Category Archives: Anxiety

“Please Send Your Child With…”

Posted in Anxiety, Food: Getting It and Eating It, Humor, Mothers and Fathers by
Photo Credit: --char-- via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: –char– via Compfight cc

“Ma,” my son said, “Hannah needs to bring a bag of cleaned parsley for her Sunday school’s model Passover Seder.” Hannah is our granddaughter, and Jerry and I were in Arizona visiting with her and our son, David.

The Seder is a symbolic meal celebrated by Jewish people to retell the story of the Jews’ exodus from slavery and Egypt. At Hannah’s Sunday school the teachers were going to conduct a model Seder to give the kids a feel for the larger scale Seder that would take place in their homes on Passover. Symbolic items on the Seder Plate are used as props to tell the Passover Story. A Seder plate includes: hard-boiled egg, salt water, matzoh, lamb shank, charoseth (a yummy mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon, and wine), horseradish (bitter herb), and the aforementioned parsley.

A home Passover meal is a BIG meal with many courses, and it takes a whole lot of preparation. Here are some sample foods I have served at various Seders given by Jerome and me over the years. First we put out the Seder plate as described above. Everybody loves my charoseth on their matzoh.

Then it’s time for some serious eating and the first courses: gefilte fish with horseradish; chicken soup with matzoh balls

Then,  the main meal: a chicken dish which changes every couple of years; matzoh stuffing; brisket with red wine and tomato paste; potato kugel (casserole with eggs, potato, onions, matzoh); tsimmes(casserole with carrots and/or sweet potatoes, raisins/prunes; brown sugar); green vegetable such as asparagus or brussel sprouts.

And lastly, desserts: an apple matzoh kugel; brandied peach compote cake (see epicurious.com); chocolate covered matzoh, assorted macaroons.

We have served from 6 to 26 friends and relatives and I cook everything myself…from scratch (except the gefilte fish, matzoh, and macaroons).

No one has complained because they all keep coming back; so I think I’m a reasonably proficient cook. Also, fyi, I do Thanksgiving every year for the same gang plus about 15 more folks. Everyone says I make it look easy.

I’m confident about my food preparation—until my granddaughter needs to bring parsley— TO SCHOOL—then I go crazy!

I ask myself:

  • Should the parsley be the good kind (Italian flat leaf) or should we buy the curly parsley like my mother used? Maybe the curly parsley is the authentic Jewish parsley?
  • Should I trim the long stems off the parsley? If so, how much? Is the parsley on the Seder plate supposed to have stems, or is it just the leaves?
  • Do I send a whole bunch so each little kid can get a sprig? Or should I just send a sprig for the Seder plate?
  • When should I wash the parsley?  The night before? The morning of?
  • If I wash the parsley, and I wipe it with paper towel, should I put the moist paper towel in with the parsley in the plastic bag overnight?
  • The next morning when Hannah takes her zip lock bag of parsley to Sunday school, should I leave the damp paper towel in the bag? Or does that look sloppy? Should I re-wrap the parsley with a dry paper towel? Should I just put parsley without paper towel in the bag?
  • Lastly, should I put the zip lock bag inside another little plastic bag?

Surely, I can’t be the only parent/grandparent who worries about this stuff? Am I?

Introverts, Phobics, Nature Lovers, and Compulsive Overthinkers

Posted in Anxiety, Humor, Introverts, Nature and the Outdoors by
Photo Credit: MeckiMac via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: MeckiMac via Compfight cc

I’m wondering if there is a connection between people who are introverts, phobics, nature lovers and compulsive over-thinkers. I belong to each of these tribes.

Here’s a scenario to illustrate.

I go to the park to exercise. Ha Ha, I lie. I go to the park, but not really to exercise. Mostly I go to the park to walk for a short time, and to sit down on a bench for a long time. I choose a bench by the lake, where I can sit, look, listen, read, write, or just think. If I’m lucky I might be rewarded by the sight of a double-breasted cormorant swallowing a fish. That happened last year, and it was a glorious moment.

On the first warm day this year, the snow has melted, and I decide it’s time to go back to my park.  I take my perfunctory short walk, and I sit down on my favorite bench. Ah, spring is almost here. I fill my senses.

A woman comes strolling down the path, stops at my bench and asks, “Mind if I sit down?”

Like the true wimp I am, I answer, “Go ahead.”

I need solitude and nature like I need food, and this woman has killed it for me.

I dream of making her dead. What would be the best way? I could throw her off a bridge, but that would be very difficult for me because I am afraid of things that are up high in the air, like bridges, and airplanes.

Hmm. I’ll have to think that through. Perhaps I ought to make a plan to plan to plan. I’ve been planning this blog post for a long time, way too long.

I wonder what two of my favorite authors would say.  Scott Stossel wrote  My Age of Anxiety…Fear, Hope, Dread and the Search for Peace of Mind. Susan Cain wrote Quiet…The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. I wonder if they have ever met? I hope so.

I’m on my way to explore a blog I have just discovered when I searched for Stossel and Cain. It’s called “The Dedicated Amateur” and it is written by Amma Marfo. You can find her blog  at: http://ammamarfo.com/.

In the meantime, I will be worrying about something.

Winds of Worry

Posted in Advice, Anxiety, Humor, Life by
Photo Credit: lindsayloveshermac via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: lindsayloveshermac via Compfight cc

My children, husband, relatives, friends and complete strangers say I am a compulsive worrier and control freak.

But, when you live in a house surrounded by trees, you tend to worry when there are reports of 15 mph winds with gusts up to 45 mph. You like to prepare for disaster ahead of time.

Here are some of my recommendations.

If a tree falls on your house, you might have to go outside and be seen. With this cold weather, no one has actually seen you for weeks, and some folks are even wondering if you ever really existed. So dress appropriately for the moment you hear the crack of the branches, and the tree starts falling onto your roof and into your bedroom.

Plan your sleep apparel for the evening storm:

  • Scratch the pink, blue and white pajama bottoms with the ripped seams that you usually wear accompanied by the bleach stained red tee shirt top.
  • Instead, select appropriate I-have-to-run-out-of-the-house-likety-split sleepwear. May I suggest you retire to your boudoir in simple black sweats, along with a gray turtle neck (sans bleach stains) top. Socks and shoes are always a nice touch. Robes and slippers are only recommended for size two’s with fresh pedicures.

If, after the tree falls, you have to be carried out of your house you might also want to make provisions for the week that will follow.

Plan food for the events.

  • Have plenty of nourishing, yet suitable for a crowd casserole dishes just waiting to be microwaved in your fridge. It is important to prepare these dishes from scratch, so that people will compare you to Martha Stewart during their tributes. Soups are lovely, sustaining, and I highly recommend Portuguese Caldo Verde for feeding a large crowd.
  • My late Aunt Shirley also specialized in her “mourning meatballs” (with peppers and onions) which she put in a large vat for our family.

While you might want to run around and straighten your house as the winds whip up, it is highly recommended that you put your house in order ahead of time.

  • Clean bathrooms; hang fresh towels
  • Organize drawers and closets by color, season, event and in the case of some people, current size

Some last minute bedtime preparations must still be performed at the last minute.

  • Floss and brush
  • Dust
  • Put some fresh candy in the candy dish on the end table in the living room.

Then, go to bed, sleep well, and let the wind howl.