Archive for the ‘hanukkah’ tag
The Rest of December
Grandma and I went to the Messiah sing-a-long. We tried, but more often than not we sang the wrong words, the wrong notes, and even from the wrong page, but we didn’t care because it was fun. It was more half singing, half giggling, and I think we pissed off the Serious Singers around us.
We both did the alto part, but next year I’m going to sing with the tenors. Rob likes to joke that I should sing “ten or” eleven miles away. Harumph.
Rob and I had the fourth annual Hanukkah+Christmas party in our tiniest apartment yet, and it worked out just fine. It always does. For the most part, I’ve gotten over missing having a bigger place to live in, with a place to park your car, a washer and dryer IN THE HOUSE that you can use whenever you want, a machine that you put dishes into that magically makes them clean without you lifting a finger, and a room dedicated solely to watching television. And a basement for storage!
But on party days, and in the aftermath when everything is dirty and disorganized and needs to be put right again, it’s frustrating. (The trade-off is that we don’t live in the suburbs where “a night out” ends at 11 pm and involves either a dive bar, a loud bar full of skanky girls and meat-head guys, or the Olive Garden.)
To throw a party now we have to push all the furniture around to make room, but even then people ended up spilling out into the hallway. I met new folks, including the chick who writes STFU Parents. She brought me a Britney Spears ornament.
On Hanukkah night one I got a latke-making lesson from Rob’s mom (I did well!), and I recreated it for our party on night eight, along with sufganiot which are jelly donuts also traditionally served at Hanukkah. Then I made big soft pretzels, chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies. In other words, I lost my damn mind. It was delicious.
On Christmas Eve I’ll be on a plane early in the morning and will spend Christmas on the beach in Puerto Rico. I make absolutely no promises about not coming home with a dog. We’ll be back in time to do absolutely nothing on New Years Eve. I like it that way.
A Lousy Present
You know what I DON’T want for Hanukkah?
“Just a ‘schmear’ could save her life”? Seriously? Do you really want to make this worse by talking about cream cheese? Excuse me while I barf.
Holiday Guide 2009: Chocolate Gelt + A Giveaway
Gelt, $34 for 2.2 pounds
Yeah, it’s a lot of gelt, but this stuff is good, and if you’re throwing a party, you’ll want a lot on hand. You can buy it in smaller packages, too, just keep in mind that no one likes the dark chocolate as much. Voice of experience here.
at OhNuts.com
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Oh Nuts! has been providing Rob and me with our gelt for the past few years, and I’ve teamed up with the company before to bring the Amber Show readers fun giveaways. Here is another one: leave a comment on this post saying which Hanukkah gift from Oh Nuts! is your fave, and I’ll select a winner from the comments to receive a $25 gift certificate to the store. You do NOT need to be Jewish to enter – Hanukkah treats are tasty to everyone (I won’t even tell if you repackage the stuff for Christmas).
There’s a second prize to be won, too, being run by the company. You have two choices to enter that one, and doing both increases your odds:
1. go to the Oh Nuts! Facebook page and post your pick, along with the url, on their wall. Include the phrase, “I am here via TheAmberShow.net”
2. Follow @ohnuts on Twitter and tweet the following: “I want to win a gift certificate from Oh Nuts! Follow @ohnuts & Retweet to enter. http://bit.ly/6nIsCi”
Good luck!
Holiday Guide 2009: Hanukkah Candles
Beeswax Hanukkah Candles, $30
The mildly honey smell will make Hanukkah even sweeter.
at Etsy’s Mile End Soap and Candle Supply
Gift Guide 2009
“December’s flower is…holly.” – Wikipedia
Happy December!
I’m doing my gift guide differently this year. It’ll start with essential Hanukkah and Christmas supplies, and move on to more gifty type things. Last year I broke it into sections and I loved the end result, but it was exhausting to make, so this year it will be all in small, happy pieces. In other words, stay tuned for essential holiday shopping goodness all month. I’ve found some awesome stuff for you.
photo via:
Fourth Annual
Saturday was our fourth annual Christmas/Hanukkah party. It was all the usual: old friends, new friends, lots of food, lots of wine, {sandwich eating}, random drunk guys knocking on the door wanting beer, YouTube celebrities, arguments about religion, shenanigans, and epic dreidel competitions.
Stu! and Carissa came over early to help me frost the sugar cookies. We tried to spell out “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Hanukkah”, but a few letters broke.
They were supposed to be frosted with red, green, blue and white frosting, but the red was way closer to pink that any sort of Christmasy color.
Oh well, they were delicious anyway.
Just for fun, one of my new favorite people, Rebecca Coriss and her world-famous YouTube video! I hadn’t met her before our party, and she didn’t know anyone that was going to be there (I don’t think), except her boyfriend and our buddy David. I’m glad she decided that she was going to come be a part of festivities instead of being shy. We did our best to make her feel awkward by making her sit front and center on the couch while we all gathered around and watched her YouTube video on the big screen, but she took it all in stride. Hats off to you, Rebecca. Hope you had fun.
