Tag Archives: kitchen

Clear Surfaces, Clear Mind. Part One: Above the Fridge

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I haven’t been reading much of the news from the bombing; it was making me far too sad.  My heart is aching for everyone in Boston, and for our country.  I mean, yeah.  It’s just heartbreaking.  But sometimes the best way to combat the evil and to show our enemies that our spirit will not be crushed is to go on with the mundanities of life.  We can infuse the routine of our life with purpose and holiness, and that is a victory.  

This is a post I started last week.  I’ve been so busy (In Harmony concert in May!  May 26th!  Cleveland!) that I haven’t had a minute to finish it.  But I’m making a minute tonight.  Because this is my little act of defiance in the face of terrorism.  I won’t let it make me so sad that I can’t do anything.  May we all have the strength and willpower to make our lives beautiful and full, despite attempts to make the world unbearable.  And may everyone touched by yesterday’s tragedy be comforted.

~~~

Clutter.  It’s a sneaky thing.  No matter how small my living space or how vigilantly I try to keep on top of it, it creeps it and settles down until every available surface is covered with stuff.  And really, it’s just “stuff” that’s covering my nice, clean surfaces.  Stuff that needs to be put in its proper place.  Stuff that needs to be thrown out but for whatever reason (I might use it later!), has be spared the trash bin for one day more.  Stuff that doesn’t have a place.  Stuff that has a place but said place has been covered by other stuff.

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Let the Pesach Prep Begin!

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Well, it’s definitely that time of year.  Pesach prep has begun (for some of us, at least).  In the weeks leading up to this holiday of freedom, I want to share some tips, tricks, and wisdom from around the web.

It’s understood that everyone has their own preferred method of cleaning, planning, and procrastinating.  Obviously not all of these pre-Pesach posts will resonate with everyone.  However, it’s my hope that by sharing a variety of experience and opinions, everyone will  find at least one useful tip.  Or maybe you would like to share some of your own useful tips!  Contact me if you would like to guest post, or if you just have some practical experience you would like to share.

Today’s post kicks off the Pesach planning with a post from my friend Brina, who likes to share her yummy recipes over at Mi Kosher Cocina.  Here are her tips.  Enjoy!

Little Man (back when he was really very little!) studying his haggadah

 ~ ~ ~

I love Pesach, I do really. After the house is clean and my kitchen is up and running, Pesach is one of my favorite yomim tovim. Maybe its because I experience a spiritual rebirth each spring, or maybe because I thoroughly enjoy watching my children participating in the sederim using their school-made haggados.   Whatever the reason, I love Pesach.

Now let’s backtrack a bit. I said I love Pesach, not the weeks leading up to it. That is because my husband manages a kosher department at a grocery store, and this is his busiest month of the year.  Thus, it is also my most stressful month of the year because I am a “single mom” from 7 am to 8 pm every day.

This is my fifth Pesach on this schedule, so I’m used to it, but it’s still hard nonetheless.  I am also fortunate that for the third year in a row my parents are coming the day the kids get out of school to help take them out of the house as I clean and cook.  I have gotten Pesach prep down as pat as I can, and I have devised a list of pointers that can hopefully help you get ready for Pesach too.

  • Start planning the day after Purim. Your kids are going to receive nosh on Purim regardless so try not to make them feel guilty that Pesach is coming. They still have to eat for the next month.
  • Make a no chometz outside of the kitchen/dining room rule year round. I do this so I only have to spot check the bedrooms and down stairs play area, leaving my focus on the two trodden rooms.
  • Give your kids cleaning jobs instead of constantly leaving them with a baby-sitter or mother’s helper. If they are 3 or older they have learned about Pesach prep in school. Let them take the magnets off of the fridge, sweep the floor, use wipes on the legos, etc.  Later, show them how to peel vegetables and help prep the Seder plate items.  Even if it might seem more stressful, the kids are grateful to spend time with mommy.
  • Enjoy chometz until you possibly can’t.  I don’t switch over completely until 3-4 days before. This year the Shabbos before will be chometzdik [bread will eaten] and we will be cleaning the kitchen, dining room, garage, and car for the next three days.  This gives me three full days of cooking time.
  • Keep a chometz freezer and sell items if possible. No reason to make yourself sick eating that last bagel or shnitzel if you don’t have to.  Remember, your family has to eat after Pesach too.
