Last week (and the beginning of this week), I celebrated Passover.  During this holiday, I give up a lot of foods like bread, rice, corn, beans, and soy products.  This can be a tricky time as we are confined to matzo as most of our source of carbs.  It also means that favorite year round foods, such as macaroni and cheese or soy-based veggie burgers, aren’t allowed.

Of course, in many ways I’m used to restricting my diet.  While growing up, I learned about the Kosher dietary rules during Hebrew school.  One by one I decided to follow them.  First, I stopped eating milk and meat together.  This meant turning my usual bacon cheeseburger into a bacon burger.

Next, I gave up all meats that couldn’t be kosher* while eating out.  This wasn’t too hard.  Except for bacon and the occasional Chinese food spare rib, I was never a big fan of shrimp, clams, ham and the like.  Spare ribs were occasional enough that I gave them up easily.  Bacon, however, I dreaded giving up.  I expected it to be a difficult affair packed with cravings and backsliding.  Instead, I turned my bacon burger into a plain burger and never looked back.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What foods would you find difficult (if not impossible) to give up for a week?  What foods would you find difficult or impossible to give up for the rest of your life?

* To clarify, by “meats that couldn’t be kosher”, I mean meats that intrinsically couldn’t be kosher due to the animal they come from** such as ham (from pigs) and shrimp.

** For the curious, the rule for land animals is cloven hooves and chews its cud. Pigs have the hooves but don’t chew their cud; cows do both.  Therefore cows are kosher while pigs aren’t.  Water animals, meanwhile, need to have fins and scales.  Tilapia, for example, have both and are thus kosher while shrimp have neither.  Of course, while eating out, I tend to just say I am “vegetarian” since this is quicker and something most waiters will understand instead of “I have a complex set of religious rules that I follow and here they are…”

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 McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #85

One of my favorite “rides” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is Kilimanjaro Safari.  I use “ride” in quotes because, despite the “chase the poachers” storyline at the end, it feels more like an actual African safari than a ride.

Of course, a big reason why I like it is taking photos of the animals.  This can be a bit frustrating, though.  The car you’re riding in goes over bumps and doesn’t always stop for every animal.  Some animals might be right in the clear, giving you the perfect shot.

“Who says I need a bath?  Want to come closer and say that?” *sharpens nose-horn*

Other animals hang back and make you use your camera’s zoom to the fullest… and then make you wish you had an ultra-super-mega zoom lens you could attach.

I promise there’s an animal in there.  Lying down.  No, really, there is.

Of course, when you go on safari, you never quite know what to expect.  One trip can be a washout for elephant sightings while another one can have the most unexpected cuteness around!

Yes, that’s Mommy and Baby Elephant walking to the pond.  Isn’t Baby Elephant so cute?!!! Lots of awwww’s were uttered, I assure you.

The big things (like elephants) are great, but it’s the small touches that turn this from a “ride through a glorified zoo” into “African safari moved into Florida.”  Small things like these termite mounds.

Given Disney’s quest for realism, we’re left wondering if that’s a fake termite mound or if they imported actual African termites.  I’m leaning towards fake only because real termites would be tricky to keep confined.  They’d tend to get out and munch on other sources of wood.  Pretty soon you’d have these mounds popping up all over Disney World and that wouldn’t look too good.  As a side note, while impressive, I’d *hate* to see one of these pop up in my yard.  I think I’d just wave a white flag and surrender my house to the wood-munchers at that point.  Those things can clearly out-build me!

If you find yourself in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, whatever you do, don’t miss the Kilimanjaro Safari!  But before you get on, make sure your camera is ready.  You’ll need it!

Ok, breaking the “Wordless Wednesday” rules here, but look closely at what that boy is doing.  He’s got a chicken by the neck and is… um… I mean he’s looking at this girl and… um… Maybe we should just move on.  (Ow, B!  Quit jabbing my arm!!)

  Today is the last day of Passover.  During the day, we’ll eat up some of the remaining matzoh and dream of the bread-filled meals coming the next day.  Technically, we can break Passover tonight, but, practically, eating dinner after 8:30pm isn’t worth it, even if it will be our first non-Passover meal in 8 days.

