Another challah post

This week I made a cinnamon sugar challah and it was delicious! Definitely my best bread so far.

Incase anyone wants to make their own cinnamon challah here is my bread machine recipe:

2/3 C water
1 egg
1 1/3 T veg oil
1 T sugar
2 T brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 t salt
2 C flour (I used whole wheat)
1 t yeast

After its done in the bread machine (dough setting only) divide into 3 sections and braid. I made an egg wash with egg and honey and then sprinkled cinnamon and sugar all over the bread and cooked at 375 for about 25-30 minutes.

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My 1st Mezuzah

Look at what came in the mail today! I still need to get the parchment to go inside, but I’m so excited!

Success!

I made a decent challah bread this week!

I also learned not to secure the top and bottom of my braid until I’m happy with how the braid looks.
I’m hoping to find some recipes that can use up challah bread throughout the week since I will be making it so often. I’ve seen French toast, but I’ll have to see what else is out there. Feeding to the ducks is always an option too I suppose.

And for the end of Shavuot we decorated the house with paper flowers

My next meeting with Rabbi Brown is June 6th. This is the one the husband will hopefully come to if he gets the day off work. I’m so excited!

And although its still a few hours away… Shabbat Shalom!! 🙂

Celebrating Shavuot

Today we are celebrating by making drawings with flower stickers, picking lilacs from the backyard, and eating cheesecake!

Tomorrow we will be making more flower art and placing paper flowers around the house, more cheesecake, and a diary filled Alfredo dinner. Yum!

Traditionally some stay up all night studying Torah, but since I don’t have any biblical Jewish books yet, I won’t be studying this time around.

I didn’t think I’d get to celebrate Shavuot to my liking with how busy this week is/has been, plus I’m sick too, but it looks like I’m right on track (with the exception of store bought cheesecake instead of homemade like I wanted). Lets just hope I can squeeze in some challah baking time tomorrow or Friday.

Challah Cover

My challah cover I ordered came in! Love it! No challah to cover this week though, because I tried with a bread machine this time (just to make the dough, I was going to braid it) but I didn’t put it together right and ruined my dough.

I have Shavuot to celebrate this week, so I better get on top of things, but I’ve been so busy this last week and this upcoming one its making it hard to plan ahead. I’m hoping to bake some cheesecake, get flowers for the house, and get crafts together for the kids. Wish me luck!

Meeting with the Rabbi

It went very well! He was so nice and seems like such a great guy, which I suppose is what you would expect from a clergy person, but he was even more awesome than I anticipated.

He asked me about my family, schooling, kids, why I wanted to convert, why I chose Reform Judaism, my expectations, and other questions along those lines. The process will take about a year and he will meet with me about every 3 weeks for 45 minutes.

My home work before the next meeting is to talk to Kyle (the husband) more about my conversion. Rabbi Brown asked if I could get Kyle to come to the next meeting to talk about Kyle’s expectations of my conversion, support, and the future of our Jewish family. Judaism is a very family centered religion and there are many questions Kyle and I haven’t thought to talk about, especially since he is Agnostic and doesn’t know much about Judaism.

I am so excited for the next meeting with Rabbi Brown and to get ready to celebrate Shavuot!

 

Earlier today when I left to meet Rabbi Brown at Temple Israel

Tomorrow’s the Day!

I meet with Rabbi Brown at Temple Israel tomorrow afternoon! 🙂 can’t wait! It’s just a half hour meeting, so not too involved. Kyle and I drove past the synagogue yesterday so I’d know where to go.

I’ve told a few more people about my conversion, friends and family, and it has been received better than I could of ever imagined! One friend has even been to Temple Israel a few times and offered to go with me. She also gave me some information of a Jewish friend of her’s that attends Shabbat there, so if I have questions or anything, she could help me out.

Also this week, my brother and his wife come for a visit! I am sooooo excited!!! This is going to be a great week!

Shabbat

Did a modified Shabbat this evening, another 1st for me this week! I just said the blessings in English and we tried my Challah bread. It’s was pretty good… Tasted like bread. Haha. I just followed a recipe I found online, so I may do some tweaking and play around a bit. Husband liked it too and was with me while I did the blessings, which was nice.

Shavuot is the next holiday I will start preparing for. I think I’m going to make some kid friendly crafts for this one to help include the kids more. Im thinking we will make flowers with construction paper or something, since its tradition to adorn your house with flowers. I’m excited!

Another exciting note, my visit with Rabbi Brown is this Tuesday!!!!! I’m getting nervous!!! So exciting though!

Shabbat Shalom friends!

Challah Bread

My 1st attempt at making Challah bread, and also keep in mind my first attempt at making any bread in general.

Like I said…. It was my first try. This is defiantly something that will take practice 🙂

Taste test to come tomorrow evening!