Letters of Thought: December 2010

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Mottel Pizza

Home made Mottel Pizza:

Dough (based on Spice and Sprit recipe):

2 cups water
2 packages dry yeast
2 tsps. Sugar
5 cups flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
4 Tbsps. Oil
Rosemary kneaded in to taste.

Toppings:

Pesto, spread across dough.
fresh mozzarella
grated Parmesan
Sun-dried tomatoes
Oregano
Basil
Salt
Pepper

I served it with a bottle of Saison DuPont.

Food for thought:

Fresh mozzarella is generally white, but may vary seasonally to slightly yellow depending on the animal's diet. It is a semi-soft cheese. Due to its high moisture content, it is traditionally served the day it is made, but can be kept in brine for up to a week
Sun dried tomatoes were created in the tile roofs of Italy as a way to store fresh tomatoes for the winter. This technique is still used for tomatoes, only in much larger quantities of tomatoes and for commercial use (commercially available tomatoes).
The name pesto is the contracted past participle of the Genoese word pestâ (Italian: pestare) which means "to pound, to crush" in reference to the sauce's crushed herbs and garlic. This same Latin root through Old French also gave rise to the English word pestle.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Haveil Havalim 296: The Cold of Tevet Edition

By way of introduction:

The last time I hosted Haveil Havalim (it was Number 230) I had just gotten married. My wife and I were spending the weekend at the National Jewish Retreat and I figured a weekend away from the hustle of the city would give me time to work on that week's offerings. Somehow, while doing last minute editing on my cell phone - something in the Blogger WYSIWYG editor went haywire and deleted all the actual links! I was lambasted (by people I actually regularly chat with) on the twittersphere for presenting the worst HH ever . . .

Thankfully I managed to recover everything, and it all worked out in the end.

Since then I've continued to write for Lubavitch.com, expanded their Social Media initiative (please follow and like Lubavitch on Twitter and Facebook!) and - most importantly I'm now the father of a beautiful baby boy!

In the tragic days after the passing of RivkA bat Yishaya HaLevi of Coffee and Chemo, Jack made a public call for HH hosts. This offering, the best of the Jewish Blogosphere as submitted by others and gathered by me, is in her honor. By Hashgacha Protis, tonight is also the yahrtzeit of my Grandmother Malka bas Yitzchok.
May their neshamos have the ultimate aliyah with coming of moshiach - and tichiyas hameisim - right now!

So what is Haveil Havalim?

Founded by Soccer Dad, Haveil Havalim is a carnival of Jewish blogs — a weekly collection of Jewish and Israeli blog highlights, tidbits and points of interest collected from blogs all around the world. It’s hosted by different bloggers each week and coordinated by Jack. The term ‘Haveil Havalim,’ which means “Vanity of Vanities,” is from Qoheleth, (Ecclesiastes) which was written by King Solomon. King Solomon built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and later on got all bogged down in materialism and other ‘excesses’ and realized that it was nothing but ‘hevel,’ or in English, ‘vanity.

Judaism:

In the New York Jewish Week Melissa Chapman has a great piece entitled To Yeshiva or Not, That is the Question (hat tip to FFidler for this one)

Baila Olidort, Editor in Chief of Lubavitch.com - Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters - brings in a Jewish perspective of the tragic suicide of Mark Madoff in Play Now, Pay Later: Lessons From The Madoff Tragedy

Rachel Barenblat presents Prayer life changes posted at Velveteen Rabbi - her reflections on having a prayer life, and on how that prayer life always changes.

Elise presents Wrestling with God posted at Raising Asperger's Kids.

My friend Yossi has a great photo essay about his Chanukah in Houston over on his blog A Bochur in Lubavitch.

Chaviva has a vlog post asking Niddah: Cover Your Hair in Bed? over at Just call me Chaviva

Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver presents Why won't Chabad support some worthy causes?, Chassidus: The antidote to spiritual near-death, and Where does our heart lie? posted at A Chassidishe farbrengen.

Soccer Dad presents Sharing a short part of a long journey posted at treppenwitz.

Cosmic X presents Ezra the Scribe: Valiant Warrior Against Intermarriage,Rabbi Shlomo Aviner Explains Why Not To Sell Israeli Real Estate to Arabs, and A Book That Counters the Claims of "Torat HaMelech" posted at Cosmic X in Jerusalem.

Mordechai Torczyner presents Of Sarcastic Rabbis posted at The Rebbetzin's Husband

Batya gives us Even On The Eve of Shabbat, The Fast of the Tenth of Tevet

Joel Katz Religion and State in Israel - December 13, 2010 (Section 1) and Religion and State in Israel - December 13, 2010 (Section 2) posted at Religion and State in Israel.

Another offering from Batya, she lets us know about A New "G'mach" and Another Great Tremp Story and Jerusalem Street Scenes--The Lightrail Traffic Jam and More posted at me-ander

Harry presents Baligam and I want my money back posted at ISRAELITY.

Ya'aqov Ben-Yehudah sent three great posts Two More Opinions On Renting To Arabs, Etc., Jews are still not getting the message, and No, They can not stay

Culture:

Jacob Richman presents Uploaded New Learn Hebrew Video - Small Things posted at Good News from Israel.

Harper's Magazine has a fascinating write up (here reposted on Crownheights.info) on A Shtetl Divided - Messianic vigilantes, brawling Hasidim, and the battle for Jewish Brooklyn

Personal:

Over on In the Pink Hadassah discusses making a Social Media Resume.

Batya presents A Tsunami To Take Over The World, Isn't That What the Muslims are Aiming For? posted at Shiloh Musings.

YS presents Day 9- ?How Can I Decide?? posted at Consistently Under Construction.

westbankmama asks us Please Help A Good Cause posted at West Bank Mama.

Humor:

Mrs. S. - who was kind enough to wish me a good shabbos and easy fast (thanks!) presents Fashion Friday: Unintended consequences edition posted at Our Shiputzim: A Work In Progress.

Scholarship:

Bernice Frankel presents Top 50 Blogs by Theology Professors posted at Master of Theology.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Weird Sign Wednesday XXVII

This sign, found in the MTA stop in Boroughpark, is brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department and approved by the Head of the Department of the Obvious.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

The Three Rules of Babies

Baby having fun after bath

A Baby will always grab the most expensive or dangerous thing in front of him.
A baby can sleep for hours, but will wake up as soon as an important phone call comes in.
Similarly, be it 10 in th evening or 3 in the morning, a baby will invariably wake up within 10 minutes of you going to bed.