Cooking MORE Cholent

No, no. As soon as I wrote that title I realized you might get the wrong idea. So let me dispel rumors right now. I’m not pregnant again. Yet. Not that I’d tell you right away if I were.

I thought to call this entry “Cookin’ Cholent II: Electric Boogaloo” because I love calling things “X II: Electric Boogaloo”. But that wouldn’t be accurate either. Because unlike the classic film, Breakin' 2 - Electric Boogaloo it’s not a totally new version that has utterly no relationship to the original. Rather, I want to give new meaning to the old blog. Why? Because it is here that I did my best writing for a while. Or at least, I did writing. And as my brother says, “DONE IS BETTER THAN GOOD”. I had readers. I had all my passwords and options set up. And I had fun.

To take an example from the high-tech world in which I work, the baby code-named “Cholent” has been delivered, released as you will, as a fully functioning product. You may know her as Ahuva Yonit. But the metaphor of “Cooking Cholent” still works nicely as a title for a blog full of ruminations on a little of this, a little of that. On the bits and pieces and influential spices that make up dish of my life. And oh yeah, it’s about cooking too.

A visiting friend I hadn’t seen in a while asked me if I was still cooking as much as when I was pregnant. I was surprised. I cook almost every day for my family. I spend an incredible amount of physical and psychic energy planning, shopping for, preparing, and cleaning up meals. What’s changed is that I no longer had any time to write about it.

 

Actually, everything’s changed.

I have a walking, talking toddler now instead of a mysterious creature in my belly. I have a newish job and newish apartment in an old\new city. I have new friends and new relationships with old ones. I have a new nephew. Two new nephews, in fact.

New pressures and new rewards.

 

War is not good for anything. But it was rather good for writing. It gave me a sense of urgency as well as an outlet for fears and confusions.  Still, it’s better not to live in a war. I always say that I have zero interest in extreme sports because real life is exciting enough. Well, let me put that to the test.

 

Welcome back, blog fans!

 

Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day.

— Anonymous quote

 

 

Time to blog again?

Since I got back from Seattle last week, there's a new world order in our house. Adi initiated it. Instead of me doing the bath -> bed routine that by necessity immediately follows dinner, we're alternating nights. So every other night I get to do a little more work, read some emails, make a phone call, take a shower BY MYSELF or even (dare I dream it): sit on the couch and read. It seems like a tiny thing, to gain an hour or two every other night (depending on how long it takes to clean up the post-dinner mess which can be considerable). But it's life changing.
More than ever I now look forward to my turn to play in the bath, read a book, snuggle and sing until twisting, turning and sometimes crying gives way to slumber.

Last night I put two capfuls of Elmo Wild Watermelon bubble bath in the bath with us. Ahuva gave that raised eye-brow look of awe that I love and softly, reverently, said "buh-boul". She was a little disturbed when rubber ducky disappeared within the foam and relieved to see him reappear. She played with her pirate toys, asked for more and more and more baby toothpaste on her brush. And something new: she rubbed her little hands on the giant bar of soap and instead of cleaning and re-cleaning her bulging little tummy she leaned over and said "Mama" and washed my collar bones. We were both very pleased.

Cholent Checklist

Every time I make cholent, it seems when I wake up the next morning to smell that delicious smell, I'm also struck by a "D'oh!" feeling as I remember failing to add some ingredient I wanted to include. Of course the beauty of cholent is that it's wildly open to variations. No two of my cholents come out alike. But with practice, they have gotten consistently better. And so, rather than a recipe, I conclude this blog with a checklist of required and optional ingredients. I plan to return to tweak the format a bit. And I will happily post your comments. Happy Cholenting!

 

Required Ingredients

• One teaspoon of jam*
• Some form of beans: kidney beans, chick peas, white beans or a mixture
• Rice or barley
• Spices: which ones? NOT salt. Paprica, a dash of cinnamon... pepper, Chinese 5 spice works wonders.

 

Optional Ingredients

• Potatoes. Washed, cut into walnut-sized chunks.
• Sweet Potatoes
• Carrots
• Prunes
• Eggs. Whole. Put them uncooked on top of everything else.
• Meat. Browned.**
• Onions.
• Garlic
• Kishkes
• Stuffed eggplants for hamin (see recipe)

*Not sugar, not catsup. Jam. Any kind. Just a teaspoonful. No idea why, but it works.

