Shana tova to my Jewish friends! I've spent the day watching some folks I know leading Rosh Hashana services at 92Y Tribeca. Tonight a three-sevenths-Jewish group of us are having a potluck to ring in the Jewish New Year full of (hopefully) delicious foods, a Kosher wine that tastes better than Manischevitz, and a much-hyped homemade version of Apples to Apples.
My contribution to this shindig is my first solo-attempt to make a challah recipe passed off from our college rabbi's wife. When she makes it, it's the most delicious challah I've ever eaten. Perfect for the high holidays, it's a little sweet and full of chopped dates. I even figured out how to braid the round loaf, which I'm pretty proud of, even though it's hard to see the braids post-baking.
And for your own enjoyment, since I can't actually give out pieces of challah over the internet, here's some apples and honey for yourselves!
Saturday night I fit a seemingly impossible number of people into my one-bedroom apartment for a space themed housewarming party. It was overflowing with aluminum foil, pop rocks, and really awesome friends who dove head first into the theme. I also threw the party so it coincided with several friends visiting from out of town, which made the festivities extra fun. I'm having some party-planning withdrawal now, though - it was all pretty consuming! The various elements included:
An almost 4-hour-long mix of space-related songs. Highlights here:
It got pretty middle-school-dance-ish with silver stars hanging from the ceiling, alongside a homemade galaxy (lit with christmas lights). Plus, more tin foil made an appearance to decorate an unused Ikea lampshade I had lying around.
There was "rocket fuel" made of Jager and Dr. Pepper (which wound up being my undoing), plus some sweet treats: Blue Moon cupcakes, and adorable alien rice krispie treats made by my friends Ana and Tiffany.
My friends came as a wide variety of spacey things...almost every costume involved aluminum foil, as you can see:
space test animals (an elephant and a cat...)
the satellite that recently crash-landed on Earth, and the solar system
generic foil/space hipster
Now that I've fully recovered (and my apartment no longer looks like the apocalypse happened), I'm definitely in search of a new project. Thanks to all of you who came out - my apartment is nice and warm now :-)
