------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Kensington Club News April 2015 2014 Volume 5 Issue 4 The Samuel J. Gorlitz Kensington Club@Parklawn ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Jewish Council for the Aging 12320 Rockville, MD 20852 (301) 255-4204 Manager: Colleen M. Kemp, CTRS ckemp@accessjca.org From the Manager s Desk We adore April at the Kensington Club@Parklawn for numerous reasons (National Humor Month, patio time once again and National Poetry Month) but the best reason of all is National Volunteer Appreciation Month. We do believe at Kensington Club, we have the BEST volunteers in the world! To give one s time and talent month after month is invaluable. Without our volunteers, our Club would be satisfactory, but with our volunteers, our Club is STUPENDOUS. Our annual KC@Parklawn Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon will be Wednesday April 29 from 12-1pm in the JCA Training Room. I think Erma Bombeck says it best, Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation's compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another. If you are reading this issue as a volunteer, you will soon be receiving an invitation to KC s Annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon by U.S. mail or email. This is a chance for JCA administration, staff and members to thank you for helping continue to make Kensington Club a stupendous place of friendship and lifelong learning. In Friendship, Colleen, Louise, Ellis, Lily, Dana, Diana, Regeana, and Wanda Upcoming Field Trips: April 1 - Rescheduled Hillwood Museum & boxed lunch April 13 JCA Bus Sightseeing Trip (no touring on foot) to see the last of the cherry blossoms at the US National Arboretum April 14 - National Museum of Women In The Arts & Lunch at the Mezzanine Cafe April 30 Starbucks@Montrose Crossing IMPORTANT DATES: Friday April 3: Early release for Passover Eve 1pm Friday April 10: Closed for 7th day of Passover Monday May 25: Closed for Memorial Day Happy Pesach! Gut Yomtov! Happy Easter! Happy Spring Equinox!
2 Why Is Kensington Club Closed for Passover? Submitted by Louise Schneider, Activity Leader The Bible mentions High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah, & Yom Kippur) and three festivals (Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot) on which no work may be performed by Jews. The first day and the last day of the festivals are considered holidays which is why KC will be closed on April 10th and dismiss early April 2nd. On Friday, April 3, 2015 the holiday of Passover begins in the evening because as it's written in Genesis "it was evening and then it was morning, the first day" and therefore Jewish days begin in the evening. Spring is one of the most beautiful seasons of the year with the rebirth of nature, greenery surrounding us and brilliant colors on bushes and trees welcoming this growth. It is an especially busy time for Jewish cooks to clean kitchens (as well as the rest of the house and cars) of chametz--the leavened food eaten during the rest of the year, but prohibited during Passover. The reason for its exclusion during this holiday is to remind us of the almost 300 years our ancestors were slaves in Egypt. It is incumbent on Jewish people to try our best to relate to our ancestors by refraining from eating any foods with leavened flour in order to remember our hasty exodus from Egypt during which time the dough had no time to rise and bake into bread. For more complete information about the holiday as well as laws and customs, go to www.chabad.org. Save The Date! Please join us for Kensington Club@Parklawn s 3rd Annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon To Allow Us To Honor Those Who Faithfully Give Of Their Time, Talent and Caring Heart! Wednesday, April 29, 2015 12:00-1:00 JCA Training Room Italian Fare & Dessert RSVP Get Well Soon Marilyn! Everyone at the Kensington Club misses you and hopes you are back into the swing of things very soon! Happy Birthday Milt, Susan, Joe and Brian! May all your wishes come true in 2015!
3 Passover Recipe Corner By Louise Schneider The Passover Seder Plate Gefilte Fish Apple Cake The following recipe is an easy way to make delicious Gefilte Fish which I came upon some years ago. It is best served chilled with horseradish. Enjoy. "GEFILTE FISH" By Louise Schneider 1 jar 24 ozs. Gefilte fish, drained of liquid or gel (any brand) 1 extra large egg, beaten 1 TBSP sugar 1/4 c. Matzoh meal 1/4 c. Mayonnaise (kosher for Passover) In medium bowl mash drained fish. Add egg, sugar, matzoh meal, and mayonnaise. Mix well. Spread into small pan and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until top is lightly golden. Cool and cut into 6 appetizer sized pieces. This recipe doubles and triples well. My Favorite Dessert By Pearl Lake, KC Volunteer Florence Golden, Mother of Pearl Lake, KC Volunteer, was born in the border Hungary and Czechoslovakia in June 1925. She survived the Holocaust along with her two sisters and has lived in the D.C. area since 1956. Florence always loved to cook and bake, especially for friends and family. This is her original Apple Cake recipe and is well- known and revered by all who know her. - PL "Florence Golden s Apple Cake 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced thin 5 Tbsp of sugar 2 Tbsp of cinnamon 4 eggs 2 cups of sugar 1 cup of oil ¼ cup of orange juice 2 ½ tsp of vanilla 3 cups of flour 3 tsp of baking powder ½ tsp of salt Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together apples, 5 tbs of sugar and cinnamon in a medium size bowl and set aside. Beat eggs, 2 cups of sugar, oil, orange juice and vanilla together in a large bowl until smooth. In a separate bowl, measure out and combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture in the large bowl. Beat batter until smooth. Pour ½ the batter into a greased 10 inch tube pan. Then add a layer of apple, sugar and cinnamon on top of the batter. Pour remaining batter on top of the apple mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until done.
