4 meals for 2 ladies and a toddler:

Appies:
Challah with Homemade dips (tomato, parsley and olive)
hummus and baba
Gefilte fish

Mains:
Meat Lasagna
Cholent
Moroccan Chicken (catered-- left over from RH)
Deli Rolls (pastrami and corned beef w/duck sauce)

Green stuff:
Green Beans w/shallots
Roasted Asparagus

Starchy stuff:
Sesame Noodles (KBD)
Vegetarian Kibbeh (frozen from a box)
2 bought kugels (apple-noodle and potato-spinach)

Sweet stuff:
Pecan Chocolate Chip Pie
2 boxes of cookies

Perfect balance of boys and girls has been achieved!

I'm trying to keep it light and fresh, and no cooking (since I don't start my shopping till 4PM today)

• Challah with homemade dips (tomato, olive and parsley)
• Hummus and Babaganoush
• Strawberry-Mango salad with Balsamic dressing
• Fresh Mozzarella, Tomatoes and Basil
• Herbed Goat cheese with two varieties of crackers
• Chickpeas tossed with olive oil and spices
• Vegetarian cigars and potato bourekas, from frozen.
• Fruit and cookies, courtesy of guests

I've spent my fair share of Shabbatot (Shabbossim? Whatever.) visiting girlfriends in Washington Heights (holla!) over the last year or so, and since my last visit, some of the differences between the two singles scenes have been on my mind.

For one, Washington Heights is younger than the Upper West Side.  Chock full o' recent YU/Stern grads and 24-26 year-olds.  Most of my friends here are gals in their upper 20s and 30s (hello, ladies!) and I have many acquaintances who are even older.  I rarely encounter recent grads. Sure, we have some young pups, but not like up there.

WH is frummer. Hands down. WIN.  I made probably my only Dvar Torah of the year in the Heights this summer, and I was brought back to la-la land of seminary.  Many of the girls there inspire me to be a better davener and learner.

Therefore...

Less Hanky Panky in the Heights.  Tefillin dates.  So, they happen.  Not, like, a ton, but it's not an urban legend, either.

WH is tighter.  Everyone congregates at the Mt. Sinai Shul, for mincha and maariv too (see? They are frummer...) and the kiddushes are a sight to behold.  Everyone lives on or near Bennett.  UWS has OZ and the JC, and the singles scene is centered in the 90s, but is far more spread out geographically and as far as shul-going is concerned.  WH'ers are frequent shul attendees (if only to meet up with their meal) in a way that UWS'ers are not.  I admit to frequently rolling out of bed to trek uptown to a meal, skipping shul entirely.

Meals:  WH = potluck; UWS = host cooks, guests bring wine, dessert and/or fruit. 

Fewer marrieds.  They tend to relocate quicker than West Siders, who often stay till their second baby.  I suppose marrieds have less tying them to the Heights, whereas the West Side is still a trendy place with a great quality of life for a young family, albeit an expensive option to stay with a child.

By dint of lower rent, and apartment shares being practically the only option, guys are often not in top-tier professions as commonly as UWS guys.  I've met plenty of lawyers there, who probably live there because it's frummer and tighter, but let's admit, an apartment share (or a room share!) is cheaper.  Also, what's up with PT/OT/Speech?  My mom is one, so I'm not degrading in the slightest, but how many does the world need?? 

Overall, I see the merits and quality of life benefits of both "scenes."  I love the time I spend up there, but of course I'm always happy to return home.

I'm sure I'll think of more to add.  Thoughts?

Two lovely young ladies, with whom I am acquainted through a very dear friend, have started a kosher cooking blog!

I think it's really promising.  These girls are adventurous and fun!  Check out their first few entries:

kosherfoodies.wordpress.com/

They have classic taste with a Syrian flair!

Hatzlacha with your new endeavor, Jessica and Stephanie!

As I first pointed out in this post, sometimes the messages that pop up in my inbox on various online dating sites can be so very entertaining.

I find that Frumster has dried up recently, and am having no luck there nor at SYAS (thank you, JDate, for keeping me busy)-- but the lulz do still roll in from time to time:

  Subject: Milchigs or Fleishigs?
  Message:  Our vort-- it's up to you.

  If only the guy seemed half as clever...

