What I've Been Doing

So, I asked everyone to like my FB page, and I had a wonderful response that warmed the cockles of my heart. Then I went quiet. So, what's going on?

There are several things on the go. First of all, my little tutoring/editing/web support business has been dormant for a while, and I need to revive it. I can't go into details but let's just say employment in my family, which was stable for nearly twenty years, has become precarious. It's a difficult time for us and I need to look into doing my share. It was one of the reasons I got the B.Ed., but that path has turned out, for a variety of reasons, not to be very fruitful so far.

In support of this endeavour, I'm starting a self-hosted website, and while I'm not ready to share it just yet (to be honest, the construction there is not unlike this picture at the moment), it is gobbling up lots of my time. This blog will also be moving to Wordpress at the same time - I had a traumatic experience with Blogger trying to use a screen shot of my FB page for the previous post, and it really accelerated my desire to get off this platform and onto one I can control better. Of course, to do that I have to learn how to control it. How wonderful that I just finished an HTML/CSS course!

There are also three kids off school who seem to think they have some claim to my time. Don't know where they got that idea, silly people.

So I just want to wish everyone a healthy, happy, productive 2013, and may we all get to pursue our heart's desire. Talk to you on the other side.

Like my Facebook Page?

I've added another step on my journey to creating a web presence that will allow me to reach people and offer them my services. I've made a Facebook page for my blog. It used to be that FB would allow you to post blog posts directly to the page, but they've decided, in their infinite wisdom, to disable that feature. That's OK - I do see their point that they were getting too many automated feeds and not enough interactivity. I love talking with you guys, so it's all good.

I'm struggling with all kinds of silly issues - too many names, to begin with. This blog is called My Coat of Many Colours, because my life and my thoughts are so eclectic. My gmail address and Twitter handle involve the name Lionsima, which I've been using for many years and would be reluctant to give up. In the past, I've claimed Beenah Communications as a business name. Following the advice of Dean Dwyer and others, I've claimed HadassEviatar.com as my domain name. Decisions, decisions.

Thank you for travelling this road with me. Any thoughts or suggestions you might have as I learn how to do all of this stuff would be very welcome.

Book review: HOT MAMALAH by Lisa Alcalay Klug

So here it is: the long-awaited review of Lisa Alcalay Klug's latest book, Hot Mamalah: The Ultimate Guide for Every Woman of the Tribe (affiliate link).

 Lisa's publisher very kindly sent me a copy of the book to review, so that's my disclosure.

When I first started reading this book, I felt completely overwhelmed. It really reminded me of some Jewish women that I know, and am somewhat afraid of - you know, those loud, bossy, neurotic types. It looked like this book was a handbook for becoming one of those, and I didn't really want any part of it. I argued with the book, with its lovely line drawings and wild typography, its luscious recipes and brazen declaration of female fabulosity.

But then, it started to grow on me. It made me laugh. It reminded me not to take it, and myself, so seriously. It reminded me that every one of those intimidating hot mamalahs in the gym was a daughter of G-d, a human with strengths, weaknesses and her own lovability. It reminded me that having fun is an important part of the human experience, that laughing and crying and being sexy and fabulous and funny and enjoying every delicious morsel you put in your mouth is our birthright as women, whether Jewish or not.

I've been blogging recently about akrasia, about the lizard brain and our tendency to self-sabotage. So many women have trouble with the Imposter Police, the feeling that you are not your true self in your professional persona, that you will be unmasked as a fraud any minute and taken away for impersonating someone you are not. So depressing.

Hot Mamalah is an antidote to this self-doubt. Deliberately working on an image of yourself as fabulous, strong and mistress of your own destiny, whether you follow the cocktail recipes in the book or not, has got to boost your self-esteem in all areas of life. At the very least, you can't brood while giggling your head off at some really preposterous statement. You don't really want to be someone whose "neuroses have neuroses", but you know somebody just like that. At the very least, be grateful you aren't her. How about "You know you are a Hot Mamalah because your hobbies include baking, knitting, eating and impassioned debate." Or "You know you are a Hot Mamalah because sultry, raucous, and nubile describes you ... and your appetizers."

The book is structured in the form of a meal (of course!). Starting with Aperitifs, continuing with Hors d'Oeuvres, through Le Plat Principal to Dessert. Each section contains lists, jokes, recipes and even some thoughtful advice about life, as well as the best kind of handbags to buy.

