"Mock" & Cheese

Every year on Passover, I face the same challenge: what to feed my picky husband. He won't eat fish, or eggs, or veggies, or... grown-up foods, really. He mostly lives on pasta & pizza and bread, and on a holiday when we can't have any of those, not eating the same thing 10 nights in a row becomes... difficult. So my plan is to try to collect a list of easy go-to recipes that I can make any night of the week with little or no prep. This is the first one in my new collection. A friend gave me the recipe just two days ago, and I already love it. So, here it is:

Tova's "Mock" & Cheese

Ingredients:

3 eggs

3 1/2 cups matzah farfel (I made my own with regular matzah, a plastic baggie & a hammer)

1/2 lb. (or more) of cheddar cheese

1 cup milk

1/2 pint sour cream

1/2 pint cottage cheese

Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Grease an 8x8 baking pan, pre-heat oven to 350. Beat the eggs with the milk & seasonings, and add in the matzah farfel, to soak. Cut or shred the cheese into small bits.

2. Mix in the cheese, sour cream & cottage cheese. Pour the mix into the baking pan and try to make it look all even and pretty.

3. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 30 minutes, or until golden-brown and delicious.

4. Enjoy!

Bought a house!

We're still more than a week out from our original closing date (for the house), but because of circumstances we moved the closing up, and as of last week... we're home-owners!

Yup, you read that right. We closed on the house last week, and have actually owned it for 8 whole days now! Though it doesn't really feel like we own a house, since I never get to see it. Sadface. We closed on Monday the 30th, and my husband and I camped out there over-night (after cleaning it up a bit). We have two twin size air-mattresses borrowed from my best friend (who lives right down the street) and four chairs that the seller left us.
Or rather, we have four chairs that we asked the seller to get rid of before the closing. He dragged them out to the curb and called that good enough. The city however, disagreed, and we had to move them or get a ticket, as we found out once we came home after the closing. So, we took them back into the house, and now we have bonus chairs.

Anyway, I haven't even seen my house in a week because I've been so busy with school, work and of course, Passover. Hopefully I'll get to go out there tomorrow afternoon sometime and you know, make sure its still standing? Then I probably won't see it again until Sunday night, when it'll be time to start assessing how much work needs to be done, and what we have to finish up before we can move in.

Stay tuned next time for: The House Saga: Part 1

Buying a House

So uh yeah, we bought a house!

Okay, not quite, but we're very very close. Maybe I should back up a bit? At the beginning of this year, my husband and I finally agreed that we were ready to get our own house (read: I finally talked him into it). We started poking around on Zillow (here's a link to their homepage, if you are interested), just to see what was on the market.

We found a few houses that we liked, but not much. So my mom asked if she could hook us up with her agent, who had helped her sell my grandfather's condo after he passed away. I said sure, have him send us some listings, it can't hurt.

So he started sending us listings. A lot of listings. Like, 10 a day. And granted, some of these were updates to previous listings (like price changes), but still, we were quickly overwhelmed. We tried to sort through the listings and keep track of our favorites. Luckily, we knew exactly what area we wanted to be in, so that helped.

We quickly found one that we liked, just slightly outside of our preferred area. We asked the realtor about it, and he sent us more information. Then I called my mom to tell her. But when I gave her the address, she said she had to check on something and she would call me right back. Turns out, my cousin owns that house, and he's not actually interested in selling. Okay, back to square one.
We found another property we liked, and once we ascertained that this one was in fact for sale, we made an appointment to see it on Monday March 9th. Perfect.

Sunday the 8th was my birthday, and since the weather was so nice, my husband and I decided to spend the day at the zoo. At around 12:30 we get a call from the realtor. There was another offer on the house we were interested in. He could fit us in that day at 2 to look at the house, but the seller was ready to make a decision, and if we liked it, we would have to put an offer in before 5pm. No pressure, right?

