Trope, Fun Work Anecdote, Recipe

When I got back from Passover break, one of the things I did was go to my first trope (Torah chanting notes) session. It's taught by a Brandeis student, and it's one-on-one which is wonderful. I never got around to learning trope as part of my conversion process. Part of it was that, at 17, the idea of having a bat mitzvah in high school seemed weird - I'd be older than the traditional b'nei mitzvah students but much younger than most women who have bat mitzvah ceremonies later in life (the usual age range at my synagogue is 40-60, sometimes higher). My mom was relieved, because she was afraid she'd have to organize a big party. However, now that my Hebrew reading ability has improved markedly, and I've been helping my rabbi and cantor at some Shabbat morning services, learning trope has become a more approachable, and less intimidating.

My first trope lesson involved repeating (and repeating, and repeating…) several common notes and note sequences, and beginning to chant from Genesis 1. Keep the notes separate is a challenge, but making the leap from chanting the note names to chanting words in Torah is an even bigger one. But it's definitely a very rewarding process. Before learning trope formally, I spent a lot of time staring at the trope notes in Torah commentaries during services and trying to see how the sung notes corresponded to the trope. I figured out about two notes. Sometimes you just have to go out and learn.

Other times, you go out and teach, as I learned at work. I was in the specialty clinic, at the art table, illustrating my Hebrew vocabulary list (figuring that having pictures of some of the nouns would help me study). One of the girls at the table, who was probably about 8, looked at the sheet and asked, "is that Spanish?" I managed not to laugh, but it was really hard. I guess I assumed that almost all children in the U.S. have seen Spanish written on signs or at least on Sesame Street or Dora the Explorer, or at least *know* it's not in a different alphabet. Apparently that assumption was incorrect. However, given that there are more Spanish speakers in the US than when I was a kid, I think it's all the more unusual for someone to mistake Hebrew for Spanish. Of course, this is coming from someone whose family is really into learning non-English languages, so maybe I'm being unfair.

Finally, for my own reference a relatively low-fat, non-chili, vegetarian recipe:

*Add 1 cup boiling water to 1 dry cup couscous. Cook until couscous is al dente (around 7 minutes on medium heat on the stove).

*When couscous is almost done cooking, heat chopped white mushrooms and snowpeas with a pat of butter (about 30 seconds in the microwave).

* When the couscous is done, season with cumin, salt and pepper. Stir in veggies.

Easy Spicy Beef Soup

1. Combine about 1 pound stew beef, 1 small can of tomato sauce, 1 large can of diced tomatoes in a pot. Heat on medium.

2. Add 1/2 medium onion (diced) and several chopped baby carrots.

3. Add a small dash of soy sauce (about 1 Tbs.).

4. Add a generous dash of Mexican hot sauce (about 2-3 Tbs.).

5. Stir regularly; heat until the beef is thoroughly cooked.

This is what I have on the stovetop right now. Hope it turns out well!

Baked Apples and Brown Sugar Sauce

I was asked to prepare a parve (non-dairy) dessert for Brandeis's Tu B'Shevat seder. Since Tu B'Shevat is the new year of the trees, I initially decided to make an apple crisp, using non-dairy margarine instead of butter in the topping.

After peeling and chopping the apples, and sprinkling them with sugar, I realized I was out of margarine. So, I decided that instead of making a crumbly apple crisp topping, I would make a brown sugar sauce to pour over the apples. The sauce had cooked very nicely and helped keep the apples from drying out. It was very difficult for me (and the seder coordinator) to only take tiny taste samples.

Here's the recipe. The preparation of the apples, and some of the ingredients of the topping, come from an Ocean-Spray cranberry apple crisp recipe (which has been a resounding hit with my friends on multiple occasions):

1. Preheat oven to 375˚F. Grease a 9" square pan (I don't have a 9x9 pan, so I use a 9" pie plate or 9x13x2 pan).

2. Peel, core and slice about 5 medium apples* into 1" sections. Layer in pan. Sprinkle 1/3 cup granulated sugar over the apple pieces.

3. Prepare the sauce: use about 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 egg (if you cook kosher, remember to make sure the egg is blood free), 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix in a small bowl until everything is well-blended. The sauce should be slightly thinner than brownie batter.

4. Pour sauce over the apples. Bake 45 minutes in a normal oven, or about 35-40 minutes in an apartment-sized oven.

The apples taste best hot, but are also yummy cool.

* I used Gala apples, because they were the best variety at Brandeis's convenience store. When I get cooking apples at a grocery store, I usually get Pink Lady apples or something similar.