This is probably a good place to mention the fabulous giveaway at Modern Tribe. Lots of chances to win seriously cool merchandise! But don't delay, the winner will be announced on December 3rd. Also, do not forget Lisa's previous book, Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe (also an affiliate link).

In summary, this is a book that will make you love it despite yourself, just like the Hot Mamalah herself. Nu, go ahead and buy it, it couldn't hurt.

A Quick Announcement (and language warning)

OK, I don't usually swear on this blog but right now I have to. This picture totally covers how I feel about Captchas. I can never read them and they make me totally crazy.

I've only just discovered I had one on this blog, and I'm really, really sorry. No wonder so few of you commented - how annoying and inconsiderate I must have seemed. Anyway, it is now gone and you can comment to your heart's content. For good measure, I've enabled anonymous commenting in the hope that I don't have too many haters ... or if I do, it'll be the kind I can take as a badge of honour!

Anyway, please comment ... it's lonely talking to myself!

A big step!

I did it! I applied for the Amazon Associates program. If they accept me, I will be able to post links for you, my faithful readers, to buy stuff from them, and I will get a small commission each time you do.

I've hesitated about this for a long time. I've not enabled AdSense or any other kind of advertising on my blog, because I myself don't like blogs that are covered in ads, and I didn't want mine to be like that.

I've been listening to the podcasts of a guy called David Wood. He's an Englishman who grew up in poverty, left school at 15 and spent 10.5 years of his life backpacking through the world. He then became involved in multi-level marketing and other such businesses and became wealthy, but he also discovered that his passion lay in helping people achieve a better life. He became a trainer who goes around the world speaking to people and enthusing them to have what he calls "a kickass life".

One of the characteristics of a kickass life is the ability to look at oneself and the world with clarity and love, and to try new things as fearlessly as you can manage. Not to mention laughing a lot, which is something I try to do anyway, but now I have the endorsement of a major figure!

So one of the things I want to do is to take baby steps towards supporting myself and my family with the writing I do online. Affiliate links are a particularly painless way of doing that, both for myself and for you - they will be clearly labeled, they will only be for things I really recommend, and they won't clutter up the blog with noisy garbage neither of us wants to see.

In my fearful imagining, you are immediately repulsed by the entire idea, nobody ever comes to read this blog again, and my life loses all meaning.

In reality, I'm hoping you are mildly curious and not disapproving. Let me know if you feel strongly otherwise. It won't happen for a while, as I now wait with trepidation for Amazon's judgement - and yours.

Just Eat Real Food

This is a picture of my JERF shirt. I've worn it a few times, but I'm still too vain to post pictures of myself in a tank top. One of these days, maybe.

One of my favourite podcasters these days is Sean Croxton at Underground Wellness. He makes YouTube videos, has a podcast and a blog and a book and everything people need to have nowadays to make an impact. He's a reformed personal trainer who has gone from the "Eat Less, Move More" mantra of the low-fat paradigm to a holistic, paleo-type version of reality. He has hosted the Paleo Summit and the Real Food Summit, and the latter has become his latest passion. Since that is a passion I share, I'd love to talk about it some more.

When I was growing up in Israel, there were fast food restaurants, and I believe we may have patronised them from time to time. There were definitely real and good restaurants, and I have fond memories of going there, especially a Yemenite restaurant in Tel Aviv called Zion, which absolutely had the best hummus I have ever eaten anywhere, any time.

But most of the time, we ate at home. We shopped at the local grocery store and there was a "yarkan", a greengrocer, who came by once or twice a week to sell fresh produce from the surrounding farms. Later, when I was older, we went to the supermarket in the nearby town. Now the little local grocery store in the village is closed up and I don't know what happened to the "yarkan", but my family members who live in Israel still mostly buy and prepare real food. I should add that these are people who work full-time, so they are just as pressed for time as anybody else. They just care about what they put in their mouths. I remember my mother being creative with leftovers - Friday night's chicken usually ended up in chicken fried rice by Wednesday or so.

The same was true when I was a student in Amsterdam in the eighties. We ate out, but it was real food cooked in a restaurant kitchen. We mostly cooked at home and invited each other over for dinner. Real food was our life. If we had no money, we bought cheap food, but it was still food. Cooking for your friends was the ultimate expression of love for them.

I'm not sure when and how those concepts got lost in North America. Somehow it seems to be elitist to be interested in the provenance of your food, and you are expected to pay extra for the privilege of eating food that isn't drenched in Roundup. How did this happen, and why?