I wasn’t kidding about the drunk guy, either. He pounded on my front door mid-party. A few of my guests were outside smoking and tried to get beer out of them…? Dunno. They came in leaving him behind, so he knocked, and I opened the door while my friend Dan hissed behind me “Amber! Just close the door!”
“No, no, dude,” I said. “I totally got this.” (I wasn’t DRUNK drunk, but I wasn’t… well… anyway)
“Can I get a beer?!” he asked loudly. It was clear he was already really drunk.
“Um… this is a private party? So no?” I guess I should have just given him a beer, but he was weird and I didn’t want to turn my back to him.
“YOU MEAN I CAN’T GET NO BEER? AWWW MAN!”
“Yeah, dude, um… Merry Christmas?” I said, and I shut the door.
Good old Bed Stuy.
The rest of the party went fairly well, although I can’t figure out how my stove got coated with wine, and I burned the roof of my mouth on the homemade pizza.
Ah well. Merry Cristmas and Happ Hanukkah.
Happy First Night of Hanukkah!
2008 Holiday Guide – Inevitable Holiday Purchases
There are things you pull out of storage year after year to celebrate the holidays. You buy them once and are done for life. Then there are the things you need to buy fresh every December, and I’ve rounded up some of my favorites here. I feel like there might be a thing or two I’ve missed; let me know if you think of something, or find a cool alternative to what I came up with.
These are my picks for the “Holiday Inevitables”.
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Chanukah Soda 4-Pack, $6
Every year Rob and I buy the holiday pack from Jones, and we’re going to have to get this one, too! I’m a little scared to taste the “latke” soda. I wonder if it’s like the “mashed potatoes” kind in last years pack. Bleck!
at myjones.com
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Cranberry Kir – Winter Bliss Tin, $5
I picked one of these up from Anthropologie last year and I still have it. The wick is long gone, but I’ve remelted the leftover wax several times to let the good smell out into the air. I like to buy one candle per year, just for Christmas, and I try to think outside of the ankee-Yay andle-Cay box. The website says “100% all natural wax”, but the one I have says “soy” on the label. I think they’re trying to appeal to the (surprisingly numerous) people who roll their eyes at soy candles.
The smell is called “Cranberry Kir”. I have no idea what that means (typo? Cranberry Fir? That’s actually about right.) Anyway, it smells like Christmas.
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Vermont Balsam and Cedar Christmas Wreath, $15
I knew that the large outdoorsy retailers offer fresh wreaths, so I went to seek them out for this post. Internet, they are shockingly expensive. I said to the dogs sitting at my feet, “One hundred dollars for some pine wrapped around a wire? Ppppth.” Plus the decorations they come with are cornier than a Bozo wig. This one is nice, simple, and homey. I like that it looks handmade, and it’s inexpensive. There are no ghastlly decorations, either; you can add your own ornaments or leave it plain.
I read the shop’s description, too, and I’d paraphrase, but they said it so well:
We are two neighbors and friends. One of us is a mom of four and the other a mom of two and grandma. We love living in the country, caring for our families, enjoying our animal friends, and being creative. We do a great job of keeping each other busy and getting ourselves into exciting new adventures (a.k.a. trouble)!
at etsy.com
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Beeswax Hanukkah Candles, $12
A more colorful way to celebrate Hanukkah.
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Peppermint Bark, $26.50
A cherished holiday treat by many, just not by me. I want to like it, because it’s beautiful, but I’m so not a peppermint person. Ah well. If your family is into peppermint, I hear this is the creme de la creme of peppermint candy.
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Ginger Bread House Kit, $14
Leave the from-scratch houses to Martha. Don’t try to make the walls and roof of a gingerbread house yourself. It’s so not worth it. I promise. Just buy a kit. No, no. Listen. Trust me. You don’t need to try it “just once”.
at amazon.com
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18-year-old Macallan, $124
If you have nutty relatives you’ll be forced to deal with over a turkey dinner, this is an extremely classy single malt way to cope.
at themacallan.com for stores
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Lieber’s Milk Chocolate Gelt, $11
The kind folks at Oh Nuts! emailed me and asked if I would please mention them in my gift guides this year. I said yes; I love any company that twitters, and they have such nice Hanukkah gift baskets. You’d think a gift basket is a gift basket is a gift basket, but every year my in-laws get them by the truck load, and most of them include things forbidden in their kosher household. It’s something I think a lot of people don’t consider. So my PSA for the season: if you’re sending a gift basket to a Jewish family, make sure it doesn’t include smoked pepperoni, you know?
