L'Shana Tova!

Blushing Baked Salmon, Tzimmes, Green Beans

On Wednesday evening, Jeannine joined me and Mom for Rosh Hashanah dinner. She loves coming over for all of the Jewish holidays (and for all of Mom's good cooking!). We enjoyed the super yummy food and kept the conversation light and fluffy. 

Tzimmes

Tzimmes is one of my top favorite Jewish foods--a combination of sweet potatoes, carrots, prunes, dates, dried apricots, cinnamon and honey. Foods are sweetened with honey to represent the desire for a sweet new year.

Mom even transformed an apple cake recipe into a gluten-free version. It was so good none of us felt we were eating a gluten-free food.

A-Mazing Apple Cake

The combination of Fall weather, shorter days, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, my birthday and anniversaries of starting/stopping major new medical treatments always leave me in deep state of introspection and contemplation. Yom Kippur consists of 10 days during which we evaluate our lives. 

I'm always doing a lot of this anyways, but this year I've chosen to use this month full of so many spiritual, emotional and physical events to drastically limit my time on Facebook (checking once a week instead of a zillion times a day) and email (checking 1-2 times a day at most instead of a zillion times a day and not at all while we are out of town). This practice feels deeply spiritual. Instead of bookending my day with email and FB and filling any quiet time with these things, I'm challenged to sit quietly with my discomforts, my thoughts, and God. I'm challenged not to check email or FB every time I feel a twinge of loneliness or boredom. I'm challenged not to reach for my Smartphone every few minutes to see if there is any new mail. I'm challenged to start and end my day quietly and mindfully. I'm challenged to use my time more mindfully and to make my communications more meaningful.

While listening to the editor of The New Yorker on NPR on the 10th anniversary of September 11th, I heard him discuss how noisy and busy our world has become. He emphasized the importance of taking opportunities to think deeply and to be quiet. I've never truly taken a deliberate time out from being uber-connected to the world around me. Taking a time out on my terms feels empowering (and scary). While I find myself wanting to check email right away when I wake up in the morning or wanting to email my friend K the latest happenings in my day, I find the discipline it takes not to do these things leaves me feeling more in control of my day and my life. Old habits die hard, and I am definitely addicted to email and FB!

I've been feeling like my plate is full and also cracking, ready to break. By taking one big thing off it, I hope I can make more time for renewal, introspection, atonement, and finding balance as the new year begins. I'm grateful for the opportunities that the Fall holidays, my birthday, and the changing weather bring for renewal, introspection, and quiet.

Mom: Queen of the Kitchen

The most joyful part of the holiday was seeing Mom in the kitchen feeling well enough to enjoy cooking again. The surgeries reduced her pain by about 90-95%. She still has some neuropathy in her foot, numbness and tingling in her arm, and sciatic pain, but she is otherwise doing extremely well. As I watched her work in the kitchen much of the day, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude and joy in seeing that Mom is back to her old self! The strained look from pain and fatigue is gone. This is the first time since hurting her back and the heart attack that she truly enjoyed making a holiday meal and didn't have to struggle through so much pain. She didn't even complain about having to wash all of the dishes by hand because our dishwasher is broken! She is one good sport.

Blessings for a Sweet New Year,

Emily