  • Indulge a little.  I usually buy a few quality chocolate bars to help me through the cooking.  Along with a glass of iced coffee, I can relax a little during all the hard work.
  • Finally, cook on yom tov if you have to. This year is only a two-day yom tov, so I will try to have most things done before the Sederim. But if not, I can always stick a chicken in to roast or meat in the crock pot during the day.  These are long days, so take advantage of the breaks in between meals.

I hope this list will make Pesach prep easier for all of you.  I know not everyone has a husband in the kosher food industry, so it might not be quite as stressful in your house.  Regardless, the last few weeks can be a daunting task for everyone.

With that in mind, I use a cliched “don’t sweat the small stuff” and wish all of you Life in the Married Lane readers a happy and kosher Pesach.

Why gating the kitchen is great idea, or, the day I took my stove apart

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It’s been really hot lately.  So hot that my usual getting-out-of-the-house activities are not an option. Going for a walk? No thank you. Playing in the park? Not unless I want heat stroke. Other (free) indoor activities, such as going to the grocery store or library, haven’t panned out so well, as I haven’t always felt up to the task of managing both kids in a public place, especially after a few choice tantrums (not thrown by me).

So we’ve been a little cooped up, and everyone’s been increasingly stir-crazy.  I’ve been experiencing the joys of a teething baby (four teeth at one time), missed the boat on sending my toddler to day camp (boy do I regret that indecision), and in general, am feeling the need for space in a big way.

This means that when the kids are playing nicely on their own (which happens so infrequently that its occurrence makes me wonder if I’m not hallucinating), I don’t run so fast to see what they’re doing.  I know that if they’re quiet, it very well may mean a mess to clean up later, but I’m just so happy for the respite that I hope for the best (even though I know that’s a bit of wishful thinking).

the clever child

This is a story of how reality squashed my wishful thinking.

Last week, early into the Nine Days, I decided to self-clean my oven so I could make some milchig dinners in the oven for a change (I only have the stove-top at my disposal since our toaster oven finally gave out). I turned on the self-clean in the late afternoon, while the kids were still awake and playing relatively quietly in their room.  The oven door automatically locks during the cleaning, which sure is a nice feature, and let me relax to some degree.  I was checking Facebook doing this that or the other around the house when the smell of burning plastic wafted over to my nose.

Hmmmm.

My first thought was that maybe the pots and pans stored in the drawer under the stove were getting too hot, so I opened the drawer and removed them.  They were warm, but nowhere near warm enough for melting plastic.  I sniffed each one (yes, I did) as I placed it on the floor, but that smell was not coming from any of them.

So then I looked at the oven door and saw it. One of my super-skinny cutting boards. Well, what used to be one of my super-skinny cutting boards. Now it just looked like smoking, melting Swiss cheese, er, plastic (this picture was taken much later in the evening, FTR, since I couldn’t open the oven door for what seemed like hours).

oy va voy
Did you know that on certain stoves, there’s a little teeny crack in the top of the oven door? It leads to a space between the outer glass and the inner, double pane.  It’s for ventilation, apparently.  I was unaware that this tiny yet hugely problematic space existed.  My toddler, with his unquenchable curiosity, had clearly discovered it.

the teeny crack

My reconstructed scenario went something like this:  He had opened the dishwasher, pulled out the cutting board and inserted it into this enticing little oven door crevice.  I don’t know when he did it. Sometime that day. And now said cutting board was quickly fusing to my oven door, and smoking up my kitchen.

So, I turned off the self-clean.  No baked ziti for us that night.

Later that evening, when the boys were safely asleep in their cribs, and the smell of plastic gone from my apartment, I took a look at the oven door.  It was still mildly warm, and I thought that perhaps I could scrape the cutting board off the glass. I found a wire hanger and bent it into a useful (I hoped) shape. After attempting to scrape around in there, I realized that I was probably just pushing more plastic down into the oven door than removing it, and I gave up on that idea.

the hanger

The next logical step, was, of course, to take the oven door completely apart.  Right?  ‘Cause that’s the most reasonable course of action.  Also, my husband wasn’t home to talk any sense into me.  I got out the big guns:  my toolbox.  Time to get handy.