So what did we do? We went to the giraffe house to sit and think about the situation (and to vent our frustrations to a very nice docent). We decided that we should at least see the house, after all, maybe it wouldn't be what we liked and we would have no problem passing on it. Just in case we liked it though, I called my uncle the contractor and asked if he could come walk-through the house with us, and let us know if there were any glaring issues with the structure or the foundation or the roof, or anything really.

At 1:45 we were parked in front of the house, nervously wondering what the protocol was. At this point I had never actually met our realtor in person, and didn't actually know what he looked like. I guessed however, that he was the guy standing on the front stoop waving at us. I was right. We took a deep collective breath, and got out of the car.

We looked over the house, and it was every bit as charming in person as it had been in the listing. We fell in love, we wanted it. Our relator looked at us like we were nuts when we told him that we wanted to put in an offer.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "After all, this is only the first house you've seen..." But yes, we were sure. It was in the exact location we were hopping for (literally down the street from my BFF), and had everything we wanted in a house, including an unfinished basement that we could fix up. So off we went to my in-law's house, where my mother-in-law (the attorney) helped us look over all of the paperwork before we stupidly signed our lives away.

We sent in our offer, and 20 minutes later, it was accepted! We were now officially on our way to being home-owners! The whole thing still feels like a dream, especially since it all happened so fast. I woke up Monday morning (the day we were supposed to see the house) in a state of shock. I turned to my husband. "Did we really buy a house yesterday?" I asked. "Yeah, I think we did."

There is still a lot to do, and nothing's final until its final. We have our inspection on Sunday (though I'm not anticipating any big surprises, after already walking through the house with a contractor & an engineer), and then we're closing on Tax Day.

So let the countdown begin!

35 Days!

What I Read in 2014

Okay, I know it's taken me a little bit longer, but I've finally put together my list of books that I read in 2014! This is becoming somewhat of an annual tradition for me, and I really enjoy the opportunity to look back and reflect on what I've read over the last year.

Some of these are going to look a bit familiar to you. After all, I wrote about 6 of them for my Librarian's Corner series, they're highlighted so that you can find them, and if you click on the (**) symbol next to them, it'll take you straight to the post!

I kind of wanted to do a big break-down of what I read, like I did last year, but it seems a bit too overwhelming with this many books, plus, I kind of want to move on with my life. So instead, let me take just 1 minute (ok, maybe 2) to tell you about some of my favorites this year.

Favorite GN (graphic novel) series I finished this year: Preacher by Garth Ennis, and you can read all about why I loved it in my Librarian's Corner post about it.

Favorite "new" series I started this year: The Temperance Brennan novels by Kathy Reichs. You probably know Dr. Brennan from the TV show Bones, but this Tempe is a completly different woman, and the series has almost nothing to do with the show. Very enjoyable though. I'm on book 9 right now, and I can't put it down long enough to write...

Favorite book by new author: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (and other lessons from the crematory) by Caitlin Doughty, AKA Ask a Mortician on YouTube. Her channel is awesome, and not for the faint-of-heart, or those not into talking about dead bodies. Her book was everything I had hoped it was going to be, filled with gory details and touching stories. Just like the show.

Favorite book that made me cry: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. There's so much I could write about this book, that I'm not even going to try. Just go read it, seriously (if you haven't already), and bring a tissue, or 20. And then see the movie, trust me.

