CurrentMom

Mom's Potato Latkes: A Chrismukkah Essential

Meal Monday

Every year we have the same conversation. I'm in my mother's kitchen, preparing to help her make potato latkes for the whole family. There's probably a football game on in the adjacent family room. The dogs are asleep on the couch.

Me: How many potatoes do we need?

My mother: Oh, I think 8 is enough.

Me: Oh, no, no, no. That is definitely not enough. Let's add a few more. (I add 10 potatoes to the bowl.)

My mother: Emily! That is too many. It will take us 3 hours to make all of those. (She takes 5 potatoes out of the bowl.)

Me: Mom, look, there are never enough potato latkes, ever. I could eat all of these myself. (I put the 5 potatoes back in the bowl).

(My mother glares at me.)

Me: Pleeeeeeeeeease.

My mother: Alright, fine, but you have to help me.

 Me: Of course!

And so it goes. And it's true, there are never enough of my mother's potato latkes. Maybe it's the combination of my Jewish and Irish roots (hence Chrismukkah!), but I think they are one of the most delicious foods on earth, period. Crispy, earthy, salty, with a little sourcream and applesauce it is tuber heaven. We only make them once a year, right around Hanukah, which makes them extra special.

Why Are You Blogging: Money or Self-Expression?

Startup Sunday

Photo by sunshinecity via Flickr.

When I talk to people about blogging, money eventually comes up in the conversation. Perhaps they're curious about how much I make from ads on this site (not much), or they're thinking about starting a blog and want to know how much profit to expect (again, not much).

They're usually disappointed to hear my opinion: out of all the good reasons to start blogging, money isn't in my top 10.

Now, I'm not saying that well-written blogs can't lead to lucrative book or endorsement deals. And certainly the success of blogging legends like Dooce and Julie Powell tempts every would-be scribe to start throwing words up on a screen in hopes of making it big. I give the same advice to someone following this path as I would a teenager hoping to make it in the NBA: make sure to have a back-up plan.

The End of the World As We Know It

Sharing Saturday

My 14-year old son (last seen in this column as an alien at Halloween) is convinced that the movie "2012" is based on fact. He has been reading various websites that assure him that the Mayans knew what they were talking about, and that the world is truly doomed to end in 2012.

My husband and I have tried to persuade him to understand that this is all truly bunk, that there have been end-of-the-world predictions for centuries, and that while humankind may well be hurling itself towards environmental self-destruction, it is highly unlikely that some Mayan doomsday clock will stop ticking in two years.

In-law Pie

Fatherhood Friday

I just returned from an overseas trip in time for Thanksgiving. Between the travel and the tryptophan I was feeling half a step behind hanging out with over 25 relatives who joined us at my in-laws' home for our Thanksgiving day meal. (Although on paper we reserve the right to decide each year between spending Thanksgiving at my in-laws or with my parents, in reality we alternate each year in order to keep the peace. But that's a topic for another post. . .)

Thanksgiving is a great time to consider your relationship with your in-laws. I feel very fortunate that I get along extremely well with my in-laws. That extends to my wife's siblings, cousins and aunts and uncles too. Overall its a great family, and having come from a very small extended family I enjoy the dynamics of being part of a larger family.

But there was one issue that came up. Because it was a holiday and all the family was over, we let our six-year old stay up late. At almost 9 p.m. he shows me a plate with a big piece of pumpkin pie. Now, he knows that we don't allow him to eat dessert late, especially when he already had his dessert earlier in the evening. (I'm pretty sure that's why he showed it to me.) But just to be sure that my wife and I didn't have a miscommunication I asked him if his mother said he could have it. He said no, and then pointed to a family member.

I told him that even though a family member gave it to him he couldn't have it; I added, just in case, that he hadn't done anything wrong. But I was irritated. If someone wants to give their kids slices of pie late in the evening I might not agree with it, but that's their parenting choice. Even if my kid is watching them eat it, the adult still shouldn't give him any. I was in the kitchen at the time; in my opinion she should have asked me if it was okay, or even asked him to ask me, before giving him that slice of pie.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened, but its been a while. Perhaps more important, we have 4 more days of all being together. (We live far away from each other and the whole family gets together maybe once or twice a year.) So, the question I have for Current Mom readers is, should I say anything to this person? 

