic side of my brain is making an argument that sounds more and more like my mother every day.

I think, by far, my favorite part of the day was actually the cooking. Specifically the macaroons. Both Guv and Talula stood on stools to watch/help me make them. We had to separate 12 egg whites for the macaroons and I was showing Guv how to do this by moving the yolk carefully from one half of the eggshell to the other. I cracked an egg and gave him the halves and let him try it once. We were doing this over a separate bowl to be sure that no yolk got into the batter and also to make sure there were not blood spots in the eggs, which sometimes happens, even though the eggs are not fertile. Talula always wants to do what Guv does, so she wanted to try separating the egg whites as well. I cracked an egg and gave her half and then dropped the yolk from my half to hers. She got very excited and threw the yolk into the batter. Luckily it didn't break, so I just scooped it out, but Guv and I thought this was rather funny and whenever anyone else laughs Talula does too.


Do these boots make me look fat?

Links of interest:
12 Endangered Animals That People Still Eat
Gay Rights Groups Celebrate Victories in Marriage Push

The Logger's Sister's Apartment- Upper East Side, New York, NY

I have been rather absent lately, mostly because my internet situation has been iffy and also because I've been busy. But I have plenty to write about and a little extra down time right now.

I'm going to start from a few days ago, when The Logger and I were evicted from Teleion Holon. A new batch of cyber creeps came to stay at the house for the long weekend. and they brought a ton of kids. Oliver and family decided to stay at the big white house for the weekend and told us to stay in their apartment Friday and Saturday night. We had Shabbat dinner at the big while house, which went pretty late. When we went back to Teleion the cyber creeps were out and about and we passed one in the hall on the way to the apartment. I said hi and thought nothing of it. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. It was the woman we had passed in the hall with another woman standing behind her. I greeted her and asked if she needed anything. She then launched into a bit of a monologue about the 17 children in the house and who were we and why didn't we have a separate entrance and she was told that no one would be here and what room did we normally live in? I answered her questions as well as I could and explained that I worked on the farm for Albert's son and that I was very sorry for scaring her and for the miscommunication of who would be in the house and assured her that we really didn't spend much time in the house, all the while acutely aware that she had not introduced herself and did not ask us our names. She seemed very bothered, but was not at all rude, so I figured the whole thing was over and she would calm down eventually.

The Logger and I got ready to settle in for the night when there was another knock on the door. This time is was Albert. He explained that we would need to go and stay at his house for the night because the cyber creeps found us too creepy. Apparently after talking to me the woman called Albert and asked for her money back. He apologized and told her that he would ask us to leave. I know that Teleion Holon is not actually my house, but I have been living there for quite some time and it's the closest thing I have to a home right now. It's a little odd when someone rents the house you live in and then asks you to leave. For the next few days I was really freaked out about going upstairs because I didn't want to cause any more problems. However, there is no bathroom downstairs that we can use when the house is being rented so I had to creep upstairs at least once to use the bathroom. Luckily no one was around. When Sunday came I wasn't too sad to leave Vermont because my coziness had been interrupted and I don't handle transitions and times of small upheaval very well.

So, now I'm in New York with The Logger. I had another job that started on Monday and his sister was kind enough to let her stay in her empty apartment. She lives a few blocks away with her boyfriend and her son. They came and picked us up from the train station and drove us back up here to her apartment. I don't really like driving in New York even though we had our bags and such, I would have been more comfortable on the train. I'm really not a nervous passenger, but New York drivers make me nervous. The only aggressive driver I'm comfortable being in the car with is my brother, so this car ride was somewhat terrifying for me. At one point Tara, The Logger's sister, started yelling to her boyfriend, Damien, that he was driving too crazy. He replied that he didn't think anyone's heart was in their throat, but I couldn't say anything because my heart was in my throat. But we ended up safe and sound in the apartment and I can only hope that I won't have a repeat experience with that car ever again. Ever. I love the subway, so I'm sticking to it.

New York update to follow.

Teleion Holon - Manchester, VT

Now is as good a time as any to explain my love for Friday nights here at the Holon. Every Friday night is Shabbat, starting at Sundown on Friday until Sundown on Saturday. Because things are so slow in the winter, I don't find myself counting down the days until Saturday, but I do look forward to Friday night dinners. Theo and Max always come over and Albert and Georgette generally stop by. The food is extra special and we all sit down and spend time together. Theo, Oliver, Max and The Logger play music and Guv usually sings along and drums. Talula loves to dance. I'm not always the most active participant, but that's just my nature. I love to sit in a room full of people and enjoy what goes on around me. Fridays are late nights around here and there's a lot to enjoy for the evening.

For the last few weekends there have been cyber creeps in the house, which means we can not use the dinning room and we eat in the kitchen. This is usually a kind of cramped thing with some people eating standing up, or in the big comfy chair in the corner, but last night Oliver had the idea to pull the wooden counter top away from the stove and make a dinner table we could all sit around. It worked perfectly and we could all sit down and look at one another while we talked. Mostly about Obama and a little about the environment vs. gay rights, which sounds like a ridiculous topic, because it is. Theo's argument was that the state of the environment is more time sensitive than gay rights. Oliver's input was that the people who argue against gay rights are the people least affected by it. I said that the argument of who can marry who is such a stupid topic to begin with that I couldn't believe anyone would put effort into it, especially while there were pressing issues like global climate change hanging over us. This was something everyone could agree with. However, the argument does exist and I feel very strongly that we can not take care of the planet if we can't even take care of each other. How can I say that it's more important to buy a hybrid car than for someone to be able to openly display affection and marry the person they want to grow old with? Just because one is more time sensitive does not mean that it is more important. I don't think I expressed this very well last night, but I don't think that anyone was arguing against this point, just saying that it was so stupid that such prejudice even exists when the world as we know it may not be here in twenty years.

Getting back to the Friday night Shabbat dinner, I've been thinking it might be fun to put up a recipe or maybe a bit about what we've been eating. Generally when I am in charge of my own meals and no one else is eating them I don't eat unhealthy, but I do eat lazy. Since being here, I've found that it's still easy to eat lazy, but also really well. Many of our meals do not take a serious amount of effort or prior planning, but we still eat like we live on a farm(...). Last night was home made seitan (which does take effort and planning, or you can just buy it for an outrageous price) with mushrooms, carrots, sunflower seeds and soy sauce; follards (Which is what Bonnie and Oliver call their fake collards: the greens of broccoli, which are not generally eaten, but yummy nonetheless) sautéed with garlic; everything served over rice. I made some oh-my-god easy bread and Theo brought over some home-made nut butter, mayonnaise, and horseradish (which was so amazingly strong I wanted to die, but in a good way). Guv was kind enough to do the bread blessing twice and Talula did not break anything all night. Success!

oh-my-god easy bread (also known as Simple Crusty Bread) recipe:

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

Cornmeal (optional).

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3
cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until
there are no dry patches. When using white flour I find I usually have to add a little more in when mixing. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not
with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or
up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two
weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut
off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands
to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom.
Put dough on pizza peel (or a cookie sheet)sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes.
Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle
rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for
20 minutes. If you don't have a stone, don't worry about it. I've tried it with and without and it makes no difference at all.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife
three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan
and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 20-30
minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

You don't really need cornmeal or a baking stone, I just use a cookie sheet and extra flour.

This recipe is very skeletal and easy to change for different kinds of bread. I made a few loaves with half whole-wheat flour half white flour and put raisins in it. I thought it came out pretty yummy. I'm curious to try one with rosemary and olive oil.