Making Hamentashen

it's 9:00 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. i just finished making a few dozen hamentashen. i was 'off' today and needed to use the apricot filling that i made a few days ago.

i've only made hamentashen once before. i totally forgot how to make the triangles. i went through a hand full of pastry circles until i finally got the hang of it. the dough was easy to work with so i decided to make up another bunch. the second dough was not all that easy to work with.

i usually use rye or whole wheat flour when i bake. this time, i used mostly all white flour with half a cup of whole wheat flour thrown in for good measure. i used unrefined cannola oil which has a very strong taste. i didn't have any other oil.

the first batch of hamentashen looked professional. the second batch wasn't so good looking. i started making some with a poppy seed filling but it tasted very bitter. perhaps the poppy seeds were stale or rancid. i will see how the filling tastes in the morning. i don't know if i really want to make any more hamentashen, at all.

i finally got all of the purim costumes and accessories for the kids. i bought a cute and very inexpensive mickey mouse costume for sahar. i also have the lion costume that i bought last week. i decided not to return it. i bought minnie mouse ears for gal. i also got her a pair of red poka dot gloves. i cut off the bottom half of an old poka dot dress to make a skirt for gal. i simply made an elastic wasteband and voila!

i added decorative gold stickers to zvi's zorro hat and cape. i bought a really cheap sword. i din't buy the zorro sword. it was 13 shekels. i already spent hundreds of shekels on purim shtick. i reckon that a 5 shekel sword will suffice.

my niece called me bright and early to let me know that the purim package had arrived in dehli. my little grand nephew was very excited, indeed. he was running around in his cape and persian crown. his dad loved his knitted kipah with long sidelocks attached. my niece loved the disco ball earrings and sequinned hat. i am so happy that i made them laugh all the way over in dehli. the little 3 month old ballerina was sleeping so she didn't get to try on her outfit.

yesterday, i took sahar to town with me. he napped while i hit the purim stores one last time. i spent nearly 3 hours there. i brought him over to gal's parents, afterwards. gal was supposed to visit a friend in that neighborhood, after work. as usual, the plans changed without my knowing about it.

the younger kids were home from school already. purim music was blasting and there were tons of costumes strewn all over the furniture. i shlepped over remnants of taffeta material because the boys want to be clowns this year for purim. in the meantime, they put sahar in a leopard material outfit and drew whiskers on his face. he was quite pleased to look at himself in the mirror.

i made some macaroni and salad for the kids when they got back home last night. they haven't gotten back yet tonight. i wouldn't mind having tomorrow off too. we shall see.

they are predicting a cold spell again and are even talking about snow tomorrow. we have had summer like weather for over a week. i am not looking forward to a snow storm. i had to put on my down coat when i ran down to the super. yesterday we were running around without coats.

i still have to finish the 2 queen dresses for the purim shtick. my friend called to say that they are scheduling a rehearsel for the purim shtick. i want to be spontaneous. i will not be censured by any committee. i will simply show up the night of the party and i'll do my shtick. or maybe, i won't do anything at all. we will see, won't we!