A Day at the Ponies

I decided to do a story about the new polo club that opened recently outside Jakarta. They imported a few dozen $40,000 Argentinian polo ponies, so it sounded high-end enough. I contacted them and suggested that I take a lesson and write about it in High End. They bit, and I had my lesson the other day.

It was my first time on a horse and a little less of an adventure than I was expecting. Once they let me loose with the mallet it became more fun, but they weren't too eager to have a reporter break his neck on their watch. I will say that it was exhausting.

The day I became my mother

In passing at the Bangkok frisbee tournament, I mentioned to Howie's teammate Jon that I was thinking about having a seder. I am not sure how it came up, especially since at the time I did not even know Jon was Jewish, but at the mere mention the excitement on his face said it all. A week or so later I emailed him to make sure it was not just the adreniline talking and sure enough, he was already planning a menu. He even sent a hagadah and a Jewish cookbook over to our apartment.

So, Saturday night we had an "Indonesian Passover". The Jew to non jew ratio was a bit off, but in keeping with the traditions of the Cohen family, the guest list kept expanding and we ended up being about 20. Everyone seemed to have a great time - there was a group singing of the 4 questions in Hebrew and you would be amazed at how eagerly a group of 20 and 30 somethings searched for the afikomen.

There was way too much food, as I believe there always should be (I made matzo ball soup for the first time and finally understand why my mother agonizes over the consistancy of those little treats) and there was even a flourless almond cake a la Jon for dessert. The little hagadah I made worked out perfectly and everyone was a good sport about reading, singing, and making animal sounds during Chad Gadya.

Some lessons were learned - little chili peppers are a great substitute for horseradish, even if they are hard to get in that Hillel sandwich and when you see walnuts in Indonesia, just buy them because they will not be easy to find when you finally do want to make charoset. but that is part of what made this a very Indonesian seder and not quite like home.

More photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/howieandhaviva/Passover08

On Newstands Now...

We happened to have the camera with us when we walked by a street vendor selling our magazine. That's High End Teen right there in the middle!

HighEnd Debut

After many late nights and lots of hard work, High End and High End Teen finally hit the stands. To be honest, the event did not play out as I had imagined - perhaps I have seen too many movies, but I had a vision of the ripping open of stacks of mags and lots of oohing and ahhing. It was more like, "Good morning everyone. Have you seen the magazine? We missed a photo credit on page 31."

We are already well into the next issue and I can already see it looking better. If only one of my two writers did not have dengue fever I would be all set. I can assure you though that there will be no photo credits missed in this issue!

Enjoy this sneak peak - the cover story is our owner's 15 year old daughter and the other page is just one of my faves. Looks like a real magazine! Despite the fizzle of a release, I am pretty damn proud. We have yet to see a copy on a news stand, but I carry the camera around in hope.

The Return of Everyone's Favorite Mollusk

The stars have aligned and, much to our joy, Norman has returned to us. I went to the Learning Farm to do an interview the other week for an organic food article I am writing and Jiway, the director of the farm asked if, since we were back, we would like Norman. Turns out the woman who was taking the best care of Norm left the farm and Jiway was concerned that the little guy was not getting the attention he needed. How could I say no to that?? So, much to the shock of the office, I came home from my interview with a snail.

Norman is happily housed on the porch, enjoying the natural surroundings he once knew. Despite Howie thinking Norman is now an indoor snail, I am happy to report he has been out of his shell and happily nibbling away at sweet potato and carrot since his return. Sadly he will not be rejoined with Ernie and Bert – Drew, who took them begrudgingly when we left, has built them a veritable turtle Taj Mahal and has no intention of sending them back our way. We do happily have visitation rights though.