Gratitude Journals

Technology Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick note today about gratitude journals. A gratitude journal is a blank notebook (I'm a fan of Moleskine notebooks for many things, including things like this) where you take a few moments each day to jot down 5 (or 3 or 10) things that you're grateful for. Christine Kane has a nice write-up about them:

What happens when you write in a gratitude journal every night?

My experience is that when I write out my I-am-grateful-for’s every night, I become more in tune throughout the next day. It’s like turning on an inner-switch that sets your awareness to look for material for your journal each night. So you might be driving out of your neighborhood in the morning, and catch the flash of a bluebird in the sunlight, and instead of blowing it off, you stop and notice it for a moment. You take it in. And you make a mental note to include that in your gratitude journal. Then, when you’re having lunch with a co-worker, she grabs the check and pays it. And not only do you thank her, but you make that mental note again. Your day becomes a basket where you collect things. It’s a private little game.

In essence, you become a gratitude magnet.

And, if the thought of keeping a notebook or Moleskine is too cumbersome, well, you know, there's an app for that, too!

Full disclosure: I tried to keep such a journal at the beginning of the year, but alas it didn't last very long. I've been thinking about restarting, though, so this post may be a good prod in that direction.

A Working Mom's Thanksgiving Trouble

Work Wednesday

I've got trouble with a Capital "T". And it's not the kind that rhymes with P. No, it's the T that rhymes with key. As in tur-key. Thanksgiving turkey. 

As in, I haven't started cooking yet. And there's a hard deadline. Tomorrow!

I'm a relative newcomer to the family Thanksgiving table.  It's not that my family didn't celebrate America's favorite holiday.  We did. But my mom, tired, I guess, from cooking for all of the Jewish holidays that typically fall in September and October, was finished by the November feast.  So, our family tradition centered on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York (chilly but magical) and dinner with close family friends in a real restaurant.  Because we rarely ate out in restaurants, let alone "fancy" restaurants (it was the 1970's, after all), this was a huge treat! For the kids and the parents. (Except, of course, for the one year that the chef quit and we were not feeling thankful when our food had not arrived more than three hours after our order.) I still think that's the way to go.   

But my husband's family takes their Thanksgiving traditions seriously. They gather each year up and down the East Coast, from Newport, Rhode Island to Newport News, Virginia (not too far from Colonial Williamsburg), and spend Thanksgiving weekend eating, reminiscing, and laughing.  Then eating some more.  I knew that our relationship had serious potential when my then-boyfriend, now-husband invited me to Thanksgiving dinner.  Now, every year, I look forward to the gathering.

Since I've joined the family,though, we've only hosted Thanksgiving once, back in 2004 when we only had one kid.  And then, I cooked for weeks before and filled the freezer with soups, muffins, and sauces.  This year, for some reason, my plan to cook early went off the rails. (Well, I know why.  Two kids, two big projects, one illness, this blog. A recipe for procrastination and delay.)

So, now its our turn, and like the turkey, my time is up.

The Not-So-Perfect Storm

Truth Tuesday

Some days, I feel like I am doing pretty darn OK as a Mom. 

And other days….well other days, I'm so not there.

Those days, I am thinking for sure that if they issued licenses for this role, I would never have qualified. Or if I had qualified, the Board would certainly have revoked said license by now.

On those days, I'm giving myself a big fat "F" for effort and effectiveness.

Any Mom who tells you she has never had one of those days is either hiding from the truth or possesses some serious SuperWoman powers.

I, however, cannot claim either.

A Little Variety This Thanksgiving: Recipe for Chutney Chicken

Meal Monday

Photo by tuchodi via Flickr.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I absolutely adore a brined and perfectly roasted turkey, and I could eat a good batch of stuffing for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  To have all of this, surrounded by family, with time to be grateful for all I have? What's not to like?

Naturally, I eagerly await the arrival of the holiday editions of my favorite cooking magazines. I am in pure heaven imagining all the possible permutations of turkey, potato, stuffing and vegetables. Every page is a new dream … until the what-to-do-with-the-leftovers page.  Every magazine has it. And every year, under a small cloud of culinary self-doubt, I flip past it. I know that as an American cook who, in every other aspect is frugal, I should respect and value these recipes, but much as I love the perfect Thanksgiving menu, I want nothing to do with it except on that one glorious Thursday.

