At the end of each term, Mountain U has a fancy(-ish) dinner: lox and tenderloin and seventeen sides and eighteen desserts. Dr. S and I took the children 'out' to the college cafeteria that night (for a grand total of $24, by the way). While walking up, we ran into a visiting faculty member and his daughter. I asked if his spouse was meeting him there and he said no, he was planning to buy one dinner for himself and take her a box dinner home. (Without paying.)
I was speechless. They go to Mass every week, and profess to be Catholics, of the rabid anti-choice variety. Doesn't Catholicism have some things to say about personal integrity and sinning in secret and the moral damage it does you? Of course it's tempting to take a shortcut, but personally, my religion is not compatible with stealing.
A few weeks ago, after picking Tatoe up from preschool, I backed into another car in the parking lot, leaving a small dent and a scrape. You can bet your bottom dollar that, as I looked in the rearview mirror, I was thinking "Maybe I can drive away and nobody will ever know." But I didn't, I left a note, because I thought it was the right thing to do. (I'm not looking for praise; believe you me, my desire to do evil was in full force.) You can call it religion, or supporting a social contract, or whatever you please, but doing the same thing whether anyone's looking is integrity.
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Monday, September 14, 2015
Gluten Free Honey Cake Recipe for Rosh Hashana
Look, I'm not a food blogger. I made this once. It was tasty. It was easily the best flavor and texture on any it won't kill me, wheat free, soy free, dairy free baked good that I've made in ever. (How much do I wish I could eat these delicious things? A LOT.)
Almost Just Like Smitten Kitchen's Honey Cake
About 6 c flour blend (see below)
1/4 c finely ground flaxseed
1.5 teaspoons regular salt
6 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1.5 cups vegetable oil
1.5 cups honey
0.5 cups brown sugar
5 large eggs at room temperature
1.5 cups coffee, instant is fine
2 teaspoons ground orange peel and 3/4 c water OR 3/4 c orange juice
1/3 cup brandy
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
Optional glaze:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup water
1/4-1/2 cup brandy
Flour blend:
2 c potato starch
3 c white or brown rice flour
1/2 c potato flour
2 c millet flour
If using orange peel, microwave with water and let cool. Put oil, honey, eggs, sugar, coffee, orange juice/water, and 1/3 c brandy in a bowl and mix well. Add flaxseed and 4c flour blend and beat thoroughly (there is no gluten ; you can't over mix it). Add flour blend 1/4 c at a time until it forms a thin batter. Let sit 15 minutes. Add a little more flour if you want. Add baking soda and baking powder and beat thoroughly.
Grease cake pans or loaf pans well, and fill about 2/3 full. This will make 4 small loaves and two large loaves, or 2 8" cake pans and a couple smaller loaves. Bake at 350 F until done: about 30 minutes for a 1-lb loaf pan, 45 for a small regular loaf, 60 minutes for an 8” pan or full loaf. The top will turn a dark golden brown, rise, and split when it is done.
Before you take the cake out of the oven, boil the honey and water until the honey dissolves. Take from heat and stir in brandy. Taste it and add more honey if you wish- it should be a sticky but thin liquid tasting strongly of honey. Brush over hot cakes (do not pour or spoon unless you have to- brushing works much better) until all the syrup is gone.
(To make with regular flour: use 5.25 c flour, mix dry ingredients including powder/soda, mix wet ingredients separately, stir as briefly as possible to combine, proceed to baking. I make no warranties as I haven't tried it with wheat flour.)
Almost Just Like Smitten Kitchen's Honey Cake
About 6 c flour blend (see below)
1/4 c finely ground flaxseed
1.5 teaspoons regular salt
6 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1.5 cups vegetable oil
1.5 cups honey
0.5 cups brown sugar
5 large eggs at room temperature
1.5 cups coffee, instant is fine
2 teaspoons ground orange peel and 3/4 c water OR 3/4 c orange juice
1/3 cup brandy
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
Optional glaze:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup water
1/4-1/2 cup brandy
Flour blend:
2 c potato starch
3 c white or brown rice flour
1/2 c potato flour
2 c millet flour
If using orange peel, microwave with water and let cool. Put oil, honey, eggs, sugar, coffee, orange juice/water, and 1/3 c brandy in a bowl and mix well. Add flaxseed and 4c flour blend and beat thoroughly (there is no gluten ; you can't over mix it). Add flour blend 1/4 c at a time until it forms a thin batter. Let sit 15 minutes. Add a little more flour if you want. Add baking soda and baking powder and beat thoroughly.