4 Activity Leader Poetry Corner ~ By Dana Tate, Haiku is a traditional form of Japanese poetry that consists of three lines. The first and last lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables. The lines rarely rhyme. Here at Kensington Club, we enjoy our monthly poetry workshops. Here s a lovely tribute to winter that was created by our prolific Monday Club members: Blue ice cold stillness. Pristine snow melts in the creek. Pine branches sway. An acrostic is a poem in which the first letters of each line spell out a word or phrase. The word or phrase can be a name, a thing, or whatever you like. Our Monday Club members created a Passover acrostic to share the smells, sounds, and spirit of the holiday. Plenty of matzoh Apples for charoset Scent of the Seder's chicken Some of us eat Gefilte fish Often recounting our history Vicariously experiencing our ancestors' slavery Eating a holiday meal Reciting the four questions
Transportation For KC@Parklawn and the Misler Center (located at the Misler Center) 301-468-1740 Remember that if you will not be attending KC on your scheduled day, you need to call the KC office first and then call the Transportation number at the Misler Center to let them know. Calls are taken up to 8:30 in the morning. This is the phone number for the Misler Center and it is your contact number for the JCA bus. Please call this number to add/change/cancel the JCA bus. Please call as soon as you require a change. You can leave a voicemail message if you call after hours. The messages are checked until 5pm and beginning at 8:30am the following morning. Please leave a message, speaking slowly and clearly, leaving the member s name and the change. CANCELING/MAKING UP AT THE KENSINGTON CLUB: 301-255-4204 If you want to add a day as a makeup, you need to get approval from Colleen first, to arrange for a day that works for the Club. We have room for two members to make-up, per day when we are at full census. If you leave a message or an email after hours or on the weekend, Colleen will not get it until business hours on Monday. Please try to let her know about the change as soon as you can during the week. We strive to keep the daily attendance to 12 at KC to maintain quality programming and for safety. Thank you for helping us with this goal. TAKING THE JCA BUS 101: If you would like, JCA staff can call you to give a heads-up - the bus is on the way call in the morning and afternoon. Since we all know that traffic in the area can be quite a challenge, we ask that you wait for the heads-up call in the morning before going outside to wait for the bus. The most important thing is to wait for the call before proceeding to your lobby or outside. Safety is our main concern. In the afternoon, you are picked up at the Kensington Club and then your driver will pick up participants from our sister program, the Misler Center. Please allow time for the drivers to assist the Misler Center participants to board the bus, then your driver will continue on his/her route and return you home safely. The bus costs $5. The fee is added to the monthly dues. INCLEMENT WEATHER POLICY When the Montgomery County Schools or the Fed Government closes, Kensington Club@Parklawn is closed. If there is bad weather on a day when the schools are not in session, you can call the KC line for the latest update. If the Mont. County schools are late, we open on time. If we are in session, but you are not coming because of the weather, please call the office and the transportation switchboard to let us know. 5
Volunteers Are Love In Motion Take a look at the many volunteers of Kensington Club! Thank you from all of us! 6
Volunteers Are Love In Motion Take a look at the many volunteers of Kensington Club! Thank you from all of us! 7
If It s April It Must Be Spring By Ellis Schlossenberg, Activity Leader In my opinion, the best thing about April is, it is the start of the baseball season. In the year 2015, it is also Easter and Passover, which sometimes falls in March, but always in spring. As a kid, (just a few years ago, say about 54 years ago, when I was 8) I always loved April because it was the start of baseball season and it was also the decline of my grades in school. Of course when you weren t a very good student as I was not, your grades couldn t go down much further. Every night around 7:30 I would turn my radio on to WTOP (not all news back then and on the AM dial) and I would listen to John McLean & Dan Daniels the voice of my beloved Washington Senators. I always had high hopes for them going to the World Series but at the end of the month, you could always bring out the old saying about Washington: First in war, first in peace and last in the American League. Still to this day, baseball is the greatest of all sports at least to me. As a Jewish Boy, I never liked the fact that Easter and Passover usually came around the same time. I was never into the Easter Bunny or rolling eggs. I also was never into eating matzah and gefilte fish. Of course being Jewish, I did follow the holiday reluctantly (my mother said I had to) but always questioned why the Jews could not wait 10 more minutes for the bread to rise and thus there would probably be no matzah and gefilte fish (although Louise if you had been around than and made your gefilte fish, my opinion may be a little different). I could have enjoyed the delicious candies of Easter, like Jelly Beans, chocolate marshmallow bunnies and Chicks & Rabbits. Nowadays you can get Jelly Beans and Chicks & Rabbits year round but of course they are loaded with sugar and no longer good for you since you are no longer a kid!!!! However as an adult who still acts like a child at times, (contrary to what my friend Lily might say) there is a Passover candy called Marshmallow Twist, that is much better than those marshmallow bunnies and are KP (Kosher for Passover) with only 23 grams of sugar X 12 which means I shouldn t be eating them, but I do!!! Have a Happy Easter or Passover and a great spring! If all goes according to my plan, my two favorite teams (and yes Lily, I can have two favorite baseball teams) the Washington Nationals (National League) and the Baltimore Orioles (American League) will be playing in the World Series in October!!!! Let the warm weather and games begin. 8