Now that I'm a mom, I have a deeper and more empathetic understanding of the need for making a yummy, time-intensive meal stretch on – both for practical and financial reasons. But as my family happily slaps together turkey and cranberry sandwiches on Friday, I'm ordering Chinese.

Traveling For Love, Mooramong – Private Hollywood…

Travel Tuesday

Would you travel from one side of the world to the other for love? Claire Adams did. Claire’s was a story of a Canadian screen star that chose love over fame and created her own version of Hollywood on a farm in the Western District of Victoria, Australia.

Silent screen actress Claire Adams, who appeared in 46 films between 1919 and 1927, moved to the Skipton property Mooramong a year after marrying local grazier Donald "Scobie" Mackinnon in London in 1936. Their extraordinary life together has finally be revealed with the launch of the National Trust of Australia documentary Mooramong - Private Hollywood, narrated by Rachel Ward. I was fortunate enough to be part of the Melbourne screening of this delightful story.

The documentary uses footage taken by Claire over many decades as she recorded life at Mooramong - glamorous pool parties, international guests, the couple's love of animals, and their farming and community life.

Whilst sitting through this 63-minute film (produced, directed and written by Australian independent filmmaker and journalist, Lina Caneva), I couldn’t help wondering whether I would do the same. If the man of my dreams worked really hard to sweep me off my feet, and he happened to live in the Northern Hemisphere, would I leave family, friends and the life I’ve known behind in pursuit of a dream? I’d like to think I’d say yes… but then I also have to work out how to make the arrangement workable.

Certainly with the frequency of today’s flights, coupled with the number of low cost carriers that are now available, any visiting routines can be handled a whole lot more easily than they would have been able to be in Claire’s day.

Really, each of us is not more than approx. 30 hours away from anyone else, which in the scheme of things is not that long at all. Add into the mix the use of Skype and Messenger and all other web based communication tools that are now available, and loved ones are not that far away at all. In fact, I suspect you may make more of an effort to contact loved ones overseas on a more regular basis, even more so that you do when they’re just down the road. Certainly that was the case between my brother and I!

Tools such as these really would make the decision easier.
No more snail mail, no more travelling by long boat (or only if you want to), no more waiting for days and days to get to where you want/have to get to. The older we get, the smaller the world seems to get; don’t you think? Certainly, there is fabulous upside to moving away on a rather long adventure. Imagine the experiences, and the memories, and the purchases, and the new people you will get to meet; probably a whole lot different to the place you are leaving. That in itself would be enough to spur me on I think...

What about the work factor? Would you give up your current career, your working life as you know it to travel across the seas? Does your current money making arrangement make it possible to pack up and move around the world anyway? Would your care factor about the work you do still be as high as it is now, especially for love? So many considerations...

Would I marry after only a few weeks like Claire and Scobie did? That’s a different question all together!

Happy Travels
the entrepreneurial mother™

Top 3 Networking Mistakes

Startup Sunday

Photo by Murat Ertürk via Flickr.

 

During last week's teleconference on succeeding as a freelancer, sponsored by CurrentMom.com and the Asian American Journalists Association, the panelists kept returning to the same advice: you must have a strong network. (If you missed it, I'd recommend listening to the replay of the teleconference or downloading it to listen at your leisure.)

 

And yet I felt we didn't have enough time to discuss how to network or the common networking mistakes. So I'm taking this opportunity to address the networking mistakes that I've seen most often. (And yes, I've made these all myself at some point in my career.)

Networking Mistake #1: Talking and Not Listening

On the call, I mentioned that networking is as much about listening to your contact as it is telling her what you need for success in your career. I can't emphasize this point enough.

 

So many budding entrepreneurs come to me saying, "I have a great idea for a product or service! But I can't seem to get anyone to buy it…" They are failing to listen to their clients, customers or networking contacts.

 

When you meet with prospective clients, in addition to telling them how great you are and what your product or services will do for them, you must spend at least as much time listening. Ask what their biggest challenges are. After explaining your areas of expertise, ask an open ended question to see where they might be most in need of your work.