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Random, Tuesday edition
Feb. 27th, 2007 01:32 pmThe new Charles/MGH station entrance is open. Getting from it to Charles St. seems even worse than the old station, since it's on the wrong side of some lights. It's farther from the platform, too. I remain unimpressed with the planning.
The noontime carillon sounding by Downtown Crossing was playing "New York, New York." Just... wrong.
Yesterday's snow was very wet, almost like rain, and it was warm out (hence so many clear sidewalks today, happily). Why, then, would many people have walked on the pond in the Public Garden? Sure, it still looks iced over, but it's not that cold!
Another book I read recently was The City, Not Long After (Pat Murphy), which was amazing and wonderful. Highly recommended, especially for Californians and Burners, since it's set in post-plague San Francisco, when it's mostly artists left. This is the third novel of hers I've read (thanks to Charliegrrl for the first two, There and Back Again and Adventures in Time and Space With Max Merriwell), all different, all interesting.
Anyone familiar with Jerusalem: do s'farim stores tend to carry klaf (for mezuzot), or should I look elsewhere? (Where?) Also, if you have a favorite restaurant, what is it (and what kind of food)?
I was disappointed in the When Pigs Fly apricot, ginger, and pecan bread, because the ginger seemed to be entirely lacking. Not as in too mild for a confirmed gingerholic, but actually not there. Perhaps I need too much ginger to have it register, compared to most? I don't know.
Thursday is Taanit Esther, the fast of Esther, which is usually the dawn-to-dusk leading up to Purim. However this year Purim is Saturday night to Sunday, and fasting is prohibited on Shabbat, so it moves to Thursday. Plus: not being hungry or tired during megillah reading. Minus: mishloach manot* prep can't happen right before Purim, so it will have to be earlier or on Purim proper. Not that I've decided what I'm doing about mishloach manot (or a costume, but that's a custom, not required).
* There are four positive precepts for Purim:
** Kind of food is determined by the blessing said before it. The categories are fruits, vegetables (which includes any non-tree fruit), things made out of the five grains (wheat, oats, barley, rye, spelt), grapes and grape liquids, bread, or anything else (fish, cheese, etc).
The noontime carillon sounding by Downtown Crossing was playing "New York, New York." Just... wrong.
Yesterday's snow was very wet, almost like rain, and it was warm out (hence so many clear sidewalks today, happily). Why, then, would many people have walked on the pond in the Public Garden? Sure, it still looks iced over, but it's not that cold!
Another book I read recently was The City, Not Long After (Pat Murphy), which was amazing and wonderful. Highly recommended, especially for Californians and Burners, since it's set in post-plague San Francisco, when it's mostly artists left. This is the third novel of hers I've read (thanks to Charliegrrl for the first two, There and Back Again and Adventures in Time and Space With Max Merriwell), all different, all interesting.
Anyone familiar with Jerusalem: do s'farim stores tend to carry klaf (for mezuzot), or should I look elsewhere? (Where?) Also, if you have a favorite restaurant, what is it (and what kind of food)?
I was disappointed in the When Pigs Fly apricot, ginger, and pecan bread, because the ginger seemed to be entirely lacking. Not as in too mild for a confirmed gingerholic, but actually not there. Perhaps I need too much ginger to have it register, compared to most? I don't know.
Thursday is Taanit Esther, the fast of Esther, which is usually the dawn-to-dusk leading up to Purim. However this year Purim is Saturday night to Sunday, and fasting is prohibited on Shabbat, so it moves to Thursday. Plus: not being hungry or tired during megillah reading. Minus: mishloach manot* prep can't happen right before Purim, so it will have to be earlier or on Purim proper. Not that I've decided what I'm doing about mishloach manot (or a costume, but that's a custom, not required).
* There are four positive precepts for Purim:
- hear the reading of the megillah (the book of Esther, chanted from a scroll written by a scribe) evening and morning
- give charity to the poor (at least two people; usually the shul offers to collect the money and distribute it through an agency on the day of Purim)
- have a festive meal (during the day)
- give food to friends/neighbors (in this case, food means at least two kinds of food** given to at least one person, during the day)
** Kind of food is determined by the blessing said before it. The categories are fruits, vegetables (which includes any non-tree fruit), things made out of the five grains (wheat, oats, barley, rye, spelt), grapes and grape liquids, bread, or anything else (fish, cheese, etc).