I know the story of the munitions factories that needed to be converted into fertiliser producers after the war, and of women who were sold the myth that they were much too busy to cook for their families. I remember TV dinners - we lived in the US for a few years in the sixties and seventies, and I think my mother bought a few out of curiosity. They certainly weren't a staple - ugh! I remember making my mother buy horrible cotton-like bread because I wanted the Bicentennial stickers (anybody remember those?). And yet that food was probably more nutritious than what we are feeding our children today - and there were no giant sodas.

I have busy children who sometimes have activities that keep them away from home at dinnertime. I hate those weeks - the dinner table is such an important place to reconnect at the end of the day. My wallet, their nutrition and our relationship all suffer when they are away from our dinner table too many nights a week. We are all sugar addicts but we are working diligently on taking better care of ourselves, and that means real food as much as possible. Fruit, nuts and cheese will make you feel so much better than granola bars or cookies.

Real food not only nourishes our bodies, it connects our souls and helps us feel rooted to our families and our land. What are you doing to feed yourself and those you love real food?

Responsibility - #BlogElul 28

Taking responsibility has got to be one of the hardest lessons we ever learn. It's what the Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony is really about - taking on adult responsibilities, even if in our modern society they are "only" ritual ones, and we don't really expect a 13 year-old to be responsible for their own life. It is the beginning, though - the secular world recognises that - at least here in Manitoba, a child aged 12 and up can be charged with a criminal offence, implying that they can recognise and take responsibility for their actions.
To be treated as an adult, though, a person must have turned 18 or even 21 in some jurisdictions. The law then attributes full responsibility for the person's actions to them, and they can no longer hide behind their parents or somewhere else.

But how many people really take full responsibility for their choices in life? How many blame circumstance, their boss, their mother, whatever it is? Heck, this trend started with our first parents, Adam and Eve (Genesis, Chapter 3):

יב  וַיֹּאמֶר, הָאָדָם:  הָאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתָּה עִמָּדִי, הִוא נָתְנָה-לִּי מִן-הָעֵץ וָאֹכֵל.	12 And the man said: 'The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.'
יג  וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים לָאִשָּׁה, מַה-זֹּאת עָשִׂית; וַתֹּאמֶר, הָאִשָּׁה, הַנָּחָשׁ הִשִּׁיאַנִי, וָאֹכֵל.	13 And the LORD God said unto the woman: 'What is this thou hast done?' And the woman said: 'The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat

It's hard to stand up and say, I choose. But as we go into the final Shabbat before Rosh HaShanah, here's a thought I'd love to leave with you. It's a very famous quote from the author Marianne Williamson, but none the worse for having been bandied about the Internet.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. 

If we can take responsibility for who we are, we can be powerful without measure in healing the world.

Forgiveness - #BlogElul 25

In the 14th chapter of the Book of Numbers, we have a very serious rebellion on the part of the people of Israel. They refuse to go in and claim the land that G-d has promised them, and threaten to stone the two spies who try to encourage them. They desire to return to Egypt, to the land of slavery and security.

G-d is fed up to the back teeth with all this and tells Moses that he is about to destroy these annoying people and replace them with Moses' offspring. Moses cunningly points out that in that case the whole project, derailed already, would become a laughing stock for all the surrounding peoples. It is kind of amazing that G-d falls for that kind of argument, which suggests that the threat was not very serious to begin with. Then we have this very interesting exchange, which is followed by the punishment of wandering in the desert for 40 years until all the generation of slavery has died (except for the two righteous spies):

יט  סְלַח-נָא, לַעֲו‍ֹן הָעָם הַזֶּה--כְּגֹדֶל חַסְדֶּךָ; וְכַאֲשֶׁר נָשָׂאתָה לָעָם הַזֶּה, מִמִּצְרַיִם וְעַד-הֵנָּה. 19 Pardon, I pray Thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of Thy lovingkindness, and according as Thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.' כ  וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, סָלַחְתִּי כִּדְבָרֶךָ. 20 And the LORD said: 'I have pardoned according to thy word. These lines are enshrined in the Makhzor, the special prayer book for the High Holy Days - we repeat them many times, reminding G-d of this promise. The forgiveness that G-d gives us is according to the greatness of G-d's lovingkindness, and not because we are so worthy. We are well-known for being stiff-necked and wandering from the path at the slightest provocation. But G-d forgives us because of Her greatness. When we forgive those who deserve to wander in the desert of our affections for at least 40 years, we achieve something resembling the greatness of G-d. We aren't doing it for their benefit, but for our own. Receiving forgiveness is a great gift, but giving it is even better. Whom do you need to pardon according to the Torah's word?

