Shabbat Shalom, Happy Succoth, and a Happy Weekend to All

sunala · ‎03-09-2010

Shabbat Shalom to all who observe the Sabbath, and a very happy weekend to all who post here.

It's so rewarding to be able to come together here at QVC's message board every Friday and share our holidays together, regardless of our beliefs. I'd like to thank all you beautiful people who join us on Fridays, regardless of how and where you pray. I'd also like to thank QVC for allowing us to be here.

A BIG WELCOME TO THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE JOINING US TODAY, and welcome back to all our regular posters. Your presence means a lot to us all I'd also like to thank those of you who are having health issues and share your trials, tribulations and successes with us. Prayers to each and every one of you.

Prayers to all the children who are alone and frightened. I can't say any more but may they soon be reunited with their parents and their loved ones.

May all your loved ones be healthy, but if they are ill, may they soon be well.

To those who have lost loved ones, know that they will always be with you in your heart.

To those of you and your family with health issues, may everything turn out well. May your medical tests and those of your loved ones come back with happy results. May your medical treatments be successful and may you live a long and happy life.

Sending prayers of healing and strength to you and your loved ones.

Now, even more than ever, may our leaders dig deep to find the wisdom, maturity, courage, strength and sanity to make the right decisions for our security and well-being. G-d bless America!

Good thoughts and thanks to our military. May they come home safely and SOON. Bless all the servicemen that didn't make it home; and to those who are serving, thank you for your sacrifice and for being there to protect our safety.

Special prayers for all the children...may they be happy, have good health, enough to eat and drink, a warm bed, and the abiding love of parents and family who will protect them. May the children survive and thrive. No child should ever go to bed hungry, nor should anyone else in our beautiful, bountiful country. Help the food banks if you can. Even a little helps. May our own children and grandchildren be healthy and happy, and shed no tears of pain or sadness. And, MAY THEY BE SAFE IN THEIR SCHOOLS!

May your parents be healthy and happy as well. I hope everyone's mom and dad, spouse, and children are healthy, and/or recovering.

Condolences to those of you that have lost a parent or a loved one recently. May you find the strength to carry on, and hold good memories of your blessed loved ones to keep you strong.

Try to do a good deed for a friend or a stranger. They'll feel good, and you'll feel better.

Good health and happiness to everyone who shares their thoughts and prayers and good wishes with us every week. Hug your loved ones every day and make sure they know you love them.

Wishing you all the very best that life has to offer. A happy and healthy weekend to all.

"That's a great first pancake."
Lady Gaga, to Tony Bennett

Shelbelle · ‎03-09-2010

Sunny, very early for you today!! Have a wonderful weekend and holiday!!

OKPrincess · ‎03-10-2013

Happy weekend to everyone.

The fair has started and we’re having beautiful weather. I look forward to the exhibits and especially the food.

meallen616 · ‎01-10-2013

I am still oxox · ‎03-09-2010

Good shabbos all and I went to a books signing event at our local JCC which happened to be held in the Succah, their large conference center is under construction

Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive what could go right.

Shanus · ‎05-17-2010

Wishing all Shabbat Shalom and a wonderful fall weekend.

reiki604 · ‎03-09-2010

Shabbat Shalom!!! Looking forward to a glorious weekend.

'I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man'.......Unknown

nyc1 · ‎03-19-2010

Hugs to all for the most happy weekend. Hopefully we will all stop to take in the beauty around us and appreciate what we have.

Hectic week at work, so I'm dancing toward this weekend !!!!

cherry · ‎03-09-2010

Sabbath Blessing to all

I thought you might find it fun to read about Michaelmas which we will celebrate on Sunday

snip

o many, Saint Michael the Archangel, "Captain of the Heavenly Host," is best known as that dauntless spirit who vanquished his peer among the angels, Lucifer, once called "the Star of the Morning." Michael is a star of the love than conquers pride. Sometimes he is pictured as a winged angel in white robes, but oftener as the armed warrior on the errands of God, about his head a halo and under his foot the demon, prone and helpless. He was honored in Jewish tradition, and became the champion of Christian warriors as well, although in early ages he was also given the protection of the sick. Of his early sanctuaries, the best known is Monte Gargano in Italy, where he appeared in the fifth or sixth century to the Lombards and insured their victory over the Greek Neapolitans. In the Middle Ages Michael became in Normandy the patron of mariners. His shrines were built in high places, facing the sea, and Mont-Saint-Michel on its rock is the greatest example of devotion to him, a place of pilgrimage a thousand years ago as it still is today. In the early days much food was sold around the shrine "bread and pasties, fruit and fish, birds, cakes, venizens," according to an old description. The fare is simpler today but a visitor to Mont-Saint-Michel will eat a famed and favorite dish:

Mère Poulard’s Omelet
1/4 lb. butter, 8 eggs
Melt the butter in a heavy frying pan (traditionally never used for any other purpose and never washed, merely being rubbed clean with salt after use) until it begins to froth and becomes a light golden brown. Beat the eggs with a fork slightly, just enough to mix the yolks and whites. Do not overbeat! Pour the eggs into the pan and cook gently, bringing the edges of the omelet as it cooks to the center of the pan, lifting the mass slightly so that the uncooked portion can run underneath. Increase the heat for about one minute, moving the pan about so that the omelet will slide in the pan. Invert on a platter and, when half is out of the pan, flip the pan quickly so as to cover with the remaining half. Do not salt as the quantity of butter used is sufficient to season the omelet properly. It is an old wives' tale that this omelet can only be properly prepared over a wood fire!

England long observed Michaelmas with many special ceremonies and customs. The Michaelmas daisy was named in the saint’s honor, and village maidens in other days gathered crab apples on his feast. These were carried home and put into a loft, so arranged as to form the initials of their supposed lovers. The initials that were still perfect on old Michaelmas Day (October 11) were supposed to show where true love was. Another curious belief was that it was unlucky to gather blackberries on the feast of Saint Michael. The outstanding and most persistent custom connected with Michaelmas was the eating of a goose at dinner. This seems to have originated with the practice of presenting a goose to the landlord when paying the rent. According to a sixteenth-century poet:

And when the tenants come to pay their quarter's rent,
They bring some fowl at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent,
At Christmas a capon, at Michaelmas a goose
And somewhat else at New-year's tide, for fear their lease fly loose.

We read that Queen Elizabeth was eating her Michaelmas goose when she received the news of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Obviously, this is apocryphal, for the "invincible" Armada was defeated in July and the news reached Elizabeth long before Michaelmas. But certainly the custom persisted in high places and low throughout Britain. The Michaelmas goose was eaten in other places besides the British Isles, although in most countries of the Continent this custom was more apt to be connected with the celebration of Saint Martin’s Day (November 11th). The Germans believed they could foretell the weather from the breastbones of the Michaelmas goose — a belief that traveled to America with immigrants of German stock, and which still exists today among the Pennsylvania Dutch.

To Roast a Goose We read that Queen Elizabeth was eating her Michaelmas goose when she received the news of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Obviously, this is apocryphal, for the "invincible" Armada was defeated in July and the news reached Elizabeth long before Michaelmas. But certainly the custom persisted in high places and low throughout Britain. The Michaelmas goose was eaten in other places besides the British Isles, although in most countries of the Continent this custom was more apt to be connected with the celebration of Saint Martin’s Day (November 11th). The Germans believed they could foretell the weather from the breastbones of the Michaelmas goose — a belief that traveled to America with immigrants of German stock, and which still exists today among the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Potato and Sausage Stuffing
6 cups cubed potatoes 3 tablespoons chopped onion 3 tablespoons butter 3/4 lb. sausage meat	3 tablespoons chopped parsley 1 teaspoon marjoram salt and pepper
Peel and cube the potatoes and parboil for about five minutes. Sauté the onion in the butter and add the potatoes, sausage meat, and parsley. Season with marjoram and pepper, and salt lightly because of the sausage meat. Apples may be substituted for the potatoes but in that case omit the marjoram.

Chestnut Dressing
6 cups chestnuts 1/2 lb. melted butter 4 tablespoons chopped parsley salt and pepper	1 cup chopped celery 2 cups bread crumbs 2 tablespoons grated onion
Shell, skin, and boil the chestnuts in salted water until tender. Mix with the remaining ingredients and, if the stuffing appears to be too dry, moisten with 1/2 cup heavy cream.

In Ireland, Michaelmas was one of the most important feasts of the year, and people prayed especially on this day for protection against sickness. A goose or a sheep or a pig was especially killed and eaten at Michaelmas at a feast of thanksgiving, connected by some with a miracle of Saint Patrick performed with the aid of Michael the Archangel. And the Irish made a Michaelmas Pie into which a ring was placed — its finder was supposed to have an early marriage. In Scotland, Saint Michael’s Bannock was made on his day, as well as a Saint Michael’s Cake, that all guests, together with the family, must eat entirely before the night was over.

In Scotland, Saint Michael’s Bannock was made on his day, as well as a Saint Michael’s Cake, that all guests, together with the family, must eat entirely before the night was over.

Activity Source: Feast Day Cookbook by Katherine Burton and Helmut Ripperger, David McKay Company, Inc., New York, 1951