I won’t be playing Mah Jongg with the OMs tomorrow as I will be getting ready for the New Year’s holiday. I am going to a dear friend’s home and volunteered to make cookies, among other things. I did a little research and found two recipes that are specifically for Rosh Hashanah cookies and I thought I would share them with you. 
The first recipe is a rugelach type cookie called Sfratti. What follows is the fascinating story behind these cookies…
“I may not have grown up playing mahj but I will definitely grow old playing it….”
Q. I’ve been playing for a year and am going to play in my first tournament in October. I was told by my teacher to play more defensively in the tournament than I do in my game at home. Do you agree? Sylvia
A. Uh oh. I really don’t want to disagree with your patient and knowledgeable teacher…but “No” I don’t agree. When you are playing in your game at home, you are likely playing for “gain” (spell that m-o-n-e-y). If you give someone else Mahj in your home-game then you are actually responsible for your opponents also paying for your “mistake.” However, in a tournament, you are the only one who will “pay”…in the form of minus-points. The others will only be disappointed that they didn’t get Mahj first. If you think you might have a pretty good chance of getting your own Mahj, then you should go-for-it. The way you win in a tournament is to accumulate those points.
Q. I was in a tournament, and the player to my left began to discard a tile. She laid it down but didn’t name it. When I saw it touch the table, I called it for Mah Jongg. Almost at the same time, she changed her mind and picked it up. She said she “didn’t name it, and she didn’t take her fingers off it, so she could take it back.” But no one would throw me my tile after that!. Is that right? Carol
A. That was the perfect time to call over the director of the tournament, who would have (should have) given the game to you. You had a legitimate Mah Jongg. A discarded tile is “down” when it touches the table or is named. Down-is-down. (This is not a game of checkers, where you can keep changing your moves until you take your finger off the checker!)
Here is a really interesting question from the most recent newsletter by Gladys Grad, the Grand Master of American-style Mah Jongg:
A. Once you exposed, you started your turn. You then had the option of using the 5 Dot and correcting your exposure to one using 5 Dots….(and returning the 5 Crak to your hand). If you were unable to use the 5 Dot…even with 2 Jokers…then you should have been declared “dead.”
I was alerted to a new “trend” (???) by a Facebook friend and decided to investigate. OMG is all I can say (just when you thought you had seen everything Mah Jongg…)!
Start out by checking out a manicuring blog by the name of Cubbiful (“a mani a day keeps the doctor away”) that fulfills a Mah Jongg fantasy:
And then watch this video demonstrating how to make 3D Mah Jongg nails (Zen music included):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Cb0GT5tdyaA#t=0 Continue reading
As I wrote yesterday, K hosted the OM’s Wednesday Mah Jongg game this week. She had a fabulous lunch but first take a look at the beautiful table that greeted us:
K had just returned from a family wedding in Michigan and, as she said, she was in “wedding mode,” hence the all white table setting. Continue reading
Mah Jongg and Me 