Okay, you're bored. On with the list:

1. The Walking Dead: This Sorrowful Life by Robert Kirkman
2. The Walking Dead: The Calm Before by Robert Kirkman
3. Faked to Death by Dean James
4. No Time to Lose by Peter Piot
5. The Walking Dead: Made to Suffer by Robert Kirkman
6. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
7. Decorated to Death by Dean James
8. Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy Frost & Gail Steketee
9. A Curious Man by Neal Thompson
10. Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum
11. The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
12. Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman
13. The Walking Dead: Here We Remain by Robert Kirkman
14. Baked to Death by Dean James
15. Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood by Leah Vincent
16. My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places by Mary Roach
17. Redefining Girly: How Parents Can Fight the Stereotyping and Sexualizing of Girlhood, from Birth to Tween by Melissa Atkins Wardy
18. Round Ireland With a Fridge by Tony Hawks
19. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
20. Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson
21. Ruby's Diary: Reflections on All I've Lost and Gained by Ruby Gettinger
22. Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth
23. Operation Beautiful: Transforming the Way You See Yourself One Post-it Note at a Time by Caitlin Boyle
24. An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield
25. Paper Towns by John Green
26. A Long Day at the End of the World by Brent Hendricks
27. The Fault in Our Stars
28. Bound by Donna Jo Napoli
29. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
30. Call the Midwife
31. Breath by Donna Jo Naopli
32. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
33. The Walking Dead: What We Become by Robert Kirkman
34. This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own: A Journey to the End of Boxing by Jonathan Rendall
35. Looking for Alaska by John Green
36. Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt (**)
37. The Walking Dead: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
38. Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
39. The Walking Dead: Life Among Them by Robert Kirkman
40. Preacher: Dixie Fried by Garth Ennis
41. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum
42. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
43. Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs
44. Preacher: War in the Sun by Garth Ennis
45. The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad
46. The Sleepwalkers by J. Gabriel Gates
47. Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs
48. Xenocide by Orson Scott Card (**)
49. Yes Means Yes by Jaclyn Friedman & Jessica Valenti
50. Mommy Man: How I Went from Mind-Mannered Geek to Gay Superdad by Jerry Mahoney
51. Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card
52. Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs
53. Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
54. Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity by Anne Elizabeth Moore (**)
55. The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir by Dee William
56. Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs
57. Like No Other by Una LaMarche (**)
58. Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs
59. First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen by Charlie Lovett
60. The Snarkout Boys and The Avocado of Death by Daniel Pinkwater (**)
61. Feminism Encounters Traditional Judaism by Tova Hartman
62. Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation by Kate Bornstein & S. Bear Bergman
63. Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs
64. Victoria: A Life by A. N. Wilson
65. The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman by Ben H. Winters
66. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
67. The Mathematician's Shiva by Stuart Rojstaczer
68. Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days by Brian K. Vaughan
69. Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudson
70. Ex Machina: Tag by Brian K. Vaughan
71. Preacher: Salvation by Garth Ennis
72. Preacher: All Hell's A-Coming by Garth Ennis
73. Ex Machina: Fact v. Fiction by Brian K. Vaughan
74. Preacher: Alamo by Garth Ennis
75. Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull
76. Ex Machina: Smoke, Smoke by Brian K. Vaughan
77. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes; And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
78. Ex Machina: Power Down by Brian K. Vaughan
79. Never Turn Your Back on an Angus Cow: My Life as a Country Vet by Dr. Jan Pol
80. Ex Machina: Ex Cathedra by Brain K. Vaughan
81. Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal by J. Jack Halberstam
82. Ex Machina: Ring Out the Old by Brian K. Vaughan
83. Ex Machina: Term Limits by Brian K. Vaughan
84. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
85. Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi
86. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
87. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
88. The Princess Problem: Guiding Our Girls through the Princess-Obsessed Years by Rebecca Hains
89. Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America by Linda Tirado
90. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg & Hannah Green
91. Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
92. Ex Machina: Dirty Tricks by Brian K. Vaughan
93. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
94. Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek & T. J. Mitchell

My husband and I are both doing a reading challenge for 2015,  so expect to see a post about that at some point in the near future. And of course, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled Librarian's Corner on the 21st of Jan, see you then!

2014 Wrap-Up

Okay here it is, my year-in-review post for 2014. Just a few days late, no biggie. I had a lot of fun sitting down last year (err, 2 years ago? err, Dec 2013) and thinking about all of the wonderful things that had happened to me, and that I had done over the year. I got married in 2013, so I figured that was going to be the highlight of my year, but when I sat down, I got a chance to review all of the other amazing things about the year.

