Another attempt at Hamentashen, and my birthday - Day 992 (Year 3, Day 260)

Livingston, TX

Tonight starts the holiday of Purim - a festive occasion commemorating the saving of Persia's Jews from a decree of mass extermination.  Many synagogues have fun, themed celebrations and it is a commandment to hear the story read (and to make a lot of noise to block out the name of the villian-Haman).  He wore a 3 cornered hat, and one of the symbols are triangle shaped cookies filled with some kind of yummy treat -- called hamentaschen (Yiddish word for Haman's hat).

This is our 3rd Purim on the road.  Last year we were fortunate to have a blast in Asheville, NC.  The year before, we were in an isolated area in Arcadia, FL, where Mitch took his first stab at making them.  Here's the link - they came out fantastic!  http://mitcheryl-rv-journey.blogspot.com/2015/03/thankful-hamentashen-day-254.html

This year, being isolated once again, Mitch is making a batch.  He has a super big challenge, however, which is my food plan (very low carb, grain free) so he can't use flour or syrup, and it's hard to find a filling I could eat.  We ended up using the ingredients we use for my "bread" which is mostly almond and coconut flour and he experimented with eggs and coconut milk to get the right consistency.  For filling (thanks to Jessica!), we made a batch of cocoa powder (100% dark choc - hardly any carbs), coconut oil and sweet & low, which came out tasting really good.

They don't look as good as they did a few years ago, but considering the horrible dough consistency he had to work with (if you can call it dough) I think he did a GREAT job!!!  They came out tasting pretty good, too (not as good as the real stuff, but close enough to enjoy).  Challah came out nice as well.

  

As for my birthday (#59) it was made special by all the birthday wishes from friends and family via Facebook and phone (a special call-out to my sister, Linda, who took time out from a wedding she was attending to call me!).  Normally, we would have celebrated with a nice meal out, but that's not possible due to (1) other than a bowl of salad or a nice piece of fish, there isn't much I can eat and I'm not paying $20 for a bowl of lettuce; and (2) there are no real restaurants in this isolated area.  Mostly they are fast food, bbq or chicken joints, nothing fancy.  Not even a diner-like place to get some eggs.  So my special birthday present is having Mitch pamper me, aka taking over the food preparation and cleaning up afterwards.

One last note is we think the part arrived today and if so, the tech will be here first thing in the morning to install it.  Then, with any luck, we can pull out on Monday.  Boss said there was some wiggle room, so we'll get there when we get there.  Not going to push 400-500 miles a day.