12.20.2009

Christmastime is here.....and also Channukah

...Which actually ended yesterday but I still feel the spirit! Being half Jewish, every year I get the privilege of celebrating not only Christmas in December, but also Channukah, the festival of lights. Every night, my family gathers around the menorah (which we couldn't find this year) and recites the traditional prayers (which we don't really know) while lighting candles according to the night (and also trying not to burn down the house, which almost happened one year). During the eight nights of the festival, children are supposed to get eight presents, one on each night. This year, I only received one gift, partially because of lack of funds but also because of Christmas coming about a week later. I got Good Eats: The Early Years by Alton Brown which is absolutely fascinating. It is chock full of little known facts about food. For instance, did you know that the first soy food ever manufactured in America was Baco-Bits? Weird. Anyway, I absolutely love it. For my own friends, I decided to bake them each their favorite kind of cookie/treat. One of my best friends in gluten intolerant, so I made her peanut butter cups and toffee, both of which have absolutely zero wheat. I also made oatmeal-craisin cookies (my other friend actually likes oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies, but alas, I ran out of those little chips) and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies (which make my sister sick because of an unfortunate encounter with macadamia nuts in Hawaii). It was quite an edventure making so many cookies but enjoyed it immensely. I think I'll do this every year. It takes no extra money and people seem to enjoy it more. Mappy Christmahannukwanzaaka! I'm off to good ole' NYC on Christmas so see ya'll next year!


Latkes!


Oatmeal Craisin Cookies!


more!


White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies!


Peanut Butter Cups!


Toffee!

12.04.2009

Inspiration

Some inspirational quotes to catch your fancy:



 We all boil at different degrees.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson




 Where so many hours have been spent convincing myself that I am right, is there not some reason to fear I may    be wrong? 
-Jane Austen




It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends.
-Albus Dumbledore




 Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.
-Henry David Thoreau 




In time, we hate that which we often fear.
-William Shakespeare


two more weeks until break!!

11.30.2009

Bountiful Baking


One of my absolute passions in life that I have discovered thus far is my obsession with baking. I love it. It's very calming, especially when school and other drama is crowding around inside your head. Being half Jewish (and half Japanese-odd I know), I thoroughly enjoy the baked goods that come along with it such as challah. Delicious. It is sweet and yellow and so much better than your average joe bread. This week, because I had no school, I engaged in copious amounts of oven use, even after Thanksgiving and before it. I made homemade marshmallows, a very very messy adventure, ginger-lemon pinwheels, homemade chocolate pudding , and two types of pies. Unfortunately, school began again today and is going to absolutely crazy because there are three weeks left until Winter Break. I have Showcase (talent show) rehearsals and shows this week, musical auditions next week (did I tell you that musicals are another obsession?), and the following week finals. OMG (I totally just did no favor to my generation), one day back and my head's already about to explode right off my body. Sometimes I just feel like giving up, but then I think that I will ruin the rest of my life and be stuck in this godforsaken state for my entire life. That's when I know it is time to break out the flour, but I won't be able to do so for the next three weeks I fear.

Challah 
from Jewish Cooking by Gail Weinshel Katz

2 packages yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water
6 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
8 2/3 cups flour
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp. water
poppy or sesame seeds (optional)

In large bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, salt, oil, eggs, and 6 cups flour. Beat well with wooden spoon; gradually add more flour until dough is too stiff to beat with spoon. Pace remaining flour on board; knead dough until smooth and all flour is absorbed and dough is no longer sticky. Place dough in large covered bowl; let rise in warm place 1 1/2 hours or until doubled. Punch dow; divide into four part, shaping each loaf as desires. Place each loaf in well-greased pan; let rise in warm place until doubled (about 1 hour). Brush tops with egg wash, sprinkle with seeds if desired. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven 25 to 30 minutes or until loaves are golden brown. Cool on racks. Makes four loaves.

11.28.2009

Vampires, Vampires, Vampires, Oh My!


Unless you live under a rock, I am sure you have noticed the craze sweeping the world right now, mostly in the teenage girl population. Twilight. Vampires. Taylor Lautner. Mostly just vampires in general. TV shows, books, movies, and almost everything else seems to be jumping on the undead bandwagon. It's everywhere. And it's driving me insane. I DO NOT ENJOY TWILIGHT. I am a die-hard Harry Potter fan. Give me hormonal teenage wizards any day over whiny sparkly teenage (but actually centuries-old) vampires and their even more annoying mortal girlfriends. I do admit that I have been known to quote Harry Potter and I still carry that faint hope that on my next birthday I will finally receive my very late Hogwarts acceptance letter. (maybe it got lost in the mail?) That sort of obsession is harmless, but it seems that with vampires, it goes way too far.
Last night, my parents, my sister, and I were watching 20/20 on abc, a sort of tradition. They always have very intriguing stories, and last night, what was on but vampires. But this was not about those screaming girls throwing themselves at Rob Pattinson or Taylor Lautner, but real, normal adults who believe they are vampires. Apparently their are a few types of vampires; they don't all drink blood. Some feed off crowds, some feed off the elements, psychic, sexual (?), etc. Then of course there are the Sanguines who are blood-suckers. Excuse me, but i really and truly thought a vampire was one of those pale, dark-haired, long-fanged creatures that do not enjoy garlic and live in Transylvania. Funny thing is, none of the "vampires" shown on the segment were any of those things. They were not normal per se, however. They were different and did not fit into society.


In fact, there are multiple underground organizations catering to the needs of these elite, few individuals. In New Orleans, where most of the video took place, there is an entire group of adults who commune to talk about their individual vampirism. There is even of Temple of the Vampire which has a Vampire Bible and an entire website if you care to research more. To be a member you have to purchase the bible and apply for a lifetime membership given that you don't engage in physical blood-drinking or criminal activity. At least they're not endangering the community. To me, this whole being-a-vampire business is just an escape for people who feel unique and need something to provide an escape. Everyone needs that , but most people just find something else that makes them confident and happy, like sports or music. If pretending to be a vampire makes people feel good, then by all means, who am i to stop them? i just hope that they realize that the vast majority of the population does not believe in anything found in fantasy novels and that they will be ostracized even more than they were to begin with. Also, I'm sure drinking blood is not the healthiest way to live life.

11.27.2009

Hello!

My name is Sarah. Life is anything but simple. It's complicated even for a fifteen-year-old sophomore in high school. This blog is to chronicle my "adventures," my disappointments, my successes, and is my attempt to try and organize the various thoughts whirling around in my head. Here you can find recipes-mostly fattening baked goods (my favorite) and mostly just snippets of whatever seems to be occupying my thoughts at any given moment. In any case, I don't really care if nobody bothers to read my blog. I will keep putting my opinions and thoughts out there anyway in case there might be one person who finds some sort of satisfaction from reading about the life of an over-achieving drama queen in high school. Enjoy!