So of course, I couldn't wait to do it again for 2014. I didn't get married this year, but it was still pretty damned fun. Let me tell you all about it.

In January, my husband and I got to go to Washington D.C. for a conference. We turned the whole thing into a mini-vacation that we both badly needed. We got to see the National Zoo, and more Smithsonians than you can shake a stick at. (Seriously, all of the Smithsonian museums have free admission, you're welcome). We also got to spend time with my aunt & uncle who the train up from Baltimore to spend an afternoon with us at the National Air & Space Museum.

The National Air & Space Museum, and yes, it was free!

In March I celebrated my 26th birthday (and my 1st as a married lady), and got my brand new Asus laptop (it has a touch-screen & a back-lit keyboard), that I love so so so much!

In May we went to New York to dance at my niece's wedding! It was so much fun, and so beautiful, and it was a wonderful chance to get to celebrate a happy occasion with my husband's side of the family. I also got to meet my sister-in-law (who lives in Israel) for the first time. It was a wonderful time, and I know that the "new" couple is happy because.... baby is on the way! She's due this March, and I've already got plans for a baby-blanket for her!

Of course we visited the New York Public Library!

May was also the month that I started graduate school. I'm working towards getting my Master's in Library and Information Science (yes, I want to be a librarian... shocking). This is by far the single biggest thing that happened to me in 2014. Graduate school was a big decision for me (historically, school and I have not gotten along all that well), and it took the rest of the year for me to figure out whether or not it was the right decision.
Even though it's still sucking up all of my free time, I'm 4 classes in (1/3 of the way through), and I finally know that I made the right choice. (Remind me of that in about 3.5 months when finals roll around again, will ya?)

In July we went to the 43rd Pennsic War, my second one ever. We had a blast, and got to spend time with some friends who I hadn't seen in over 5 years. I'm already making lots of plans for next Pennsic, and we'll have a lot of SCA-related projects coming up over the next few months, so keep an eye out for those.

The field battle

In August we celebrated our first anniversary. It was a very special day, and of course, we spent it at the zoo.

October brought a promotion at work. I went from being a page to being a Library Assistant. I'm working in the same department, with the same people, but more hours, more money and benefits! It's an amazing job, and I love it every single day. Even when I'm dealing with "Problem Patrons".

In November my mother and I made our own Thanksgiving for the second time ever! It was a little stressful since my in-laws were coming over, but it was a lot of fun and everything came out delicious, if I do say so myself.

These are just the leftovers!

And I think that's about for big events this year. I did a lot of crafting this year, and of course, made a lot of delicious food (I'm looking at you turkey), played some amazing video games, and over-all had a blast. I don't want to talk about every single awesome thing, 'cause that's what the last year of blogging was for! Go browse, take a look. I'll wait.

In the mean time, I'm going to go ahead and get started on making 2015 just as amazing (if not more so) than 2014 was! Bye!

Happy 2015!

I really don't know where the last year has gone. It seems like the time has just flown by since I was here writing my Happy 2014 post. Seriously, has anyone seen the last 365 days?

This time last year I resolved to make 2014 as awesome as possible. And do you know what? I pretty much did! I had an amazing year packed with so many fun and amazing things, I can't possibly tell you about them all right now.

I wanted to write a year-end wrap-up post in December, like I did for 2013, but like I said, the time flew away from me before I even had a chance to sit down and open up my lap-top. But don't worry, I'm still going to recap and reminisce. Stay tuned in the next few days for that post. And stay tuned also for my upcoming What I read in 2014 post. Spoiler alert: It was a lot.

But for right now, I'm just going to wish you all a happy and healthy new year, filled with amazing times with family and friends.

Happy 2015!