WARNING! WARNING!! WARNING!!!
The following is a self indulgent wallowing in self pity and whining that I strongly recommend you skip.
You have been warned!
I find that it is too stressful to have deadlines. Having to finish the cooking by candle lighting on Fridays is stressful enough. Then there is Pesach (There is always Pesach. Preparations for Pesach started the minute you changed your kitchen back to everyday dishes last Pesach.) Not to mention little deadlines like lesson plans that need to be written, report cards that must tell parents what their kid is doing wrong without saying anything that is not high praise for the little terror and the everyday deadlines of the end of the school day, when you have to pick the kids up from school and end your peaceful enjoyment of visiting worthless websites online.
It's even more stressful when you sacrifice some of that precious me-time to make the deadline for a blog that is read by 3-4 people at most. I am eternally grateful to my 3-4 loyal readers (I say '3-4' though I only have evidence of 1) but this winter has got me so stressed that making the deadline for the distant possibility that someone will read this garbage is putting me over the top.
OK. It is now safe to return to the post. Self indulgent whining is over.
No connection to the above (Oh, please! Do not even pretend you didn't read it,) but I do find that trying to come up with something interesting every week is a bit tiring and most parashot barely provide easy insights for even one post (emphasis on "easy".) So, after much thought (it took at least 37 seconds) I have decided to go back to the original plan (That is, what I was doing when I started this blog) and simply post things not necessarily related to the weekly parasha. If a parasha will inspire a post, great; if not - there are other things to complain about. And it doesn't have to be every week, or once a week or anything. As I said, I have it on good authority that the number of people who actually read this blog on a regular basis is between 1 and 3 and all of them want me to be happy. So bear with me.
It occurred to me that I have somehow missed Tu BiShvat this year. Granted hubby was in Europe (visiting CERN!!!! Is he great or what?) and my little one had me running ragged while he was gone (2 concerts and a party), but this was not the poor holiday's fault. Luckily, one can rely on one's offspring to step in and take up the load. I mean, isn't that the reason one has kids to begin with? So there will be someone else to shovel snow, empty dishwashers, fold laundry and mow lawns? Otherwise, why have the little brats at all?
Here is a little gem that my oldest whipped up last Saturday night when I was too comfortable on the couch to get up and feed her. It is brilliant, if do say so myself.
Goat cheese stuffed dried figs with balsamic vinegar
Use succulent dry figs. Costco sells them in large bags (wait, this statement is redundant, isn't it?) I think they're called Calimyrna figs, but at any rate, they are sort of beige colored, very soft and pliable dried figs.
Take a fig and turn it upside down (stem down). You can see a small puckered opening. Enlarge it with your fingers just large enough that you can stuff a small amount of goat cheese inside (between a 1/4 and a 1/2 inch cube, depending on the size of the fig). Turn the fig back and put it on a plate. Make as many as you want and then drizzle them with the best balsamic vinegar you can afford to buy (hint, the thicker it is, the better the quality; and you can thicken it up if you gently heat it until it reduces a bit.) I was told it is actually easier to simply pour a small quantity of vinegar on the side of the plate and dip the stuffed figs in it.
That's it. Now, isn't this worth 36 hours of labor and 17 years of mothering? And you get it for free, you lucky dogs, you. Isn't this a great dish for Tu BiShvat?
I was also planning to complain bitterly about the weather but then I remembered just how much I hate summer and heat. Not that I will let it stop me from complaining about the cold, but I figured we have at least another 2 months in which I can do that. So there's no rush.
