tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post5603937733665005423..comments2024-03-12T22:31:46.500-04:00Comments on What Would Phoebe Do?: Jews' "sheer sexiness," and the insist-too-much paradoxPhoebe Maltz Bovyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-43298051726270218892013-10-11T10:34:03.441-04:002013-10-11T10:34:03.441-04:00"I remember the first time I made something l...<i>"I remember the first time I made something like this, and my boyfriend asked what the dish was called, since clearly any pasta dish must have a name ... Your winter pesto sounds delicious."</i><br /><br />Well, if you make it for you and your boyfriend, at least you'll have a name for it!Peteynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-2664008180659397482013-10-10T15:04:52.736-04:002013-10-10T15:04:52.736-04:00Finally, perhaps an undersold additional factor is...<i>Finally, perhaps an undersold additional factor is that each and every one of them were willing and happy to cook me competent pasta, while also happily eating the pasta I cooked for them.</i><br /><br />Yeah, this is the hard part about dating an actual Italian. On the plus side (and this is truly a significant plus), they make amazing pastas, and have no problem with eating pasta 7 days a week. On the downside, my 'dump vegetables on pasta and coat with cheese' dinner making method doesn't go over nearly as well. I remember the first time I made something like this, and my boyfriend asked what the dish was called, since <i>clearly</i> any pasta dish must have a name. He is nice enough to eat my 'pasta' with minimal grimacing, but he obviously isn't enjoying it. <br /><br />Your winter pesto sounds delicious.<br /><br />I do think with romantic partners it can be a "grass is greener" situation. The Scandinavian ladies I know, myself included, tend to prefer "tall dark & handsome," while my Jewish and Chinese female friends seem to go for the blond guys. Brittahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02224221011978374915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-84674447583938710812013-10-10T09:02:42.870-04:002013-10-10T09:02:42.870-04:00"Ha! In that case, where's my Nobel Prize...<i>"Ha! In that case, where's my Nobel Prize for literature?"</i><br /><br />They called. Twice. And it went to voicemail both times.<br /><br />So, while waiting to call a third time, they went back and re-checked. And it turns out there were some significant issues with your formatting...<br /><br />-----<br /><br /><i>"Individuals, families, and communities need to show, by example and by word, why Jewishness matters—to create in sons and daughters an appreciation of the appeal, and the sheer sexiness, of Jewish men and women." This came up on my Birthright trip as well, when the group leader asked the young men in the auditorium to behold the beauty of Jewish women. The first part - "why Jewishness matters" makes sense, but the second? There's nothing like a well-meaning authority figure telling you that someone - or some group - should do something for you erotically for that not to happen."</i><br /><br />Reason #53 why Shelly Adelson is <b>Bad For The Jews</b>.<br /><br />I was raised as a good Hellenized Jew, who obviously would have nothing to do with such likudnik meshugaas . But yet!<br /><br /><b>More than half</b> of my non-casual romantic partners have been females Born To A Jewish Mother. Why? Well, there is the sheer sexiness factor of them oriental Jewesses. Plus, there is an additional, best described as <b>coziness</b> factor. Finally, perhaps an undersold additional factor is that each and every one of them were willing and happy to cook me competent pasta, while also happily eating the pasta I cooked for them.<br /><br />(And we get to that 'more than half' even though during my sojourn in the Midwest, I was faced with hordes of model-ish Lutherans attracted to my Jewish sheer sexinesss as if I were made of magnets.)<br /><br />Moral of the story: absent the crazy propaganda (which I fully agree with you ends up pushing folks away), things kinda take their own course.<br /><br />-----<br /><br />Bonus Diaspora Jewish 40 Minute Pasta Gravy, (with borrowings from Chinese garlic sauce, as befits American Jews):<br /><br />- Absurd amount of olive oil<br />- Absurd amount of garlic<br />- Medium amount of red pepper flakes. (Half a habenero may be substitued if one wants to get fancy and add extra flavor.)<br /><br />Sautee under medium heat.<br /><br />- Lots of mushrooms<br /><br />Sautee under medium heat while covered to retain the mushroom juices until mushrooms are fully reduced.<br /><br />- One peeled tomato. (Yes, one is all we need. We're not Sicilian. The mushrooms already add thickening, and we're about to add a different acidic ingredient.)<br /><br />- Absurd amount of cheap red wine<br /><br />Now we have a very soupy brew. Cook under medium to high heat for a while, uncovered, to let the brew <b>greatly</b> reduce to a pesto-like oily gravy. Ends up being an almost Winter pesto. Serve with a pasta designed to pick up the gravy, such as shells or bucatini. Whole wheat preferred, but not required. Serves 2.Peteynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-38509166390912491412013-10-08T19:10:01.343-04:002013-10-08T19:10:01.343-04:00Ha! In that case, where's my Nobel Prize for l...Ha! In that case, where's my Nobel Prize for literature?<br /><br />Technically, I think you want to be accusing me of being Alexander Portnoy. But the issue here is, the more the organized Jewish community orders Jews to find one another appealing, the more desirable it's bound to become for Jews of both sexes to look elsewhere. Not in a that-which-is-forbidden sense, so much as, if Jews' attractiveness needs to be <i>asserted</i>, one starts to wonder if there's some kind of... deficit. Which, no (see: Israeli movie stars), but anyway.<br /><br />What I find most surprising about the entire series, having read all of it now, is how many people seem to think that the activities aimed at Jewish young adults aren't already about pairing off. I can't possibly be the only one who's noticed that they are. Is it really that subtle? Specifically, from the UChicago student's essay: "In the kibbutz-like atmosphere of campus Jewish communities, young Jews are subtly encouraged to see each other as friends, as cousins, as academics, but very rarely as potential life partners." That's... about as far from my experience as I could imagine. Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-66433420126470410082013-10-08T18:33:18.524-04:002013-10-08T18:33:18.524-04:00So, you are saying that you are Phillip Roth, esse...So, you are saying that you are Phillip Roth, essentially.Peteynoreply@blogger.com