The Gift of An Experience

For years now we've encouraged our family to give the kids an 'experience' instead of a toy or game when it comes to birthdays and holidays.

For their 10th birthday the twins were lucky enough to be taken to 'The Secret Garden' at The Royal Alex by their Aunt Sharon and their two young cousins. They loved it and are trying to persuade us to take them to an encore performance.

Today they were thrilled to put on their best clothes to attend 'Billy Elliot' at the Canon with their Saba and Safta. Emily has been keeping the secret from Zachary all week that they'll be watching the show from box seats!

We took them to see 'Billy Elliot' in the West End several years ago. Unfortunately, they were too young and too jet lagged to really enjoy it but they have retained vivid memories of the evening. I can't wait to hear their impressions of today's outing.

For past presents they've been taken to musicals, plays, African Lion Safari, restaurants, soccer games, movies and much more.

The experience is enriching for everyone involved. The kids get to spend quality time with relatives they usually only see as part of a group, and get to an event they might not have enjoyed otherwise, and the parents get to spend a little quality time without them. Win win for everyone.

I do sometimes wish somebody was offering me one of these life enriching 'experiences' a little more often.

Guess I'd better start dropping hints about what I'd like for my birthday.

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The Junkman's Granddaughter

I told myself I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. When people told me I was spoiled I would say that my parents weren't to blame, I spoil myself! My family's life in the nice home I grew up in started as the life of landlords of a rooming house. The big old house was divided into smaller apartments. I think my parents and my eldest brother just occupied what would eventually become our dining room. As the family's fortunes improved rooms stopped being available to boarders and were filled up by our growing family. We had taken over the whole house by the time I came along. All that was left of the boarders were my father's stories of the enormous German Shepherds (or were they St Bernards) who had shared the basement with some long ago tenant.

The luxurious nicknacks I was accustomed to having around the house were purchased at auction houses. My parents weren't presented with any family heirlooms and they didn't register for china when they got married. Still, they managed to accumulate beautiful silver and china, paintings and other treasures in their almost six decades together. My sister's piano was rescued from a fire and refurbished. Treasures that broke were mended by my dad by his seemingly inexhaustible supply of superglue. The cracked and threadbare were pressed into years of service.

The Pomegranate Guild challenged us to create an object to grace the dining table. We were required to incorporate some aspect of family history. How fortunate I am to have one of my mother's silver spoons, now tarnished and worn and coated in glue from some mysterious and long forgotten Mr. Fix It project of my dad's. As I thought about using it I decided it would make an ideal handle for a tea cosy, in honour of my granny who always made me the most delicious sweet milk tea. But a regular quilted tea cosy was too pedestrian for my purpose.

As I walked up the hill after a day of errands I realized with a shock that I had held onto the baby blanket that my grandmother had knitted for me. I had also held on to the anger and frustration that I felt about it having been shrunk in the wash after my mother gave it to my niece. "How could she have given away My Baby Blanket?" I had ranted. "How could anyone have been so careless as to shrink My Baby Blanket" I had raved.

Two and a half decades later I am delighted to think that my beloved niece was swaddled in the same blanket as I was. A blanket that was knit with love by her great grandmother in hopes that she was creating a family heirloom. I chuckle at the thought of whoever washed the poor thing and pulled it out of the dryer several sizes smaller than when it went in. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be the one to have to tell my mother in law what I'd done!

Now the spoon and the blanket will warm my tea. I will remember to hold all of these memories of family and home in my heart and remember that we all can use a little Tea and Sympathy.


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The K.I.S.S. electronics store.

I have a dream. I dream of a store that sells nothing but electronics that the technologically uninclined (like me) can use. The tvs come with one remote. This handy devise turns the unit on and off, changes the channel and adjusts the volume, and that's it.

The televisions I sell will not be compatible with HD boxes, cable boxes, PVRs, wiis, Game Cubes, DVD players, Apple TV or anything else that requires a separate remote control.

There will be no buttons that you can push by accident that will take you away from the simple pleasure of watching your favorite mindless entertainment.

Until such a store exists, and until I can get my husband to buy a tv there, I will continue to have to call him away from his computer to turn on the set for me. I will continue to threaten to unplug all of his toys and put them on eBay, and I will continue to reap the benefits of having all those toys in the house. I do enjoy the ability to buy an HD copy of that episode of Glee I missed on Apple TV after all!

Background fabric for the online Quilt University Dena Crain ... on Twitpic

Background fabric for the online Quilt University Dena Crain ... on Twitpic

1st Christmas Day on Duggan

The children are playing Sims Agents on the Wii. Radio 2's Christmas Day programming is playing on the computers - just waiting for the Messiah to start. I would have played the Tafelmusik recording that we made back in the 90s when I sang with the Tafelmusik chamber choir but I seem to have given away all my copies before burning one to our computer. I will clearly have to rectify this situation. I hope I can still buy a copy through the Tafelmusik head office since I haven't been able to track one down online.