Giving - #BlogElul 24

Yesterday the phone rang and it was a rather prominent member of our community, wanting to talk to my husband. Since she isn't someone we socialise with, and it was the second Sunday in September, I guessed that she was calling to canvass us for the Combined Jewish Appeal, our local Federation's major fundraising push.

We gave, of course. It's good to give to the community, whether it's time, money or both. Much of this money goes to support my children's school, which, as a result, is unique in North America in being an affordable Jewish Day School.

Still, there is something that perturbs me when a woman I don't actually know, although I recognise her name, phones me on a Sunday afternoon to ask for money. Tzedakah, roughly translated as charity, is a major virtue in Judaism as it is in Islam (with an almost identical name, which I find fascinating). The root of the word is the same as that of Tzedek, meaning justice. Jews (and Muslims) do not give charity out of the goodness of their heart or merely as a virtue, but as an obligation. If we are able, we are obligated to support the needy.

The great rabbi Maimonides established eight levels of Tzedakah. The highest level of Tzedakah is one in which the benefactor establishes a partnership with the recipient, so that the latter is no longer in need of help but is gainfully employed. Going down from there, the next highest level is one in which the gift is completely anonymous - neither benefactor nor recipient know who received and who gave, so there is no embarrassment. In the next level, the benefactor knows, but the recipient doesn't; next one down, the situation is reversed. Giving to a person's face but before being asked comes next. The list continues, and the one where you give when you are asked is pretty darned low down on it. Having your name emblazoned on an honour list has got to be even lower down, although it looks like Maimonides did not even conceive of the idea.

I do realise that the Federation needs the money and this is the most efficient way to do it. The synagogues all ask for money on Yom Kippur, too, which has always blown my mind (although again, this is the most efficient way - captive audience who might not be there otherwise).

Giving is good, but I wish there was a better way to support the community without sinking to names on buildings everywhere. What do you think?

Awakening - #BlogElul23

Ooh, a tough one this time, Rabbi Sommer. I feel like I am in a dialogue with you, even though I've never met you or even corresponded with you. I do hope you are reading these blog posts - I think you are. It's funny how some of these little contributions just flow out of my fingers, and some just keep on getting erased again and again.

In search of inspiration, I asked Rabbi Google for a definition of awakening, and this is what s/he told me:

 a·wak·en·ing/əˈwāk(ə)niNG/

Noun:	An act or moment of becoming suddenly aware of something.
Adjective:	Coming into existence or awareness.
Synonyms:	revival - arousal

Ah. That gestalt moment when the vase suddenly becomes two faces, when we suddenly see or understand something we can never again unsee. Realisations hit us when we spend time on the accounting of the soul, and we can never again become unaware of them.

It can be pretty darned painful, but it is often a useful exercise, one way or another. The pursuit of mindfulness can have its costs, because ignorance or rather obliviousness sometimes can be bliss.

But in the end, it is better to know, to understand, to forgive, rather than to stuff things down into our unconscious and let them dictate our actions from the depths.

Awakening can mean looking reality in the eye, trying to understand the past and move forward to the future. Sometimes we would rather remain asleep, but Elul calls upon us to wake up to who we are and who we can be.

What will you awaken to today?

Seeing - #BlogElul 22

This morning at minyan I had the privilege of leading Shacharit, as I usually do on Sundays. I was thinking about the commandment to wear the tzitzit, the ritual fringes that give the tallit its meaning - otherwise it is just a four-cornered shawl.

We remind ourselves of this commandment every morning in the third paragraph of the Sh'ma, the most basic of Jewish blessings.

When we think of the Sh'ma,  we think mostly of the iconic first line, the one we hear whenever we take the Torah out of the ark, the one we are supposed to say on our deathbeds:

Hear, O Israel, HaShem is our G-d, HaShem is One.

But that line is embedded in a series of other blessings and commandments, and the third paragraph of that series tells us, quoting Numbers 15 37-39:

לז  וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר.	37 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:
לח  דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם, וְעָשׂוּ לָהֶם צִיצִת עַל-כַּנְפֵי בִגְדֵיהֶם, לְדֹרֹתָם; וְנָתְנוּ עַל-צִיצִת הַכָּנָף, פְּתִיל תְּכֵלֶת.	38 'Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them throughout their generations fringes in the corners of their garments, and that they put with the fringe of each corner a thread of blue.
לט  וְהָיָה לָכֶם, לְצִיצִת, וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת-כָּל-מִצְו‍ֹת יְהוָה, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם; וְלֹא-תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם, וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם, אֲשֶׁר-אַתֶּם זֹנִים, אַחֲרֵיהֶם.	39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye go not about after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go astray;

The purpose of the fringe is to protect our eyes from the temptations that will lead us astray from loving G-d with all our hearts and all our souls and all our might (which is what the first paragraph after the Sh'ma tells us to do). We will see it and be reminded, just like tying a knot in your handkerchief to remind you to do something. Seeing is remembering.

