Writing in the evening

Dear Friends,

Tomorrow will be my first day back at the JCC for the calisthenics class I take, so I thought I would write tonight.

Like yesterday, mid-day was the low point. So I had an excellent morning, late afternoon, and evening so far.

Our dear friend Jesús from Valencia wrote today: "After reading your Dec. 11 post, I just drop a line to tell you that I also think that checking editions, emendations and variations is a lot of fun." Nice to know we are a community who enjoy these things.

The day began with some hamletworks.org work, and continued just before lunch with potato latkes. I am experimenting, and so far have made two them two three ways. I'll put them at the bottom of this post.

After a mid-day rest, we went to our Baroque concert series at Christ Church in Oyster Bay. I have written about this series before. The acoustics are a marvel, and it is pleasant to walk around and read the plaques dedicated to various Roosevelts, most of whom, the men at least,died in active service. But today what took the prize was the concert itself. It was remarkable. I entered the building thinking I would close my eyes and nap a bit. But the music kept me riveted throughout.

There were four instrumentalists, 2 on cello, 1 with a variety of recorders and a huge recorder called a dulcian, and a 4th, Wayne Hankin, with a large number of instruments I had never seen before. Wow, he was impressive. He now is with Cirque du Soleil, but he also is involved in many creative endeavors: film, jazz, TV, opera, composition and more. He often played recorders during the concert, but sometimes he had shofar-type (ram's horn) instruments, a small bagpipe, a huge bagpipe with long extensions leading to shofarim (called a grosser bock), a little drum that he played with one hand while he blew in a recorder. And more.

And there were 4 wonderful singers, each of whom got a chance to shine, 2 women (soprano, mezzo soprano) and two men (tenor and bass+baritone).

Lovely. I am listening to a recording right now featuring the mezzo, Margo Grib, which we had purchased a while ago. Today we bought a Hankin CD.

One's heart fills with joy at the beauty of it. Some songs brought tears to my eyes. Not hard for me at all, as I have mentioned. I also impressed Merwin by singing, sotto voce during the intermission "We Three Kings": I remember all the words.

Love to all,
Bernice


Potato latkas three ways, all easy:

1) 2 potatoes, 2 eggs, chunk of onion, salt, pepper Use chopping blade in Cuisinart (lower blade) to make into a mash, no flour. Fry in small spoonfuls in hot olive oil.
1a Same with 1 egg (two eggs make for a softer center).

2) 2 potatoes, shredded in Cuisinart, 1 egg, salt, pepper, a heaping T of matzoh meal or white flour, a pinch of baking soda. Fry as above.


3) Preheat oven to 350. Make the same mix as (2) into large pancake by lining a pan with oil. Heat the oil thoroughly. Spoon and press the whole mixture into flat shape to fit the pan. Bake for about a half hour, until you can see the crust at the bottom. Finish by browning the top under the broiler. It's a flat single pancake with more crust than center.

Each took only minutes to prepare. Goodbye, hand grater. Can't do that with this thumb anyway.

Enjoy!