Chocolate-covered guilt
Photo: Jori Klein
If you read my last post, you might have learned that my parents were in New York for a visit during the last few weeks.
It’s never easy to juggle freelance work, recreation and family time, but this challenge becomes even more acute this a situation, when you adopt the role of city host.
Ordinarily, I might have happily sacrificed taking on extra work, in order to spend time with my folks. But when an editor asked me to write an article (about New York’s first Chocolate Week) that went along the lines of: “Our writer eats nothing but chocolate for 8 hours straight”, I was determined to make it work.
Getting a free pass on Jewish guilt
Photo: Jacqui Gal
Guilt.
The mere word, standing along on my screen screams Jewishness. If you look for it, it’s everywhere in our culture.
None of us are strangers to the stereotypical guilt-mongering Jewish mother. Sadly, many who escaped the Holocaust suffer survivor’s guilt. Even the humble apple – when you really think about it – is no more than a guilt-ridden symbol of wrongdoing that dates back to the Garden of Eden.
So, what about my guilt?
Well, when it comes to the Jewish-mother kind, I pretty much lucked out. My mum has a no-guilt policy. I think it’s pretty unusual for a Jewish mother, so I’ll explain.
Becoming a dot com
As a writer, hoping to launch a freelance career in earnest, there are some things that must be done. For example, make business cards, find a café that welcomes loitering and create a website. (Arguably, one should also get a small dog, to complete the picture, but I’ll be taking baby steps.)
Culinary fantasies
Lately I have been having a recurring dream. I am standing in a kitchen, chopping, with a slew of simmering pots behind me.
In another room close by, I hear the lilting tones of light-hearted conversation, the clinking of glasses, a sudden whoop of laughter.