midnight in zefat

it's 12:05 a.m. in the holy city of zefat. my two nieces, nephew, and great nephew just left. we finally got to have dinner together. we have all been so busy this past week that it was hard to schedule a time to meet and eat. i just finished all of the 'washing up', as my friend from australia, calls doing the dishes.

i got to go to yoga this morning because my good buddy, michal, watched sahar for a couple of hours. we went to a sheva bracha last night and on the way home, michal decided to sleep over. we searched high and low until we finally found a cotton turtleneck and some comfy pajama bottoms for michal to sleep in. i had to cut off the sleeves and the turtleneck from the shirt, so that michal wouldn't die in the heat.

we shared a cheese omelette and mock fruit platter for breakfast before we went upstairs to get sahar. it was too bright and hot to walk to yoga so i had to cab it. i did manage to walk home. i had the nicest cab driver, moonie, on my way to yoga. his son was killed when his bus was blown up in a terrorist attack about 5 years ago. it was his only son and daniel was only 15 when he died. moonie, the cab driver always gives out blessings and cheer to his passengers. he has a two year old grandson who was named after his son, daniel. little daniel chai gives his grandpa moonie, the hope and joy to go on. may he have lots of blessings from him!

i decided to make a vegetarian meal tonight. i was inspired by last night's sheva bracha, where everyone brought a dish. i especially enjoyed the bulgar and chumus dish. i ended up making a bit of fish for those who wanted some. i had two tuna steaks in the freezer so i threw in a few sweet potatoes and white potatoes and cooked it in some white wine. i added a lot of garlic, basil, cherry tomatoes and red peppers.

i also made stuffed peppers. it was the first time that i baked them instead of cooking them on the stove. i only had half of a can of tomato paste so it wasn't as saucey as usual. i filled them with a rice mixture of sauteed celery, onions, white raisins and chopped blanched almonds. i threw in a little bit of green cabbage for additonal crunch. i broke away from the south beach diet to enjoy the meal tonight. i am slowly, slowly, losing the eight pounds that i recently gained.

i made a tabouli salad which is usually made with bulgar, minced tomatoes and cucumbers. the sephardim chop in a lot of cilantro but i used parsley tonight and substituted quinoa for the bulgar. i added fresh garlic and lemon and a bit of fresh mint. nobody realized that i forgot to add olive oil to the tabouli salad. it is very healthy. i also made some tahina salad at the last moment.

i made half a package of whole wheat sphaghetti for those who didn't eat quinoa or stuffed peppers. i made a chinese noodle dish using a sauce that i made from soy sauce, garlic, honey and oil. i also sauteed thin strips of red and yellow peppers to add to the sauce. there wasn't any spaghetti left over. come to think of it, there wasn't any food left over except for one piece of tuna steak and a few pieces of steamed fresh cauliflower.

i made a large green lettuce salad with a little red onion. i made a fruit salad with sliced fresh apricots, green grapes and melon balls. we had 6 flavors of ice cream to dish out. i managed to bake a banana loaf cake earlier in the day, while sahar napped. i even defrosted some of the chocolate cake that i had made for shavuot in the shape of the 10 commandments. i sent home most of the cake with my married niece. i feel like making cookies tomorrow. and i'd love to make a strawberry yogurt pie for lunch.

i am detoxing from televison, and have gone two whole days already without watching more than a half an hour here and there. i have been listening to chassidic music tapes and i'm almost ready to start dancing again. i'll start with 10 minutes a day and hopefully, work up to a half an hour. it feels clean again. i also want to start palates next week. my aroebics teacher returns from maternity leave in two weeks. so i'm thinking about returning after a year and a half. stranger things have happened.

i don't know if i'll make fish tomorrow or not for shabbat. i defrosted a package of chop meat and i think i'll make meatballs and some stuffed artichoke bottoms. i bought a jar of grape leaves so maybe i'll roll up a few with the chopmeat filling. who knows!. i'm on a roll i'd love to give you some of my recipes, but i'm notorious for never doing the exact same thing twice.

bye the way, i watched a video to learn how to make a watermelon basket about 4-5 times and i finally opted not to make one. shabbat shalom!