Shabbat, Shavuot, and so on

[magid]

Sunday night through last evening was Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks (seven weeks after Passover), celebrating the giving of the ten commandments (in the exodus cycle) and the first fruits (in the agricultural cycle). Given the incredibly hot and humid weather, I did most of the actual cooking before Shabbat, then supplemented with last-minute salads and such. And even though the holiday is traditionally a time for eating dairy foods, in the heat, that often felt too heavy. So, I made:

• flatbreads with some rye flour
  
• turkey thighs roasted with onions, garlic, figs, pine nuts, rosemary, lavender, golden wine, and a bit of olive oil (good, but really more of an autumn dish)
  
• sauteed ground turkey with onions, spinach, preserved lemon, and hot sauce
  
• boiled artichokes
  
• potato salad
  
• strawberry-rhubarb sauce
  
• chicken breasts sauteed with onions and salsa
  
• green salad: one of the chicken breasts, diced, with green leaf lettuce, cress, arugula, basil, tomatoes, olives, slivered almonds, pansies, and a balsamic vinaigrette (I should've used lime; I wasn't thinking. Still, it was good.)
  
• Israeli salad with half-sour pickles and tomatoes
  
• 'sun tea' of nana (mint) tea with sliced limes

I had hummus, too, and ate a lot of it with bread and tomatoes :-). Plus some cheesecake, of course.

Since I had an invitation to dinner the second night, I decided not to leave any candles lit, nor a hot plate or burner on; the weather was just too sticky. This worked out well, except for early Monday evening, when the power went. I saw and heard the fan slowing, and realized that not only would I be hotter, but the food in the fridge and freezer might need to be ditched. I'm so glad the power came on a couple of hours later, before I had to leave, so I knew things would (likely) be fine.

I hadn't realized the extent of the problem, though: when I was walking through Central Sq. around 7 pm on Monday, not only were most businesses closed, but Mass Ave inbound was blocked off. Later I heard that there was a fire at the McDonald's, but that didn't seem enough to explain it all. And I'd already gotten power back, too. Walking back still later (1 am), there were still utility crews out working in Central. I don't know why there were problems with major generators (LJ has all answers :-), but it's a bit concerning, because this isn't the worst heat we've had.

And I'm amazed at how quickly the weather turned, too. I know, New England weather is variable, but a 40+ degree (F) change in a day is still unusual.

Anyway. It was very nice to have an invitation for the second dinner, with excellent conversation and food, and a good reason to get out of the house and walking (I've been feeling sluglike in the heat).


Overheard on the extremely overcrowded T this morning: there's only one Arabic interpreter in MA.

Comments

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

There was also some sorta manhole fire/explosion/disaster late Monday afternoon in Central; it forced me to reroute on my way home, and cancelled my grocery run, as Harvest was without power.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Ah, ok, multiple power issues, then.

I hadn't realized the probable extent of the problem until my walk; it was a fairly wide area (or at least, an area with a rather large number of power customers).