Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukkah!

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I had a little fun with the shapes of this week's challah, making an oil flask and a menorah with 4 lit candles (orange peels) in honor of tonight being the fourth night of chanukah. (The oil flask one isn't burnt, that's cocoa I put on the background to set off the shape of the flask.)

The cakes are about parshat Miketz, where we read about Pharaoh's dreams. One is of seven lean and hungry cows, ready to dine on the seven fat ones. The other cake has two stalks of grain, one with seven fat ears and the other with seven skinny ears.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukkah!

FAME
In addition to Ted's generous and wonderful "The Magic and Mystery of Challah", Jen Taylor Friedman (inventor of "Tefillin Barbie") kindly linked to my toy shul instructions, sparking discussion on Jewschool (which I found, thanks to an e-mail from Stacey, a Juggling Frogs reader, and sent in a lengthy comment.)

Shortly afterwards, it was featured on the very popular BoingBoing news site. (Thanks to Aidel Maidel telling me (and everyone else) about it, and for her kind words!) From there, discussions and links exploded, and now I've lost track of them all.

Many thanks to readers who have pointed out Hashkafah.com (thanks jewinjeru!), chatiryworld, fodors (which has a couple of threads, I think, but this was the first), and Menupages Boston's Blogston Proper: All Hanukah Edition!.

There were also a couple of prolific and extended, passionately negative, disturbingly x-rated and profanity-laced discussions, which I don't understand and obviously can't share here. Sometimes I think the Internet is one big Rorschach test. May everyone get the therapy they need.

LINKS that made me smile

• Giving gelt for chanukah? You might want to try MoneyGami (via SwissMiss)
• This was a lovely article by Rabbi Horowitz: "Wal-mart is Coming"
• It's amazing what we can do when we can identify a common enemy.
• A couple of cute stories of hanukkah in Jerusalem shops (via Jewschool's Danya)
• SephardiLady deftly relates her thoughts on saving for retirement to this week's parsha, Miketz.

SOAP!
CrunchyGranolaMom's redesigned family soapsite looks wonderful! May you have every success!

PRODUCTIVITY
I enjoyed this well-written (and free) e-book about Time Management for Creative People by at wishful thinking.

Tim Ferris' "How to Take Notes like an AlphaGeek" does a great job of explaining his system, parts of which are remarkably similar to mine.

He numbers his pages 1, 2, 3, and then uses 1.5 to refer to the back of the page, while I prefer the Vilna-Talmud-inspired "B" side for designating the back of the page; he likes graph paper, as is in my beloved squared notebooks, and has developed a similar indexing system for retrieval of the information stored in his notes.

It's interesting that while he's running around the world and taking on all comers in a 4 hour workweek, and I'm at home playing with my kids in a zero hour workweek, the same type of system works for both of us.

MAZAL TOV again to the winners of the Chanukah Book Giveaway: Preemie Twins' Nanny**,Shelli**, Chavlene**, Phyllis Sommer, and SephardiLady, and THANKS to all who entered, and to Sharon Estroff and Broadway Books for providing the copies of this book to give away to Juggling Frogs readers.

I'm interested to hear what you think of the book when you read it. You can see Amazon's page/reviews for it here. Send me links to your reviews, and I'll attempt to compile them.

(** Please send your mailing address to Carolyn at Jugglingfrogs dot com, so I can get your prize to you before I spill something on it!)

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukkah!

Making Latkes tonight? Check out this potato peeling method:

I had to share these two potato peeling demonstration videos that demonstrate the same quick method for peeling potatoes.

The first one is in Chinese (I think). Japanese. (Thanks, Jaffer!) It is delivered with so much energy that I felt for my wallet. There's nothing for sale, just a cool idea:
http://www.5min.com/Video/Quick-way-to-peel-a-potato-6766

From what I can tell, she scored the skin, parboiled (maybe: see below) the potato, submersed it in an ice bath, and squeezed the skin off.

Here's another video that shows the same method, with a lot less enthusiasm and detail, but in English: http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-peel-a-potato-skin-3841

Maybe we'll have latkes tonight instead of donuts!