They sent me some Lieber’s gelt, too, in both “dairy” and “parve” (that’s milk chocolate and dark chocolate to the gentiles!) Unlike a lot of the “chocolate flavored” foil wrapped crud available, this stuff is gooood (ask Stu!; she liked it)! I will never buy another brand of gelt again. (The milk chocolate is my fave!)
at ohnuts.com
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30 lb. Brown Kraft Wrapping Paper – 36″, $39
Save yourself from the world of corny, flimsy, mis-matched, eco-unfriendly and EXPENSIVE wrapping paper! This 100% recycled brown kraft paper can wrap all of your gifts; blue ribbon goes on the Hanukkah presents, and red can be for Christmas (I’m not sure what color would be for Kwanzaa.) (Yes, I’m very aware that I am half black. I still don’t know.) The rest of the year you can use another color ribbon and call it your “signature wrapping”.
At first glance this seems expensive, but considering this roll is much longer than standard wrapping paper, AND you can use it for EVERYthing, you’re saving a bundle. Just add plain gift tags, and you’re done!
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Double-faced Satin Ribbon – 1.5″, $11
Available in all sorts of colors. Your “signature wrapping” could be any one of them! (I am, by the way, SO going to do this signature wrapping thing. Feel free to copy me. We can be classy together.) They have a nice red that would work for Christmas, and a nice royal blue, too, for Hanukkah. Kwanzaa has to be in there somewhere…
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Amber’s 2008 Gift Guide – Home and Kitchen
Lumiere Candleholders, $4 – $5
I like these candle sticks because they’re modern but classic, quirky but not silly and unique but still universally appealing. And they’re cheap, so you can get a whole bunch.
at cb2.com
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Emile Henry pie plate, $45
This line of pie plates has a distinctive charming edge to it that I love (obviously). I use mine for meatloaves and pies. Williams Sonoma offers three exclusive colors, and Sur la Table features all of the rest.
at surlatable.com
at williams-sonoma.com
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Happy Birthday Plate, $15
There are two things I really want in my kitchen. One is a bowl that says “Amber’s Popcorn” on it, which I’ve wanted since I was about five. (True story. My friend Heather had one that said “Heather’s Popcorn”, and I thought it was the coolest thing.) Another is a special happy birthday plate; my parents had one for us growing up, although I don’t think it was designed specifically for birthdays, it was just a funny plate with a boy and a girl on it. It was very cool to get to have dinner on it every year. Every family should have a special birthday plate.
at etsy.com
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Norpro Heart-Sicle Pan, $8
Any sort of food that goes onto a stick works for me. I love the hearts! This pan is available a lot of places, but it’s on sale at Hearthsong.
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Otomi hand-embroidered bedspread, $250
The Otomi Indian embroiderers are working hard to preserve this ancient art of this specific sort of embroidery, and I am madly in love with this bedspread, hand done in Mexico. This is not to be slept under or sat on, and would be kept away from dirty dog feet (and dirty husbands).
at ebay.com
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Orange Medallion Bowl, $30
This orange bowl would make a great fruit bowl. I particularly like the sketched design on the front.
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Juice Clock, $45
It’s yellow and made from recycled HDPE (the sort of plastic that dishsoap comes in). I’m in love.
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Welcome Coat Rack, $15
I have three coat racks and they never seem to be enough; we’ve got three dog leashes, three dog harnesses, an assortment of reusuable grocery bags, coats, hoodies, a variety of scarves, hats and gloves, and at least four things to return to stores all hanging in the hallway, all vying for a spot on the coat racks. So I could use another one. This one is gorgeous. Also available in “beautiful day”, which has five hooks and is painted white. I would spray paint it, of course.
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6 oz Cupcake Scented Soy Candle With Sprinkles, $6
I bought one of these at the Brooklyn Flea Market. It’s delicious. I switched to exclusively soy candles a while ago, and I haven’t looked back. They burn cleaner and longer than their petroleum counterparts, and the smell is cleaner and less artificial. These were made by “Mrs. Tattooed Geek”, a mother of 5 who is a self-described punk. She gives me hope.
at etsy.com
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Pebo Stovetop Vacuum Coffee Maker, $70
Pebo is fun to say and fun to use. I haven’t tried it, but the coffee is supposed to be delicious, with no “bits” in, like a french press tends to leave. Perfect for the coffee lover who has everything else.
at bodumusa.com
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Personalized plate, $20
I want an entire set of these for my beach house. (And while you’re at it, get me a beach house, too.) I yanked this photo from Cakespy because the photos on the website are UGLY.
at laplates.com
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Perfect Cube Ice Trays, $12
Why do we call them “ice cubes” when they’re not actually cubes? Should we rename them? I think not; I think we should reshape them. And so did someone else, apparently.
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Stag Shaker Set, $30
Look! They’re smiling!
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Mini Frothers, $10
Because mixing your U-Bet and milk with a spoon just isn’t as fun.
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Lemonade Decanter, $109
At my house this would most likely be holding lemonade with Absolute Citron. Cheers!
Deck the Halls
I’m taking the day off of blogging to decorate the rest of my house and make cookies!
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Photo by my dear friend Jen, who takes gorgeous photos and makes Martha Stewart look like an idiot with a glue gun.
