The man who plots the stumbling blocks in the lives of the likes of me

[sovay]

A new record this year: of slightly more than a hundred hamantashn made this evening by my mother and myself, only three unfolded and bubbled out while baking. We ate the evidence anyway. And also some non-evidence. In addition to the traditional flavors of apricot, poppy seed, and prune, this year we tried a raspberry filling, which produces an effect not unpleasantly like a jam donut.

Having just heard Momus' "I Was a Maoist Intellectual" for the first time, I thought maybe I was over-reading the line about the hotel doorman as a shout-out to Murnau's Der letzte Mann (1924), but then I saw that his second most recent album is heavily inspired by Pasolini, so I stopped worrying.

My headache levels were within endurable limits today, which is why I suppose I found out that my credit card information has been hacked.

Comments

[muccamukk]

Have a friend looking for a good hamantashn recipe. Hers came out crumbly this year.

Glad you had a (mostly) good holiday!

[sovay]

Have a friend looking for a good hamantashn recipe. Hers came out crumbly this year.

Our recipe is:

Preheat oven for 350°F.

Mix
½ cup oil (we use canola; use olive only if you really like the flavor)
½ cup white sugar
1 well-beaten egg
¼ cup milk (skim vs. whole irrelevant, but cream does not work)

Sift
2 ½ cups flour
with
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Combine wet and dry ingredients, knead well (if using a mixer, use a dough hook). If too dry, add second well-beaten egg for additional liquid and binding. Roll out thinly on a lightly floured surface and cut out into roughly 3-inch circles (we just use an upturned glass as a cutter). Put spoonful of filling of choice in center, fold into hamantashn.

Bake on lightly oiled baking sheet until nicely browned (15–20 minutes in our oven, may vary in others). This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled: I have not tried scaling up beyond that. Yields at least 30 hamantashn by itself.

Glad you had a (mostly) good holiday!

Thank you! Purim itself starts at sunset tomorrow (Wednesday) night, but this was when my mother and I had the time for hamantashn.

[yhlee]

Yay hamantashn!

I hope the credit card stuff is easily dealt with, grr.

[sovay]

Yay hamantashn!

Thank you!

I hope the credit card stuff is easily dealt with, grr.

Thanks. Since it's a credit rather than debit card, it should be: the card itself is dead, I am waiting for its replacement, and then I get to review all purchases made since the beginning of the year to determine whether I actually made them. It's not tied to my main bank account or any utilities or services. It's just aggravating, temporarily interferes with a couple of arrangements, and not really what I wanted to have to deal with as soon as I woke up.

[sholio]

I hear you on the credit card AAAUGH. I had to change my credit card number twice last year, once because the credit card company spontaneously sent me a new card due to an unspecified leak, once because of fraudulent transactions necessitating a number change. It was incredibly annoying.

I hope you have a fun Purim!

[sovay]

I had to change my credit card number twice last year, once because the credit card company spontaneously sent me a new card due to an unspecified leak, once because of fraudulent transactions necessitating a number change. It was incredibly annoying.

You have my sympathies! That is too many times in a year.

I hope you have a fun Purim!

Thank you!

[thisbluespirit]

My headache levels were within endurable limits today, which is why I suppose I found out that my credit card information has been hacked.

Oh no! /o\ I hope at least it's easily sorted - and I hope the hamantashn go down well!

[sovay]

I hope at least it's easily sorted - and I hope the hamantashn go down well!

Thank you! The hamantashn have met with approval (including mine and spatch's) and the sorting is proceeding apace.

[kate_nepveu]

yay hamantashn, boo having to tell all the places with auto-billing your new number!

[sovay]

yay hamantashn, boo having to tell all the places with auto-billing your new number!

Thank you on both counts!

[julian]

Good gosh,universe, give this person a break!

[sovay]

Good gosh,universe, give this person a break!

Truly, on some level my reaction to the credit card news was ". . . really?"

[skygiants]

You're so admirable! My hamantaschen efforts went all awry this year because I accidentally used the bread flour my roommate had left out from soda bread instead of regular flour .... I may try again on the weekend.

[sovay]

My hamantaschen efforts went all awry this year because I accidentally used the bread flour my roommate had left out from soda bread instead of regular flour .... I may try again on the weekend.

I feel like soda bread hamantashn should not be an impossibility, but you would have to make them on purpose, and also want to eat them afterward. Good luck with the rematch!

[choco_frosh]

My headache levels were within endurable limits today, which is why I suppose I found out that my credit card information has been hacked.
< facepalm >

[choco_frosh]

PS /How/ did you find out you’d been hacked? I should probably check my own...

[sovay]

PS /How/ did you find out you’d been hacked? I should probably check my own...

I got an e-mail from my credit card company. I assumed it was spam, since I get regular phishing e-mails thanks to being a human who interacts with the internet ever, but I called them just to make sure. It was not spam.

[selkie]

I have a batch of s'morementashen dough to roll and deal with tonight, but we didn't make any traditional ones this year. I feel like I ought to, and yet. So much like work. So I salute your industriousness and wish your family a chag Purim sameach!

[sovay]

So I salute your industriousness and wish your family a chag Purim sameach!

Thank you! Likewise to yours!

[a_reasonable_man]

I'm happy about the hamantashn, glad that your headache is less, and upset about your credit card being hacked. I've got a long-standing plan to meet with a friend, who says she can help me freeze my credit, to protect me from similar hacks. (I've been baffled by the process.)

[sovay]

I'm happy about the hamantashn, glad that your headache is less, and upset about your credit card being hacked.

Thank you. The hacking is a comparably small disaster, but I really didn't ask for it.

I've got a long-standing plan to meet with a friend, who says she can help me freeze my credit, to protect me from similar hacks. (I've been baffled by the process.)

If it permits you to control your own data rather than having it scraped by spammers and frauds, I say go for it. I'm glad you have someone to help.

[asakiyume]

You have to be less good at making hamantashn, otherwise you won't have much evidence to eat!

*very* sorry to hear about the credit card. Really one of the random, throw-of-the-dice monsters of our current age.

[sovay]

You have to be less good at making hamantashn, otherwise you won't have much evidence to eat!

Well, it makes the people we give them to happy!

*very* sorry to hear about the credit card. Really one of the random, throw-of-the-dice monsters of our current age.

Thank you. I don't even know if it was a purchase I made, a data breach on the company's part, I don't think I'll ever know. I totally could have done without it, though.

[brigdh]

A hundred hamantashn! That's indeed impressive; I'm too lazy to bake in general, so I'll just admire yours from afar.

Thanks for sharing the song! It's a wonderful listen.

[sovay]

A hundred hamantashn! That's indeed impressive; I'm too lazy to bake in general, so I'll just admire yours from afar.

Thank you! We tripled the usual recipe. It only felt like Zeno's Paradox.

Thanks for sharing the song! It's a wonderful listen.

I've had it stuck on and off in my head ever since . . .