Aloha Friday: Fasting for Yom Kippur

Tonight, at sundown, I’ll begin fasting for Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is a time for repenting. It is a time to think about all the things you did wrong over the year and plan how to do better in the coming year. There are many restrictions, such as fasting, designed to focus people on their repentance. The fast lasts from sundown on Friday night to an hour after sundown on Saturday night. In short, 25 hours. During this period, I won’t be able to eat or drink anything. No, I can’t even have a sip of water. (Some people are so religious that they won’t brush their teeth or shower during Yom Kippur. I do not belong to this group, however, and continue with basic hygene hygene.)

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What is the longest period you went without eating or drinking?


Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #55

Cooking With TechyDad: Slowcooker Greek Chicken

One can be forgiven for thinking that we are vegetarian. The fact of the matter is that we usually do eat vegetarian. This isn’t because of some moral stance on not eating animals (though I respect those with that moral stance). Instead, it is because we keep Kosher in the house and the price of Kosher meat is exorbitant. So instead of paying an arm and a leg (and trotting out the meat pots, meat dishes and meat silverware), we buy soy products instead.

Just before Rosh Hashana, however, I got the call to pick up a package from B’s grandmother. She had a big bag with challah, gefilte fish, grape juice and other items. On the bottom was a package of quartered chicken. Normally, I’d toss this into the freezer to deal with at a later time, but it was already thawing. So I put it in the fridge, consulted the sacred tomes (aka my recipe books), and came up with a plan.

First, I gathered the ingredients.

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For those of you who don’t want to click to enlarge the image, that’s olive oil, pepper, 2 onions, minced garlic, salt, the aforementioned chicken, oregano and potatoes.

Next, I quartered 6 small spuds and placed them in my slowcooker.

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Then, being in a cutting mood, I quartered the onions and saved them for later.

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Next, I skinned the chicken and put it in the slow cooker over the potatoes. This took awhile and reminded me why I love working with cutlets that have already been de-skinned and de-boned.

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Remember those onions? (If not, get your memory checked.) Well, I tossed them in on top of the chicken.

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Then came the equivalent of 1 clove of minced garlic into the slowcooker. (Equivalent because I was using pre-minced garlic. Less mess and doesn’t spoil as quickly.)

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Now, I mixed a half cup of water with 3 teaspoons of oregano, 1 teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper. Into the slowcooker it went.

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Finally, a tablespoon of olive oil was drizzled on top of it all.

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I placed the cover on, set the slowcooker to high and let it cook for about five and a half hours.

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The best part? No need for side dishes. It forms a whole meal all by itself!

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YUM!

When Angel Met TechyDad

With all of the Rosh Hashana and blogoversary stuff, I almost forgot another anniversary. The anniversary of B and me. Not of our marriage. That was in June. This anniversary was of the first time we met. Yes, it was 11 years ago last night that B and I first met. I remember it like it was yesterday… or at least like it was a flashback.

*wavy flashback lines*

The date was September 12th, 1999 and I had just come back from Rosh Hashana services. I signed onto my computer, after being offline for 2 days, and decided to browse through the Yahoo! chat rooms for a bit before heading to bed. A few weeks prior, I had edited my profile to include the line “Nice, Jewish Guy Looking For Nice, Jewish Girl.”

Meanwhile, B was online, but had forgotten to close the chat window. She noticed it open, looked at the chat room, noticed me in there and decided to look at my profile. That line I had added a few weeks prior caught her eye and she contacted me. Right from the start, I knew that something was special about this “angel.”

We chatted for hours that night and many nights afterwards. Late night online chats turned into late night phone calls. That turned into meeting in person which turned into a long distance relationship. Before I knew it, I had fallen helplessly in love with my angel and have been stuck there ever since. (No rescue attempts please. I’m happy being stuck here in love with my angel!)

Happy Meeting Anniversary to My Angel Forever!

Aloha Friday: Happy 2nd Blogoversary To Me!

This post celebrates a few things. First of all, it is Rosh Hashana. This means that I’m offline for a few days (this post was scheduled in advance) and will be spending the time in temple, with my family and eating apples and honey.

Secondly, it is my second blogoversary. It’s hard to believe that I started this blog a mere two years ago. There were times that I felt like just stopping because I had no comments and other times when I felt like I had too much to say for a mere 5 posts a week. Speaking of 5 posts a week, I think this was the year that I hit my stride. I posted more regularly. I blogged as I lost 20 pounds. I was able to do more reviews and giveaways. I blogged about my history with bullying (including a story I wrote soon after the incident). I blogged about our trip to Disney World for Disney Social Media Moms and about our trip to New York City for BlogHer 2010. (On that last one, I got to meet a lot of wonderful fellow bloggers.)

I have some big plans for the next year. More reviews and giveaways, of course. Also, a redesign of my site and a “How Does That Work?” series.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: If you blog, how do you celebrate your blogoversary? If you don’t blog, what do you like to do to celebrate special occassions?


Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #54

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