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The Raw and The Cooked

Simple Meals + Honest Book Reviews + Practical Living

Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17 | Re’eh | “See”

A few weeks back, I mentioned we wrapped up the heavy lifting for our kitchen refresh. We installed new flooring, lighting, emerald green backsplash, and wooden accent shelving for our kitchen, a space that I love dearly, even with its white formica counters. And this week, the final piece of the puzzle was put in place: the pantry. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I mean, anything would have been better than builder-grade white wire shelving (though we did leave the behind the door wire shelves, as noted in the photo), I am over the moon with the completion of the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen… the timing is quite neat here, because the parsha this week, Re’eh, opens with another decree from Moses, and discusses many more laws. For this particular parsha, the laws concern kashrut (kosher) foods, debt, tithing, and holidays. I find it really interesting that Moses begins with laws of what we can and cannot eat, laws of kashrut (kosher), items that God finds abhorrent for human consumption. It has been speculated, that laws of kashrut are giving first, because it is the physical act we participate in the most — think about how many times a day we eat a meal, have a snack, compared to anything else we do in this physical world. I genuinely believe God wants us to enjoy this physical world, if anything, we were given taste buds to really enjoy our food and beverages. It’s a gift. We did not have to be endowed the gifts of smell and taste. And yet, here we are. Creating the most delicious and elaborate meals, with so many wonderful and complimentary flavors. Take for example my favorite summer salad, a strawberry-cucumber-pecan-feta salad, paired with a balsamic dressing. Bursting with summer flavors, and the amount of joy it brings to assemble and consume is quite high. Anyway, just one small example.

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My Accidental Lily King Reading Binge 📚

For over a year, I kept seeing Heart the Lover by Lily King featured at my library. It has a beautiful, intriguing cover, but for some reason, I had convinced myself it was probably just a cheesy rom-com. Yes, I judged a book by its cover. Eventually, I decided to give it a chance. I went in completely blind—I had never read anything by Lily King, I didn’t really know what the book was about, and I had no expectations. I downloaded the audiobook and started listening. And within minutes, I was hooked. I finished the entire book in less than 24 hours. I want to tell you why I loved Heart the Lover, and why I chose to pick up two more Lily King novels immediately afterwards.

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Deuteronomy 7:12 – 11:25 | Eikev | “Because”

Another week that went by in a blink. One moment it was Sunday morning, the next it was Thursday afternoon, then Shabbat, and then, somehow, Sunday again. Last week was a blur of swimming lessons, the gym, a lot of homemade pizza, an aquarium outing, a library trip (I finished three Lily Kings this week!), two Trader Joe’s runs, weekly lunch day-date with my husband, and a lot of time here at home.

I really enjoyed Eikev, at this rate, I have a feeling Deuteronomy will become my favorite book of the Torah. What I find so interesting, is that while Moses relays back Gods rules and laws, he weaves in the narrative that he and Israel lived for the last forty years. It’s very compelling. Welcome to Eikev.

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Episode No. 232: Going from 3 to 4 Children | What the Transition Was Like

There are certain seasons of motherhood that are difficult to describe until you’re on the other side of them. For me, going from three children to four was one of those seasons.

We welcomed four children in under six years. Every family looks different—some have four children spread across ten or fifteen years, while others, like us, have several little ones all at once. I don’t think one way is better than another. We all simply play the hand we’re dealt.

This is the only version of motherhood I know, and after nearly two years, I finally feel like I can look back and put words to what this transition has been like. Spoiler alert: it took longer than I expected.

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Deuteronomy 3:23 – 7:11 | Va’etchanan | “And I Pleaded”

This past week was one of those weeks that went by in the blink of an eye. The highlight was a perfect Wednesday summer morning, spent with our best friends, at one of our best playgrounds, which has this hidden stream behind it (photo above). We also did two (!) trips to the Science Center, swim lessons, our annual family photoshoot, and of course, a trip to the library. I finished Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo — loved it so much! Oh, and I stepped on a bee last week, and got a gnarly bee sting on the bottom of one of my toes, which meant I had to sit out that afternoons gym session. What can you do!

For the record, I’m writing today’s post late on a Monday afternoon during a heatwave (heat index of 114-degrees), from the comfort of my bed. The A/C is doing its best, but it’s having trouble cooling our home lower than 74-degrees. All four children are already changed into their PJ’s. It’s 4pm. And they fashioned elaborate magic wands / guns for themselves out of K’nex, capes made of throw blankets. Lots of summersaults, running, and screaming. It’s hard to concentrate, and it’s my fault for not getting this done before Shabbat (of last week). There will probably be a lot of typos and terrible grammatical sentences today. At least there is no crying. Welcome to “Va’etchanan.”

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Twenty-Seven Days That Changed My Kitchen

The cooktop that we inherited with this house we purchased in 2023, unbeknownst to us, was installed in 1999. It was working perfectly, until it wasn’t. It died during a routine cleaning. From there, it took half a week to get a proper diagnosis, because in a majority of situations, the problem resolves itself within a few days. Ours did not resolve itself. So we had a technician come out, only to learn that it required replacement parts. Joke was on us, because parts from gas cooktops manufactured in 1999 are no longer in existence – not even on eBay! We were going to have to purchase a new one. At first I panicked, this was going to take so much time and so much energy, I’m stretched thin, and oh, if only you knew how often I use my cooktop!

Luckily, this happened in summer. When grilling naturally happens 2-3x per week, anyway. Also, my oven still worked. And let’s not forget about the ace up all our sleeves: a slow cooker with a sauté function. My cousin kindly drove over her InstaPot to loan us, so we could have rice. We go through a lot of rice. By the end of the first week without a cooktop, I knew we’d be fine. Did I love hauling out a slow-cooker to sauté scrambled eggs in the mornings? No. Did I love using an InstaPot to make rice? Definitely not. But I learned that I was able to do almost everything I wanted and needed, and it didn’t feel like such a handicap to not have a cooktop.

I learned that I much prefer the taste of rice cooked on a stovetop than rice cooked with an InstaPot. I learned that you can actually boil bagels in water that was heated up in a slow-cooker on sauté mode — and they’ll still taste great. I learned that between those two appliances, plus the grill, and the oven, that we were able to keep up with our regular rotation. The only meal I didn’t attempt to try was pasta, and maybe that was for the best, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that. And though we were fine for those twenty-seven days without a cooktop, I was very relieved to finally get the new one installed. The first two things I cooked: chicken noodle soup and pasta bolognese. Not to be eaten together, those are simply my staples, and it just felt right to break in the cooktop with my top two dishes.

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