I was going to end with a Cooking With TechyDad post on how to make matzoh brie, but I realized that I did that last year.  So instead, I’ll give you a quick photo tour of our Passover experience.

The day before Passover, we mostly spent cleaning and shopping.  However, we did have one unexpected treat.  As we pulled into a local Target’s parking lot, we saw a familiar pink truck.  It was the Fluffalicious cupcake truck!

We decided to get the boys one cupcake each and split a giant cupcake between the two of us.  NHL got a S’mores cupcake.  JSL chose a chocolate banana cupcake.  B and I split a giant cookie dough cupcake.  (Let me tell you: It’s torture to go through these photos during Passover!)

The morning before Passover, I went to temple very early.  You see, because one of the plagues was death of the first born, first born Jewish males have to fast the day before Passover.  However, there’s a way out of this obligation.  If you attend a special learning session, you have to celebrate afterwards by participating in a celebratory meal.  And once you eat, you’re let out of the fast for the rest of the day.

After temple, we went out to Friendly’s for breakfast.  B had eggs and french toast (which I don’t have a photo of), I had eggs and pancakes and the boys had M&M pancakes.

Sadly, while delicious, this was our last non-Passover food for the next 8 days.

That night, we went to B’s aunt’s house for the Passover seder.  We had a great time with family and had fabulous food.

The next night we had the second seder.  In many ways, it was a repeat of the first.  Lots of good times and good food with family.

During the rest of Passover, we dealt with a finicky child’s hunger strike (luckily, it turns out he really likes matzoh pizza), a lot of exhaustion and a lot of matzoh.  Tonight, we’ll pack up our Passover pans, cooking utensils and the like and put them away for another year.  I can’t say we’ll be very sorry to see it go.  Passover is fun, but by now we are all dreaming of our favorite non-Kosher-for-Passover foods!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been going on and on about Passover looming on the horizon.  I’ve been more and more fearful of the weight that would pack on when matzoh permeated my diet.  So when I stepped on the scale, I was shocked to see no weight gain.  Even more surprising, I lost 3 pounds!

I have no real explanation for this.  I haven’t been watching calories or points at all.  I was even snacking too much on Passover junk food while at work for two days.  Going to work during Passover means I need to pack all the food I’ll need during the day.  This means I need to estimate my day’s food needs.  It tends to seem to be a better idea to bring too much food than to not bring enough.  Sadly, this can result in over eating.

Still, despite this, I lost weight.  It should be interesting to see what the rest of Passover (and the days that follow it’s ending) brings.

As I mentioned previously, I had a lot of cleaning to do before Passover.  The good news is that I got the cleaning done.  The bad news is that it came with a ton of stress.

Growing up, I remember my mother cleaning for Passover.  She would tear apart the entire kitchen, cleaning every cabinet and drawer even if we weren’t using them for the holiday.  The process took about a week and was completely exhausting.  (It didn’t help that my father, my sister and I didn’t help.  Bad younger me!)

Even though I don’t do the intense cleaning that she does and even though I made a checklist a few years back to help organize the process, it still is tiring work.

Then came the Seders.  I like going to B’s aunt’s Seders.  We get to see family and it means I don’t have to cook two meals just after a tiring cleaning session.  On the other hand, the Seders tend to run long.  We left the first Seder at 11:30pm (before it was completely over) and the second after midnight (again, before it was over).  The kids, somehow, stayed awake until after midnight each time.

Add in a bad sore throat that brought back memories of my New Year’s Day bout with strep (and therefore a trip to the doctor’s office to rule it out) and you can see why I’ve been feeling especially stressed out.

And yet, amid the stress and exhaustion, there were moments of joy.  Playing with my boys, spending time with them, and seeing them spend time playing with relatives.  But, perhaps best of all was seeing NHL at the Seder.  He loved singing Ma Nishtana (the Four Questions).  Perhaps he didn’t get all the words right, but he tried his best and enjoyed it.