Grease cake pans or loaf pans well, and fill about 2/3 full. This will make 4 small loaves and two large loaves, or 2 8" cake pans and a couple smaller loaves. Bake at 350 F until done: about 30 minutes for a 1-lb loaf pan, 45 for a small regular loaf, 60 minutes for an 8” pan or full loaf. The top will turn a dark golden brown, rise, and split when it is done.
Before you take the cake out of the oven, boil the honey and water until the honey dissolves. Take from heat and stir in brandy. Taste it and add more honey if you wish- it should be a sticky but thin liquid tasting strongly of honey. Brush over hot cakes (do not pour or spoon unless you have to- brushing works much better) until all the syrup is gone.
(To make with regular flour: use 5.25 c flour, mix dry ingredients including powder/soda, mix wet ingredients separately, stir as briefly as possible to combine, proceed to baking. I make no warranties as I haven't tried it with wheat flour.)
Monday, September 09, 2013
Cultural Worries
(Let me preface this by saying that I know nobody cares - and yet, this is what goes on inside my head.)
The other week, the boys and I were kicking soccer balls around outside the university library. (It had just rained, and this is the only place in town that is all of paved, low-mosquito, well-drained, and mostly flat.) A professor-looking fellow came out of the library and stopped to chat with my kids about soccer. Another dude I know stopped and said hi. The professor introduced himself; he is African and has a very Muslim/Arabic name (think Mahmoud).
So I didn't put out my hand to shake his when he introduced himself, because some religious Muslims (and Jews, for that matter) don't care to touch women to whom they aren't related or married. He, of course, put out his hand, because he's a university professor in a small town and that probably wouldn't go so well, so then I shook his hand, and then I wondered if I'd insulted him or if he even noticed or cared about any of this.
Dr. S worked in a lab full of devout-Muslim Turks at one point, and at another point I spent a lot of time in the Orthodox world, so I got used to not offering to shake hands with anyone who was male and obviously religious in any way. But that probably doesn't come up all that much around here, except maybe with Christian fundamentalists.
(It's a weird place inside my head sometimes.)
The other week, the boys and I were kicking soccer balls around outside the university library. (It had just rained, and this is the only place in town that is all of paved, low-mosquito, well-drained, and mostly flat.) A professor-looking fellow came out of the library and stopped to chat with my kids about soccer. Another dude I know stopped and said hi. The professor introduced himself; he is African and has a very Muslim/Arabic name (think Mahmoud).
So I didn't put out my hand to shake his when he introduced himself, because some religious Muslims (and Jews, for that matter) don't care to touch women to whom they aren't related or married. He, of course, put out his hand, because he's a university professor in a small town and that probably wouldn't go so well, so then I shook his hand, and then I wondered if I'd insulted him or if he even noticed or cared about any of this.
Dr. S worked in a lab full of devout-Muslim Turks at one point, and at another point I spent a lot of time in the Orthodox world, so I got used to not offering to shake hands with anyone who was male and obviously religious in any way. But that probably doesn't come up all that much around here, except maybe with Christian fundamentalists.
(It's a weird place inside my head sometimes.)
Sunday, March 18, 2012
In Which I Am Confused
The shul we attend, like most, collects dues. On the membership form they provide a 'helpful' chart indicating how much they think you should contribute. This is extremely problematic for many reasons:
1) It is divided by range ($30000-$40000) but each range's 'dues' are the same percentage... of the top of the range.
2) If you have less income, less of it is disposable.
3) It doesn't take into account how many people that income supports.
4) People have various financial situations which are none of the shul's business. College. Child support. Bankruptcy. Whatever.
5) I know they want to keep this more-or-less-a-business up and running. Still.
In the end, I didn't fill out the form 'correctly'. I didn't circle an 'income tier.' I attached a $100 check and ticked the box for "The financial committee can contact me to discuss alternate arrangements." I helpfully added that I sew and have done repairs on ritual items. And.... nothing. Well, not nothing: we got a new member welcome packet, a call from the Rabbi and from the President, and a directory listing. I have been mending kid-related things when I run across them (I asked first). Otherwise, I think that either a) someone wasn't really paying attention or b) they've decided we're too poor to bother with.