Fall Semester Goals - Revisited

In terms of academic goals, I've found that staying on top of my written work has not been very difficult — I already had developed a "system" for budgeting time for doing readings, research, and writing papers. What was difficult was budgeting time for studying Organic Chemistry and Biology. I realized, perhaps a little too late, that studying the week before an Orgo exam was not effective. In order to really get the material, I had to practice it until I had dreams about reaction mechanisms. It is rather similar to learning a foreign language — you don't learn just by hearing, but by writing and speaking everyday, until the rhythms of the language become natural.

Organic Chemistry has been a difficult class, probably the most difficult class I've had since AP Biology in high school, but not necessarily a "scary" class. While many of the nurses I work with respond to the phrase "I'm taking Orgo" as if I said "I eat cactus for breakfast," and describe Orgo as a sort of necessary evil, I've found the material quite interesting. While I can't find a direct connection between Orgo and nursing (other than the pictures of pharmaceutical compounds in some of our exams), I've decided that Orgo being a requirement for some nursing schools is enough of an "ulterior" motivation. When I need a "boost" while studying, I try to imagine getting a first set of scrubs for nursing school. It helps.

So does cooking. While emotional eating is not recognized as a positive habit to develop, I've found that when I'm in a studying/working rut, stabbing dough with a spoon is surprisingly cathartic. Grocery shopping, which I know most adults view as a chore, is relaxing for me. The half hour walk to the grocery store is a good time to just plug in to my iPod, and after being on a meal plan for two years, it's a lot of fun to decide what will be in my kitchen. While most of my non-"quickie" cooking has been desserts (pumpkin pie, brownies, cookies, apple crisp), I've found that that's the kind of cooking I can get excited about. It's a good thing I spend so much time walking to class/work. Otherwise I think this kind of cooking would have serious consequences.

Perhaps I should start venturing more into entrees. I've already done mushroom quiche and vegetarian chili. Today I made fried polenta with cumin and pepper, which was very yummy, but perhaps not something I should make on a regular basis. So, my next unofficial cooking goal: practicing recipes that don't involve copious amounts of sugar or butter/oil that aren't chili.

Tuna Noodle Casseroles in France

Since my room is only equipped with a fridge, freezer, and microwave, I don't make the diverse dishes I learned to prepare in middle school Family and Consumer Science* (stir-fried vegetables, macaroni and cheese, smoothies) or instant ramen noodles. Around the time I began to reach my breaking point with eating cafeteria food for lunch and dinner every day, I started taking a closer look at the kosher options in the convenience store and discovered Amy's frozen meals, which are all vegetarian, fairly yummy (except for the pizza with rice flour dough…), and certified kosher. 

Still, I know I could do better. The summer after my senior year, my dad and I lived in an apartment in northern France whose kitchen only had a fridge, freezer, sink, small stovetop, and microwave. Did we rely on pasta and frozen meals? Rarely. Most of the time, Dad made noodle casseroles, assembling the ingredients in a single glass casserole dish and sticking it in the microwave for five minutes. Other nights, we had couscous with vegetables. From time to time Dad did heat a pizza in the microwave, but very infrequently. I have yet to understand how a French apartment kitchen is allowed to lack an oven, though, since French people still do more home cooking than Americans. Of course, both countries may make a large step back towards home cooking in the current economy… 

* = Family and Consumer Science is what my middle school called Home Economics; both boys and girls had to take it. Is FACS supposed to be more PC than HE or does it just sound fancier?

The cutest baby ever

I made another trip to the local Chabad house tonight, this time to make hamataschen (triangular cookies with filling). There was a large bowl of dough already made, so it was more a hamantaschen assembly and baking event than the total, start-to-finish cooking experience.

Warming the dough and kneading it was fun and pretty easy, as was cutting it into 3" circles. Trying to figure out how much filling to put in the middle was tougher, and pinching the three corners just so was much more difficult than you're think. Still, it was fun, and food doesn't have to look 100% perfect; what matters is the taste.

After putting my hamantaschen in the oven, I went into the entry hallway, where the rabbi's 9-month old daughter Leah (not her real name) was playing in on of those activity center things with rattles, wheels, etc. She was very friendly, smiling at everyone and laughing. Later on, her father came over with his very impressive camera, which he uses to document every happy moment, and wanted to take pictures of me and Leah. 

Leah started bouncing and laughing, her smile growing and growing with each picture. The flash didn't bother her, she just kept smiling at me and her father. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen; I wanted to reach out and pick her up but I held back because I don't really know how to hold a baby. It seemed like a very maternal feeling, and yet not at the same time. Perhaps the new mother feeling of "this kid is so wonderful but I have no idea what I'm doing?"

Whatever it was, it was a happy feeling, and I hope Leah keeps inspiring that kind of happiness in others for the rest of her life, may it be long and good and filled with good deeds.