How are you going to remember to avoid going astray this year?

Hearing - #BlogElul 21

The High Holiday services are very auditory - the cantor leads the congregation in many traditional tunes, often there is a choir to enhance the experience. The rabbi gives a longer and more intense sermon than usual. The shofar sounds 100 times over the two days of Rosh HaShanah, and with full force at the end of Yom Kippur.

In the congregation itself, people talk and sing and there is often much noise going on. We think about the meal we need to prepare, about the family and friends we will be greeting at our table. We chat with people we may not have seen all year. So much distraction.

Where is G-d in all this? In the noise and singing? Let us think for a moment about these lines from the Book of Kings.

יא  וַיֹּאמֶר, צֵא וְעָמַדְתָּ בָהָר לִפְנֵי יְהוָה, וְהִנֵּה יְהוָה עֹבֵר וְרוּחַ גְּדוֹלָה וְחָזָק מְפָרֵק הָרִים וּמְשַׁבֵּר סְלָעִים לִפְנֵי יְהוָה, לֹא בָרוּחַ יְהוָה; וְאַחַר הָרוּחַ רַעַשׁ, לֹא בָרַעַשׁ יְהוָה.	11 And He said: 'Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD.' And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
יב  וְאַחַר הָרַעַשׁ אֵשׁ, לֹא בָאֵשׁ יְהוָה; וְאַחַר הָאֵשׁ, קוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָּה.	12 and after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
יג  וַיְהִי כִּשְׁמֹעַ אֵלִיָּהוּ, וַיָּלֶט פָּנָיו בְּאַדַּרְתּוֹ, וַיֵּצֵא, וַיַּעֲמֹד פֶּתַח הַמְּעָרָה; וְהִנֵּה אֵלָיו, קוֹל, וַיֹּאמֶר, מַה-לְּךָ פֹה אֵלִיָּהוּ.	13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said: 'What doest thou here, Elijah?'

When the prophet Elijah was called to stand before G-d, he got quite the display of natural wonders, wind and earthquake and fire - so much noise. But in the end, G-d was in the still small voice that spoke to him. Elijah needed to get through all the distraction and noise to be able to hear the voice of G-d in his heart.

Can we put all the distraction aside and hear the still small voice?

Endings - #BlogElul 20

How clever of Rabbi Sommer to put Endings at the end of the work week, as we prepare for Shabbat. Cooking special foods, looking forward to resting and seeing friends at shul, putting this first week of school behind us.

I've been writing and posting these blogs the evening before, when it is the Jewish day already but not yet the Gregorian one. But last night I got home too late to write it, because our Internet ends at 10:30 pm on school nights. There's another ending to think about - a self-imposed boundary that my family has taken on, because my teens and I are Internet junkies - if it is there, we will be on. So all summer it went out at midnight, but now it turns into a pumpkin at 10:30 so we can go to bed and get the sleep we so desperately need. Sometimes blogging just has to wait. What endings and boundaries do you impose on yourself to deal with your own weaknesses?

I am going to try something I've never done before - pre-write a blog post (for tomorrow) and have it post on a schedule. I won't know if it has worked until after Havdallah, the beautiful separation ceremony that ends Shabbat and brings us back into the workaday world. Of course the first thing my teens and I do when we have made Havdallah is to run back to the Internet to see what we have missed. It is very  important to us to have those 26 hours offline, but when they are over, our FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) strikes in full force. I'm not proud of it, but there it is.

Wishing everyone a restful Shabbat, and I'll see you on the other side.

Love - #BlogElul 18

Tomorrow is my kids' first day of school for this year. That is the main reason my day of Elul is practically coinciding with my day of September - I need to finish this blog post and go to bed, my alarm will go off at 6:30 for the first time in two months.

There was much running around and packing and organising, and people who couldn't get to sleep from excitement and a whole summer of going to bed late. There is a newly minted Grade 5 student who is nervous about getting her own locker, a big brave Grade 8 student who has this junior high thing figured out, and an unbelievable Grade 11 student who is suddenly thinking about university and life after the school in which he began kindergarten just the other day.

