We Made It Out

it is 8:30 p.m. in the holy city of zefat.  Shabbat ended a little while ago.  I just washed up the pots and plans.  no dishes this holiday.  the disposable dishes, cups and cutlery were wonderful.  we all are exhausted and some of us have upset stomachs from the matzah.  I got sick last night during the seder.  the matzah wasn't exactly going down.  I felt like I might have to throw up.  I was also drunk after the first cup of wine.  I felt a bit dizzy but thank goodness, it passed.

I ended up pulling an all nighter on thursday.  I finished washing the house at around 2:30 a.m.  I was bent over and my hands were burnt from the bleach.  I went to sleep in my newly cleaned master bedroom but couldn't fall asleep.  I was ill from all the bleach I used.  I was congested and couldn't breathe.  today my nose is running nonstop.  I think I passed out at around 4:00 a.m.  it suddenly was cold and I was shivering.  I went over to the t.v. couch and fell asleep with my dog on top of me.

I jumped up at 9:00 a.m. and went downstairs to burn the chometz.  It took me just a little while to cover the counters with industrial strength tin foil.  this year I bought the less thick and ominous tin foil.  the expensive one, which is razor sharp was about $20 a roll.  I bought 3 rolls which were $10 a piece.  I have a roll leftover for next year.  I try to leave things in my pesach cupboard for the following year.  it's like a good luck charm to last another year.

I took the kids to the supermarket to buy towels for the neighbors.  I spent about $35.  it took us about an hour to wait on line.  my back was killing me.  a neighbor drove us home.  the kids wanted to go to the playground.  I think I am going to nix it on the gifts next year.  no one cares anymore.  it took me all day long to cook the Shabbat meals and prepare the seder.  I finished up minutes before candle lighting.    I was dragging my heels at that point.  I saved the charoset for the last minute.  wrong choice!.  I had to crack 2 bags of filberts and walnuts and peel a kilo of apples.  I then had to throw it all into my mini food processor.  it took about 10 batches or more to finish.  the filberts tasted stale.  I'm used to using almonds.  I ran out of time.  I still had to peel the dates and the machine wasn't grinding them up.  I ended up not using the dates.  my charoset was a bust.

I was able to cook 4 dishes at the same time so I had a pot of meat, potatoes, beets and chicken all  going at the same time.  seconds before Shabbat began, I made a carrot salad.  no one touched it.  during the meal I made a green salad with avocado for my son.  I didn't put the meat on the electric hotplate and of course, everyone wanted meat.  I saved it for today's lunch.  there is actually, a method to my folly.

my son said that I made magical food on pesach.  I use no spices and yet everything has a taste of pesach.  I use a lot of onions, salt, wine, lemons, oranges, olive oil and pepper corns.  I do use a bit of honey.  my granddaughter put a bit of the mashed potatoes on her fork and turned it upside down.  the potatoes didn't fall from the fork.  she said, "look, just like play dough".  oh, the adorable things kids say!

the little kids and my daughter-in-law didn't make it to end of the seder.  my son finished reading the hagada in record time.  we were finished with the meal by 11:00 p.m.  I walked my friend out of the neighborhood.  at first my back was killing me.  I had to sit down twice.  on the way home I was able to walk normally.  I got home at 12:45 a.m.  I cleaned up and set the table for today's meal.  I went to bed at 2:30 a.m.  I passed out as soon as my body hit the bed.  my grandson slept on the t.v couch.  he tried to wake me up at 7:00 a.m.  I couldn't get out of bed.  I think I finally got up around 8:30 a.m.when the granddaughter came up.  and then it was a round of hot chocolate for everyone.

lunch was pleasant even though my grandson was suffering from constipation and spent the entire day complaining and kvetching.  I had little patience for him.  I made a huge fruit salad with fresh oranges, grapefruits, nectarines, bananas and tangerines.  it was just what the doctor ordered.  I also enjoyed the cooked pears in red wine and fresh ginger that I made.   the meat was tasty but a bit tough.  the honeyed orange chicken was a bit dried out today.  the mashed potatoes was a bit thick, as previously noted.

it's back to work for the big kids and I guess, I have the little kids tomorrow.  if it isn't brutally hot, I will take them to the petting zoo.  we are in the midst of a heat wave and they predict that it will get hotter this week.  the big kids are taking off on Monday to do a family trip.  my good friend and her son are coming to zefat on Monday from efrat so I think I won't be going on that outing.  it's a shame because I enjoy our yearly outings.