At some point we'll go out for a while to deliver a present to their new best friend Bronwyn and chocolate liqueurs to Grandad - my 92 year old father. When we come home it's time to cook since Amnon and Alisa are coming for an early dinner. Eyal is planning on making a bean and escarole soup and a cheese fondue. Alisa is an inspired baker and cook and it always raises our game when we cook for her. Walnut Cream Roll is one of the amazing desserts she makes for us for very special occasions. When I tried to encourage her to add my birthday to that short list she quite rightly reminded me about the old adage about fishing. Were I to learn to bake this cake for myself I could have it any old time I want it!

Today is the day that I will tackle a Walnut Cream Roll for the first time. This is the recipe I will use. It's a combination of the recipe my MIL uses which she dictated to me from an Israeli cookbook that I can't read and a recipe I found at cooks.com. It turns out that she's been substituting Hazelnuts for Walnuts. Yet another reason for me to make this recipe for myself since I'm mildly allergic to Hazelnuts!

5 eggs (separate yolks and whites) 3/4 c. sugar 1/4 c. flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. vanilla 1 1/2 c. walnuts (chopped fine) 1/2 pt. whipping cream

Beat whites, salt, vanilla until stiff peaks form. Add sugar gradually, then set aside. Beat yolks until they look a lemon color. Combine chopped nuts and flour. Fold yolks into whites then fold in flour and nut mixture.

Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Spread mixture evenly and bake at 375 for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove wax paper from roll and spread on a cloth that is sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar and roll up while the roll is still warm. This must be done immediately because it has to be kept moist otherwise it will crack. After it has cooled, mix the whipping cream, spread on roll and re-roll and keep enough whipping cream for the top and sides of the roll. Decorate the top with chocolate shavings. Keep in refrigerator until served. Makes one roll. Serves 9.

Wish me luck!

Holiday Feast

My brothers and sister and I grew up enjoying a "real Christmas dinner" served mid-afternoon just in time for us to take a break from playing with all our toys. Well into our adulthood we continued to gather together around a Christmas tree and a turkey to exchange presents and eat too much. As the years have gone by our Christmas traditions have fallen by the wayside. Chanukah and other Jewish celebrations have become more important to some of us, travel to visit distant relatives has become essential for others.

Yesterday my sister marked the "ninth" night of Chanukah with her annual Latke Flip. Dozens of friends and family crowded into her kitchen clamouring for latkes as her son Daniel stood at the stove frying them up hour after smokey hour.

Today the turkey I 'won' at Loblaws for spending $250 in one fell swoop is ready to go in the oven. Two stuffings have been prepared to bake beside it - the traditional stuffing (including sauteed turkey liver) and a vegetarian offering with toasted walnuts. A spicy broiled salmon will be available for those who aren't fans of turkey. My brother and sister and their families will be descending upon us in a few hours to help do it justice. I'm not going overboard on the side dishes because, as my husband and I always say, "nobody eats".

Yesterday I made the cranberry sauce. Usually we make jellied sauce over bartlett pears in honour of my Granny. This year I've switched to a whole cranberry recipe because I prefer it. I'm bracing for the chorus of disapproval.

Now it's time to start the mulled cranberry punch. I searched the internet for a recipe and this is what I've decided to try based on what I have in the house and the flavours that strike my fancy:

Cranberry-Raspberry cocktail
A touch of Red wine
cloves
cinnamon stick
tangerine

My nephew Daniel will bring the cuisinart and some more potatoes and the flipping of latkes will continue. My sister in law and I will lead the family in the singing of Christmas carols, the children will play the Chanukah songs they learned this year and we hope that Daniel will spend some time getting reacquainted with the piano after his months away at University.

On Friday my sister Judy and I were moved to tears by the Petit Fours and Buche de Noel at Patachou and the memories they brought us of our mother. Cranberry sauce for Granny, a buche for Mummy, latkes for Bubbe - we wonder what traditions our children's children will carry on in our memory forty years from now.

Happy Holidays however you celebrate them and whatever traditions you treasure.

The Best Laid Plans

Okay, I admit it, the garage sale did not happen. Instead of doing something new I reverted to my usual modus operandi with one small twist. I gave stuff away to family and friends, sold a couple of big ticket items through craigslist and word of mouth, and I've started listing things on freecycle again.

Oh how I love freecycle. I figure that anyone who is willing to take the Subway, walk or ride their bike across to town to pick up one or two Piano Primers deserves them!

There have been two small disappointments on the road to decluttering. We have each discovered that our treasures are not as valuable on the open market as they are to us. In the children's case it is the problem of what to do with their stuffies. Some toys and books can be given to smaller cousins but the kids were really hoping to make a small fortune from selling their huge collection of stuffed animals. Why, you ask, do they need so much cash? Didn't their mother already blog about their generous allowance? The answer, of course, is that they need more money to buy more stuffies! Perhaps if you were eight years old you would understand.

In the case of the grownups of the household the problem has been what to do with the hundreds of classical, jazz, world and alternative cds (every song's a treasure) in our collection once they've been burnt to the hard drive. The answer, yet again, is give them to nieces, nephews and siblings. The after market for used cds is just not what it used to be. And why were we hoping to receive this windfall from selling our cds? To buy more music on iTunes of course! Plus ca change!