While I was removing the screws from the door, I did have the foresight to arrange them carefully in their respective order.  Perhaps it wasn’t necessary, but I didn’t want to be stuck with a disassembled stove and no idea of what went where.  Plus I liked having control over some part of this crazy stove situation.

the organized screws

After the door front was removed, I assessed the damage.  It was not pretty. There was no way I was going to be able to separate the plastic from the glass. It was baked neatly in between the two inner panes of glass.  Despite my frustration, it was actually kind of impressive.

the inner damage

The most reasonable next step was removing the plastic-covered glass from my oven (right?).  Ostensibly, this was so I could show it to the Home Depot guys to get a new one, but really, I think I was just having a little too much fun taking things apart (who, me?).  And maybe I was hoping a little bit that if I just took out the offending plastic/glass combo, I could still make baked ziti the next day.

the glass removed

I reassembled the oven door rather uneventfully, and was really hoping that I could use the oven soonish.  However, when I asked the men at a nearby appliance store if I could use my oven without that part, they told me ominously of wasted heat, burnt little hands and shattering glass.  Yikes.  So, no baked ziti for us. Now I just need to order the part … until then, stove-top cooking it is! I’ll take any good stove-top recipes you have to offer.

Also, we put up a gate to the kitchen.  Best decision this summer.

What’s the most unusual/inconvenient household damage you’ve experienced?

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Menu Plan, week of July 17th

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Shortly after I moved, one of my friends asked me when I was going to make a menu plan again.  “After I finish unpacking,”  was my reply.  However, wandering the aisles of my new grocery store (I love you, Seven Mile!) with considerably less focus than usual was not super pleasant, or productive.

Cue heroic music, enter the menu planning. 

I’m not quite organized enough to plan for the whole month, but I will share my plan for this week (I was also going to share my plan for last week, but I used the back of it for my shopping list and it is now MIA.  Sorry).

Three fortuitous incidents helped shape my food choices:

Cover of "Kosher by Design Lightens Up: F...

thanks, Honey!

One, my husband bought me a new cookbook for my birthday (awww, isn’t he great?).  He got me Susie Fishbein’s Kosher By Design Lightens Up.  I had wanted a kosher cookbook that was on the healthier side (read:  no onion soup mix in the recipes, no deep-fried Chinese food recipes which I would wistfully ignore).  So far, I really like it.

Two, until very recently (like, Motzei Shabbos), all my books were packed.  The only reading material I had access to were my friend’s old copies of Binah (thank, E!) and my two years’ worth of Bon Appetit magazine.  So, I’ve been poring over many scrumptious and sumptuous recipes as well as educating myself on various foodie facts (did you know that this is the peak season for pluots?  Me neither.  I don’t even know where to get one, or what it is exactly!).  Jesting aside, I do love that every month, Bon Appetit picks a food at its seasonal peak and provides several delicious ways to prepare said food.  Also, the recipes for each month are appropriate for the season, which is something that I do want to become more familiar with.

Three, my mother is in town (yay!), so I am actually able to potchke around in the kitchen as she enjoys her grandmotherly privileges.

And now, the menu:

Sunday, July 17th

  • Ultimate Veggie Burgers ~ Kosher by Design Lightens Up (KBDLU); Oil and Vinegar Potato Salad ~Bon Appetit, July 2009 (BA 7/09) – it was sooo yummy, and I was able to pop the leftovers in the freezer for next week!

Monday, July 18th (A Pre-Fast Meal)

  • Eggplant Gazpacho (BA 7/09); Flounder with Fresh Dill and Lemon ~ from my brain (fmb); Kasha Pilaf (KBDLU)

Tuesday, July 19th (Shiva Asar b’Tammuz, ain’t no dinner tonight)

  • Break the fast with leftovers from Monday.  I tend to go on baking frenzies on fast days, so we’ll see if there’s anything else to eat)

Wednesday, July 20th

  • Spicy Chicken Peperonata with Lime and Mint Dressing (BA 7/09), served with warm tortillas, pareve sour cream, avocados and Near East Spanish Rice

Thursday, July 21st

  • Huevos Rancheros (KBDLU).