Then, when it came time for responsive reading (which passes from person to person), he declined.  He didn’t want to read just any passage, he wanted to read the names of the 10 plagues.  During this, we dip our fingers in our wine glasses and leave a drop on our plates for each plague.  The symbolism here is that, in Judaism, wine represents joy.  Though we are happy to be free, our joy is diminished by the realization that people were injured/killed in the process of the exodus from Egypt.  As our joy is diminished, so our wine is diminished.

Noah, perhaps, doesn’t fully grasp the significance of this passage, but he realized it was important.  That was enough for him.  He wanted to do something important during the Seder and that filled me with pride!

My Aloha Friday question for today is twofold: Do you find holidays to be stressful and/or exhausting?  Also, what do you enjoy most about celebrating holidays with your children?

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 McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #84

In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil’s might,
Beware my power… Green Lantern’s light!

If the preceding verse is familiar to you, then you are probably already a fan of the Green Lantern.  If not, here’s a quick rundown.  The Green Lantern Corps are a galactic police force.  They protect and defend the innocent and bring the guilty to justice.  They are given rings which they can use (along with their willpower) to create objects out of a green energy.

The two toys that I received to review are the Colossal Cannon and a Kilowog action figure.

Kilowog Action Figure

Kilowog won’t be winning any beauty pageants anytime soon, but this member of the Green Lantern corps is a fierce fighter and has a keen mind.  His action figure includes a “blast” green energy construct (which can attach to other constructs) and a Green Lantern ring.

My boys had fun playing with Kilowog, but I’ve got to admit that they were most intrigued by the ring.  NHL claimed it as his own and pretended to be a Green Lantern.  Of course, he decided to play fair (with some coaching from dad) and allowed JSL to wear the ring a few times.  Sadly, the ring was too small for my fingers so I didn’t get to play with it.

Colossal Cannon

This toy, as the name implies, is a big cannon.  A child (or.. ahem… grownup) puts his hand inside it and pulls on a trigger inside.  This fires off plastic “lantern” projectiles, makes the cannon light up and causes it to make firing noises.

This was a hit and my boys (ahem… and I) kept fighting over who would wield it next.  There was just one problem.  As you can see in one of the photos, NHL is firing the discs at couch cushions.  I rightfully surmised that the cannon’s projectiles could hurt a person and forbade them from using it unless a) it was empty or b) it was pointed at the cushions and away from anyone else.

This worked well until one time when we thought NHL had fired all 10 projectiles.  He raised the cannon in the air, squeezed the trigger and out shot a disc.  It bounced off our wall and landed without anyone getting hurt or anything being broken.  Still, I decided not to risk future breakage and confiscated the discs.  I would count this as the only downside to the Colossal Cannon.

Of course, any projectile-shooting toy bears this risk and this can be easily managed by only giving kids the discs under proper supervision.  Even without the discs, the Colossal Cannon is fun.  Kids can put it on and imagine that they are a Green Lantern firing blasts at bad guys.

Disclaimer: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of Mattel and received Green Lantern toys to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

The past couple of days has been spent deep in cleaning mode.  I cleaned off our kitchen counters, cleaned the stovetop, cleaned the oven, cleaned the sink, cleaned the fridge, cleaned the freezer, cleaned the microwave… Well, you get the idea.  With all of the cleaning done and all of the non-Kosher-For-Passover items away, it was finally time to start the Seder.

I’d report on how the Seder went, except it hasn’t happened yet as I write this.  You see, as with any Jewish holiday, I stay offline during the celebration.  Thus, this post had to be scheduled pre-Passover.  If this year’s Seder goes according to plan, we’ll have a blast with B’s family, eat lots of food, drink some wine (well, some of us will) and generally enjoy the night.  I might even have some photos to share later.

To my Jewish readers, I wish you a Happy Passover.  To my non-Jewish readers, I hope you have a few happy matzah-free days.

This week’s weigh-in brought a not-so-pleasant surprise. From being a half a pound away from my goal, I went up to 189 pounds.  All that pre-Passover snacking took its toll.  To make matters worse, I’m sure I’ll gain weight during Passover itself.  Still, this just means I’ll be as good as I can be during the Eight Days of Matzoh and then will redouble my weight loss efforts post-Passover.