BlaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhG!

I have no idea why anyone would want to read this ridicullious c*&@ that I write because I am bored, but this blog is about stuff. You know Israel, cooking, family life, politics, entertainment...stuff. Whatever is on my mind! Enjoy!

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Yummy recipe for Hamantashen

Delicious Hamantashen

Dough:
1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 cup flour
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. water

Filling:
Crushed candy bars (my favorites are snickers, peanut butter cups and Twix, but any candy bars will probably work.)

Mix together dough ingredients. Divide dough into workable portions. Place a ball of dough on a flat surface and roll out to about 1/8" thickness. Use a medium to large, round cookie cutter or glass rim, dipped in flour, to cut rolled out dough into circles. Place about a Tbsp. of filling (more if you have larger circles) in the center of each circle, and fold up 3 sides to form a triangle. Pinch the corners to help hold the shape.

Bake at 375 for 5-8 minutes (Approx.)

Last year I got a little creative and made the same recipe, replacing the yellow cake mix with devil's food cake mix. In the center of the black hamantashen, I put either marshmallow fluff or a thick yellow custard pie filling. YUM!!!

I hope these help make your Purim a little more fun.

Jenn

Friday, February 17, 2006

And how are we today?


Ok - I know I post a lot of my ramblings and miscellaneous thoughts here. Which has probably led some of you to realize just what a true nut I really am. I should also keep you posted on the family too.

We are all (thank G-d) doing great!

The princess is already becoming a terrible two, and I am certain that she is the most difficult of all of my children! Her latest tricks include stealthily climbing the stairs at the speed of light whenever there is a breech in the gate system, coloring all over with my lipstick, and screaming "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" at the top of her lungs whenever someone does something she doesn't like.

B has finally discovered the joy of reading. Up until now he was so resistant to the whole reading for fun thing, but this week he bought the book Stink, and read the entire book in one evening. It was 122 pages, and he hasn't stopped bragging about it since. I think we are beyond the whole "I hate reading" thing now.

Y is a joiner, so I keep busy shuttling him around. He has after school learning, Boy Scouts, and for a while he was into the school chess club (although he has since dropped out of that.)

I am busy with school of course, plus the PTA purim fundraiser. As if that weren't enough, I have decided to host the Purim seuda at my house this year. We are up to 10 adults and several children on the guest list. It should be a lot of fun, so if you are in Detroit for Purim and need a seuda, come join us here!

I have to make Mishloach Manot for all of the teachers and faculty at the school (if anyone has any ideas, let me know)for the PTA thing, plus my own (I will probably do the usual bottle of wine and the Jenn Hamantashen filled with candy bars, see recipe in next post.) Although this year I will have to exclude the two best flavors (peanut butter cup and snickers) from my repertoire due to M's peanut allergy. Since all of the candy bar manufacturers have peanuts in the factories, I will have to even make some non candy bar hamatashen for her. I also told the boys that they have to make Mishloach Manot for all of their classmates, since they have school for a couple of hours on Purim morning (they hear megillah reading and have a party with their teachers). We all know that translates into 28 more Mishloach manot for me to make!

Detroit has turned cold again (big surprise), so it will be another weekend of hibernation.

That's our life in a nutshell (not peanuts of course).

Jenn

More fun from the world of Secret codes.

As many of you know, I volunteer at a local hospital a few times a month. Well, my recent experience at Target as well as the last two (how good were they?) episodes of Grey's Anatomy ("the girl with the bomb is Meridith Dr. McDreamy"), have inspired me to actually look at the code card attached to my badge. It's pretty run of the mill. There are codes for disasters with incoming casualties, dagerous weather, and chemical spills. Some of the codes have coordinating pager numbers, so they are probably not always announced, some don't.

I thought it interesting though, that instead of a code, for fire they announce "Dr. Firestone," over the intercom. Why? My best guess is that there are so many codes that the powers that be feared some staff would not respond quickly enough to a color code for fire. Which leads me to question the whole code system. I mean, is it better that half the staff should be fumbling with their code cards when they announce a "Code Orange" (hazardous chemical spill)? Instead, maybe they should dispose of the whole "code color/number" system, and replace it with code names or euphemisms. For instance..
- Mr. Yuck - A hazardous material incident has occurred.
- Dr. Mc Cloud - Severe weather is in the area.
- Dr. Mc Cloud is needed downstairs - severe weather is in the immediate area. Draw draperies.
- Dr. Kablewy, please retrieve your package - A bomb threat has been received.
You get the idea.

For the record - we have no code black, but if a patient should come in with an unexploded shell in his abdomen, I do believe that would be a Code 33.

Jenn

Sunday, February 12, 2006

We have a code red in Target!!!!

This Friday me and the princess were shopping at Target (shopping is one of her favorite things!), when we heard a panicked voice come over the loud speaker. It said "Code Red! We have a cod red in food. (and then more panicked) CODE RED!" All sorts of possibilities went through my mind. Like perhaps someone was hurt or stealing, maybe there was a chemical spill, or even a high terrorist alert (because that's what a code red would mean outside of Targetland).

A few minutes later the smell of smoke gave it away. Code red at Target means fire. They didn't evacuate the store, but the firemen came and after a few minutes, the smell was too much for me, so I purchased what was in my cart and left.

Out of curiosity I googled "Code red and Target," and I came across a site that would have excited me to no end back in the day. Here they tell you how to reek havoc on Target using their customer service phones. Apparently all one needs to do to use the intercom throughout the whole store is dial 41 on any phone. Then, they suggest (of course I would never suggest such things), you can announce a blue light special, or use their list of department codes to send employees running around the store.

One particularly interesting fact I learned pertains to their black phones. If pick up one of those, and dial 9 you can get an outside line. That would come in handy for exceptionally cheap people who don't want to use their cell minutes, but have an important business call to make. I guess it would also be useful if you were trapped in the store due to a code red.

Just imagine what fun I could have had with this in the past. But, alas, I am a mommy now and I have to set a good example. Speaking of which I better go find another way to blow off my homework now.

Jenn