I am very blessed to have three versions of my heart out walking around outside my body, to quote the writer Elizabeth Stone. Before they came into my life I thought I knew what love was. I had parents and siblings and lovers, and I loved them all. But they did not cause my heart to go walking around outside my body.

During the High Holy Days, we imagine G-d as the King of Kings, a stern but fair judge. But let us not forget that HaShem is also our parent, and that the feminine aspect of G-d, the Shechinah, is our Holy Mother. We are Her heart walking around the world. In the face of such love, how can we be afraid?

Wonder - #BlogElul 16

Today is the 16th day of Elul, because the sun has already set. Very confusing, because it is still September 2nd. At midnight, the two days will coalesce into one, only to separate again at tomorrow's sunset.

Our ability to handle two calendars at the same time is only part of the wonder that is the human mind. My daughter is now of an age that she has been asking me where we go when we die - I have to admit that I don't know. I like to think that my late mother's consciousness is still around somewhere, amused at the cosmic joke of my daughter being so very much like myself. Yet that joke is a wonder in itself - the face, the voice, the behaviour - not identical because she is, after all, her father's daughter as well, but shockingly similar at times.

Religion is not really necessary to appreciate the wonder of this gift of life and the perpetuation of ourselves, but it helps organise our response to it, I think. I don't know whether Judaism is the only religion that has a special blessing to be said upon seeing natural wonders: we bless the King of the Universe who has fulfilled the act of Creation. It is to be said upon seeing a magnificent mountain or a gorgeous sunrise - something special.

Where have you been that justified a special blessing for natural wonders?

Learning and Health - #BlogElul 14 and 15

As I was planning this series of blog posts about Elul, following Rabbi Phyllis Sommer's #BlogElul system that you see here on the left, I knew I couldn't write number 14 on Shabbat, so I figured I'd write it after Shabbat was out. But by then, of course, it would be the 15th of Elul, because Jewish days start at sunset, not midnight.

So I'm combining 14 and 15 into one, which I am posting on the 15th of Elul, Saturday night. No wonder we have got such a lovely full moon - it's the middle of the month already, and Rosh HaShanah is only two weeks away. Yikes.

To me, learning and health have become inextricably connected in recent years, so it is actually more than appropriate for me to combine them in one blog post. A few years ago I suffered a major bout of ulcerative colitis that nearly landed me in hospital. I took my steroids as directed for a limited time to get the flareup under control, but I was determined not to go on the long term, low-dose chemotherapy drugs that seems to be modern medicine's only answer to autoimmune disease. It was first offered to me in 1995, and there wasn't anything better on tap in 2010. It was very disappointing.

So, I started learning about alternatives ways of supporting health (as opposed to treating symptoms and suppressing the immune-system-gone-wild). My travels on the Internet led me first to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and then to paleo, and to the fascinating concept of n = 1 self-experimentation.

There are a zillion and a half diets and theories and concepts out there, most of them contradictory. A fruitarian like Durianrider gets excellent results, and so do people who eat exactly the opposite way. It's enough to make you throw your hands in the air and give up, and just eat Twinkies until you die.

Alternatively, you can try things out and find out what works for you. Your body is unique (unless you have an identical twin, and even then your life experience will cause epigenetic changes). What works for your buddy may not work for you. What works for you may be disastrous for your sister. Only by taking responsibility for your own health, learning what works for your body, your metabolism and your immune system, can you become healthy (as opposed to merely managing symptoms). Health care professionals can support us in this quest, but we've got to be the ones driving the train - nobody in this world knows your  body better than you do. Learn as much as you can to achieve health.

Wishing everyone a healthy new year!

Elul is almost halfway through ...

I've been reading an amazing blog by Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. She talks about all sorts of things, but right now she's engaged in a project called #BlogElul, as you can see in this picture I lifted from said blog

So, what's Elul when it's at home? Elul is the sixth month of the Hebrew calendar, and when it ends, we have the first day of the seventh month, known as Tishrei. This day is mandated in the Torah to be a day of solemn assembly, of blowing of trumpets, of G-d's judging of our sins of the previous year and determination of our fate in the coming year. Yes, that's Rosh HaShanah, literally the Head of the Year. We call it the Jewish New Year, but actually it is not the beginning of the first month - that one is Nisan, the spring month in which we commemorate our redemption from Egypt. Are you confused yet?

