fwegfbvcisb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it's kinda crazy how 4 minutes on the phone with someone can last an eternity and an afternoon with someone else can feel like 4 minutes.  i believe i spent a full 18 hours with a friend, but it felt like just a few hours.  i'm in this happy/tired/content to not be fully awake yet stage.  and listening to sir mixalot.  always a great way to start the day.  *grin*

thoughts (ppl suck)

once, in a fit of "i don't know what else to do with my rage" i decided to write an article for hamevaser (stop laughing) about sinat chinam and how to deal with it.  i ultimately decided that to do that would be immature and stir up all kinds of all trouble, so i let it slide.  yes, this is my main coping mechanism...  ignore something i don't like long enough, and it will go away, assuming there's nothing i can do to change it.

i'm re-thinking all of that now.  boo on lashon hara.

thanks for coming out...

and i remember wanting to learn to kick-box.  that too.

weekend update

hello.  in NY, yet again, and i just got back from the YCDS play.  it was pretty good.  well, i didn't follow the story so well, but the acting was good, the set was unreal...  all the usuals from a YCDS play.  and, for a change, the cake was awesome.  : )  it's so nice to comeback and see old frineds.  : )

i have to run off and have lasagna and other such fun things.  like hot chocolate.  oh, did i mention that i like the doctor's hat?  thinking of keeping it.  thinking he won't let me.  "oh, so i'm being referred to as 'the doctor' on the world wide web".  <chuckling to self>

 

ah, so good to be here.

bouncing and zinging

what is up with nervous energy?  i find that i can not sit without jiggling some part of my body, a foot, my leg, my hand...   it'smaking me crazy, but i can't stop.  similarly, i managed to not bite my nails for like 3 months

and here i am doing it again.

geez, you'd think i was 7 years old.  find something, please, that will keep me occupied until i can leave.

i'm doomed

so,jessica is totally evil, and sent me a link to this love calculator page.

i ran it, and got a 96% chance.  then, on a hunch, i ran it with my name mispelled (daniella), and i got a 29%.  which only goes to prove that all of you out there who mispell and mispronounce other ppl's names, you're screwing with mazalot.   please stop. 

PSA
i will say this only once: the name is daniela, it's pronounced don-nee-el-la, with a very light 'l'.  ie, hebrew.  not dan-yel-a.  or danielle. or danny, donny, donna, bonnie...  none of the above.  thank you for your time.

challah recipe

my rebbetzin was gracious enough to give me her challah recipe, which is how i've spent my day.

if you have a large group of hungry people who like the taste of good old lechem mishna, here's a great way to make more than enough for them:

take 5 cups of lukewarm water, about the temperature at which you'd bathe a baby.
dissolve a scant 1/3 c. of yeast, or 9 tblspns.  a scant measurement is when you fill it to the rim, not all the way.  just enough so you can still see the rim.  stir the yeast to get rid of clumps, then let it sit for 15 minutes.

5 lbs. of flour follow.  this is a full bag of flour.  Rebbetzin Fine prefers to use bread flour, i used regular flour, and then whole wheat (i'll explain that in a bit).

put 2/3 of the bag of flour into your mixing bowl.

add:
scant 1/4 c. coarse/kosher salt (i used sea salt for lack of a good alternative)
1 3/4 c. sugar
1 1/4 c oil (add most of the oil, leave behind enough to grease the dough later)
7 eggs

put yeast (and water) in with it.  if you have a mixer, let it run on medium for 7 or 8 minutes.  if you're like me, prepare to work out your arms, and mix it thoroughly.  it was totally fun.

then add the rest of the flour from the bag, and about 2 more cups of flour to get the right consistency (this is where the 1.5 c of whole wheat came in)

mix for another 8 minutes with a machine, or until it feels right (somewhat sticky, elasticy, but you can get your hands out without too much pain)

for the mixer using crew: grease rising bowl (ie, the bowl you use to let the dough rise), dump in the dough, turn once to get it covered in oil
for the non-mixer using crew: pour a bit of oil, spread it over the dough.  pick up the dough and flumf it over (for lack of a better word) and cover that side also.  when i say cover, i mean thinly coat, by the way.

cover with a towel, or if you live s/w like scranton where it's really dry today, loosely cover it with a plastic food bag, then towels.

let it rise til it doubles.  then (my favorite part) punch it down, take challah, and let ir rise again.

then you get to shape it.  have fun with that.

let it sit for 1/2 hour, 40 minutes - pre-heat the oven to 400.

mix an egg and 1/3 teaspon sugar, paint challah.

bake @ 400 for 10 minutes, then lower it to 350 for 25.  check it after 18 minutes to see where it's holding.  (if you have 2 racks in, switch them about 7 minutes after you lower the heat so they get evenly done)

ode to jess

so this one time there was this guy, and he was walking down the street when he decided that he really need to go buy cigarettes.  marlboro lights, to be precise, although if they were out he'd settle for camels.  he went into the store and asked the guy if he could buy them and the guy asked for ID and the guy said he didnt' have it, he left it at work, and he didn't feel like walking the whole way back to work then back to the store then back to work just to get cigarettes, so he dyed his hair red and went to anne taylor.  then he bought a bunch of clothes, and applied to stern under an assumed name, because he could, and when they asked his name, he said "LAMPPOST!"

i love you (even though you tell lamppost sotries better than i do)