Honey cake is to Ashkenazi Jews at Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) what fruit cake is to Christians at Christmas. Mention these cakes, and one is sure to see wrinkled noses and some serious eye rolling. Fruit cake is often the butt of comedians’ jokes. “The worst gift is […]
Eileen Creeger
30 posts
Formative Years: 1954-1965 We didn’t have furry pets when I was a child. When my sister Margo asked for a dog (she would have been happy with a pony, too), Mom said, “No.” The excuse was that mom worked and had no time to take care of a pet. Additionally, […]
“There’s no place like home,” said Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz. She clicks the heels of her ruby slippers to return to Kansas. It’s so true. No matter how much we think we want to get away, coming home is sometimes the best part of a trip. Why, you […]
Down-y oh-shun, Hun (trans: down the ocean, honey) is an often-heard phrase in Bawl-tee-more (trans: Baltimore). Down-y oh-shun is my happy place. My dad loved the beach. He spent many summers in a rental house at the Jersey Shore. Grandma shared the house with her sisters, nieces and nephews. The […]
I just spent five days, four nights in Ocean City, Maryland. It’s been a few years since we’ve been at the beach. Here are 20 Ocean City observations and questions. Too many Americans are obese. Girls with fat thighs should not wear cutoffs or short shorts. A bikini top with […]
It was the 5th day of Passover. It was also a mitzvah (good deed) day. My stress level was maxed out. Little did I know, however, it was also a mitzvah day. Everyone needs one of these once in awhile to make up for our “naughty” days. Yesterday was a bummer. I’d eaten […]
Image by Michael Kropiewnicki. Yes, the buzz around town is that the cicadas are coming! This is Brood X, which appears from the ground every 17 years. Any day now – when the ground temperature is in the 60s – they will emerge. Though their life cycle is short, thank goodness, the not-so-little buggers are […]
Background Four generations of Jewish women settled in the upper Midwest, on the prairie and in the small towns of North and South Dakota, northern Iowa, Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. Their stories are told in a fascinating book entitled “And Prarie Dogs Weren’t Kosher” by Linda Mack Schloff. Published in […]
Painting by my great uncle Paul Hausdorff. The Passover Seder was a big event in Dad’s paternal family. Some of my earliest memories are from these get-togethers. After all these years, now that so many relatives have passed, these Seder remembrances are precious. My earliest Seder memories begin at Mrs. […]