Anyway, the tradition is to spend the month of Elul, before Rosh HaShanah, in the practice known as "cheshbon hanefesh", literally an accounting of the soul. In the synagogue, every weekday after the morning service, we sound the shofar to remind us that we need to be spiritually prepared to meet the King of Kings. It is quite common for people to follow some kind of book or path in this preparation.

Rabbi Sommer has provided us with a visual blueprint to guide brief daily blogs about the Elul process, and I meant to participate in it, but got caught up in other things, as so often happens. People have been posting their Elul blogs in the comments of her blog, and I want to join in. It is, after all, never too late to begin the accounting of the soul.

Today is the 12th day of Elul, and her theme is Image. I can think of no better image than this nice blue sign, and I will do my very best to keep up. Most of the posts should be much briefer than this, so don't be daunted by the prospect of daily posts from me!

How is your accounting going?

Why Blog?

So I've been going on about these women bloggers I've been hanging out with on FB. One of them asked us why we blog, what benefit we accrue from blogging, what keeps us going.

I gave some kind of flippant answer, but in truth, now that I've been doing this for a while (almost exactly a year, in fact), maybe it really is time to stop and think about the why.

I started this blog as a place to experiment with writing, to see if it was something I could do. I didn't have any particular audience or purpose in mind beyond my immediate family and friends. I called it My Coat of Many Colours because I love Carol King's song Tapestry, in which a character wearing a coat of many colours drifts across the Tapestry of her life. I even explained all of that in this blog post. I am such a classic ADHD person, a drifter and a butterfly and a jack of so many trades. This blog was started as a way to explore all those different interests and passions that I have, trying to figure out what I want to be if I ever grow up. I'm fifty years old now, so you'd think I have a pretty good sense of self, but if anything, I'm more confused now than I was when I was twenty, because I've tried a few things I thought then that I might want and it turns out I was wrong.

So the first purpose of this blog, for me, is to help me figure things out by writing about them. I've never been much of a journal-keeper, but I do find that sometimes thoughts flow out better through my fingers than swirling around in my brain. Obviously I do practise a certain amount of self-censorship, especially as it involves other people.

Another thing this blog has done for me is to help me find new communities. I've joined a couple of blogging groups on Facebook, and both of them have been wonderful. I've developed a passion for local food, and I've met some amazing people through writing about that. I've joined a Paleo Bloggers' group as well, and have learned a lot from reading the blogs there. I'm exploring all kinds of traditional food skills like fermenting and dehydrating, and the blog is one way for me to talk about those beyond a few status updates and pictures on Facebook. I also talk about Judaism. It is indeed a coat of many colours, which means I don't fit into any niche. How beautifully my blog mirrors my life.

I would love to find some way of making a living from blogging, but yeah, so does everybody else out there. Trust Julien Smith to express that with his trademark ferocious succinctness. I'm no Dooce, that's for sure. I've thought of putting affiliate links and stuff like that (not ads) on this blog and I'm afraid my friends will all hate me if I do. Still working that one out. Would you mind if I did? What would you like to see?

So why do I blog? Because it's there. Because there are people out there who actually read it sometimes, and it makes me happy when they do. Because it forces me to articulate my thoughts, just like Ruchi's question in our FB group made me stop and think. Because it's one of the few things in my current life that require discipline, and I need more of that in my ADHD soul. I've actually got my calendar set up to send me a reminder every day to write. It doesn't always happen at the time, but at least I think about it, and that sometimes leads to writing later.

I've often wondered whether I should focus this blog more on one thing and try to turn it into a source of income. Or maybe I should split it up into specialised baby blogs. Or maybe I'm wasting my time trying to "find myself" and I should just suck it up and get a job.

What do you think? If you blog, why do you? If you don't, why not?

Spring Paleo Manitoba Supper

 

Yesterday I was at Petrasko Bros picking up some bedding plants, and of course I had to get a picture of this sign. It just shows how Manitobans feel about spring and summer, after six months of the white stuff on the ground. This year actually was pretty good, spring was early and we had some amazingly warm days in March and April. But now we have local asparagus (yes, I know it's June. We're in the NORTH here, people). We have local greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers from Greenland Gardens. We are fortunate to have local mushrooms year-round from Loveday Mushroom Farms, and we currently also have local onions (of which unfortunately I don't know the provenance - but I trust Eatit.ca when they tell me something is Manitoba-grown). I've also been picking up local produce and organic baby veggie plants at the Red River General Store. A bit of a drive, but so worth it.

