2008 JWC Year End Brunch
Dear Ladies of the Jewish Women's Circle:
Sunday, May 18th we held our culminating event - a lovely summary brunch , held in the spectacular backyard of Ellen Purisch in Nellie Gail. Despite the intense heat of the day, the forty five women in attendance enjoyed sitting together to schmooze and partake in the delectable brunch. Ellen's whole yard was blossoming with fabulous flowers and provided the perfect backdrop to the magnificent shades of lilac and eggplant used to decorate all the tables. Decorator Batsheva Bollinger whipped up a pretty in purple theme, complete with stunning floral centerpieces and a center buffet table with gorgeous decorative touches.
Speaking of whipping things up, although no one anticipated the scorching temperature on Sunday, we DID anticipate how fabulous cold, fruity smoothies would taste! Mushka Marcus, Simone Teitelbaum and Jessica Agranovitch not only kept the smoothie bar flowing, but also helped with set up, serving the brunch and cleaning up afterward. Thanks very much, girls!
Rochel Kantor and Roz Gantman helped Bassie with the preparation of the delicious brunch, which was salmon over a heaping bed of field greens, garnished with tomato, avocado, red onion & sunflower seeds, accompanied by a fresh croissant. Two yummy dressing choices were on the table, as well as a variety of flat-breads & pretzels, and bowls of hummus.
Bassie Marcus welcomed everyone and expressed her appreciation for all the enthusiastic participation with the JWC this year. Siri Smith, who heads up this great group of women, thanked all the hostesses this year and the many women who worked hard to make these events so fun and successful.
After our brunch we came inside to hear our entertaining speaker, Jackie Stern, talk about her interesting life and the round-about way she eventually became an observant Jew. Jackie has a great sense of humor as well as a gift for storytelling. Her passionate, engaged personality was on display as she described embracing with zest all that life offered to a young woman of the late 60's-70's. Two experiences in particular shaped her destiny - the first being the anti-semitism she experienced from people she considered close friends, and secondly was when, on a European trip, she was greatly struck by her visit to the concentration camps. After many years of having lived an assimilated life, and after years of work with the National Organization of Women (NOW), she and her husband discovered Chassidus and gradually learned the whys and hows of leading an Jewish orthodox lifestyle.
Our end of the year brunch then ended with dessert - a trio of tasty cheesecakes and platters of chocolate cookies! Gifts in the form of colorful tins of flower seeds, as well as a potted flower pen were given to all the women in keeping with the brunch's theme:
"Cultivate flowering friendships with lots of heart and soil!"
Thanks go out to Jana Stein, who procured (and schlepped!) the donated Starbucks coffee, to Andee Dekofsky who, despite a twisted ankle bound in a heavy leg boot helped with the party set up, to Gay Rams who showed up early Sunday morning to party prep, to Merrie Levitt who helped wrap gifts, and of course to our ever hard-working, mother of seven rebbitzen, Bassie the Amazing - without whom our lovely women's group wouldn't be! Thank you Siri for your leadership, ideas, dedication and time and a special thank you to Joanne Bank. She wasn't able to be with us on Sunday, but put lots of time and thought into producing elegant, artistically adorned menus for the brunch, as well as the cute stickers for the gift bags.
Have a bloomin' beautiful summer!
Dara Linson
As Dara writes these always beautifully written, visual and thorough wrap-ups, we of course want to thank her as well. Not only does she do a terrific job writing for us, but she is always there to help with the planning, and creation of all our JWC events from beginning to fruition! Thanks Dara!