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Annabelle Stevens

Annabelle Stevens

Macrobiotic principles fit Sukkot meals

The seasonal aspect of contemporary macrobiotic cuisine seems to fit Sukkot perfectly, because it is a harvest holiday focused on food and hospitality and is set in an temporary exterior dwelling.

Are Cell Phones Ever Cool in Shul?

A few weeks ago, I was at a funeral at Mount Sinai in Glendale when, at one of the most emotional moments, a cell phone rang loudly for several minutes, humming a Broadway tune.

My Yiddishe Mamma Day

Yesterday, I got three messages from my mother, a long distance Jewish mother joke from my brother in London (\”A homeless man approaches a Jewish mother on the street. \’Lady, I haven\’t eaten in three days,\’ he said. \’Force yourself,\’ she replied.\”) and the last was from the Loews Hotel confirming my reservation for Mother\’s Day brunch.

Aunt Coca’s Ghost

Did you have an Aunt Coca? My auntie, to whom I am not genetically connected, was a lady we kindly invited to family gatherings because she was alone. It was silently understood that she was an \”old maid,\” one of those unfortunate women who did not marry and have children.

My Aunt Coca, from my child perspective, was an \”old\” woman. A distinguished blonde lady, a member of the adult clan who clumsily pinched my cheeks and brought gifts. What seemed old then, is close to home now. Like her, I am an unmarried, 40-year-old woman, and I sometimes painfully feel the same loneliness and single-woman stigmas as she did.

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