Shabbos night, July 22nd

  • Gefilte Fish, baked with Marinara sauce (fmb); Bok Choy Slaw (KBDLU); Chicken Soup (from freezer); Wheat Germ Crusted Chicken Cutlets (KBDLU); Lokshen Kugel ~ Spice and Spirit; Blueberry Crumb Bars (BA 7/09)

Shabbos day, July 23rd

  • Everything from the night, minus the fish and soup, and add cholent and liver (store bought, that).  Yum!

~ ~ ~

And there you have it.

Now, I do make a different thing every night, and my good friend, E, mentioned that she likes to make double and serve the same thing two nights in a row.  It sounds like a good plan to me, and since my children aren’t old enough to protest, and my husband is okay with leftovers, I may adopt this plan.  What I’ve done in the past is freeze the double portion and bring it back out a different week.  I have to decide which plan I prefer, I guess.

For those of you who menu plan, how do you factor in your leftovers?

———-

image via Amazon

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Torah Tuesdays – It’s all good

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Wall of Inspiration

I am a bit behind on preparations for Rosh Hashanah (understatement), and I’m sure everyone who is preparing is also quite busy, so thank you for stopping by!

Above my kitchen sink is my “wall of inspiration.”  It’s a collection of quotes and advice which I find helpful to meditate on while washing dishes, or chopping veggies, etc.  One thing on this wall is an excerpt from the Prayer Service for Rosh Hashanah.  It’s actually somewhat related to last week’s Torah Tuesdays, insofar as it mentions amazing benefits to being constantly aware of G-d:

Praiseworthy is a man who does not forget You (but his thoughts are constantly clinging to You), and (praiseworthy is) a man who truly puts his trust in You.  For those who cling to You constantly, no evil will ever befall them, and those who trust in You will not be embarrassed forever, for the remembrance of all their actions will come before You (and their merits will avert embarrassment) and You will search their actions to find a merit so they will be found righteous in judgment.

From Pathway to Prayer‘s translation of the Rosh Hashanah Prayer Service

Get it?  A person who remembers to remember G-d, and really works on trusting G-d, gets tremendous reward.  Something which particularly strikes me is the phrase:  “no evil will ever befall them.”  I can see how this may lead some to think, “um, but bad things happen to religious people all the time, so how is this promise realistic?”  Good question.  I think that this promise is best understood through the concept of “gam zu l’tovah.”  This is roughly translated as “this is also for the good.”  This concept posits that even when seemingly bad things happen, there is an ultimately good outcome.  Here’s a story to illustrate that point:

The Talmud tells us that once, while Rabbi Akiva was on a journey, he needed a place to spend the night. He knocked on the door of one of the homes in the town he was passing through, but the owner did not invite him in. He was not upset, for he realized, “Everything G-d does is for the good.”

He knocked on another door, but again he was not offered hospitality. His reaction remained the same, “Everything G-d does is for the good.” Even after he had gone from door to door and realized that no one in the town was going to accept him as a guest, he still said, “Everything G-d does is for the good.”

He had no choice but to camp in a forest lying at the outskirts of the town. He was traveling with a donkey to carry his packages, a rooster to wake him up early, and a lamp with which he could study at night. Shortly after he encamped, a lion devoured his donkey, his rooster was killed by another predator, and a strong wind blew out his fire. After each of these events, Rabbi Akiva said, “Everything that happens is for the good.”

And the Talmud continues, telling us that he was right. On the following morning, he discovered that during the night, a Roman legion had attacked this village and taken its people as captives. Had he been accepted as a guest in one of these homes, he too, would have been taken captive.

And if his donkey or rooster had been alive, their braying and crowing would have attracted the legionnaires’ attention. Had his candle remained burning, they would have been able to see him in the forest. “Everything that happened was for the good.”

Taken from Sichos in English – The Chassidic Approach to Joy

So, for me, the prayer from the Rosh Hashanah service teaches that if I work on being aware of and really trusting G-d, I will understand that even when “bad” things happen (like when I broke my foot several years ago), there is an ultimately good outcome (I learned to really, really appreciate being able to walk and do things without assistance).  That’s a simple example.  It can obviously be more complex when dealing with really tragic events, but the principle holds true.

Wishing everyone a K’siva v’chasima Tovah (a good writing a sealing in the Book of Life).  Have a wonderful New Year, full of blessings and good things!!