** Highly recommended. Even as a long-term vegetarian, I have to admit the meat makes a difference. A huge time saver is to create what my mother invented as "cholent active packs". Buy a bunch of meat, brown it with onions and freeze in separate packs. When Friday comes, just take out a pack (no need to defrost) and add all the other ingredients.

 

A wrap

It's about a year since I started this blog. The war is mercifully over.

"Cholent" is fully cooked and then some. Now we call her "pitzkele Oyfele" - little chicken in Yiddish.

And we're getting ready to start our next life's adventure.

So I'm going to wrap up this blog.

If you're interested in joining us for the next chapter, check out my new blog: www.neualtland.blogspot.com.

And I'm going to leave you with something useful and delicious in my final post.

Keep cooking!

Love,

me

Furnished Apartment to rent in Haifa - great for visiting academic!

We're going abroad for 5 years and so our apt. is available. Please forward freely..

Clean, comfortable apartment in the heart of Mount Carmel's Ahuza neighborhood. $750/month

Perfect for visiting couple or small family!

2.5 bedrooms, 2 American-style baths (one with shower, one with giant bathtub). Fully-firnished. Central heating & air conditioning. Quiet, yet centrally-located Ahuza location (Moria Ave.) within short walk of all conveniences: shops, cafes, public transportation. Modern kitchen with all appliances (dishwasher, oven, stove, microwave, toaster oven, soda maker, complete set of dishes and cookware). Each bedroom has a full-sized bed + linens, towels. American Maytag washer and dryer. Available July 30, 2007 for up to 5 years. Private parking for one car.

Photos http://www.ahuva.phanfare.com/album/239063

Non-smoking long-term renters prefered.

Details, questions please respond to this post. 

Big News

I've told my boss so now I can tell you all, my dear readers. Adi was accepted for graduate studies at his top choice school, Columbia University. He will start classes in fall 2007 towards a combined MA/PHd in Yiddish Literature. This means that we will leave Haifa, my home of ten years and instead will live within blocks of my parents. My aunt reports that since they heard the news, my parents feet have not touched the ground!

Meanwhile, I am sad to be leaving my sunny neighborhood in the Carmel which I have grown to enjoy and appreciate more than ever  these past few weeks on daily walks with Ahuva. However, I'm looking forward to embarking on our little family's new adventure and to being reunited with family and friends in the Old Country.

After Passover, I will return to work part time until the move at which point I will resign from MegaCorp after over ten years of service. I plan instead to start my own consulting business from home, doing usability consulting and a bit of techinical writing and training.

All's Well

Ahuva rocked her well baby checkup at tipat chalav today. Both nurse and doctor were impressed with her development. I'm sorry I didn't bring a camera to capture her smiling at dr. with stethascope pressed to her little chest. She is an impressive 6.6 kilos (14 and a half lbs.), 59 cm in length.

She also had some vaccinations - not fun. These may cause fever so we bought some baby tylenol as advised.

 

This weekend we went on our first family trip. It was wonderful. We stayed at a kibbutz guest house way up north and visited the Hula Valley nature reserve. Little did we know it, but they offered 3-person side-by-side bikes for visiting the 10 KM trail. Perfect for us! With car seat in the middle for Ahuva, we were able to get excercise and stop and start as we liked. Well, Ahuva didn't much care for stopping!

 

Erster Urlaub

A Visit in the Village

Yesterday Ahuva and I made our farthest trip yet, to visit our friends in Dalyat-al-Karmel. As you can see, it was a beautiful day and Ahuva was treated royally.

Mitzva Making

I dressed Ahuva up in her first dress (thank you cool R.I. cousins!!) for her first shiva call. Sadly, a dear family friend passed away. Ahuva was well behaved during the visit and brought some smiles to the mourners.

Smiling

Ahuva is doing more cooing and smiling.

She even made her first joke: In the middle of a smiling session she suddenly scrunched up her face as though unhappy. When my expression changed accordingly, she burst back into a smile as if to say "Ha, ha! Gotchu, Mommy!" If you're not laughing, well, I guess you had to be there. I was totally amused.

