This Monday, Jews around the world will celebrate Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. As part of atoning for our sins, we’ll fast during the entire holiday. For the record, that’s 25 hours without food or water. Not even a sip of water to quench our thirst. (Children, nursing mothers, the elderly, people with medical conditions are excused from the fast. Their health is more important than the fast.) Fasting for that long isn’t as hard as it sounds though. You eat dinner the night before, skip breakfast and lunch, and then eat dinner once the fast is over.

My Aloha Friday question is: What is the longest you have fasted for and for what reason?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #6

Today on Cooking With TechyDad, we’re going to make a dessert pizza. First, let’s get our ingredients out.

Next, we place our pizza crust on a baking sheet and spread half a cup of peanut butter on top of it.

Now, pour a tablespoon of honey over it.

Follow that up with a half cup each of chocolate chips and marshmallows. (Yes, I used a bit more than a half of a cup.)

Now, pop it in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes are up, take the pizza out.

It’s already looking good, isn’t it?

Now, thinly slice a banana and place it over the top of the pizza.

Let the pizza cool for two minutes, then slice and eat.

Tomorrow begins Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. We’ll be spending the next two days in temple, praying, but also eating. It has been said that the Jewish Holidays tend to revolve around food (either feasting or fasting). To some degree, this is true. Rosh Hashana’s traditional foods include a challah bread (round instead of the usual straight line) with raisins, some form of “new” fruit (pomegranates are a favorite), teiglach (a crunchy dough boiled in honey) and, of course, apples and honey.

My Aloha Friday question is: Do you have any food related traditions?

Bonus Aloha Friday Question: Have you ever eaten apples & honey? If not, try it! If you have, have some more anyway!

Here’s wishing everyone a sweet year!

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #5

This soup has become a favorite recipe of ours. Before trying this out, we shied away from dry beans in favor of canned. Now, however, we love buying dried bean packages to cook into our Multi-Bean Soup.

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Ten years ago tomorrow, I was just getting back from Rosh Hashana services. I wasn’t tired enough to go to sleep, so I decided to log onto Yahoo Chat and talk with a few people. Little did I know that B was in the same chat room. Actually, B didn’t even know she was in the same chat room. She thought that the window was closed. When she saw it was open, and that I was signed in, she checked my profile. A change I made a few weeks back – adding the text “Nice Jewish Boy looking for Nice Jewish Girl” – led B to contact me. Right from our initial chatting, we clicked. I didn’t know at the time that I would fall in love and marry her, but I definitely knew that there was something special about this “Angel Forever.”

My Aloha Friday question is: Have you ever met anyone in person that you had first met online? Do you feel that meeting people online lets you get to know them better than meeting them in person?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #4

Today marks one year since I started blogging at TechyDad.com. So much has happened during that time. I’ve travelled to Charleston, South Carolina to see my best friend since Junior High School get married. I’ve vacationed with my family (and in-laws) in Walt Disney World for a week. (I still plan on finishing that series of posts up.)

I’ve had high moments (celebrating my 8th wedding anniversary) and low moments (An extremely scary weekend; Jacob’s febrile seizure where we thought he was choking to death). I’ve cooked a bit, taken TONS of photographs, and found interesting freeware. We’ve seen dinosaurs come alive at Walking with Dinosaurs then had JSL *become* a dinosaur! Meanwhile, NHL was nearly eaten by one as we went indoor mini-golfing.

I’ve posted about copyright, censorship, and working out. We confronted behavior issues with NHL, identified Singulair as the cause, and celebrated the return of the son we knew and loved.

In short, a lot has happened in just one short year. I can’t wait to see what the next year brings! To celebrate, TechyDad.com has a brand new look. I hope you like it and stick with me as the adventure continues in the coming year!

Happy Blogoversary To Me!

To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right. To the left, to the left, to the left, to the left. Now kick, now kick, now kick, now kick. Now walk it by yourself, now walk it by yourself…. Sorry, ever since we went to Six Flags recently, I’ve had the Cupid Shuffle running through my head. Why you ask? Well…

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So you say that bedtime is approaching but your kid doesn’t want to go to sleep? It’s nice out so you want to give them some fresh air. Well, here’s how to tire out a kid in 3 easy steps.

Step 1: Bike Riding

Prodigious pushing of pedals will poop his pulkes (and the rest of his legs as well).

Step 2: Racing

Running is always a good way to tire out a tot.

Step 3: Tag

Of course, a good game of tag can get your kid running in circles until he (or she) is ready to hit the hay. (Side note: Yes, I know I said “I’m it”, but NHL was “it”. Luckily, he knew what I meant.)

End Result: Peacefully Sleeping Kid