Tonight I finally caught this short documentary about the Upper West Side singles scene. It's currently airing on the Documentary Channel. All the more interesting clips are compiled below. I'd been dreading watching this, and it was everything I expected-- sort of like swallowing my own vomit and tears.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdedukF_Bm8

Why didn't I think of this? Forums cited in endnotes include:

Mikolot Mayim Rabim: From the Voices of Many Waters
Frumarrieds
Imamother
BTDT
Jewish Women's Forum
ChabadTalk
Eshet Chayil
Tisha Kabin
CalmKallahs
Hashkafah.com

Frum Surfing: Orthodox Jewish Women’s Internet Forums as a Historical and Cultural Phenomenon

Judy Tydor Baumel-Schwartz, Bar-Ilan University

PDF full version
HTML full version

Introduction:

In the autumn of 2007, while browsing through an Internet forum, I encountered a thread with a poll that caught my eye. Under a heading of intimate topics, a member had posted: "Are you attracted to your husband's private parts?" Asking whether other women found it difficult to touch their husband's genitals, she wondered whether her response was normal, and ended her post with a personal request to the site's moderator. What drew me to the poll was its phrasing which used the correct anatomical term and not "private parts," its appearance on an Internet forum open solely to married Orthodox Jewish women, and the poster's plea to the site moderator not to lock the thread.

Over the next several days an extensive debate developed on the site regarding this thread, with the vast majority of posters referring solely to the poll's wording, which included the biological term and not the common Orthodox Jewish euphemism for the male organ. The original poster was exhorted to clean up her language; posters shared personal experiences of what they taught their children to call various body parts, and cited Orthodox rabbinical authorities about using these terms. After several weeks of virtual battling the moderator removed the poll, changed the question's wording to placate the religious sensibilities of site members, de-listed a member whose religious zeal and agenda were deemed unsuitable to the particular site, and deleted over 60 percent of the posts on the thread. The title of the denuded thread now read "attraction to husbands…" and only by going into the thread could new members understand what it was all about. The moderator also altered the guidelines of the intimacy section, telling posters they were allowed to use all proper English and Hebrew terms when discussing "private areas" but exhorting them to keep the general content of the message "clean and appropriate."

The debate over the aforementioned post and the creation and maintenance of virtual Orthodox Jewish women's (henceforth cited as OJW) forums appear to be indicative of a long existing need now receiving expression in cyberspace. In this article I posit that we can learn much about the changing lives and cultures of Orthodox and Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jewish women today by examining the growing numbers of all-woman Internet forums created solely for, or frequented primarily, by OJW. In view of the ongoing debates among gender scholars about the importance of developing identity, or the "self" claim that we can also use these forums to better explore and analyze some of the directions in which the Orthodox Jewish female "self" has been developing. While dozens of topics appear on these forums, here I will examine one broad subject that plays a major role on almost all of them due to its centrality in the lives of married OJW in their 20s, 30s and 40s (the most active age groups on these forums) – the "Physical Self." Further discussion of the numerous issues connected to and appearing in OJW Internet forums will appear in my book-length study now being prepared. The present article is a prolegomena to this extensive future study.

I am getting excited for July's Out of the Box Sampler, so I thought I'd share this amazing company/concept with my peeps.

For $22 (includes shipping) you get a box filled to the brim (approx. 16-17 items) with bath & body products, candles, wax tarts (candle melts for an electric tart warmer) and other goodies homemade by various e-tailers. Boxes go on sale the first of the month, and get to you in 2-3 days!

I look forward to getting mine every month, it is a total steal, and a blast to unpack and sniff all your new goodies  :D

My friend Robin and her husband Kevin were in town from Seattle this week, and they hit up the streets of Manhattan in search of kosher eats and novelties.  They had a GREAT tip for me:

Dylan's Candy Bar, the multi-level flagship sweets emporium on the Upper East Side, is owned by the daughter of Ralph Lauren:



Here's the kicker!  Upon request, you will be provided with a pages-long pamphlet conveniently listing all the products in the store that are certified kosher.  With list in hand, you can go ahead and pick and mix sweet delights from the bins without hesitation.  Is that great or what??

This just goes to show, kosher consumers, that when in doubt, it's always worth asking.  You may just be surprised at how you will be accommodated.

