I’m going to be offline for the next two days while we celebrate Rosh Hashana.  Thus the short post today and lack-of-a-post tomorrow.

For those who don’t know, this is the Jewish New Year.  One of the many traditions on this holiday is to eat apples and honey.  This is supposed to help you have a sweet year.  I’ve got plenty of both here.

If you celebrate Rosh Hashana, I hope you have a good year ("L’shanah tovah").  If you don’t, I hope the rest of your year (and all of the ones after this one) are very sweet.

What is a favorite holiday tradition you have?

Disclaimer: The image above was created by combining Apples by gnokii and Honey Jar by PrinterKiller.  Both of these images are available on OpenClipArt.org.

Tonight, at sundown, I’ll begin fasting for Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is a time for repenting. It is a time to think about all the things you did wrong over the year and plan how to do better in the coming year. There are many restrictions, such as fasting, designed to focus people on their repentance. The fast lasts from sundown on Friday night to an hour after sundown on Saturday night. In short, 25 hours. During this period, I won’t be able to eat or drink anything. No, I can’t even have a sip of water. (Some people are so religious that they won’t brush their teeth or shower during Yom Kippur. I do not belong to this group, however, and continue with basic hygene hygene.)

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What is the longest period you went without eating or drinking?

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 #55

This time of year always brings back fond food memories. Since we celebrate Passover, we would have a whole week of eating Matzoh in various forms. Matzoh and cream cheese. Matzoh Pizza (matzoh microwaved with sauce & cheese). Matzoh with schmaltz (rendered chicken fat – tastes like a rich butter) and salt (very unhealthy but oh-so-good). Matzoh Brei (matzoh soaked in water, drained, mixed with eggs and fried like a pancake). Are you sensing a theme here?

Yes, we eat a lot of Matzoh during Passover. It’s pretty much the only “bread” we can eat during the holiday. No rolls, bread, tortillas, pitas, pasta, cereal, or other bread product. In fact, since we’re Ashkenazi, we have more restrictions. No corn (or corn products), beans or rice (among other things).

As you can guess, cooking for Passover can be tricky. Especially when dealing with little kids used to breaded chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese and the like. In years past, we would buy a lot of pre-packaged, frozen foods at great expense. This year, we decided to prepare more fresh foods. Just today, I baked turkey burgers, wrapped them in romaine lettuce leaves and served it with a broccoli/mushroom stir fry in teryaki sauce. (Well, fake teryaki sauce since the real stuff isn’t kosher for Passover.) All in all a delicious, but not too fattening dinner.

My Aloha Friday question for this week is: What meals does this season remind you of? What do you do to eat healthy during holidays?

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 #32

Yesterday, I talked about re-evaluating my religious beliefs. Today, I was wondering how common this is for everyone else. Do people take a good long look at their beliefs and practices every year, every five years, or pretty much never?

My Aloha Friday question to you is: How often do you re-evaluate what your religious beliefs 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 MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #26