Hag Sameach Purim!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

We got an early start on the shlach manos this year, because is seemed in poor, excuse the word, taste, to hand them out on Thursday, which is the Fast of Esther, Friday is difficult because I have to work, and then there’s just a few hours till sundown, plus I really don’t want to back for Friday when I’m fasting on Thursday. Then it’s Shabbes; also, I have to take my son to school on Fridays, so I can’t go to daily minyan, and would miss handing them out to everyone in minyan. Once it’s moytse Shabbes, I can take them around to friends, but I’ve missed out on people I work with.

Then it’s already Purim itself, and I have to chaperone the religious school carnival, and I need to take meals to homeless people.

The TL;DR version is, I already baked a batch of hamantaschen, and handed out several shlach manos, plus mailed to ones to people out of town.

I’m baking again tomorrow, taking them to work, because I work only in the late afternoon tomorrow, and then I’m done, except for a few that I will shlep around town on Friday.

I also spent the evening with my son making little mini shlach manos he takes to his class. It’s just a few small toys-- usually a little brain-teaser type puzzle, then something like a superball that lights up. This year we bought a big pack of Pokemon cards and put two in every bag, and we put in school-approved candy, a clementine, and a small bag or chips or crackers. We used to put touchable bubbles in them, which were always a hit, but this years, the boychik decided bubbles are for babies, and we did the Pokemon cards. Taking them in tomorrow.

I LOVE Purim.

ETA: Sunday night, I am going the my shul’s adults only reading of the megillah.

2

Some questions from a gentile, if you don’t mind?
How popular is the celebration of Purim among Jews, and how does it differ amongst the various branches of Judaism? What are the most popular costumes?

3

It seems the Steinhardts aren’t making hamantaschen now, the last thread was in 2014.:frowning: I’ll bet the kids are grown up.:frowning:

Sounds like you have on heck of a schedule this holiday season!

4

My daughter was born on the day Purim started that evening. Her Hebrew name is Esther Hava, for my aunt. We love Purim, too. :slight_smile:

She’s home Saturday for her college spring break and we’ll be making hamantaschen!

From last year:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170308/8851b369628833b6d1cad6b386056e97.jpg

5

Um, Rivkah - that should be “Hag Purim Sameach”.

6

My mother is from a family of Jewish bakers, and we had the most delicious hamantaschen… old-style, not like the crap they make today.

And I remember her making a Purim costume for me when I was about 5 or 6: Haman on a horse, sort of like Raj’s Aquaman costume on TBBT.

(I actually wanted to be Vashti.)

7

Yum yum, save some for me. My favorite is moehn.

8

I am not so excited about Purim this year. We just moved 6 weeks ago, so we don’t know that many people yet. We’re going back to our old 'hood for the seuda (festive meal) which involves either taking a train or bus, followed by another bus. My kids tell me that on Purim the train and bus schedules are not the regular daily schedules . . . and I don’t really feel like shlepping.

9

You try changing the title of a thread after you have posted. :smack:

My family uses a yeast recipe. We are pretty old fashioned, and made it with shmaltz and suet, and my mother used to go to this one store where you could still get cake yeast. We make our own filling by boiling dried fruit, which probably is an Ashkenazim thing, since Sephardim could probably get fresh fruit in March.

So many people I know buy Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, and jam in jars, and make them that way.

I did rework the old recipe, though, since I am a vegetarian. I tried one time just using Crisco for all the fat, and doing everything else the same, and they were sort of dry and, just, not exciting. So I left out half a cup of Crisco (from 2 1/4 c.) and added a stick of butter, and used skim milk instead of the water. They were so good, my mother and grandmother said they were even better than the original.

I’d still like to come up with a good parve recipe some day, just to be able to serve them with anything.

Also, I switched to quick-rise yeast, which takes an hour instead of six, and is a dry ingredient. You still need a candy thermometer, but there’s scalding water, etc.

If anyone else make them with yeast, and has suggestions, please share.

BTW, the dough has just 1 tblsp of sugar in 7 cups of flour, for the yeast, and this year, I set aside a little filling to make with Splenda for a friend who is diabetic. He was very grateful.

10

I worked in a deli in Okemos, Michigan, back in the late 1980’s. I made hamantaschen. I don’t have the dough recipe, but I did cook up the fillings, one was date filling and one was poppyseed. I liked them both.

Each Friday I also had standing orders for challah bread, at least thrity loaves. I got pretty fast at braiding. We did a three strand loaf, but I prefer the look of a four strand braid.

11

:confused: I thought I posted in this thread this morning, about the origin of hamantaschen. But I can’t find my post.

12

So how was everyone’s Purim? We had a great time! Traveled via train to a friend’s house for the seudah, had all my kids together for the first time in a long time, and had a great time with friends. And yes, I imbibed, but didn’t get smashed.

13

Mine was fantastic!

14

Fun Purim here. We made our Purim Seuda at home for the first time ever (we usually go to my aunt and uncle with a bunch of cousins’ families in attandance as well, but because of my recent kidney transplant, we don’t want me around big crowds in small spaces).

15

My friend from the family we ate with is also my shmura matzah dealer, so I came home with my shmura matzah for Pesach. Great way to freak people out! Even better, the price didn’t go up this year!

16

What filling is that? I can’t find any reference other than your post.

17

Mun is poppyseed. It also happens to be my favorite.

18

With a different spelling, I’d say with certainty that it’s poppy.

19

Ok, I made 3 doz. Most poppy and apricot and a few cherry. I like the short cookie better than yeast raised, as I enjoy the ratio of cookie to filling in short dough cookies. I have a new oven, and it may run hotter than my old one, since they came out a bit browner than usual.

For the good of all I’ve been eating the less attractive ones. :slight_smile:

20

Last night at my theater group, a few of us showed up still in costumes.

One couple was very bad political puns. She was an “ill eagle”. He was a trump card with a duck whistle.