This weekend Ahuva successuflly appeared at a Bris for twin boys (little Amir may be in love with Ahuva), a dinner in a restaurant hosted by guests from abroad, and a Saturday outing to a fine Haifa cafe. Not too shabby!

This weekend we're planning a family OVERNIGHT adventure in the north at www.biktot10.com.

Baby Yoga

Thursday Ahuva and I went to our first session of "Baby Yoga" class at a local "Mommy and Me" club called Tandu. It was totally silly and fun!
I told my mother I feared it would be "too yuppie".
"So what if it is? You're a bit of a yuppie. Be true to your class," she urged. I couldn't have been more glad that I did.
Unfortunatly, we were 30 min late and so missed hearing everyone's name and birth stories. We were slowed by a trip to Ahuva's nice doctor who confirmed that the many little red pimples that come and go on Ahuva's face are totally harmless. Dr. K. says no one knows why they come, and that they will dispear. We thought they were do to maternal hormones ingested through my milk, or worse, that they might be alergy related. I was NOT enthusiastic about the idea of keeping a food journal as my lactation consulatant recommended, so I braved the long wait to see Dr. K. though it meant being late to baby yoga.
I heard Ahuva poop loudly while we were waiting at Dr. K's so as soon as we got to Tandu I knew the 1st order of business was a diaper change. This would be my first public change. The friendly owner held Ahuva while I used the bathroom. She then led me into the yoga room where the class was already in progress.
The floor was carpeted with thick mats. Around the edges mothers perched on fat puffy pillows, their babies spread out on towels in front of them. Ahuva and I were led to a corner where I dumped our belongings. A grandmother sitting next to me willingly held Ahuva while I set up her blanket and prepared to change her. Meanwhile the teacher was explaining the benefits of baby yoga, how it stimulates good digrestion, improves imune functioning, encourages healthy development, and promotes confidence in infants.
Whatever, I was just really happy to have a fun reason to leave the house with Ahuva!
Butt cleaned, I was just about to put on a fresh diaper when the teacher announced, "OK, we're going to get started. You can take off your baby's clothes, even their diaper!". Most of the mommies seemed skeptical about that idea. But since I hadn't yet put on her fresh diaper, I thought we'd give it a try. Luckily, the clean diaper was lying under her while I removed her outerwear top because she peed directly on it! That was great, because I was fairly sure that it meant she wouldn't do so again for at least a few minutes. As urged, I put a cloth diaper under her just in case. Ahuva's cloth nankies are hot pink. They were a fabulous gift from my cousin Cath who dyed them that fabulous color. I could tell they were the envy of my neighbors.
Following instructions from the teacher, we "asked permission" to massage our babies and then began, using almond oil distributed by an assistant in little cups. We also held our mouths to our babies heads, bellies, and feet and emitted a loud HUMMMMM. It felt like we were communicating the OM vibration to our babies. I liked it and Ahuva seemed to like it.
I had worried that she'd sleep through class but no, she seemed pretty with it the whole time, alert and often smiling. I felt a little bummed that she wasn't giving me eye contact but prefered to stare left, towards the big mirror. But then I noticed that the two baby boys to my right were staring in our direction rather than at their mommies, so I felt better.
The time seemed to fly by. The class lasts nearly two hours which is good because it allows time for nurisng, napping, and diaper changing along the way as needed. There seemed to be a group melt-down towards the end, with one baby cry setting off the next. Ahuva joined in but was soothed by nursing.
We signed up for the 7 session package.
The two days since the class, I repeated what I remembered of the massage at home. Why not? She likes it and it's something to do with her other than nurse or change her or say "coo".

Ahuva, week 7

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=151544362/a=3127449/t_=3127449

Polish Feast

Sunday we had a real treat when Adi, Ahuva and I were invited to a dinner hosted by our neighbor Lola. She is from Poland, a tough Holocaust survivor who came here via the detention camps in Cyprus after losing her entire family. She is now a great grandmother. She rocks.

The guests included Lola's grown son and daughter. They both were really nice. More shy than outgoing, fun-loving Lola, they are both sensitive and artistic. The main guests of honor were Lola's family visiting from Canada, the parents of our friend Y.

The evening was a rare treat for several reasons. We were totally relaxed, since Ahuva was mellow or sleeping the whole time and we only had to walk down one flight of stairs to get there. We really like spending time with Y. and his wife. Plus, there were many kind hands happy to hold Ahuva, especially Y's mother (not yet a grandmother, but clearly ready to become one!). She described that baby-to-chest holding as a "melting moment". Who could disagree?

