Limericks Composed in Ireland

Ireland inspires the flow of words. At the Dublin Library the poetry of W.B. Yeats spilled across the floor, voices of actors and himself reading his poems, visible with photos and paintings of places that inspired him. The island is a muse to Shaw, Joyce, Wilde, O'Casey, Stoker, and so many more. When traveling there the Blarney spills into the soul.

 

A beautiful sky enroute from Adair to Dingle, the grey we had passed through dissipated and huge fluffy cumulus clouds formed a perfect circle around a cornflower blue center. It looked like a Wedgewood dinner plate.

 

Limerick I  (written near Limerick)

 We rolled on the long road to Dingle;

Two couples and a man who was single.

When out came the sun we knew we'd have fun,

With the good folk in towns we would mingle.

 

Ireland Limerick II

Sweet Tiffany met us on Saturday,

We traveled the road on our merry way.

The good Guiness Stout kept us laughing about;

Some troubles with tummy dismay.

 

 

Limerick III

In the Burren we hiked through the muck.

No shamrocks to bring Irish luck.

We lunched well at Keoughs on stout Irish meals.

The next illness caused us to say: Yuck.

Mandelbrot, the "Jewish Biscotti"

Actually I always thought of biscotti as the Italian mandelbrot (almond bread). The crunchy lusciousness of these cookies/biscuits is perfect for dipping into hot tea or coffee. I make them small sometimes, like cantucci, so Paul can dip them in Vin Santo.

My bubby used to give us kids the first baked cutoffs which we adored as softer vanilla/almond delights. Even today they are still evocative of those scents permeating the house while the sounds of English and Yiddish melded together.

So here is my recipe that does work even though I've altered the original recipe; I use egg substitute and canola oil. White flour and sugar will still not qualify for health food status, but oh well, satisfying one's longings can't be all bad.

MANDELBROT (Almond Biscuits [Jewish biscotti]) 

Great for eating and dipping.

(Low Cholesterol version by Sherry Fishman)

1. CREAM:

1 cup canola oil

1 ¾  cups sugar

4 eggs (or 1 cup egg substitute)

½ tsp almond extract

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

½ cup water (note: if using egg substitute, don’t add the water)

2. IN A LARGE BOWL

Sift

  5 cups of unbleached white flour

  3 heaping tsp baking powder

  ½ tsp salt

3. Make a well in the sifted ingredients

Add creamed ingredients and blend until dough is pliable but sticky

Add 1 cup blanched (i.e. skin off) chopped almonds (walnuts or hazelnuts could be used)

4. Make 4 elongated loaves and place on greased cookie sheets

5. BAKE at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (or 325 degrees convection); remove from oven and cool, when cool enough to move without breaking, place loaves on cutting board

Lower oven to 300 degrees

6. Slice loaves into approx. ¾ inch thick slices; lay slices flat on cookie sheets (don’t grease them again); sprinkle with cinnamon sugar

7. BAKE at 300 degrees, then check in 25–30 minute increments, (or 275 degrees on convection),  – they are done when they are hard all the way through (the best test is to eat one, it should crunch, if it doesn’t, put them back in the oven)  I turn the oven off and leave them in the oven, even after they feel hard enough to the touch so there is no give when you press a finger tip into the center.

Note: you can also make soft, chewy cookies using the dough (after Step 3) for drop cookies, add sprinkles, only do the first bake and remove from oven when golden. Yummy.

The Absurdity of Cruelty,Violence, Bigotry and Genocide: A Purim Blog

We say Happy Purim. We celebrate in costumes with a play called a Purimspiel (Purim tale), after reading the Book of Esther, a.k.a. the Megillah. Here’s an FAQ from Tablet Magazine explaining the story: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/26395/purim-faq/

We are supposed to celebrate with raucous noise-makers drowning out the name of the wicked Wizer, Haman (go ahead, make noise). Haman, the Hitler of that time, attempted genocide of the Jews of the Persian Empire;  The JewishQueen Esther saved us at risk to her own life. We get drunk because we are supposed to on this day; the name of God isn’t mentioned once in the Book of Esther. It’s clearly not a religious holiday. And yet we need this laughter to bolster our souls.

We haven’t always been so fortunate; we suffered 2000 years of Crusades, forced conversions, the Inquisition, Pogroms,  "Final Solution" of the the Shoa. Others in the world are also subject to mass genocides; this is  not usually the stuff of laughter. Sadly the ugly vitriol that riles people who seemed nice (think of the neighbors in the former Yugoslavia) exists. We have mass rapes and genocides going on in Africa as I write this. 

The nasty propaganda and ugliness are  broadcast and shared here in our own country right now. Ugly attacks on the “OTHER” are now flowing openly and freely on the mass media and the social media. They are aimed at: immigrants, blacks, Hispanics, homosexuals, Muslims, Jews,  and on this Purim and International Women’s Day even against us women for advocating for contraception, and for Women’s Health, including the right to choose. How ludicrous, how ridiculous, how absurd, how banal!

How can this be? So we need to laugh at the sheer madness of all this. We turn to John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, & SNL while laws are passed that terrify the farmworkers, beat women back 11/2 centuries, keep Muslims fearful in the U.S.A. that they are enemies because of their faith, & leave homosexuals without equal rights. 

Once again there are  insinuations about the “Jewish Lobby” resurfacing in books published as academically profound sociological facts. And it is great fodder for humor that Jews who died in the Holocaust are then “converted” by the Mormon Church posthumously. Stephen Colbert’s schtick was, well, better if you watch it: http://gawker.com/5887906/watch-stephen-colbert-convert-all-dead-mormons-to-judaism

Back to Purim:  Even in Auschwitz, there was a Purimspiel. Eli Weisel wrote a play about it: The Trial of God. This is a play within a play within a play. Even there they laughed. They kept the ultimate vestige of their humanity in most inhumane circumstances.

We celebrate our survival as a people with a sort of madness and drunkness on Purim, and we resolve to express our humanness through gifts to the less fortunate. We sober up to look at the tragedies of the human condition, and make the world better.

But the laughter, the drinks, the zaniness strengthens us. So I hope everyone’s Purim was as wonderful as mine, and I wish everyone of my Jewish family and friends a Shabbat Shalom.