A few of the usual suspects joined up with a bunch of premier single guys and a visiting VIP couple for a total WIN of a Shabbos lunch today!

It was a totally diverse and engaging crowd, and we were especially lucky to have with us Robin and Kevin from Seattle, who regaled us with tales of far-away Orthodox communities. What would you do if you had only one kosher pizza shop in town?  Well, you'd come to New York and eat yourselves silly once a year or so.

On today's menu:
Challah with homemade dips (olive, parsley, tomato) and babaganoush
Gefilte
Strawberry Mango Salad
Deli Rolls
Asparagus with teriyaki
Spinach and Apple-Noodle kugels, from the freezer
'Shroomy vegan cholent
fruits and assorted desserts, courtesy of guests
... and 3 bottles of wine  :-D

Ramat Gan robber chased away by 6-year-old girl

A six-year-old girl helped put a knife-brandishing robber under arrest Tuesday night after the man had already successfully stolen money from two grown men.

The Dan District Police Station registered two complaints on Tuesday by apartment owners in Ramat Gan, saying a man threatened them with a knife and took money from them.

The 51-year-old robber, also a Ramat Gan resident, then moved on to a third apartment. After he knocked on the door, a little girl opened it. When he demanded she leave the house, she refused and said she would call the police. He then threatened her with a knife, but the child got hold of a broom and hit him with it.

The man fled the scene, but after the girl described his appearance to the police, he was caught and arrested while still in possession of the knife he had used in the robberies.

Summer Shavuot Bonus post!

Strawberry Mango Salad



2 packages baby spinach leaves
1 package strawberries
2 ripe but firm mangoes

dressing:
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. dried basil
salt and pepper

I don't add any sugar to the dressing.  It's so naturally sweet once the mango gets a little happy in there.

A Summer foot care routine to make your tootsies tingle oh-so-good, inspired by the frumfashionista

photo credit: cleobatya 

A milchig Shabbos Lunch for 10:

Challah w/homemade dips (olive, parsley, tomato)
Gefilte fish
Strawberry-Mango Spinach salad with balsamic dressing
Cheese Sambousak (turnovers)
Spanekh jib'n (spinach souffle)
Apple Noodle Kugel
Stuffed Shells
Key Lime Cheesecake

I just love what Moroccan Oil does for my long, thick, frizzy, puffy hair! I was introduced to this product by my hairdresser about 6 months ago. I just slick a quarter-sized drop all the way through before blowdrying, and it adds shine, calms the volume, and just makes everything sleeker so I can avoid using the straightening iron.  You can also dab a bit on after blowdrying to tame those stray frizzies.



A 3.4 oz. bottle runs for about $40 (a little less on eBay and Amazon), and lasts for a very long time, especially if you don't wash your hair every day.

For all you curly girls, I hear great things about Moroccan Oil's Curl Cream, too.

Did you know that Piglet Ears React to Sound?

There's a new American Girl on the block-- and she's a Jewess!

Meet Rebecca Rubin:



In Rebecca's American Girl series, the year is 1914 and our heroine helps her cobbler father in his shop (on Shabbos, too, a shande!) on the Lower East Side.

For $95, this Russian Jewish emigre girl can be yours, too (Challah plate accessory and tenement playhouse sold separately).

Shavuot is coming!  Shavuot is coming!

Sambousak-- Buttery Cheese-Filled Sesame Pastries

adapted from Aromas of Aleppo by Poopa Dweck



Ingredients:

Dough:
2 cups flour
1 cup semolina
2 sticks butter
pinch kosher salt

Filling:
1 lb Muenster cheese, grated
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds

To make the dough, mix the flour, semolina, butter and salt in a large mixing bowl, beating butter first to avoid clumps. Add 1/2 cup water bit by bit, allowing the dough to incorporate more butter after each addition. Dough should be soft and moist.  Cover and set aside.

To make the filling, combine the cheese and eggs in a medium mixing bowl, stir gently.

Preheat oven to 350

Divide dough into small balls, dip one half of the ball in sesame seeds, and flatten sesame-side down with a rolling pin to make 2 inch flattened rounds. Place one teaspoon of filling in the center of each round, fold over (so the sesame-side faces up) and pinch the edges closed.  Can be frozen at this point.

Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Reheat Frozen Sambousak at 400 for about 20 minutes.