The food was delicious! Lola had single-handedly prepared a real holiday feast: gefilte fish, chopped liver, and Polish eggplants for starters. Then outstanding mushroom blintzes. Next came a roasted chicken accompanied by Polish gnocchi, delicious with fried onions. Wow. To top it off we enjoyed a poppy seed packed cake baked by Lola's daughter. Perfect.

With Ahuva sleeping in the caring arms of others, I relished being able to eat "like a grown up". That is, slowly, relaxed, and with grown up conversation. I didn't have to calculate how to prepare and eat my meal using as few dishes and utensils as possible (to speed clean up). In fact, Lola even had little gold-plated dachshund knife holders at each place setting. Royal!

Baby Buddah in Lotus Pose

One of the first positions we learned this week in "Baby Yoga" class.

Got Milk!

Big success with those precious 100ml of my milk today. I felt more better about leaving the house when wonderful nanny N. came in the afternoon, knowing there was breast milk on hand. She drank some of it then. Later, during the peak of the "Cluster Feed" cycle, Adi gave her more, enabling me to prepare dinner. Win, win!

"How's Aba as Ima?" (How's father as mother?) I heard Adi asking a happy Ahuva as he fed her, sitting as I do with the nursing pillow. Pure pleasure, seeing them like that.

Bath Time

She enjoys!

La Leche League

In an effort to get out of the house and meet other new mommies, I went to a local meeting of la leche league (www.laleche.org) yesterday morning. It was a short drive from home, making it a major milestone: my first solo drive with Ahuva. I was pretty calm, checking to make sure she was breathing at read lights only. I could see her purple fleece hat rising and falling as her little head moved - but not too much thanks to a super little head\neck pillow she got as a great gift from J.

When I arrived there was one other Mommy there. She was nursing a baby who was a week or two older than Ahuva - and not nearly as big or robust! There was a counselor and another woman - counselor in training? who never introduced ourselves. We introduced ourselves and had the chance to ask questions. I got one of my questions answered. What to do when I feel I'm becoming a human pacifier? That is, when sucking continues but feeding is done. Well it was sort of an answer. One option: so what? If she's happy who cares? Other option: so what? break the suction and remove her. Hmm. OK.

Then about half an hour into the meeting, another mother burst in. She was carrying a baby who turned out to be her FOURTH child. Before she set him down in his carseat carrier, the other mother said, "Are you coming to my house for coffee afterwards?". Hmpfh. Not that I wanted to join them but that was kind of rude, to say the least. New mother - who looked younger than me and in amazing shape for being the mother of four, the youngest also a week or two older than Ahuva (but again, much smaller! HA!) - totally dominated conversation. Without introducing herself either, she launched into animated tirades about all sorts of things. I listened, a little stunned.

Eventually (when new mother loudly answered a cell phone call) I got to sneak in my next question: is there a trick to pumping? Answer: yes! Pump in the morning when there's the most milk. Nurse on the other breast while you pump since cute baby sucking will stimulate the "let down reflex". I tried it this morning while watching "An Inconvenient Truth" and it worked! Well, pretty well. I got 100 ml, more than my previous pathetic yields. Enough to give me confidence to leave Ahuva with the wonderful sitter for a while while I came here to my favorite cafe to write this blog. Not bad.

The other useful thing I learned was that Ahuva's evening fussy, hungry period in the evenings has a name: cluster feeding. The idea is that she's getting high-calorie, denser milk to stock her up for the night. So our intuition - that it's worth 2-3 tough hours to get a good night's sleep - is true. What to do? One suggestion is to have a bottle ready to give her after nursing, to satisfy her hunger. Another theory is to get her to bed earlier. We tried that yesterday. So-so results.

I don't think I'll be going back to the meetings since I did not feel great so simpatico with the other women. But I came home feeling more confident. Even though the counselor "corrected" my nursing hold during the meeting, I came home quite sure that Ahuva and I are doing SOMETHING right given her healthy size.

OK, time to run home!

Photo site

Sending pics via mail is tiresome.
See http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahuva/
http://www.flickr.com/people/ahuva/ for pics.