So, on to our dinner the other night. Sometimes we are fortunate to have pickerel or northern pike from the lakes of Northern Manitoba, but this was a vegetarian one, with free-run eggs from Nature's Farm in Steinbach. The garlic is not yet local, but I can't cook without garlic. Sorry. I'm not sure why I put the container of tomato sauce (homemade - that's another post) in the picture, maybe I was planning to use some, but in the end I didn't.

Paleo purists will complain about the bag of bagels in the background. All I can say is that my kids are not there yet. Baby steps.

Anyway, we had two main dishes - a mushroom fritatta, and of course, this time of year, we must have asparagus.The cooking oil of choice in paleo cooking is coconut oil, not local, alas. With global warming, though, who knows? Coconut palms at Portage and Main ...

These pictures are mostly just an excuse to show off my beautiful cast-iron pans, which I bought at Pollock's Hardware Co-op, a beautiful place in a beautiful city. Once you start cooking with cast iron, you will never want to go back to those nasty Teflon non-stick pans. Ditch that toxic cookware, people!

Anyway, you heat up your coconut oil, saute your onions and garlic until they are transparent but not brown, then add your mushrooms. Yum. Your kitchen smells good. You scramble up your eggs, add a little oregano, basil and thyme (very shortly those will be extremely local, from my garden!). Salt to taste. Add to your pan, turn down the heat, cover and let it cook merrily away. You may have to brown the top under the broiler, if your fritatta is too big to flip. I'm a wimp that way.

As mentioned, all meals this time of year must include asparagus, on pain of displeasing the Locavore Gods. So here's the braised asparagus dish that went with the fritatta. Start onions and garlic the same as before (although I think I may have used butter instead of coconut oil for this - anybody got a source for local organic butter??).

I think I added a little salt, as well. Fresh, local asparagus does not need any enhancements, in my humble opinion. The flavour of asparagus is what's called the fifth flavour (not sweet, salty, bitter or sour). I don't buy imported asparagus because I really don't think it can stand up to travel. So this time of year is especially precious to me.

So, here is the final product. I'm still learning about food photography as well as cooking and blogging, so bear with me. It was yummy, though.

I would love to see what you are cooking up this time of year!

Why Blogging About Food in Manitoba is Really Cool

Chef Michael Shafer demonstrates

Sometimes you just have to step out in faith and ask to play with the big kids. I have recently joined a FaceBook group called Manitoba Food Bloggers. I'm fortunate to be in a group there with people like Shel Zolkewich, Rebecca Hadfield, Ron Cantiveros and other luminaries of the Manitoba food blogging world. They talk about food and farming and restaurants in Manitoba and are generally awesome.

Now I am still recovering from an amazing lunch that I enjoyed on Monday, courtesy of Tourism Winnipeg as part of their kickoff of national Tourism Week. In particular, they were launching Peg City Grub, a very cool blog featuring as many as possible of Winnipeg's 1100 restaurants. It is written and photographed by Robin Summerfield, who totally rocks, and not just because she checked out this blog and decided I was a good fit.

The event at the Forks started with a demonstration by Chef Michael Shafer, of Sydney's at the Forks and the newly opened Rudy's Eat and Drink. Not being a pork eater, I am not clear on the details of the tenderloin he was working on, but I do know it involved Fort Garry Dark Ale, and the smell made me hungry.

That was a good thing as we then moved on to an impressive lunch, which I live-tweeted - how nerdy can you get? Luckily so did a few other people, so I didn't feel too freakish. I also got to meet and share a table with some delightful bloggers. Now I have some real-life faces to put to the posts I see in the FB group!

The lunch consisted of a lot of tiny courses, each supplied by a different restaurant at the Forks. I didn't partake of all of them (in particular, I passed on the crab, bison and chicken), but those I had were delectable. A few pictures (by no means everything we were offered!) just to make you hungry, too.

Empanada from Chilean Corner

Greek Salad from Zorba's Pizza

MB pickerel from Fergie's Fish 'n Chips

Seasonal mini-pie from Tall Grass Prairie Bakery

Three-chocolate canolli from Casa Bella

 So now I am really happy I plucked up the courage to ask Robin if this event was only for the important people with big blogs. It wasn't, and that is what this city is like.

Oh, and one more thing. Those awesome folks from Manitoba Food Bloggers are holding a bake sale on Friday at Aqua Books, 274 Garry Street, from 10 am to 2 pm, in support of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day. I will be contributing some almost-paleo brownies, which are currently making my kitchen smell good and about which I will be blogging shortly. I hope to see you there!