Building a Sukkah, Part I

Josh has, for a long time, been talking about building a sukkah to cover the whole deck. Well, finally he's done it (part I)! Here is the sukkah, of his own design:

Step 1: Buy a bunch of wood. (8 [2x4], 20 [1x2], 1 [1x6], 1/4" dowels)



Notch 2 of the [2x4]s to fit the [1x6] 4 inches deep. Drill and add 2 dowels to the top of all 8 [2x4]s.

Slide the 1x6 into the notches, and the [1x2]s (on the taller axis) onto the dowels (having first cut them to size and having drilled holes into them, obviously).

By adding a few dowels along the short side of the sukkah, the extra 12 [1x2]s can be stood up to be a foundation for the schach.
Tada--(the structure of) a sukkah the size of the deck!
Next up: walls (tarps?) and schach (4 [4x8] bamboo mats).

Making Round Challot for 5770!

Shana Tova everyone! We undertook our yearly creation of round challot. Sara mixed the ingredients. Josh rolled out the dough and started braiding:



Start with a weaved pound sign, as above. Then swap the location of each pair of braids that makes a 90 degree angle. Do that again, but crossing in the opposite direction. Do it one last time, and you end with the picture below:

Pinch all 8 ends together in the middle and flip the thing over:

Rise, egg wash, and bake!

Yum! (And cranberries go awesomely with honey)