Family Fun this Sunday!

A number of parent and Jewish family resources have mentioned a fun family event being held this Sunday, March 21 at the Gesher Jewish Day School in Fairfax. This is their third annual Community Family Fun Day and my family and I plan to check it out.

Gesher Jewish Day School - 3rd Annual Community Family Fun Day - Sunday · March 21 · 1- 4 · FREE EVENT
Mr. Twister performs (1:30pm)! Matzah Factory with Chabad of Northern Virginia, Dress up as Moses and Miriam, Learn about the Frog and Butterfly life cycle, plant flowers for your Shabbat table, Visit with Pako the Parakeet, Face Painting by JCCNV, Play Passover Bingo, Build a giant pyramid challenge, Take an Exodus hike, Jump on a moonbounce, Federation of Galaxy Explorers here too! Free Refreshments and Raffle. Gesher is located at 4800 Mattie Moore Court in Fairfax, VA 22030. For more information call 703-962-9216.

A St. Patrick's Day Parsley Update

My son and I planted parsley from seed on Tu B'Shevat a few weeks ago. At 2 1/2 years old, he has been quite interested in watering the plants every few days. That might be because he has also taken a liking to playing in the kitchen sink and I keep the miniature greenhouse on the kitchen window sill, but it could also be because he truly understands my chats with him about the Jewish holidays, right?

The plants are still small, but healthy, and I hope they continue to thrive until Passover. We will definitely have to supplement the parsley on the Seder plate, but I assure you this momma will be eating the home-grown type when the time comes!

Hamantashen Happiness

Purim is a favorite time of year for me because I have found it to be a great way to share a little piece of what I am learning about Judaism with my family and friends. (And, truth be told, I have a sweet tooth.)

Last year I learned how to make Hamantashen with the Mother's Circle class and then a good family friend shared her recipe with me and helped me work on my triangle making skills. She came over to the house and my mother-in-law joined us and we made a party out of it. Lots of laughter and story telling. It will always be a treasured memory. For anyone new to the world of Hamantashen, they are cookies shaped like triangles usually filled with jam or poppy seeds. The tricky part is making a circle of dough into a triangle. I am still working on that skill, but so far none of the tasters seem to mind eating misshapen cookies, so I think I am doing OK.

Last year I experimented with a lot of fillings - poppy seed, chocolate chip, raspberry, strawberry, apricot and ginger marmalade. I used the poppy seed straight out of the can and they were terrible. Not the traditional cookie my mother-in-law remembered, so I am still on the hunt to perfect that part. However, the jam filled ones were great, as were the chocolate ones which the older family members had not had before, but what I am happily learning now is very common these days. (Wow, that made me sound like a Hamantashen historian!)

My favorite part of all of this is the sharing with friends and family. I am going to make it my goal to introduce them to someone new each year. Last year I mailed them to my parents and aunt, this year I included my siblings. I also gave them to some friends, some of whom had never heard of them before. It was fun watching my son deliver them and then help adults learn to say Hamantashen. My sister called and left a message saying how much she enjoyed the "Hama....Hema...Hamanintash...uh, the cookies." I laughed, happy to know I am not the only one I know who finds some of these new words a bit of a tongue twister.

By the time my son is in college, I should have the triangle shaping down well and I look forward to sending him Hamantashen care packages each winter. After I teach him how to make them, of course...

Purim Party

Purim was quite a while ago, but I wanted to reflect on how we spent it. We took our son to a great little preschool party held at Barnes and Nobles in Tysons Corner and sponsored by Growing Jewish Families. It was our first event with the group and it was nice to see a large turnout. The children decorated crowns with stickers, pompoms and macaroni and strung macaroni necklaces. (I smiled as I realized this was my son's first experience with macaroni art - a childhood milestone!) They received gift bags with Hamantashen and coloring pages and other fun activities. Goodnight Schma was read and I was pleased that this learning-to-be Jewish mom had a copy of the book already in the family library. (Thank you JCC book fair!)