1) It is divided by range ($30000-$40000) but each range's 'dues' are the same percentage... of the top of the range.
2) If you have less income, less of it is disposable.
3) It doesn't take into account how many people that income supports.
4) People have various financial situations which are none of the shul's business. College. Child support. Bankruptcy. Whatever.
5) I know they want to keep this more-or-less-a-business up and running. Still.
In the end, I didn't fill out the form 'correctly'. I didn't circle an 'income tier.' I attached a $100 check and ticked the box for "The financial committee can contact me to discuss alternate arrangements." I helpfully added that I sew and have done repairs on ritual items. And.... nothing. Well, not nothing: we got a new member welcome packet, a call from the Rabbi and from the President, and a directory listing. I have been mending kid-related things when I run across them (I asked first). Otherwise, I think that either a) someone wasn't really paying attention or b) they've decided we're too poor to bother with.
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Religious Education
Since we've finally begun dragging ourselves to shul, Bug goes to the tot service on a fairly regular basis. And he loves it. I, on the other hand, find it just a tiny bit disturbing how deeply the lessons have sunk in.
The messages being conveyed are hardly offensive: be kind to others, respect the Earth, help your parents, take good care of animals. But we had to make hamotzi on Friday night (bad Jews: we weren't planning to have any bread) because after I said kiddush, Bug started singing the camp song that we do ("We give thanks to God for bread.."). Today he requested that I sing the "Hallelujah song" in the car. He regularly gives us a somewhat mangled rendition of Ma Tovu. Yesterday he told Dr. S that something was a mitzvah (being nice to your friends, or something like that). Every time we drive down a certain road, he says "We're going to shul!!!"
I said all this to the spouse, who replied, "What did you think was going to happen?"
(Dr. S is a Presbyterian, but he's the one who told me it was time Bug got him some religion. I'd been a bit lazy about it.)
The messages being conveyed are hardly offensive: be kind to others, respect the Earth, help your parents, take good care of animals. But we had to make hamotzi on Friday night (bad Jews: we weren't planning to have any bread) because after I said kiddush, Bug started singing the camp song that we do ("We give thanks to God for bread.."). Today he requested that I sing the "Hallelujah song" in the car. He regularly gives us a somewhat mangled rendition of Ma Tovu. Yesterday he told Dr. S that something was a mitzvah (being nice to your friends, or something like that). Every time we drive down a certain road, he says "We're going to shul!!!"
I said all this to the spouse, who replied, "What did you think was going to happen?"
(Dr. S is a Presbyterian, but he's the one who told me it was time Bug got him some religion. I'd been a bit lazy about it.)
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Pesach
Happy Pesach, all! May your next week be full of joy and matzah, in about that order.
Let me share with you my non-professional summary of one of my very favorite Talmud passages (the other is the one about how many sins can one person commit at once? A Kohen is eating a tithed fruit on Yom Kippur while wearing shatnez and....)
The rabbis of old engaged in a lengthy debate about rodents and wheaty goodness in one's house on Pesach. For instance, if a rodent leaves crumbs, must you search the house again? What if a white mouse comes in and a black mouse leaves? What if there is also a weasel, which eats mice? What if....
And the answer, in the end, is, "Come on, people. Don't be CRAZY."
(Were we to suspect [that chametz would be taken] from house to house, we would also have to suspect [that chametz might be taken] from city to city. There is no end to the matter. -- There is always the possibility that chametz will be taken from one house to another. Hence, the Sages decided to ignore this possibility entirely.)
Let me share with you my non-professional summary of one of my very favorite Talmud passages (the other is the one about how many sins can one person commit at once? A Kohen is eating a tithed fruit on Yom Kippur while wearing shatnez and....)
The rabbis of old engaged in a lengthy debate about rodents and wheaty goodness in one's house on Pesach. For instance, if a rodent leaves crumbs, must you search the house again? What if a white mouse comes in and a black mouse leaves? What if there is also a weasel, which eats mice? What if....
And the answer, in the end, is, "Come on, people. Don't be CRAZY."
(Were we to suspect [that chametz would be taken] from house to house, we would also have to suspect [that chametz might be taken] from city to city. There is no end to the matter. -- There is always the possibility that chametz will be taken from one house to another. Hence, the Sages decided to ignore this possibility entirely.)
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