Guest Post: Learning from Haman

Before we say goodbye to Purim and go on to the next holiday, please welcome this guest post by Susie of New Day New Lesson. Susie from New Day New Lesson I am big on learning lessons from everything and everyone. So while listening to the megilla (scroll of Esther), I started making a mental … [Read more...]

Easy and Inspiring Purim Craft Ideas

You might remember that I visited with you all at Sukkot and again at Chanukah, to share some frugal and creative crafts for those chagim (holidays). I'm very excited that Hannah has asked me back as a guest poster. With Purim in less than one month, I bet you can guess what I'll be talking about … [Read more...]

Easy Purim Costume Ideas

Image by epSos.de via Flickr Purim will be here before you know it. My 6-year-old wants to be a magician. Fortunately I have a cape I made in an ambitious moment a few years ago. My 8-year-old decided he wants to win the contest for most original costume, and is excited about dressing up as a … [Read more...]

Rabbi Ovadia’s Surprising Ruling: Women Can Read Megillah for Men

The secular newspapers like to report on the weekly talks of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the leading rabbinic arbiter of the Sephardi/Mizrachi community in Israel. Occasionally he says outrageous things, but this time he made a ruling likely to please a more liberal readership. On the upcoming holiday of … [Read more...]

Purim Costume Brainstorming

For an updated list for 2010, see Easy Costume Ideas. Reiza, who is pregnant and due right around Purim, tweeted that she hasn't thought about Purim costumes yet for her three kids. I always find it hard to come up with easy, inexpensive costumes. After Purim, of course, I have dozens of ideas. … [Read more...]

Kosher Cooking Carnival #29: Pre-Passover Edition

Welcome to the April 7, 2008 edition of kosher cooking carnival. Here are the previous editions: #1,#2,#3,#4,#5,#6,#7,#8,#9,#10,#11,#12,#13,#14,#15,#16,#17,#18, #19,#20,#21,KCCMetaCarnival,#22,#23,#24,#25,#26,#27.#28 Thanks to Batya for all of her hard work on the KCC. She will be hosting … [Read more...]

Happy Purim

Here's a recap of our Purim activities so far.1. Mishloach Manot. I think I spent more time agonizing over what to put into the Purim packages than I actually spent cooking. In the end I made individual "quiche-in-a-loaf." (Don't ask me how to make that plural. And don't ask me how to make it, … [Read more...]

An Explosive Purim? *UPDATED*

An email has been going around containing a slide show about the dangers of mild explosives. The son of the producer was injured when caps exploded in his pocket.Thanks to Aidel Maidel for the technical help in embedding the document.The Jerusalem Post summarizes: [The JP, perhaps erroneously, … [Read more...]

Purim Costume Fail?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife I might have given the whole costume problem more thought had my husband not been working 13-hour days for the last two months. Or more likely not. I have a bag of costumes and accessories, and usually the kids can come up with something from there. My 5yo … [Read more...]

Oil-based Hamantashen Dough

A commenter asked me for an oil-based hamantashen recipe. Any kind of cooky-cutter dough can can work well for hamantashen. This one is from Marcy Goldman's Jewish Holiday Baking, p. 249. Virtually all of the pareve recipes in this book are oil-based.Bubbie's Orange-and-Oil Hamantashen1 cup sugar1 … [Read more...]