Update #1: (see comments by Mother-in-Israel) - The jury's still out on this one, because we're not sure if the potatoes are really parboiled, or cooked through. I guess we'll have wait for verification of this technique from empirical research before recommending it.
If any of you understand Chinese Japanese. , or know of this technique, please clue us in!
Update #2: Thanks to Jaffer's Japanese-speaking brother, it looks like parboiling gets another vote!

Chanukah candle magnets (craft for kids)

Here's a quick Chanukah craft for kids. We made Chanukah candle magnets by painting a couple of those promotional business-card magnets that seem to breed behind our refrigerator.

You can always buy the magnets if your junk mail supply runs low. There are also printableversions available if you need to make things in bulk, say for a birthday party or classroom activity.)

I used two junk-mail magnets to make this project. One magnet was cut horizontally into nine candles (8 chanukah candles + 1 for the shamash), and the other into 9+ flames.

Then my crack painting professional went to work. Glitter paint was used (not necessary, but nice) to make the flames "sparkle". (Note our standard painting setup: shopping bag taped to kitchen table and yogurt-container-lid paint palette.)

A carefully opened (so no sharp edges) and well washed metal can makes a fantastic storage container for play magnets. This one was from one of Costco's 4.5 lbs of tuna!

Since the container itself attracts the magnets, its outside can be used for play, while the contents don't spill when the can is knocked over.

By the way, if your child has one of those MagnaDoodle toys, you can extend the play value by using whatever magnets you have to use with it. Light magnets, such as the chanukah candles above, will stick to the device's surface. If removed, they'll make their shape.

You (or the children) can make all sorts of custom magnets (suggestions: Hebrew alphabet, shapes, numbers, stars, whole words, etc.) to use with it.

In fact, if using one of those toys, there's a lot of Chanukah play value to be had by taking a business card magnet and making just the one candle and one flame. No paint or drying time needed!

How to make a Chanukah menorah (chanukiyah) from a foil pan

Caught without a menorah for Chanukah? Here's a way to make one with one foil pan, some chanukah candles, and a scissors. No other tools are necessary

While this is not an activity for children (the foil's sharp edges can cut skin), or an heirloom-quality craft, it might be useful when stuck in a hotel room on Chanukah due to a cancelled flight, for a hostess to make a few extra chanukiyot when faced with an unexpected crowd, or just to have a McGyver moment.

One of these can be made in about five minutes. Beware that a few candles are likely to be break during the making of this project. If you don't have enough candles to sacrifice a few extras, then substitute a pen or pencil for the candles in these instructions

I've made and used a few of these, and the candles were held securely. It's always a good idea to melt the bottoms of the candles a bit to help them stay upright. (Please use your judgment before playing with fire: Never leave fire unattended. Don't put the menorah directly on a flammable surface. Stop hitting your sister. Now go clean your room.)

STEP 1. I start with a half-size steam-table pan. In the U.S., these are sold at Costco for about 26 cents a piece, in 30-quantity. A larger pan would work, but a smaller pan is unlikely to yield enough space between the candles, or enough foil to hold them well.

STEP 2: Most pans have ridges along the sides. I used these as a guide to cut eight strips (still attached to the bottom of the pan) from the straight part of the side of the pan.

These cuts should be roughly evenly distributed, such that the eight strips are approximately the same width.

Cut off and discard the curved side edges adjacent to the eight strips.

STEP 3: Cut off and discard the two shorter sides of the pan, keeping the entire bottom of the pan. The bottom will be wider than the part with the eight strips (because of the discarded curved part from that piece.)

This is desirable, because it gives extra foil for folding the edges. Unfolded edges can cut skin, so we want all the edges on the finished menorah to be folded.

STEP 4: Fold the strips in toward the bottom of the pan, along their natural crease.

STEP 5: Fold each of the strips back over itself, toward (what was) the outside of the pan. The result should be a strip folded in half that stands upright.

STEP 6: Fold the upright half in half, so that it has a folded edge on top, and is a quarter of the size of the entire strip.

STEP 7: Using a candle as a guide, wrap the folded quarter of foil around the candle to form a candle-sized holder.

It will seem a bit flimsy at this point, but don't worry; when the rest of the folds are made, it will be more secure.
Repeat this for all of the eight strips.

STEP 8: Fold the edge to the candle holders. The result is a reinforced edge one half the width of the original distance between the edge and the candle holders.

STEP 9: Lift up the folded edge, folding it to touch the candle holders. This folded edge will give stability to the line of candles, and keep them vertical.

STEP 10: Fold (what was) the foil pan's bottom in half lengthwise, toward the candle holders.

The half of the pan closest to the line of candles will be the bottom of the menorah.

The half of the pan furthest from the line of candles will be the back of the menorah.

STEP 11: At this lengthwise fold, use a scissors to make a cut (parallel to the line of candle holders) on either side of the menorah, the width of the extra foil (mentioned in STEP 3).

The goal is to make a folded edge on the sides, to avoid sharp edges in the final product. The cuts allow the bottom of the menorah and the back of the menorah to have this edge folded more easily.

Fold the extra foil on the sides of the menorah's bottom towards the bottom of the menorah.

STEP 12: Cut away all but one double-width strip from the other/remaining side of the foil pan. This is going to become the candle holder for the shamash. (Hereafter referred to as the "shamash strip".)

STEP 13: Fold the back of the menorah in half, toward the inside-bottom of the menorah. This will result in menorah back that is one-quarter the width of the original pan's bottom, with a folded edge on top.

As you do this, keep the shamash strip available for folding; prevent it from getting folded in between the folds that compose the back of the menorah.

STEP 14: Fold the shamash strip in half toward the edge where the back of the menorah meets its bottom.

STEP 15: Unfold the back, and cut away one quarter of the width of the shamash strip on either side of its inner half. The result will be a shamash strip in a T-shape. The trunk of the T will be half the width of the top of the T.

(I'm holding it upside-down in the picture below.)

STEP 16: Refold the back and shamash strip to the configuration at the end of STEP 14.

(This picture is of top view.)

STEP 17: Fold the shamash strip toward the back, so that the top of its T shape stands upright and perpendicular to the surface of the bottom of the menorah. The trunk of the T shape will still be against the bottom of the menorah.

STEP 18: Fold the top of the T in half, and wrap this folded part around a candle.

STEP 19: Lift the T-trunk up, raising the candle holder for the shamash. Fold its bottom to secure.
STEP 20: Fold over the edges of the back, toward the back of the menorah.

Voila! You're done!

BONUS STEP: If you have a glue gun and a pencil, you can make a quick embellishment from one of the discarded pieces of foil. Be careful, as it has sharp, unfolded edges.

I wrote out the word "Chanukah" in Hebrew, using the edge of the foil pan upside-down, such that its rim was a straight edge to support the result.

Cut away the excess and use a glue gun to attach to the top of the menorah.

Here's wishing a Happy Hanukkah to everyone!

Winners! We have winners!

In order to determine the winners of the "Can I have a Cell Phone for Hanukah" book Giveaway, I employed a Random Number Generator.

And here she is. RNG, please take a bow:


Our methodology involved assigning numbers to each contestant, a bunch of ping pong balls, and a permanent marker.

I believe in the inherrent fairness of this method, as the Random Number Generator doesn't know her numbers yet. (She can count things to 5, but doesn't reliably recognize the symbols yet.)

Also, since she can't read and doesn't have e-mail, she was unswayed by any vote-tampering efforts on behalf of the potential winners.

Congratulations to the winners of the "Can I have a Cell Phone for Hanukah" book Giveaway!

• Preemie Twins' Nanny
• Shelli
• Chavlene
• Phyllis Sommer
• SephardiLady

Thanks to everyone for entering! (I really wish I could have sent books to everyone.)

Thanks again to Sharon Estroff and Broadway Books for providing the copies of this book to give away to Juggling Frogs readers.

Happy Hanukkah!

Fantastic article about Challah

Ted at "Help! I have a fire in my kitchen" has turned a couple of recipes from this blog and others into a fantastic, informative, must-see article about Challah, called "The Magic and Mystery of Challah".

Not only did he pull together tidbits and recipes that was scattered in many sites into one comprehensive article, but he has added a lot of new information and filled in the gaps. He defines and explains things that were left out, due to Jewish or baking knowledge assumptions.

Ted's challah article draws you in like an infomercial**, making you want to jump up from your chair and act on that information. If you're not baking your own challah after reading "The Magic and Mystery of Challah", then you're just not paying attention.

Thank you, Ted!



** I mean this in a good way: It draws you in like the best copy-writing.