8th Night of Hanukkah

1. Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to kindle the Chanukah light.

2. Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who performed miracles for our forefathers in those days, at this time.

For 8th night a bit of history and a really different recipe you might want to try:

Malawach, Yemenite Bread

Yemen is located on the southernmost tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The first Jews were sent to Yemen during the time of King Solomon. They sailed the length of the Red Sea to Yemen to find gold and silver for the Temple in Jerusalem. The Hebrew preserved by this community is said to be the most authentic articulation of Biblical Hebrew. The majority of the Jewish community of Yemen was flown to Israel in the summer of 1949 on Operation Magic Carpet. With them came malawach, now a staple in Israel.

This recipe is from Sephardic Cooking by Copeland Marks

• 4 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 cups water, or enough to make a soft dough
• 1/4 pound margarine, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

Mix everything except the margarine together, knead a bit for smoothness. Then let the dough rest, covered, for 3 hours. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Flatten out one piece to about 6 inches in diameter. Incorporate about 2 teaspoons of margarine into the dough circle, pushing and kneading it in but maintaining the circle. Cut a line open from the center of the circle to the outside edge. Take one end and roll it around counterclockwise into a ball. Flatten out the dough to about 10 inches in diameter to make a pancake that is not more than 1/4 inch thick. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over moderate heat. Fry the pancake until brown and crisp, for about 5 minutes on each side.

From: The Cyber Kitchen.

Serve the malawach hot, straight out of the pan, with the tomato-schug dipping sauce.

Tomato dipping sauce with Schug (spicy pesto)

• 1 cup tomato puree
• 2 bunches cilantro
• 1 bunch parsley
• 4-5 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 Serrano peppers or 4 Thai red chili peppers, stemmed
• 1/2 cup olive oil, plus extra if needed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 lemon, juiced

Cut and discard the visible, leafless stems from the cilantro and parsley. Wash and pat dry. Place the cilantro and parsley in a blender with the remaining ingredients. Blend at low speed, stopping often to smash down the ingredients as they combine. Turn up speed and blend thoroughly. Mix one teaspoon (or more to taste) of schug into one cup of tomato puree.

Traditions

7th Night Of Hanukkah


The flicker of these lights echo the flame of our souls.

Searching. Hoping. Longing to find their place in the world as children of the Most High.
A G-d who promises us redemption through miracle and prayer, seeking and knowing.
He is our guidance who dispels the darkness and opens caverns of hope and salvation to our minds, eyes and hearts.

On this Festival of Lights, this miracle of days, we rekindle the Hanukkah flame in search not only of what has already come, but for the steps we have yet to journey.
And we do so as did our ancestors: in truth.

Praise be to our G-d the Heavenly One who spins the world into adventure, and us into its illuminated song.

Amen.


BOXING DAY


Boxing Day is celebrated in most countries of the British Commonwealth.  Exactly why - Well who knows, it's a tradition.  The two best guesses trace the origins to the Carol "Good King Wenceslaus"  According to the Carol he went out on The Feast of Stephen (December 26) to distribute charity.  This became an day for charity with the encouragement of the Church of England.  The alternate version is that this day was when the nobility provided a celebration for their employees complete with the distribution of presents (boxes) - A sort of company Christmas Party and bonus.


Which is true, probably neither or both.  Either way.  It's a tradition.





Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gath'ring winter fuel

"Hither, page, and stand by me
If thou know'st it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?"
"Sire, he lives a good league hence
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes' fountain."

"Bring me bread and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear him thither."
Page and monarch forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind's wild lament
And the bitter weather

In his master's steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gath'ring winter fuel

6th Night

Nun, gimel, heh, and shin,
See the wooden dreidel spin.
Nes gadol hayah shin,
If I'm lucky I will win!

I play with my new dreidel 
upon the shiny floor.
I ask some friends to play with me-
we must have two or more.

I give the players pennies-
the same amount to each. 
We sit down in a circle,
the pennies within reach.
Each player puts a penny 
in the proper spot.
The middle of the circle 
is what we call the pot.

Next I take the dreidel 
and spin it round and round.
Which letter does it land on?
What fortune have I found?

I read the letter facing up-
it tells me how to play.
The letters are in Hebrew,
and here is what they say.

