A boring, catching-up sort of post

New Year's Eve turned out to be a pretty quiet one, low-key but fun. Queue taught me how to play Killer Bunnies, which is a fun game to play, except that I really don't care for the final win conditions. And for a game with the rules written on the cards, they're not as well written as I'd like. It hasn't stopped me from playing yet, though. It was also an evening of make-your-own pizza, with herbed dough for the crust. There were lots of the usual suspects for toppings, plus a couple of unusual ones. I tried fake pepperoni for the first, and last, time. Ugh.

January 1 was a day a transitions. In the morning, the first bar mitzvah of my college friends' offspring (read: intermittent feelings of age and lack of accomplishment throughout). He did a very good job, leading almost all of services and doing the Torah reading. His little brother (4.5 years old) was very cute leading Adon Olam at the end. Being a weekday meant that there were (fairly unobtrusive) video cameras about, especially for the speeches. There were six of those, the d'var Torah by the boy, the rabbi, and the boy's special chevruta (an incredibly sweet man) after services, then his grandmother, his mother, and his father during the meal.

In the afternoon, I joined Scholargipsy going to Kripalu for Pheromone's transition program, marking the end of her three months there, with this program, at least. Each ceremony is different, designed by the group after them, and includes introducing the newest group, and the ones leaving sharing their feelings. The rest is up to the organizers. This one linked each person to a Tarot card and a type of crystal, which is not something I'm particularly interested in. Afterwards, there was a drumming circle, which was a lot of fun. I hadn't danced in one before, and was surprised at how easy it was to want to move, rather more so than some club music, somehow. Unfortunately, I was too tired to take full advantage of the opportunity.

Friday day was mostly Shabbat prep, coordinating with a friend who had acquired a broken toe. We did potluck for dinner, including a wonderfully spicy salmon dish with artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and olives.

I had a quiet Shabbat, followed by an impromptu visit to Pandemonium and more Killer Bunnies.

Sunday Hrafn showed me how to thread a sewing machine (again; I hope this time it sticks), I helped a friend pack, and went to the local Building 19, one I hadn't realized was at Assembly Square until a couple of weeks ago. As usual, there was junk and there was treasure (well, relatively). I couldn't resist some blue glow-in-the-dark paint, though I have no particular plans for it. Yet. I was pleased I managed to have a reasonably useful day while fasting, without getting excessively grouchy. Of course, it being the shortest one does make it easier...

Ginger follow-up

After harvesting ginger, I chunked the old ginger and put into chicken soup. The new ginger I carefully peeled with my fingers, sliced, and boiled twice in sugar syrup to make candied ginger. According to the variety of recipes I saw, I should probably do it a third time, but I ran out of patience, especially since there wasn't that much ginger to start with.

What I hadn't realized is that when making candied ginger, there's a by-product, ginger syrup, which is just wonderful, with fresh ginger taste in a sweet syrup. This could be put on pancakes, or over ice cream, or fresh fruit, but the first thing I wanted to try was gingerbread, and tonight I finally did that. I made a batch of gingerbread using the same Joy of Cooking recipe I'd used before, except I ramped up the ginger powder, though not quite as much as the last experiment (I've used a container in under three weeks, which is definitely a record for me.), and I replaced all of the honey and a bit of the molasses with ginger syrup. I made six individual gingerbreads for the condo meeting I ended up hosting tonight, and they're all gone; they were good while they lasted.

There was batter left over after the gingerbreads, and, remembering InfiniteHotel's description of a fruitcake he'd made recently, decided to use the rest of the batter for fruitcake. It's a bit odd, having been baked in a pie tin rather than a loaf pan, and having a non-traditional mix of add-ins (roughly chopped still-moist dried apricots, roughly chopped Medjool dates, slivered almonds, crushed walnuts, and sunflower seeds), but I think using the gingerbread batter worked pretty well. Next time, I should balance the fruit/nut mixture differently, with a few more kinds of fruit, but the nuts and seeds worked beautifully.

I have more ginger syrup left. Does anyone have other suggestions for how to use it?