Hamantaschen: Reinvented

I have to admit it, I was always quite the Hamantaschen-hater. Never really had digs for this triangular Purim cookie - they always seemed a little stale, or loaded with preservatives to keep them soft... The filling never did it for me either; prune, poppy - and I'm out. This year I decided to get my holiday baking on with Freida, and for educational purposes there would be no skipping the  buttery dough. I searched around a bit for a recipe that appealed to me, but in the end I mixed bits and pieces from a few different places and wound up with a rather bright and fresh tasting dough! I also decided to improve from the inside out, and went with some filling I love - strawberry-rhubarb. Let me tell you, these little cookies came out perfectly buttery, flaky, sweet, and fresh!! Thought I'd share the recipe...

Hamantaschen:

- 1 1/2 sticks butter/margarine, softened

- 1/2 cup sugar

- 1 egg

- 1 teaspoon (or more) lemon zest

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 3 cups all purpose flour

I used a mixer to cream the butter with the sugar, added the egg etc. It looks really crumbly at first, so put the mixer on high and let it pund out some good-looking dough. Form the dough into a large disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour. Flour a surface, roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick, and cut out circles (you can use the lip of a glass) to lay on cookie sheet. Drop a teaspoon of filling in middle of each circle, and pinch 3 corners into a triangle (if it doesn't want to stick - use some water). Bake for 17 minutes on °375. Let cool (lest your scorch your palette with searing jam!).

P.S. I'm currently obsessed with ikat print! I was overjoyed to find these beauties at Marshalls, but can find ikat napkins like that one here.

Purim Shpiel

With Purim around the bend, I thought I'd get Freida familiar with characters from the Magillah and peak her interest with the gist of the story. One morning this week we whipped out some card-stock, markers, and old discarded toilet paper rolls (which made these guys super easy for her little hands to grasp), and got on the Purim-puppets bandwagon (yes, I know Queen Esther looks like a transvestite - it was 7am!!).

She knew a bit about Purim from some songs (and by "a bit" I mean she knew Vashti had pimples and we yell at Haman), so I thought I'd clear a few things up with here. Boy, was I ever in for a surprise... She was so disturbed from the tiniest little hint of hatred in the story. She couldn't handle the fact that we don't like Haman, and she really didn't want to contend with discarding Vashti just because she wasn't all that pretty. She kept going in to grab Haman and give him a big hug! I was so shocked!! Here I thought I was being a good mom and teaching my little love about the Persian miracle, only to wind up feeling like I left her in the wake of utter disturbance...! And believe me, I didn't teach her anything meagerly grave - in our version, Haman was sentenced to a time-out.

After I finished up that awkward little class, she wanted to Skype my mom and do her own puppet show for her. In the middle she started giving Haman and Vashti hugs, so my mom gave the explanation a shot. It came out like this, "Haman was mean to us, that's why we don't like him anymore." Really? Is that what I'm teaching her? I mean I know that concept is important, but should I really be teaching her that at 2 years old? Anyways, the fact that it didn't go down so well taught me a good lesson in parenting... But at least she had fun with these little guys!

For now we'll just have puppet free-play, sing happy songs, and try again next year. :)

Hot Water

I love when I spot some well-designed version of childhood essentials on the market! Yes, this water table is outrageously overpriced, but just seeing a serious upgrade from the plastic-bulk preschool staples gives me peace of design-mind; for it will eventually trinke down into common-place, affordable, and much-better-looking playspaces. I'm already feeling the summer heat! You can find it in 4 beautiful color combos here.

Weekend Round-up!

Happy sun-soaked Friday to you all! Here's a few links I've been meaning to share:

- A cute + clever creative-table invention for the kiddos.

- The Bugaboo Donkey prices are in. Oh my!

- My latest Algemeiner article, "The Zaidy Syndrome".

- This bicycle basket has got me in the spring groove... Dreaming of sandals, bike rides, and farmers market flowers!

- Zara Kids Spring 2011 Collection is brimming with children's chic and class.

- A Rabbi seriously redefines devotion after the tragic New Zealand quake. (Tzippy, you've got quite the man on your hands! We love you and miss you guys!!)

- Some really great lunch-box ideas from Gwyneth - to revamp the old routine.

Happy (almost spring!!) weekend!

Beneath the Mask

My preschool/parenting guru (Chanie Perelmuter over at the Hebrew Academy) told us at last weeks Mommy & Me that 2 year olds are prime candidates for run-from-the-room-screaming Purim terror. All the masks and costumes can really scare their socks off! I can imagine that would be something difficult for a mom to contend with whilst trying to keep her toddler quiet through a lengthy Megilla reading... Her advice was to start teaching the "masked" concept now, at least a few weeks before. Have your kids decorate some form of disguise, or unearth some masks, costumes, wigs etc. from the family Purim box in the storage closet, and have your preschooler try them on in front of the mirror. Throw a mini masquerade and teach them a bit about dress-up for the next few weeks... That should ease the impending costume-phobia. The point is to teach them that a mask/costume is a covering, they should know there is a familiar face underneath. Just thought I'd share the wisdom!

(All the mask talk has got me thinking about this theme.)