We spent the holiday
of Shavuot with our children and
grandchildren up in Sharon. This holiday has special poignance for our family
because Barry’s father died on the second day of Shavuot 21 years ago. His name was Joshua. It is always nice to
have this time all together to talk to the children about their great
grandfather, who unfortunately was gone before any of them were born. We
especially enjoy thinking about how much he would have appreciated his namesake:
he was athletic and was a good-natured fellow with many friends.
Shavuot
is the holiday that commemorates the revelation at Mount Sinai. There is a
strong tradition to eat dairy foods on this holiday. There are many
explanations for this custom. One that is often given is that when the Jewish people
received the Torah, in which the laws
around the proper preparation of meat were introduced, they needed a few days to
prepare before beginning to observe these laws. There are also repeated
references to Israel as “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Because cuisine
for Shabbat and other Jewish holidays
tends to be focused on meat and chicken, we vegetarians think of Shavuot as our holiday.
So our family had a
dairy extravaganza over the two days. Dina prepared quite a feast for two other
families and us on the first day, including an appetizer of fresh mozzarella, tomato,
and basil with a balsamic vinaigrette, Crespelle, a long-time family favorite
from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant, and desserts that included cheesecake
and “seven layer cookies” (you can find a recipe at https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/91711/seven-layer-magic-cookie-bars/). On the second day our dozen family
members gathered at Simmie’s house to for a meal that included Simmie’s cheese and
potato blintzes and my cheesecake (with sour cream topping).
We left Sharon early
on Tuesday because I had rescheduled my fifth treatment at MSKCC that would have
been last Friday to noon on Tuesday. The drive to New York that usually takes
about 3½ hours took 5, and Barry literally dropped me off at precisely 12:00
pm. Of course, by the time they did the blood work that has to be cleared each
time and then got the drug from the pharmacy, we ended up leaving there after 5
pm. So, it was a very long day!
We stopped along the
way from Sharon to New York at a Starbucks where I had my summer drink of preference,
a chocolate Frappuccino®. I was quite amused by the wrapper on the straw that
instructed
Not
recommended for use in hot beverages
Do we really need
this much protection from ourselves, or have we become such a litigious
society that they feel the need to warn us of something so obvious?
Be well, all.
Love,
Rebecca
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