Nun means I do nothing-
I neither give nor take.
Heh means I take half the pot-
what a lucky break!

Gimel means I take it all.
It looks as if I'll win!
But I must put a penny back 
when it lands on shin.

We go around the circle-
it's lots and lots of fun,
till one has all the pennies.
Then the game is done!

Nun, gimel, heh, and shin,
See the wooden dreidel spin.
Nes gadol hayah sham,
If I'm lucky I will win!

A Visit From St. Nicholas

5 On Friday - Chanukah Edition

Five on Friday is a delightful meme invented by our friend Travis of Trav's Thoughts.  To participate, click the link, sign in and go forth to share your selections for the week.

This week's Five on Friday just happens to fall on the Fifth Day of Chanukah.  The first song is my favorite Chanukah song courtesy of Peter, Paul, and Mary.  Then four samples of Klezmer music which is one of strains of music plus jazz that was woven into the music that became the Great American Songbook.

4th Night

Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us by his commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukah.


Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, 
Who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

Sufganiyot

A well-known bakery in Jerusalem produces over 200,000 of these each day during the month leading up to Chanukah.

• 2 packages yeast
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 or 5 cups. flour
• 3 egg yolks

• Jelly of your choice for filling
• Powdered Sugar

Mix water, sugar, juice, and yeast. Let stand 10 minutes. Melt margarine and add to yeast mixture. Beat in eggs and salt. Add flour, mixing and kneading by hand to form a soft dough. Let rise 1-1/2 hours. Roll dough 1/4 inch thick and cut circles (approximately 2 inches). Let circles rise 1/2 hour.

Deep fry at 400° F about 3 minutes, turning once. Pipe in jelly and roll in powdered sugar.

Third Night

Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us by his commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukah.

Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, 
Who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

BRISKET

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons liquid smoke flavoring
• 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons garlic salt
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons celery seed
• 5 pounds beef brisket

Directions

1. Combine liquid smoke, Worcestershire, garlic salt, onion and celery seed in small bowl. Place brisket in shallow non-metal dish, fatty side down. Pour marinade over meat; cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
3. Remove meat from marinade and place in an ovenproof pan. Roast, fatty side up, 5 hours, until tender.

Second Night

Baruch ata Adonai, Elohenu melech ha-olam
asher kideshanu be-mitzvotav, ve-tzivanu le-hadlik
ner shel Hanukah.

Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us by his commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukah.

Baruch ata Adonai, Elohenu melech ha-olam
she-asa nisim la-avotenu ba-yamim ha-hem
ba-zeman ha-zeh.

Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe,
Who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

Applesauce Noodle Kugel

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) package wide egg noodles
1 cup reduced fat margarine
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
1 1/2 cups egg substitute
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 (16 ounce) jar applesauce
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente. Drain.
In a large bowl, mix together margarine, sour cream, egg substitute, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and applesauce. Stir in noodles and raisins.
Spread graham cracker crumbs on the bottom of the prepared dish. Pour the noodle mixture over the crumbs. Sprinkle top with cinnamon.
Bake 45 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, or until set. Cover with foil if it browns too quickly.

First Night

Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, Who sanctified us by his commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukah.

Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe,
Who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe,
Who has kept us alive, and has preserved us,
and enabled us to reach this season.

5 On Friday - Brand New Edition

Our good friend Travis invented this meme. To join in, hop on over to Trav's Thoughts for an explanation, sign in and share your musical selections for the week.

This week's 5 On Friday was a progression so this post got pushed a week out of time and you get two Fridays in the same week. There are weeks that I wish had 8 days or the same day twice. Sometimes in history it is feast and others it is famine.  This day in history is definitely in the feast class of music possibilities.  On December 16, 1893 Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony" premiered in New York City.  A mere 84 years later on the same date, set in the same city, the premier of Saturday Night Fever made stars out of The Bee Gees and John Travolta.





Full Symphony Orchestra and movements 2 through 4 are available on You Tube



Unusual ukelele version of the hymn "Going Home" taken froms the New World Symphony theme.

5 On Friday - Travel Progression

Travis has issued the following request for this week's Five on Friday. To join in, click on the link and sign in before sharing your progression with the world.

