A few tidbits

Thanksgiving dinner was amazing. The food was delicious, if I do say so myself. The turkey was golden and yummy. Mmmmm . . . . until next year . . .

Still thinking about the people I angered last week. It's a funny thing, making other people angry. I can go through all the thoughts about "why did I word my post the way I did" and "how could I have said this more clearly" and "how much did I intend to anger other people" and "is there a more constructive way I could have gone about this" . . . but even with all the self-reflection in the world, there is still a point after which it seems to me that other people are choosing to read things into my post which simply are not there, and how much responsibility can or should I really take for other people choosing to be insulted for things I did not say? When the line between "my fault" and "not my problem" is blurry, I feel sort of complicated about it. Food for thought . . .

I haven't made a chance to mention this yet, but if you follow the weekly parsha or just like Bible stories, get thee, quickly, to the site of the Maggid of Bergenfield, where Teaneck's Larry Stiefel churns out highly entertaining weekly stories that connect -- somehow -- to the parsha. For me the drama comes from trying to figure out how in the world he'll connect, say, a stylist named Claire at Supercuts to Parshat Toldot, or how Mirriam Margolis might try to re-create Avraham's tests in Lech Lecha. The connections are often suprising and unexpected, the stories humorous . . . all in all, it's worth a weekly check-in!

And speaking of other blogs, my lovely Kinja account informs us that Nice Jewish Girl has updated her blog! Good to see she's alive and well!

In a few days (b'H, bli neder) I'll be announcing the dates of the next UYO course in Israel. If you live here and would like to attend, drop me an email letting me know your email address and phone number, and I'll email you all the registration materials as soon as they are ready to go.

It's getting chilly in Jerusalem. I have my heat on pretty much 24/7, and choosing to stay inside with a cup of hot cocoa as opposed to going out.

Speaking of hot cocoa, the New York Times had a recipe online today for a drink called "Hot Dominicana," invented at a cocktail lounge in Manhattan's trendy meat-packing district. It sounds yummy . . . if only my kitchen were not all fleishiks . . . I'm thinking about trying to convince some establishments on Emek to start offering this . . .

HOT DOMINICANA

Ingredients:
- 10 oz high-quality chocolate, at least 60 percent cocoa content
- 2 cups milk
- 3 oz rum (the Times specified a brand, but we keep kosher here, so use what you can)
- 3 oz coffee liquor (ditto regarding the brand)
- 3/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

1. Heat up the milk. Once it is scalding, pour it over the chocolate, whisking until the chocolate melts.

2. Put the coffee liquor and the rum into a metal cocktail shaker, and heat it quickly with the steam nozzle of a cappucino machine

3. Pour the hot liquor into the chocolate mixture (in the video on the Times website, they poured both mixtures simultaneously into a glass mug)

4. Vigorously shake the cream in a squeeze bottle for 45 seconds, and gently pour it onto the chocolate so it sits on top.

5. Optional: Garnish with chocolate shavings and a family hug.