Remember this? Volume 3 was way back in April. I started thinking about doing another one to celebrate the end of the year. And wouldn't you know, Cherie suggested it in comments last Friday!

In case you don't remember what I'm talking about, the basic idea is to start with a song and then let something about the song...a lyric, the artist, the way the record was produced, etc...lead you to the next track. And keep following that progression until you have a 5 song Set.
When we did this back in April, I gave you the first song. This time around, I'll give you three possible avenues to take in building your Set. Ready?
This one is "easy". Just come up with whatever strikes your fancy.
Define 2011 with a progression that reflects how your year went.
Set the stage for what you expect in 2012.
What do you think? Are you up for it?

Let's set the date to post our progressions for 16 Dec. That gives everyone three weeks to get organized and decide on a Set. Then it's your choice whether to post the explanation of your progression with your Set, or post it later and give us all a chance to interpret it.
I hope you play along. And if you've never tried this fun way to enjoy music, this might be a good way to introduce yourself to it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a small child, this was my favorite song.



March is my birthday month.  You will have to wait until next year for the story of why this video goes with that fact and why this far away place is the setting for  my favorite movie.



After attending 21 schools in many cities, I finally graduated from high school the year that the next song became a hit.




Now another "travlin' man", my son Christopher, got a promotion and as a result he has been traveling for one to two weeks out of every month this year from one side of the US to the other.  As a result instead of traveling everywhere, I've been stuck in place as grandmother in charge at home.





Almost to the New Year and I really need to hit the road!!!

5 On Friday - I Am Woman

Our good friend Travis invented this meme. To join in, hop on over to Trav's Thoughts for an explanation, sign in and share your musical selections for the week.

Dec 9, 1972: "I Am Woman" by Helen Reddy tops the U.S. pop charts.  This group of songs is dedicated to some of the powerful women Singers.  There were way too many possible selections (I changed my mind over and over), so feel free to nominate even more great ladies.





Helen Reddy



Sarah McLachlan



Billy Holiday



KD Lang & Melissa Etheridge



Emmylou Harris

The Tortoise and The Hair

Another good story from Philosophy Works


This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with.

1. Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. The tortoise and hare both agreed on a route and started the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he would sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realized that he'd lost the race.

The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race.

2. But the story doesn't end here. It continues.

The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed.

This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral of the story? Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. If you have two people in your organization, one slow, methodical and reliable, and the other fast and reliable at what he does, the fast and reliable chap will consistently climb the organizational ladder faster than the slow, methodical chap.

It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable.

3. But the story doesn't end here. The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there's no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. He thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed. The tortoise and hare started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of miles on the other side of the river.

The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.

The moral of the story? First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.

In an organization, if you are a good speaker, make sure you create opportunities to give presentations that enable the senior management to notice you.

If your strength is analysis, make sure you do some sort of research, make a report and send it upstairs. Working to your strengths will not only get you noticed, but will also create opportunities for growth and advancement.

The story still hasn't ended.

4. The tortoise and hare, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So the tortoise and hare decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time.

They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. Both the tortoise and hare felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.

The moral of the story? It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you're able to work in a team and harness each other's core competencies, you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well.

Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.

There are more lessons to be learned from this inspirational teamwork story.

Note that neither the tortoise and hare gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure.

The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could. In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.

The tortoise and hare also learned another vital lesson in teamwork. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.

To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise teaches us many things. Chief among them are that fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady; work to your competencies; pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers; never give up when faced with failure; and finally, compete against the situation, not against a rival.



Author Uknown

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The Season Begins

5 On Friday - Turn Up The Heat

Our good friend Travis invented this meme.  To join in, hop on over to Trav's Thoughts for an explanation, sign in and share your musical selections for the week.

It's been cold and rainy in the northwest so I thought it would be a good time to create a little heat.
Find a partner and let the "dirty" dancing begin

World AIDS Day

Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. World AIDS Day is important for reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 34 million people living with HIV. During 2010 some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus, including an estimated 390,000 children. Despite a significant decline in the estimated number of AIDS-related deaths over the last five years, there were still an estimated 1.8 million AIDS-related deaths in 2010.¹

The vast majority of people with HIV and AIDS live in low- and middle-income countries. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents.