it is nearly noon time in the holy city of safed. I should be on my way to work but I am very tired. it has been raining non stop for a few weeks. it is a huge blessing for the land but a drag to navigate in. I went to Hadera on Thursday for the festive meal after the thirty day mourning period. my daughter-in-law's grandmother passed and I wasn't able to make it to the funeral. I was going to join my son and his wife for the meal after the official shiva ended but they ended up going the day earlier and I then went to Jerusalem for the rest of chanuka to take care of the grandkids. I felt very guilty that I hadn't consoled my in-law on his mother's passing. I didn't make a phone call because it was awkward talking on the phone in Hebrew.
on Thursday, we had monsoon like rainstorms. I rushed to finish my meals at the yeshiva in order to be able to travel. by car this trip is less than two hours but I wasn't going by car. I waited forty minutes for a bus that ended up not going to Hadera. I jumped on a bus to Carmiel to catch the train. I hate trains. I can't stomach the smell. I am a bus person. the trip to Carmiel took an hour. it travelled through every Arab village and neighborhood along the way. I felt a panic attack coming on.
I had a minute to climb the stairs to the platform to catch the train. it took an hour to reach Hadera. I called my daughter-in-law to ask her for directions to the meal. I thought it was close by. she informed me to go to Pardes Chana. I was in the wrong town. I was on an express train. I needed to go back a stop. the only problem was that I only had a minute to catch the next train. I told her that I would catch a taxi and meet her at Pardes Chana. it was pretty much a twenty minute ride. I never meant for her to have to pick me up. she had just driven from Jerusalem. I wasn't even sure that she had gone.
I couldn't reach her or her mother in the morning. my son made it seem like she wasn't sure about travelling in the rain storm and he told her that I wasn't coming. we relied on him and that was a huge mistake. she and her sister travelled to Hadera to pick me up. her mother and father were extremely grateful that I made the effort to come. I had to wait until after 9:00 p.m. to catch the bus back to safed. it arrived at 10:30 p.m. I was driven to another town to catch the bus. a man stopped to offer me a ride. he was going to Rosh Pina which is about ten minutes from safed. I felt very blessed. but then I felt very scared driving off with a male stranger at that hour. I was also afraid of being stranded at Rosh Pina without a cab.
I declined the ride and waited another half an hour for the bus to show up. I was afraid that the driver might not see me. I also assumed that it would be crowded. the bus was completely empty. I was relieved to get in and get a seat. he made a rest stop and I was able to get small bills for a taxi. he left me off at the taxi stand in safed at 12:30 a.m. and I got home safely. he was a very nice man and very good driver. I had planned to go back to Jerusalem with the kids after the meal but in the end, I didn't prepare an over night bag. I couldn't reach my friend to come over and watch the dog, either.
I thought about going out on Friday to buy underwear, a toothbrush and a change of clothes at the second hand store in Jerusalem. I just couldn't leave the dog alone overnight. the grandkids were very disappointed that I didn't go back with them. I felt really conflicted. I had an awful Shabbat alone. I ran to the local supermarket to buy challah. I ended up buying prepared gefilte fish and root vegetables to make a chicken soup. I didn't make it out for services. i slept most of the day. i was pretty miserable.
i should be at work already. i don't have time to shower. i will call a cab.
Monday, December 31, 2018
Friday, December 21, 2018
Another Friday Afternoon
it is 11:00 a.m. in the holy city of safed. the sun came out for a bit. I have been thinking about getting to the local supermarket since 7:00 a.m. my dog wakes me up every morning at this time to go out. it has been raining for a couple of weeks. we are truly blessed to have the rain. I have been cabbing it home form work lately. I keep on missing the bus and have no strength to wait a half an hour for another. I have been getting home at 7:30 p.m. and I'm totally beat. by the end of a 6 hour day, my hip starts to hurt and it is difficult to walk.
I was told that I didn't prepare enough food to break the fast on Tuesday. I think they received another 3 students and of course, I wasn't notified. as a jewish mother and grandmother, and not professional chef; it hurts me very much to think that someone went hungry. I work in a small kitchen and it takes me 5-6 hours or more to make two meals for 25 guys. I only have a large built in oven to work with. it takes 2 hours or longer to make stuffed peppers and frozen French fries. I do cook on 4 burners but even soup takes about 2 hours.
the pantry at the yeshiva is depleted and I am at the mercy of the manager to provide me with enough legumes, grains and pasta on a daily basis. I really should come to work before 12:00 p.m. but I can't seem to get my act together in the morning. I linger on the net for hours while I sip my chai tea. one student complained about my serving beans all the time. I make a vegetarian chili every couple of weeks. it takes forever to cook beans from scratch. I have been serving lentils about three times a week to accommodate the two vegetarian students. I think i'll have to reevaluate my menus. how much pasta can I serve these guys?? I have limited oven space, to boot.
my rice is nothing to write home about. I use two cups of water to every cup of rice and it is pretty mushy. I try making bulgur and couscous but lately my couscous flops. yesterday, I made two pans of turkey meatloaf. I threw 5 pounds of minced turkey into a pot of leftover cooked oatmeal from breakfast. I added some spices and a lot of eggs and covered it in the leftover juice from the broiled tomatoes, I served at lunch. I figured it would be a disaster but it actually came out great. I was very tempted to taste it but I didn't want to have to wait 6 hours before I could eat dairy. I like my chai tea with milk.
I had to leave the guys some pasta for their lunch today and I made a sweet noodle kugel for their supper. I also made split pea soup. at the last moment, I cooked up a tray of rice so the vegan would have something besides soup. I hope it was enough food. one of the students asked me if I could make the buckwheat groats, aka, kasha, a bit wetter. the guys leave the food on the electric platter for hours, until everything is like shoe leather. I cannot live at the yeshiva and oversee everything. I would love to don a hairnet and spoon out the food, cafeteria style but alas, I need to get home to my empty house and dog, Tiny.
I do not feel like making food for Shabbat. I am having about 15 people sleep downstairs for Shabbat. an old family friend asked to rent the place for a shabbaton. her son got married this week. the Sephardim make a festive meal on Shabbat for the groom and family. askanazim do a Kiddush on the Shabbat before the weeding. anyway, I didn't accept any money. I once lived at her parents' home many years ago, when I first came to safed. I didn't have the strength to wash all of the apartment downstairs. I did manage to sweep and clean the bathroom. I think it is presentable. I put heaters in every bedroom and set up the electric water urn.
while I ran up and down the stairs, putting toilet paper in all of the bathrooms and turning on lights, I managed to do some plastering in the master bedroom on my floor and on the upstairs wall which supports the hand rail. it was quite loose and had a gaping hole the size of a tennis ball. I filled it in and now it doesn't move.
I am pretty tired. I keep on saying that I do not know how much longer I can keep working at the yeshiva. I do enjoy having some extra cash; especially when I visit Jerusalem. I really have to get down to the supermarket now. I don't feel like getting out of my warm pajamas but I must. I wish everyone a good Shabbos!
After thought: 2:00 p.m. I am having a snack before Shabbat. I bought some chicken bottoms, goat cheese, pitas, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, strawberries, bananas, and 4 cartons of tea. (earl grey and jasmin). the strawberries were on sale but still quite pricey. I paid $10. my bill was over $70. oh well.... I put up some fish and veggies, hard cooked eggs and chicken bottoms and string beans. I may be alone but why not eat well. in a little while I will go downstairs and put on heaters.
ran into my neighbor. tiny, may have knocked up her dog. I am expected to take the puppies and she actually asked if I wanted to take her 10 year old dog, too. really???
I was told that I didn't prepare enough food to break the fast on Tuesday. I think they received another 3 students and of course, I wasn't notified. as a jewish mother and grandmother, and not professional chef; it hurts me very much to think that someone went hungry. I work in a small kitchen and it takes me 5-6 hours or more to make two meals for 25 guys. I only have a large built in oven to work with. it takes 2 hours or longer to make stuffed peppers and frozen French fries. I do cook on 4 burners but even soup takes about 2 hours.
the pantry at the yeshiva is depleted and I am at the mercy of the manager to provide me with enough legumes, grains and pasta on a daily basis. I really should come to work before 12:00 p.m. but I can't seem to get my act together in the morning. I linger on the net for hours while I sip my chai tea. one student complained about my serving beans all the time. I make a vegetarian chili every couple of weeks. it takes forever to cook beans from scratch. I have been serving lentils about three times a week to accommodate the two vegetarian students. I think i'll have to reevaluate my menus. how much pasta can I serve these guys?? I have limited oven space, to boot.
my rice is nothing to write home about. I use two cups of water to every cup of rice and it is pretty mushy. I try making bulgur and couscous but lately my couscous flops. yesterday, I made two pans of turkey meatloaf. I threw 5 pounds of minced turkey into a pot of leftover cooked oatmeal from breakfast. I added some spices and a lot of eggs and covered it in the leftover juice from the broiled tomatoes, I served at lunch. I figured it would be a disaster but it actually came out great. I was very tempted to taste it but I didn't want to have to wait 6 hours before I could eat dairy. I like my chai tea with milk.
I had to leave the guys some pasta for their lunch today and I made a sweet noodle kugel for their supper. I also made split pea soup. at the last moment, I cooked up a tray of rice so the vegan would have something besides soup. I hope it was enough food. one of the students asked me if I could make the buckwheat groats, aka, kasha, a bit wetter. the guys leave the food on the electric platter for hours, until everything is like shoe leather. I cannot live at the yeshiva and oversee everything. I would love to don a hairnet and spoon out the food, cafeteria style but alas, I need to get home to my empty house and dog, Tiny.
I do not feel like making food for Shabbat. I am having about 15 people sleep downstairs for Shabbat. an old family friend asked to rent the place for a shabbaton. her son got married this week. the Sephardim make a festive meal on Shabbat for the groom and family. askanazim do a Kiddush on the Shabbat before the weeding. anyway, I didn't accept any money. I once lived at her parents' home many years ago, when I first came to safed. I didn't have the strength to wash all of the apartment downstairs. I did manage to sweep and clean the bathroom. I think it is presentable. I put heaters in every bedroom and set up the electric water urn.
while I ran up and down the stairs, putting toilet paper in all of the bathrooms and turning on lights, I managed to do some plastering in the master bedroom on my floor and on the upstairs wall which supports the hand rail. it was quite loose and had a gaping hole the size of a tennis ball. I filled it in and now it doesn't move.
I am pretty tired. I keep on saying that I do not know how much longer I can keep working at the yeshiva. I do enjoy having some extra cash; especially when I visit Jerusalem. I really have to get down to the supermarket now. I don't feel like getting out of my warm pajamas but I must. I wish everyone a good Shabbos!
After thought: 2:00 p.m. I am having a snack before Shabbat. I bought some chicken bottoms, goat cheese, pitas, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, strawberries, bananas, and 4 cartons of tea. (earl grey and jasmin). the strawberries were on sale but still quite pricey. I paid $10. my bill was over $70. oh well.... I put up some fish and veggies, hard cooked eggs and chicken bottoms and string beans. I may be alone but why not eat well. in a little while I will go downstairs and put on heaters.
ran into my neighbor. tiny, may have knocked up her dog. I am expected to take the puppies and she actually asked if I wanted to take her 10 year old dog, too. really???
Thursday, December 13, 2018
HomeAgain
it is 7:30 p.m. in the holy city of safed. I just got home from work. the yeshiva had another chabad holiday and I needed to make another holiday feast for 25. I didn't cook as much as I did the last time. I was pretty tired. I arrived back to safed on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. and went straight to work. I was in Jerusalem for 7 days. I worked very hard to leave meals for last Wednesday and Thursday and left on tuesday evening on the 6:00 p.m. bus to Jerusalem. I usually make three courses for each meal. it can be rice, lentils and meatloaf or carrot kugel, mashed potatoes and meat patties. I usually serve soup at lunch time. today, I made a very thick pea soup, baked potatoes, garlic bread with leftover rolls and an Israeli salad.
yesterday I made a sweet noodle kugel and a carrot kugel for tonight. it's pretty much a carrot cake only you mash cooked carrots instead of grating them. the consistency is different from cake. I never have noodles at the yeshiva so I use spaghetti and break it into small pieces. I made a zucchini kugel today and spent a lot of time squeezing the liquid out of the veggies. I also made rice, carrot and sweet potato tsimmes, coleslaw, Israeli salad, Chinese meatballs, oatmeal kugel and string beans in tomato sauce. we had a lot of oatmeal left over from breakfast so I added soy milk and a ton of eggs and some flour and made a kugel. I made a sweet and sour meat sauce using a lot of soy sauce, ginger, garlic and tomato paste and vinegar. I rolled small balls of chopped meat into the sauce. I didn't add any filler.
I was planning on making an eggless chocolate cake but I ran out of steam. It took so long to do the washing up and cleaning the counters and stove top. I sifted 2 kilos of flour and it took forever. the flour was embedded into the counter top. I was covered in flour, too. I forgot to put out the chumus. perhaps, someone will remember and get it. I was so tired and I just wanted to get home. I also had to cook up a ton of macaroni for tomorrow's lunch. if there isn't enough food, there is plenty of nosh and store bought cakes to eat. I did all I could.
I stopped off at the bank before I went to work. I went through all of my money in Jerusalem on the kids. I took cabs everywhere. I took them to the movies and the jamboree. I bought small toys everywhere we went and spent a fortune in a second hand clothes shop on chatchkas for them. I also spent a fortune at the local food shop. I couldn't make it to a supermarket. each trip cost me over $100 dollars. we bought pizza a couple of times and plenty of candy each day.
I also stopped off at the post office in town. before I left for Jerusalem, I mailed a hand made cruelled bedspread to my niece. my mother made it over 40 years ago. I bought the kit at the museum in new York. it was a bicentennial replica. well, it never made it to my niece. it cost about $50 to send it. I think it was sent back to Israel. my niece moved to a new house and it wasn't forwarded to her. I am planning on going to the post office up here tomorrow morning to see if it is there. I was heartbroken thinking it was lost forever. I really hate to spend the additional money to send it back again. what can I do?? the package included a prayer book from world war two that my mother used. she was a sergeant in the WACS.
the kids are coming to safed for Shabbat but will stay at the Sephardi family. I am totally beat. I was alone with the kids for a week and had to get them to Chanukah day camp and also take care of the new cat. I had to clean out the cat box which was simply awful as well as feed the creature. I had to get the kids showered and referee their fights. I had to cook and make Shabbat meals for us. it was not really a vacation for me. it was hard work. I also had to keep the house clean. I didn't do laundry because I don't know how to use their machine. I didn't have access to internet the entire time I was away. anyhow, I made it through and came back to work. and now I am free until Sunday. whoopee!
yesterday I made a sweet noodle kugel and a carrot kugel for tonight. it's pretty much a carrot cake only you mash cooked carrots instead of grating them. the consistency is different from cake. I never have noodles at the yeshiva so I use spaghetti and break it into small pieces. I made a zucchini kugel today and spent a lot of time squeezing the liquid out of the veggies. I also made rice, carrot and sweet potato tsimmes, coleslaw, Israeli salad, Chinese meatballs, oatmeal kugel and string beans in tomato sauce. we had a lot of oatmeal left over from breakfast so I added soy milk and a ton of eggs and some flour and made a kugel. I made a sweet and sour meat sauce using a lot of soy sauce, ginger, garlic and tomato paste and vinegar. I rolled small balls of chopped meat into the sauce. I didn't add any filler.
I was planning on making an eggless chocolate cake but I ran out of steam. It took so long to do the washing up and cleaning the counters and stove top. I sifted 2 kilos of flour and it took forever. the flour was embedded into the counter top. I was covered in flour, too. I forgot to put out the chumus. perhaps, someone will remember and get it. I was so tired and I just wanted to get home. I also had to cook up a ton of macaroni for tomorrow's lunch. if there isn't enough food, there is plenty of nosh and store bought cakes to eat. I did all I could.
I stopped off at the bank before I went to work. I went through all of my money in Jerusalem on the kids. I took cabs everywhere. I took them to the movies and the jamboree. I bought small toys everywhere we went and spent a fortune in a second hand clothes shop on chatchkas for them. I also spent a fortune at the local food shop. I couldn't make it to a supermarket. each trip cost me over $100 dollars. we bought pizza a couple of times and plenty of candy each day.
I also stopped off at the post office in town. before I left for Jerusalem, I mailed a hand made cruelled bedspread to my niece. my mother made it over 40 years ago. I bought the kit at the museum in new York. it was a bicentennial replica. well, it never made it to my niece. it cost about $50 to send it. I think it was sent back to Israel. my niece moved to a new house and it wasn't forwarded to her. I am planning on going to the post office up here tomorrow morning to see if it is there. I was heartbroken thinking it was lost forever. I really hate to spend the additional money to send it back again. what can I do?? the package included a prayer book from world war two that my mother used. she was a sergeant in the WACS.
the kids are coming to safed for Shabbat but will stay at the Sephardi family. I am totally beat. I was alone with the kids for a week and had to get them to Chanukah day camp and also take care of the new cat. I had to clean out the cat box which was simply awful as well as feed the creature. I had to get the kids showered and referee their fights. I had to cook and make Shabbat meals for us. it was not really a vacation for me. it was hard work. I also had to keep the house clean. I didn't do laundry because I don't know how to use their machine. I didn't have access to internet the entire time I was away. anyhow, I made it through and came back to work. and now I am free until Sunday. whoopee!
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Oh Chanukah
it is 5:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed. it is the third night of Chanukah. it is the 10th anniversary of my mom's passing. I am going to Jerusalem on the 6:00 p.m. bus. I just got back from work. I was hoping to leave earlier but I still had to sort out some meals for Wednesday and Thursday. I have been cooking since sunday to cover these days. today, I made falafel and chips, salads and fried eggplant. I sometimes make soup, too, but today I was busy cooking white bean chili, rice, mashed potatoes, green lentils, spaghetti and organizing the meals. I hope it will all work out.
I was supposed to stop in hadera to make a shiva call but I was too tired to travel. I didn't sleep a wink last night. I was so worried about organizing the house, and the meals for the yeshiva that I kept running items in my head. I gave the local chabad shul $100 to do a Kiddush for my mom and I spent about 100 shekels on cakes for the yeshiva. I just lit a memorial candle for her and I lit the chanukiah. I won't be able to visit her graveside until after Chanukah ends. I'm sure my sister went to the grave already.
I guess it's time to get ready to leave. I just had to run outside and get my very male dog unstuck out of another dog. can it get any weirder??
I was supposed to stop in hadera to make a shiva call but I was too tired to travel. I didn't sleep a wink last night. I was so worried about organizing the house, and the meals for the yeshiva that I kept running items in my head. I gave the local chabad shul $100 to do a Kiddush for my mom and I spent about 100 shekels on cakes for the yeshiva. I just lit a memorial candle for her and I lit the chanukiah. I won't be able to visit her graveside until after Chanukah ends. I'm sure my sister went to the grave already.
I guess it's time to get ready to leave. I just had to run outside and get my very male dog unstuck out of another dog. can it get any weirder??
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Getting It Together
it is 7:30 p.m. in the holy city of safed. I've been home for hours. I went to the local supermarket this morning and spent over $200. I needed to get staples for my friends who are returning from the states. I also bought a lot of food for a friend who dog sits for me. I am needed in Jerusalem next week. the kids are going off for a vacation to eilat. they have a brand new cat and are very worried to leave it alone. the grandkids have day camp even though it's Chanukah. I will try very hard to cook up extra meals and leave them for the students on Wednesday and Thursday. I already told them that I will be gone on the following Monday and Tuesday. I hate taking breaks from work but after that epic 9 hour 'banquet', I am genuinely tired and cooked out.
I came in to work at 1:00 p.m. I had a taxi take me home first from the supermarket and then to my friend's home and last, to the yeshiva. it looked like there was already food there. there was leftover food form an event last night and some leftover dinner that I made. I took a platter of cut up raw veggies and added an Italian dressing over it. I put the leftover lentils and pasta on the electric platter. I was really tired and felt like cabbing it home right there and then. I threw some tomatoes and onions and red peppers into a pot and added olive oil and some spices and fresh garlic. I added a couple of cans of tomato paste and cooked it for awhile and then pureed everything. I added a bit of soy milk to make it 'creamy like'. there was tons of leftover rolls and a giant fancy mousse cake.
I individually bagged the rolls and placed them in the freezer for next week. the manager said to use them for bread crumbs but they were still quite fresh. he was going to put the cake out for breakfast bit I froze it instead. let them have it as a treat on sunday night, the first night of Chanukah. it's a custom to serve dairy besides all that fried food. I am intending to make a lot of potato latkes for their supper. as apples are very expensive, I will buy canned applesauce and spice it up. I think i'll make a thick pea soup, too. that ought to fill them up. I will make a greek salad too. I can't really add cheese as the kitchen is not dairy. I will figure something out.
I cooked a bit of spicy, saucy chicken already and made some brown rice and sweet potatoes and placed it in my friend's fridge. I also broiled some chicken wings. I had some leftover turkey neck soup from my thanksgiving Shabbat last week. I defrosted it and strained it so there wouldn't be any mushy veggies. I thought about making a cholent but I think that I will make a small shepherd 's pie instead. I can share it with my friends, if they have arrived in the morning. I am beat and will call it a night.
I came in to work at 1:00 p.m. I had a taxi take me home first from the supermarket and then to my friend's home and last, to the yeshiva. it looked like there was already food there. there was leftover food form an event last night and some leftover dinner that I made. I took a platter of cut up raw veggies and added an Italian dressing over it. I put the leftover lentils and pasta on the electric platter. I was really tired and felt like cabbing it home right there and then. I threw some tomatoes and onions and red peppers into a pot and added olive oil and some spices and fresh garlic. I added a couple of cans of tomato paste and cooked it for awhile and then pureed everything. I added a bit of soy milk to make it 'creamy like'. there was tons of leftover rolls and a giant fancy mousse cake.
I individually bagged the rolls and placed them in the freezer for next week. the manager said to use them for bread crumbs but they were still quite fresh. he was going to put the cake out for breakfast bit I froze it instead. let them have it as a treat on sunday night, the first night of Chanukah. it's a custom to serve dairy besides all that fried food. I am intending to make a lot of potato latkes for their supper. as apples are very expensive, I will buy canned applesauce and spice it up. I think i'll make a thick pea soup, too. that ought to fill them up. I will make a greek salad too. I can't really add cheese as the kitchen is not dairy. I will figure something out.
I cooked a bit of spicy, saucy chicken already and made some brown rice and sweet potatoes and placed it in my friend's fridge. I also broiled some chicken wings. I had some leftover turkey neck soup from my thanksgiving Shabbat last week. I defrosted it and strained it so there wouldn't be any mushy veggies. I thought about making a cholent but I think that I will make a small shepherd 's pie instead. I can share it with my friends, if they have arrived in the morning. I am beat and will call it a night.
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Giving Thanks
it is 8:30 p.m. in the holy city of safed. I just got home from work a little while ago. I spent about 9 hours at work today. it is a chabad holiday and I needed to make a feast for about 25-30 people. I made sweet and sour meatballs, carrot and sweet potato tzimmes, white rice, sweet noodle kugel with pineapple and craisins, noodle kugel with zucchini and onion, string beans teriyaki, coleslaw, kasha, a large chocolate cake with genache frosting and a small non gluten and vegan chocolate cake for the two vegetarian students. I thoroughly trashed the kitchen and couldn't leave it like that even though the manager told me to go home. I put all of the food on the electric platter and washed all of the pots and pans and plastic bowls and serving utensils and then I did the stovetop and counter tops. I stayed long enough to wash the floor. I walked back to town to get a taxi.
I started cooking yesterday. I made the sweet and sour sauce and the sweet kugel before I left yesterday. it took forever to make the meatballs today. I used 5 pounds of chopped beef. I ended up burning the bottom of the pan of meatballs and most of the pineapple pieces were stuck to the bottom of the pan. I forgot how to cook them. I didn't really follow the instructions all the way. I tasted the meatballs and they didn't taste burnt. the vegan cake came out pretty good but the genache wasn't the best. I used baker's chocolate and perhaps I should have bought the 70 percent good dark chocolate. that was what I had in the pantry and I couldn't leave to go to the grocery store. I used rich's non dairy whipping cream. it looks like frosting and the guys got excited when they saw it.
the large chocolate cake didn't come out that good. I baked it on a temperature that was too high and the turbo was on, to make things worse. I also used a pan that was too large and the cake didn't rise very high. it looked dry but I'm sure that all that fluffy icing will help moisten it. I wasn't in pain all day long. I was able to walk through town and move my head sideways without wincing. the hip pain just started and I am struggling to remain seated and type. the neck pain is kicking in too. I guess I overdid it today. I hope that they all enjoy the meal and that I made enough.
I didn't get a chance to eat or drink today. I stopped off at the health food store before work to buy chickpea flour to make a non gluten cake. I made a huge pot of vegetables to go with couscous for lunch. I don't make it from scratch. I use a box. I cut up tons of zucchini, carrots, pumpkin, potatoes, red peppers and onions to make a spicy sauce and added tons of freshly cooked chickpeas. I cut up tons of fresh veggies and made a tahini dressing. I made an eggless non gluten corn bread and threw in craisins. I tasted it before I went home. it was lovely. I made a non gluten low carb corn bread for Shabbat. it tasted like cake. it only had a third of a cup of cornmeal. I used coconut oil and flour and six eggs. coconut flour needs a lot of liquid. it looks like cornbread but doesn't really taste like it.
it is an out Shabbat for the yeshiva. it means that I may not have to work on Thursday. I am looking forward to a rest. I thought about going to Jerusalem for Shabbat before chanukah. my son didn't sound too interested in my visiting so I think I will shelve my plan. I could go and visit my friend in efrat but maybe I should rest. my friends are supposed to be returning on Thursday but they may be stranded in New York due to weather. I will shop tomorrow to fill up their fridge anyway. I was planning on making soup for them. I did freeze my turkey neck soup from last Shabbat. I can buy some cold cuts for them or make chicken wings on Thursday. right now I need to eat and have some tea.
I started cooking yesterday. I made the sweet and sour sauce and the sweet kugel before I left yesterday. it took forever to make the meatballs today. I used 5 pounds of chopped beef. I ended up burning the bottom of the pan of meatballs and most of the pineapple pieces were stuck to the bottom of the pan. I forgot how to cook them. I didn't really follow the instructions all the way. I tasted the meatballs and they didn't taste burnt. the vegan cake came out pretty good but the genache wasn't the best. I used baker's chocolate and perhaps I should have bought the 70 percent good dark chocolate. that was what I had in the pantry and I couldn't leave to go to the grocery store. I used rich's non dairy whipping cream. it looks like frosting and the guys got excited when they saw it.
the large chocolate cake didn't come out that good. I baked it on a temperature that was too high and the turbo was on, to make things worse. I also used a pan that was too large and the cake didn't rise very high. it looked dry but I'm sure that all that fluffy icing will help moisten it. I wasn't in pain all day long. I was able to walk through town and move my head sideways without wincing. the hip pain just started and I am struggling to remain seated and type. the neck pain is kicking in too. I guess I overdid it today. I hope that they all enjoy the meal and that I made enough.
I didn't get a chance to eat or drink today. I stopped off at the health food store before work to buy chickpea flour to make a non gluten cake. I made a huge pot of vegetables to go with couscous for lunch. I don't make it from scratch. I use a box. I cut up tons of zucchini, carrots, pumpkin, potatoes, red peppers and onions to make a spicy sauce and added tons of freshly cooked chickpeas. I cut up tons of fresh veggies and made a tahini dressing. I made an eggless non gluten corn bread and threw in craisins. I tasted it before I went home. it was lovely. I made a non gluten low carb corn bread for Shabbat. it tasted like cake. it only had a third of a cup of cornmeal. I used coconut oil and flour and six eggs. coconut flour needs a lot of liquid. it looks like cornbread but doesn't really taste like it.
it is an out Shabbat for the yeshiva. it means that I may not have to work on Thursday. I am looking forward to a rest. I thought about going to Jerusalem for Shabbat before chanukah. my son didn't sound too interested in my visiting so I think I will shelve my plan. I could go and visit my friend in efrat but maybe I should rest. my friends are supposed to be returning on Thursday but they may be stranded in New York due to weather. I will shop tomorrow to fill up their fridge anyway. I was planning on making soup for them. I did freeze my turkey neck soup from last Shabbat. I can buy some cold cuts for them or make chicken wings on Thursday. right now I need to eat and have some tea.
Thursday, November 22, 2018
They Loved My Soup
it is 10:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed. it is now thanksgiving in America. I really miss it. I wanted to do something tonight but I just couldn't get it together. I worked until 6:30 this evening. I came in at 11:00 a.m. to get the prep work done for the lunch. I decided to make falafels. I fried up about 5 eggplants. the secret to a crispy eggplant slice is to salt them first and drain the liquid. it does make a difference. I made a large bowl of tahini paste. the guys love this stuff. I then chopped up dozens of tomatoes and cucumbers and sliced up an industrial sized can of pickles and many onions. I baked two trays of frozen French fries. that's about 5 pounds of chips. they took over two hours to finish.
I also made a vegetable soup with carrots, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, onions and zucchini squash. I no longer throw tomatoes into everything. one of the guys can't deal with tomatoes. I stopped making a red sauce with tomato paste for the pasta. I have been doing a lot of teriyaki sauce lately. one guy has gone non gluten so I try to make lentils or chickpeas each day. another young man is a vegan so I try making eggless corn bread and cakes. the secret is vinegar. another young man has a nut allergy so I took home the peanut butter. it is quite a balance to feed everyone. we are up to 20 young men. there doesn't seem to be many leftovers these days. no one has complained of not getting enough food. at least, no one has complained to me.
I went to the supermarket on Tuesday to buy ingredients to make a thanksgiving meal. my friend, who dog sits for me when I visit the kids in Jerusalem, is coming over for Shabbat. I could only find ground turkey, necks and fillets. I already put up a pot of turkey neck soup and made a turkey stew and a pot of rice. I also made two slices of tuna. I bought two nice size pieces of pumpkin to make a pie. I baked one piece and put the other one in the soup. well, guess what? I have to go back to the supermarket tomorrow morning to buy another piece of pumpkin. after draining the liquid out of the mashed pumpkin, I was left with only one cup of pumpkin. the recipe calls for two cups. go know....
I am trying to make a low sugar and low carb pie this time. I have been sugar and mostly carb free for about two weeks. I have been eating huge amounts of protein and a lot of veggies. I really have to lose about 30 pounds or more. the grandkids started calling me a fatso. my sciatic has gone down into my hip and I am nearly crippled. I manage at work but when I sit, standing up is unbearable. I stood for 71/2 hours today at work. I don't know why it took me so long to finish up. after lunch, I made an eggless chocolate cake. I was going to make turkey burgers for their supper but I just couldn't fry one more thing. I made a tray of red lentils and one of rice. I made a pot of turkey meatballs without tomato sauce. I hope they liked it.
the washing up took over an hour. I couldn't wait to get home. luckily, I caught a cab home. I have a low carb recipe to make corn bread. I am using coconut flour and oil and many eggs and only a third cup of corn meal. I wonder if it will taste like corn bread. I bought a bottle of stevia back in the summer. it tastes disgusting. I have ben drinking hot chocolate with cocoa powder and a dash of natural almond extract. it really doesn't taste bad without the sugar. I will attempt a pie crust using coconut flour tomorrow. I hope it goes well. my friend is bringing a chocolate pumpkin cake.
I don't want to get triggered into eating a lot of sugar again. I couldn't find frozen cranberries. I bought dried cranberries to make a sauce. I read about a drink called 'cape cod' with cranberry juice and vodka and that's what got me started on making thanksgiving. I managed to buy ocean spray cranberry nectar but I will see if I can find the real juice in the supermarket. I also bought frozen string beans to make almandine and ready cooked beets. we shall have a feast!
sideline- that picture of me is already ten years ago when I was still active and healthy and pretty attractive. it was from my son's engagement party. it was before I had cervical cancer, and before they detected a brain tumor. it was before I had grandchildren and before I got fat. it was before I lost my mother and most of my savings. it was before I entered a pretty bad depression and before I got temporary facial paralysis.
I also made a vegetable soup with carrots, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, onions and zucchini squash. I no longer throw tomatoes into everything. one of the guys can't deal with tomatoes. I stopped making a red sauce with tomato paste for the pasta. I have been doing a lot of teriyaki sauce lately. one guy has gone non gluten so I try to make lentils or chickpeas each day. another young man is a vegan so I try making eggless corn bread and cakes. the secret is vinegar. another young man has a nut allergy so I took home the peanut butter. it is quite a balance to feed everyone. we are up to 20 young men. there doesn't seem to be many leftovers these days. no one has complained of not getting enough food. at least, no one has complained to me.
I went to the supermarket on Tuesday to buy ingredients to make a thanksgiving meal. my friend, who dog sits for me when I visit the kids in Jerusalem, is coming over for Shabbat. I could only find ground turkey, necks and fillets. I already put up a pot of turkey neck soup and made a turkey stew and a pot of rice. I also made two slices of tuna. I bought two nice size pieces of pumpkin to make a pie. I baked one piece and put the other one in the soup. well, guess what? I have to go back to the supermarket tomorrow morning to buy another piece of pumpkin. after draining the liquid out of the mashed pumpkin, I was left with only one cup of pumpkin. the recipe calls for two cups. go know....
I am trying to make a low sugar and low carb pie this time. I have been sugar and mostly carb free for about two weeks. I have been eating huge amounts of protein and a lot of veggies. I really have to lose about 30 pounds or more. the grandkids started calling me a fatso. my sciatic has gone down into my hip and I am nearly crippled. I manage at work but when I sit, standing up is unbearable. I stood for 71/2 hours today at work. I don't know why it took me so long to finish up. after lunch, I made an eggless chocolate cake. I was going to make turkey burgers for their supper but I just couldn't fry one more thing. I made a tray of red lentils and one of rice. I made a pot of turkey meatballs without tomato sauce. I hope they liked it.
the washing up took over an hour. I couldn't wait to get home. luckily, I caught a cab home. I have a low carb recipe to make corn bread. I am using coconut flour and oil and many eggs and only a third cup of corn meal. I wonder if it will taste like corn bread. I bought a bottle of stevia back in the summer. it tastes disgusting. I have ben drinking hot chocolate with cocoa powder and a dash of natural almond extract. it really doesn't taste bad without the sugar. I will attempt a pie crust using coconut flour tomorrow. I hope it goes well. my friend is bringing a chocolate pumpkin cake.
I don't want to get triggered into eating a lot of sugar again. I couldn't find frozen cranberries. I bought dried cranberries to make a sauce. I read about a drink called 'cape cod' with cranberry juice and vodka and that's what got me started on making thanksgiving. I managed to buy ocean spray cranberry nectar but I will see if I can find the real juice in the supermarket. I also bought frozen string beans to make almandine and ready cooked beets. we shall have a feast!
sideline- that picture of me is already ten years ago when I was still active and healthy and pretty attractive. it was from my son's engagement party. it was before I had cervical cancer, and before they detected a brain tumor. it was before I had grandchildren and before I got fat. it was before I lost my mother and most of my savings. it was before I entered a pretty bad depression and before I got temporary facial paralysis.
Friday, November 16, 2018
Not Just Another Shabbat
it is 2:30 p.m. in the holy city of safed. my son and family just stopped by to say hello. they came in for Shabbat. we are going to do a small family birthday party for my granddaughter on Saturday evening when Shabbat ends. they are staying with the Sephardi parents. my house is freezing so it is quite kokay that they aren't sleeping here. I am also relieved not to have to cook for Shabbat. I brought home some buckwheat that I made at the yeshiva. I boiled some eggs and I will open a can of tuna for lunch. I will join the family for dinner at the Sephardi family's home. I will get a ride there but the real issue is how I will schlep back to my house. it is pouring in safed.
it is such a blessing to be receiving so much rain that no one can actually complain about the weather. I will wear a long coat, and my winter boots. I will make sure to take an extra scarf to cover my head. if I am lucky, it will stop for a while so that I can walk home. I am leaving on two heaters in case, I do come home wet. at least I will be warm, more or less. this is a huge house to heat. my back and hip are acting up. I am struggling with the pain. I will take a hot shower in a moment.
I ran to town to buy party goods for tomorrow. I spent about $30. I wanted this to be special. it's her first birthday since they moved to Jerusalem. and the family cat, who was only two years old had to put down yesterday. the poor thing had a blood clot and became paralyzed. he was a very expensive pet. a grey cat similar to the fancy one that taylor swift has. these cats do not have a long life span because the folded ears is a defect and they mostly suffer heart problems. there should be a ban against breeding such pets. my son and wife are devastated. this was the first animal that the daughter-in-law bonded with and truly loved.
he had a really good life in Jerusalem. he spent most of the day outside. I am not a cat lover but I feel bad for the family. I had to put two of my dogs down last year. they were old but terribly bad off. it is so hard losing a family pet. it seems like it is always just before Shabbat when it is very difficult to get a doctor. all four of my dogs either died or were put down on a Friday afternoon. the kids bought my granddaughter a talking baby doll. it is the scariest and cutest thing I ever saw. she moves her lips when she talks and laughs and rolls her eyes and waves her arms back and forth. what technology!
I stopped off at the local discount toy store and got the kids a bunch of toys. I bought a Barbie-like car for dolls and two cheap dolls. she does have a real Barbie back in Jerusalem, that she found in a second hand store. I actually, bought the second doll for her cousin who had a birthday recently. I thought they could play together. alas, she wasn't giving it up. I bought a star wars doll and a small robot for my grandson and two bay blades for their cousins, which my grandson kept for himself.. whatever...I did spend about $70.
I really do not feel like venturing out again in this weather but I think that I must join the kids for dinner. I need to shower and get myself in gear. Shabbat shalom!
it is such a blessing to be receiving so much rain that no one can actually complain about the weather. I will wear a long coat, and my winter boots. I will make sure to take an extra scarf to cover my head. if I am lucky, it will stop for a while so that I can walk home. I am leaving on two heaters in case, I do come home wet. at least I will be warm, more or less. this is a huge house to heat. my back and hip are acting up. I am struggling with the pain. I will take a hot shower in a moment.
I ran to town to buy party goods for tomorrow. I spent about $30. I wanted this to be special. it's her first birthday since they moved to Jerusalem. and the family cat, who was only two years old had to put down yesterday. the poor thing had a blood clot and became paralyzed. he was a very expensive pet. a grey cat similar to the fancy one that taylor swift has. these cats do not have a long life span because the folded ears is a defect and they mostly suffer heart problems. there should be a ban against breeding such pets. my son and wife are devastated. this was the first animal that the daughter-in-law bonded with and truly loved.
he had a really good life in Jerusalem. he spent most of the day outside. I am not a cat lover but I feel bad for the family. I had to put two of my dogs down last year. they were old but terribly bad off. it is so hard losing a family pet. it seems like it is always just before Shabbat when it is very difficult to get a doctor. all four of my dogs either died or were put down on a Friday afternoon. the kids bought my granddaughter a talking baby doll. it is the scariest and cutest thing I ever saw. she moves her lips when she talks and laughs and rolls her eyes and waves her arms back and forth. what technology!
I stopped off at the local discount toy store and got the kids a bunch of toys. I bought a Barbie-like car for dolls and two cheap dolls. she does have a real Barbie back in Jerusalem, that she found in a second hand store. I actually, bought the second doll for her cousin who had a birthday recently. I thought they could play together. alas, she wasn't giving it up. I bought a star wars doll and a small robot for my grandson and two bay blades for their cousins, which my grandson kept for himself.. whatever...I did spend about $70.
I really do not feel like venturing out again in this weather but I think that I must join the kids for dinner. I need to shower and get myself in gear. Shabbat shalom!
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Saturday Evening
it is 6:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed. Shabbat ended a little while ago. I didn't make a big fuss for Shabbat. a friend brought over a bit of lamb for me. my good friends are in the U.S. and so I was all alone. I was having a hard time on Friday. I am in a real funk since the grandkids moved away. I went to visit them last week. the yeshiva had an off Shabbat. I met a gal pal at the station one. my son has a gallery there. there are many restaurants and fun things to do with the kids. each time I visit we meet and have dinner and catch a movie. this time I was anxious to get back to the kids' apartment before they went to bed. I always sleep with them. I have to lie between them and hold onto them until they fall asleep. I think we were all asleep by 9:00 p.m.
everyone went to work and school and I was alone in the apartment. I took advantage of the alone time and showered and got ready for Shabbat. it comes in at 4:00 p.m. these days. I spent a lot of time on the phone with my girlfriends in safed. Shabbat is hectic because everyone is exhausted and hasn't spent a lot of time with each during the week. I tried to stay neutral and keep my mouth shut. when I first arrived the kids asked me how long I was staying. they both went hysterical when I told them that I had to leave on sunday morning. I ,in turn, started crying. when my grandson saw that I was also sad, he stopped crying immediately and hugged me.
it is very hard not seeing them all the time. I helped raise them for a total of 9 years. I go to the yeshiva everyday and cook for about 5-6 hours. there are 18 students now. they eat like a crowd of 25. I have been struggling with back pain. I fell off of a chair before Rosh Hashanah and I think this is a result of the fall. I am not one for running to the doctor and I have been trying to ride it out. it seems to be getting worse. my sciatic kicked in. it is problematic on my right side. my foot swells up and my hand gets stiff.
when I cook I stand. somehow this is less painful than sitting. I have been sleeping a lot. the pain is below my neck between the shoulder blades. it is painful and difficult to turn my neck. I am in constant pain. I am in the process of down sizing. I have an enormous house with three floors and enough closet space to store many things. I don't want these things anymore. most of them was my mother's possessions. she was also a hoarder. I recently took all of the English judaica books that I don't read or even look at to a small book store in town. why not have other people enjoy them. this was a huge process. each day I would taxi to town with two large bags full. I was able to clear a huge book case. it is sitting downstairs for someone to claim.
I packed up 6 large garbage bags of old prayer books that were in bad condition. that cleared out another book case. they are currently sitting on my front porch. they are very heavy. I am in no condition to lift these bags. I need to call a taxi and bring them to a place where they bury old books. I throw a few things out every day. I threw out an old telephone table yesterday. I fantasize about leaving Safed and moving to Jerusalem. I do not think that I am ready to sell my house but I could rent it out and then rent an apartment in Jerusalem. I find it very hard to really actualize this. I fear renters. I don't have any money to make changes in the house. I roam around my floor and look at all of the antique furniture and think about selling it.
I know that it would get destroyed moving it. it made it here from New York but they were professional packers. I doubt something like that exists here. who knows? right now I am fantasizing about making a thanksgiving meal for friends. I doubt that I will have the strength to do one. I go to work, come home, watch t.v. and then go to sleep. I don't feel like cooking when I come back from work. I tend to binge on chocolates. I don't have the energy to shop for food after work. I come back at 6:00 p.m. or later and it is dark and cold. I sometimes take a taxi home.
yesterday, about an hour before Shabbat I put up the hot water urn, boiled some eggs, cut some veggies for a salad, opened a can of corn and broiled some lamb kabobs. voila, I made Shabbat. it was weird being alone for Shabbat. I was very down. I went to bed right after eating and read a bit and then went to sleep. I made it to synagogue but didn't stay for the Kiddush. I felt like a loner. I didn't want to be with people. I came home, had some kabobs and salad and went to sleep.
everyone went to work and school and I was alone in the apartment. I took advantage of the alone time and showered and got ready for Shabbat. it comes in at 4:00 p.m. these days. I spent a lot of time on the phone with my girlfriends in safed. Shabbat is hectic because everyone is exhausted and hasn't spent a lot of time with each during the week. I tried to stay neutral and keep my mouth shut. when I first arrived the kids asked me how long I was staying. they both went hysterical when I told them that I had to leave on sunday morning. I ,in turn, started crying. when my grandson saw that I was also sad, he stopped crying immediately and hugged me.
it is very hard not seeing them all the time. I helped raise them for a total of 9 years. I go to the yeshiva everyday and cook for about 5-6 hours. there are 18 students now. they eat like a crowd of 25. I have been struggling with back pain. I fell off of a chair before Rosh Hashanah and I think this is a result of the fall. I am not one for running to the doctor and I have been trying to ride it out. it seems to be getting worse. my sciatic kicked in. it is problematic on my right side. my foot swells up and my hand gets stiff.
when I cook I stand. somehow this is less painful than sitting. I have been sleeping a lot. the pain is below my neck between the shoulder blades. it is painful and difficult to turn my neck. I am in constant pain. I am in the process of down sizing. I have an enormous house with three floors and enough closet space to store many things. I don't want these things anymore. most of them was my mother's possessions. she was also a hoarder. I recently took all of the English judaica books that I don't read or even look at to a small book store in town. why not have other people enjoy them. this was a huge process. each day I would taxi to town with two large bags full. I was able to clear a huge book case. it is sitting downstairs for someone to claim.
I packed up 6 large garbage bags of old prayer books that were in bad condition. that cleared out another book case. they are currently sitting on my front porch. they are very heavy. I am in no condition to lift these bags. I need to call a taxi and bring them to a place where they bury old books. I throw a few things out every day. I threw out an old telephone table yesterday. I fantasize about leaving Safed and moving to Jerusalem. I do not think that I am ready to sell my house but I could rent it out and then rent an apartment in Jerusalem. I find it very hard to really actualize this. I fear renters. I don't have any money to make changes in the house. I roam around my floor and look at all of the antique furniture and think about selling it.
I know that it would get destroyed moving it. it made it here from New York but they were professional packers. I doubt something like that exists here. who knows? right now I am fantasizing about making a thanksgiving meal for friends. I doubt that I will have the strength to do one. I go to work, come home, watch t.v. and then go to sleep. I don't feel like cooking when I come back from work. I tend to binge on chocolates. I don't have the energy to shop for food after work. I come back at 6:00 p.m. or later and it is dark and cold. I sometimes take a taxi home.
yesterday, about an hour before Shabbat I put up the hot water urn, boiled some eggs, cut some veggies for a salad, opened a can of corn and broiled some lamb kabobs. voila, I made Shabbat. it was weird being alone for Shabbat. I was very down. I went to bed right after eating and read a bit and then went to sleep. I made it to synagogue but didn't stay for the Kiddush. I felt like a loner. I didn't want to be with people. I came home, had some kabobs and salad and went to sleep.
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Friday Morning
it is 9:00 a.m. in the holy city of safed. I do not work on Fridays. yes!! it is the one day that I can do errands, clean up the mess in the house and get ready for Shabbat. I saw a leak upstairs on the roof of the apartment coming from the hot water tank. it wasn't a flood but I, nevertheless, called my repair guy last week. he replaced a narrow pipe and I think it did the trick. he also started repairing some fallen tiles in the kitchen. he then, never showed up again. I was too busy to call him back. I kept imagining the worst. last night I even imagined him dying.
I was planning on calling him this morning but he beat me to the punch. hopefully, he will come soon. the weather finally turned cold and stormy. we had two intense rain storms. we desperately need the water here. we are facing a serious water crisis. I was pretty tired yesterday and cabbed it to work. on the way home it was rather stormy and I was wet from doing the pots and pans. a taxi passed by and I jumped in and got home in ten minutes. normally it takes me almost an hour to get home. it involves waiting for 2 busses. usually, I sit out in the cold for half an hour. the actual ride is only about 20 minutes. I have been getting home around 8:00 p.m. lately.
I have to work an hour to pay for a cab ride. I get paid a bit less than $10 an hour. a cab ride is about $8 during the daytime. it goes up a bit after 8:00 p.m. that's the economic reality here in safed. it used to be $4 to buy a cup of coffee. now they have cofix, a store where everything is only 5 shekels. I often frequent the store to get an iced coffee in the summer. it's bad quality but the price is right. I just went outside to pick up the leaves in front of the house. I was too lazy to go upstairs and retrieve my dust pan. I scooped it all up with my hands. it was rather nasty outside. I was pleasantly surprised to feel that the house was comfortably warm inside. I did manage to close all of the windows.
yesterday, I made falafel balls and many of the fixings for lunch. the guys really loved it. me, not so much. it was a lot of work. I haven't fried up falafel balls in over 30 years. I hardly ever eat them even though they are a national dish. people eat them for breakfast here. my falafel balls were awful. they were over fired and crumbly and greasy. the frozen French fries took over an hour and a half to bake. some were still raw while many were burnt. I made tahini sauce and I made my own chumus from scratch. I cooked up the dried chickpeas first. I diced, what seemed like, endless amounts of tomatoes and cucumbers. I sliced a few onion rings. I fried up about 5 large eggplants. it took hours to prepare and I forgot to open up a can of pickles. I don't think the guys noticed.
I was supposed to make tuna patties for dinner but I couldn't even look at a bottle of oil again. I made a tuna loaf, buckwheat, aka 'kasha' and a zucchini soufflé, instead. it took an hour to do the washing up and clean the stovetop. there was oil everywhere. I ended up working for six hours yesterday. that's six hours standing on my feet with a sore back. I normally finish in 4-5 hours. there are now 18 young men there but they eat like a pack of 25. there isn't a bit of food left over lately. it is a lot more work to do. one of the guys decided that he doesn't want to eat gluten. I have been cooking lentils and chickpeas each day so that he can have some protein. he doesn't eat meat during the week. I also try not peeling the potatoes unless I make a mash. the manager prefers that I make only 3 items for each meal and rather than add another item; he wants me to increase the amount of each item.
a bag of rice was always enough for 10-12 young men but that's not nearly enough for this crowd. it's more like 6 pounds of potatoes to make a mash now. I am tired. my hands are all cut up and blistered. I am already dreading Chanukah. I am known for making latkes, and fried foods during the week up Chanukah. it is going to be very challenging, indeed!. I do not know how to assemble the food processor so I have been grating small amounts by hand. I will have to sort this out sooner or later. I used to make the guys a cake for Shabbat but I just don't have the time anymore. I was hoping to make peanut butter cookies for them but alas, came along one young man, who has a peanut allergy.
I am hoping to visit the grandkids next week in Jerusalem. the guys have an out Shabbat. that means I only need to leave lunch for them on Thursday. and I only need to make them supper on Sunday. I can jump on a bus at 2:00 p.m. and hopefully get to Jerusalem before the kids are sleeping. now i only need for their parents to agree to my visiting. we shall see.
I was planning on calling him this morning but he beat me to the punch. hopefully, he will come soon. the weather finally turned cold and stormy. we had two intense rain storms. we desperately need the water here. we are facing a serious water crisis. I was pretty tired yesterday and cabbed it to work. on the way home it was rather stormy and I was wet from doing the pots and pans. a taxi passed by and I jumped in and got home in ten minutes. normally it takes me almost an hour to get home. it involves waiting for 2 busses. usually, I sit out in the cold for half an hour. the actual ride is only about 20 minutes. I have been getting home around 8:00 p.m. lately.
I have to work an hour to pay for a cab ride. I get paid a bit less than $10 an hour. a cab ride is about $8 during the daytime. it goes up a bit after 8:00 p.m. that's the economic reality here in safed. it used to be $4 to buy a cup of coffee. now they have cofix, a store where everything is only 5 shekels. I often frequent the store to get an iced coffee in the summer. it's bad quality but the price is right. I just went outside to pick up the leaves in front of the house. I was too lazy to go upstairs and retrieve my dust pan. I scooped it all up with my hands. it was rather nasty outside. I was pleasantly surprised to feel that the house was comfortably warm inside. I did manage to close all of the windows.
yesterday, I made falafel balls and many of the fixings for lunch. the guys really loved it. me, not so much. it was a lot of work. I haven't fried up falafel balls in over 30 years. I hardly ever eat them even though they are a national dish. people eat them for breakfast here. my falafel balls were awful. they were over fired and crumbly and greasy. the frozen French fries took over an hour and a half to bake. some were still raw while many were burnt. I made tahini sauce and I made my own chumus from scratch. I cooked up the dried chickpeas first. I diced, what seemed like, endless amounts of tomatoes and cucumbers. I sliced a few onion rings. I fried up about 5 large eggplants. it took hours to prepare and I forgot to open up a can of pickles. I don't think the guys noticed.
I was supposed to make tuna patties for dinner but I couldn't even look at a bottle of oil again. I made a tuna loaf, buckwheat, aka 'kasha' and a zucchini soufflé, instead. it took an hour to do the washing up and clean the stovetop. there was oil everywhere. I ended up working for six hours yesterday. that's six hours standing on my feet with a sore back. I normally finish in 4-5 hours. there are now 18 young men there but they eat like a pack of 25. there isn't a bit of food left over lately. it is a lot more work to do. one of the guys decided that he doesn't want to eat gluten. I have been cooking lentils and chickpeas each day so that he can have some protein. he doesn't eat meat during the week. I also try not peeling the potatoes unless I make a mash. the manager prefers that I make only 3 items for each meal and rather than add another item; he wants me to increase the amount of each item.
a bag of rice was always enough for 10-12 young men but that's not nearly enough for this crowd. it's more like 6 pounds of potatoes to make a mash now. I am tired. my hands are all cut up and blistered. I am already dreading Chanukah. I am known for making latkes, and fried foods during the week up Chanukah. it is going to be very challenging, indeed!. I do not know how to assemble the food processor so I have been grating small amounts by hand. I will have to sort this out sooner or later. I used to make the guys a cake for Shabbat but I just don't have the time anymore. I was hoping to make peanut butter cookies for them but alas, came along one young man, who has a peanut allergy.
I am hoping to visit the grandkids next week in Jerusalem. the guys have an out Shabbat. that means I only need to leave lunch for them on Thursday. and I only need to make them supper on Sunday. I can jump on a bus at 2:00 p.m. and hopefully get to Jerusalem before the kids are sleeping. now i only need for their parents to agree to my visiting. we shall see.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Happy Birthday Maddie!
it is 9:30 a.m. in the holy city of safed. I haven't blogged because I was in a terrible funk after the holidays. i'm back at work and have a new manager who is a great support. can you imagine, I ask for eggs and I actually get them before I show up for work? I was flying solo for months and was bringing in food from home to cook for the guys. I got reimbursed but it wasn't very nice.
the caterer for the yeshiva asked me on sunday, if I could bake a birthday cake for a lovely young lady. I bake cakes all the time at the yeshiva. it usually is an eggless chocolate cake and takes no time to whip up. I agreed to make a cake for this caterer. why not? he then told me that it should be low on gluten and sugar. it also should say: "Happy 30th birthday Maddie from mom".
the mother called me from the states to confer about said cake. she wanted avocado chocolate buttercream frosting and a chocolate cake. she told me that her daughter was pregnant and loved to mix ingredients up to make healthy treats. first, I do not write on cakes. I don't know how. I also have never made an avocado chocolate frosting but I've read about it. I took this cake on as a challenge to my culinary prowess. I often cook and bake for vegans.
I found a recipe for avocado frosting and non gluten chocolate cake online. the cake called for honey, almond flour, coconut flour, coconut oil and coconut milk. I had previously bought peanut flour and coconut flour when my sister came to visit. I wanted to make non gluten muffins for her. she is diabetic. well, I never touched the flours and I didn't make any muffins. I did make psyche drama, but that's another story. I had maple syrup in the pantry and thought about substituting it for the honey. after all, why should I use up a very expensive item like maple syrup?.
I went shopping last night after work. I bought avocados, date syrup, organic cocoa powder, almond milk, dried shredded coconut, pistachios, slivered almonds, eggs and natural cherry jam. I got up at 7:30 a.m. and made the cake. I didn't have an oblong or square pan so I used a round one. it will be a bit difficult to slice, I presume. the cake is not very sweet. it called for honey and I used date syrup. I covered it with the cherry jam, which has whole pieces of cherries. it's kind of like a black forest cake in my mind. I made the avocado chocolate icing. it's pretty weird. I am planning on covering the cake and then sprinkling it with the shredded coconut, ground almonds and pistachios.
I don't know if the caterer was able to purchase edible pens or not. I found a plastic happy birthday candle holder. I spent a small fortune on the ingredients. this was an experiment for me. I will not charge for my time and effort. I will however, charge for the ingredients. it came out to about $20. healthy is expensive. I hope the young lady likes her cake. I tried to think out of the box. it is pretty much organic and definitely non gluten. I learned a lot about using coconut and almond flour. apparently, you need very little to make a cake but need a lot of liquid. I will be happy to post the recipe if anyone is interested.
.
the caterer for the yeshiva asked me on sunday, if I could bake a birthday cake for a lovely young lady. I bake cakes all the time at the yeshiva. it usually is an eggless chocolate cake and takes no time to whip up. I agreed to make a cake for this caterer. why not? he then told me that it should be low on gluten and sugar. it also should say: "Happy 30th birthday Maddie from mom".
the mother called me from the states to confer about said cake. she wanted avocado chocolate buttercream frosting and a chocolate cake. she told me that her daughter was pregnant and loved to mix ingredients up to make healthy treats. first, I do not write on cakes. I don't know how. I also have never made an avocado chocolate frosting but I've read about it. I took this cake on as a challenge to my culinary prowess. I often cook and bake for vegans.
I found a recipe for avocado frosting and non gluten chocolate cake online. the cake called for honey, almond flour, coconut flour, coconut oil and coconut milk. I had previously bought peanut flour and coconut flour when my sister came to visit. I wanted to make non gluten muffins for her. she is diabetic. well, I never touched the flours and I didn't make any muffins. I did make psyche drama, but that's another story. I had maple syrup in the pantry and thought about substituting it for the honey. after all, why should I use up a very expensive item like maple syrup?.
I went shopping last night after work. I bought avocados, date syrup, organic cocoa powder, almond milk, dried shredded coconut, pistachios, slivered almonds, eggs and natural cherry jam. I got up at 7:30 a.m. and made the cake. I didn't have an oblong or square pan so I used a round one. it will be a bit difficult to slice, I presume. the cake is not very sweet. it called for honey and I used date syrup. I covered it with the cherry jam, which has whole pieces of cherries. it's kind of like a black forest cake in my mind. I made the avocado chocolate icing. it's pretty weird. I am planning on covering the cake and then sprinkling it with the shredded coconut, ground almonds and pistachios.
I don't know if the caterer was able to purchase edible pens or not. I found a plastic happy birthday candle holder. I spent a small fortune on the ingredients. this was an experiment for me. I will not charge for my time and effort. I will however, charge for the ingredients. it came out to about $20. healthy is expensive. I hope the young lady likes her cake. I tried to think out of the box. it is pretty much organic and definitely non gluten. I learned a lot about using coconut and almond flour. apparently, you need very little to make a cake but need a lot of liquid. I will be happy to post the recipe if anyone is interested.
.
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Back To Work
it is 11:30 a.m. in the holy city of safed. I am officially back at the yeshiva. I made dinner for them yesterday. the kitchen is almost empty but there is still lots of chop meat in the freezer. the new manager made sure to clean the kitchen before I returned. the students had the run of the kitchen in my absence. I spent a few days in Jerusalem with the kids during the break. I returned to safed about a week ago and haven't left my house until yesterday.
I have been suffering from a pain between my shoulder blades all week. I took a bad fall just before rosh hashana. I do not know if this pain is a result of the fall or just a result of al the tension I have felt as of late. it is hard for me to lift things and turn my head. the pain is constant. I haven't spoken to anyone in my family in a while. this includes my son. I am in a depression and have been overeating as a result of this. I couldn't wait to get back to work.
unfortunately, I am not thrilled to be back, as it turns out. I am a bit mad at the world. my sister turns 70 but I am the one who feels old and irrelevant. the pain in my neck doesn't help things, either. I am fantasizing about moving. yes, I think about downsizing and even leaving safed. I am in the process of getting rid of books. even though I own many book shelves and have many rooms to display these shelves, I am thinking of the future when I may live in a small apartment. so. I am throwing out books that I do not need or read anymore. I have a huge bag of old judaica which is ready to bring to a site where they either bury them or burn them.
I also have a huge bag of outdated English lesson books which I can't stand to look at anymore, either. I may be able to get rid of these antique book shelves someday. they are not in the best shape and I don't know if anyone will actually want them. I don't think I would drag them across the country if I chose to move. ikea have affordable simple, and stream lined, modern furniture. these bookshelves are dark and heavy and very dated. I find them to be a bit depressing. I guess I find everything to be depressing.
I finally took down my sukkah on Friday. my gardener actually dissembled it. I took down the fake fruit and wall material. I don't seem to have any core strength these days. I am lacking power in my arms. I keep thinking about painting the bars every year but never get around to it. I also want to buy new material. in Jerusalem, my son bought a sukkah for only 280 shekels; which came with the material as well as the top covering . I have never seen material for that little in safed. I wasn't sure if I was going to put up the sukkah this year. I ended up using it for just one Shabbat when I came home from Jerusalem.
everyone tells me that I am no longer young. I know that I look ancient. I haven't dyed my hair in years. my face is beginning to line. I feel like I'm totally obsolete. yesterday, the manager of the yeshiva asked me if I can bend to reach the flour on a low shelf. I actually, have a problem bending right now. I felt like I was beginning to have a sciatic situation yesterday. I can't really reach the back to apply arnica to the shoulder blades by myself. I am not a happy camper.
I ran into my sister on the morning of yom kippur. we had run into each other in may at our father's gravesite. we didn't speak a word to each other. this time, she actually wished me a happy holiday. she looked pained to see me. I have tried very hard to avoid running into her for over a year. I stopped going to her neighborhood and didn't even go to the large supermarket. I do not know what to do about this situation. I actually wanted to hug her when I saw her. I am the older sister. she is my baby sister and I have always looked out for her. I am alienated from nearly everyone. I am in seclusion.
I have been suffering from a pain between my shoulder blades all week. I took a bad fall just before rosh hashana. I do not know if this pain is a result of the fall or just a result of al the tension I have felt as of late. it is hard for me to lift things and turn my head. the pain is constant. I haven't spoken to anyone in my family in a while. this includes my son. I am in a depression and have been overeating as a result of this. I couldn't wait to get back to work.
unfortunately, I am not thrilled to be back, as it turns out. I am a bit mad at the world. my sister turns 70 but I am the one who feels old and irrelevant. the pain in my neck doesn't help things, either. I am fantasizing about moving. yes, I think about downsizing and even leaving safed. I am in the process of getting rid of books. even though I own many book shelves and have many rooms to display these shelves, I am thinking of the future when I may live in a small apartment. so. I am throwing out books that I do not need or read anymore. I have a huge bag of old judaica which is ready to bring to a site where they either bury them or burn them.
I also have a huge bag of outdated English lesson books which I can't stand to look at anymore, either. I may be able to get rid of these antique book shelves someday. they are not in the best shape and I don't know if anyone will actually want them. I don't think I would drag them across the country if I chose to move. ikea have affordable simple, and stream lined, modern furniture. these bookshelves are dark and heavy and very dated. I find them to be a bit depressing. I guess I find everything to be depressing.
I finally took down my sukkah on Friday. my gardener actually dissembled it. I took down the fake fruit and wall material. I don't seem to have any core strength these days. I am lacking power in my arms. I keep thinking about painting the bars every year but never get around to it. I also want to buy new material. in Jerusalem, my son bought a sukkah for only 280 shekels; which came with the material as well as the top covering . I have never seen material for that little in safed. I wasn't sure if I was going to put up the sukkah this year. I ended up using it for just one Shabbat when I came home from Jerusalem.
everyone tells me that I am no longer young. I know that I look ancient. I haven't dyed my hair in years. my face is beginning to line. I feel like I'm totally obsolete. yesterday, the manager of the yeshiva asked me if I can bend to reach the flour on a low shelf. I actually, have a problem bending right now. I felt like I was beginning to have a sciatic situation yesterday. I can't really reach the back to apply arnica to the shoulder blades by myself. I am not a happy camper.
I ran into my sister on the morning of yom kippur. we had run into each other in may at our father's gravesite. we didn't speak a word to each other. this time, she actually wished me a happy holiday. she looked pained to see me. I have tried very hard to avoid running into her for over a year. I stopped going to her neighborhood and didn't even go to the large supermarket. I do not know what to do about this situation. I actually wanted to hug her when I saw her. I am the older sister. she is my baby sister and I have always looked out for her. I am alienated from nearly everyone. I am in seclusion.
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Tonight We Dine Outside
it is nearly 4:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed. the house is clean and very quiet. I already made up the downstairs bedroom for the kids. they are coming next sunday night for the holiday of simchat torah. tonight they will be going to the Sephardi family for the holiday. I am also going there for supper. they have a massive sukkah. it will be crazy with 5 young kids running around and countless others inside and possibly a dog. I will walk home later tonight. my friend is staying the week and watching my dog. I am going back with the kids to Jerusalem after the holiday ends Monday night. i'm thinking that I may stay the entire week. this is my last vacation from the yeshiva and my last chance to be with the grandkids. they go back to school and I return to work right after the holiday..
I already cooked up some chicken and meatballs and froze them in case I return to safed on sunday of next week. I bought prepared salads and kugel. hopefully, everything will be okay. my neighbor came over to put on the bamboo covering of the sukkah for me. I ended up stringing up my plastic grapes and a few plastic pomegranates. it is quite hot here, once again. I didn't bother hooking up a fan to the sukkah. if it is too hot to stay in the sukkah, i'll eat and leave right away. i'm thinking of bringing a woolen shawl for tonight. it gets chilly at night.
I baked two small honey cakes this morning. I used organic whole wheat flour and organic cane sugar. they really aren't so yummy. I used my standard recipe but I don't know where I went wrong. I bought cheap honey flavored cupcakes for the grandkids. I also bought chocolate rugalach. I really wanted to make a tiramisu or cheese cake for the day time but I didn't have the patience to go to the supermarket this morning. I bought tons of chocolates and ate all of them during the week. I have one small package of mini chocolates and halvah hidden in the closet.
I bought a small kids' sukkah and i'm thinking that they are probably too big for it. I will give it to them to take back to Jerusalem if they want it. they already have a huge plastic tent in the backyard. maybe i'll save it for next year and give it to a family with little kids. it's collapsible and fits into a small bag. it's pretty cute. it is so strange not having the grandkids here anymore. that's life now. I have to get used to it. I went shopping at the large supermarket twice and I don't have a single thing to bring to my in-law's tonight. I spent a fortune, too. I didn't buy any presents for the kids, either. I figure i'll get them stuff in Jerusalem.
I did buy the sukkah for 20 bucks and a new scooter for my grandson for 30 dollars. that won't impress them at all. luckily, my check came in early this month so I have a bunch of loot to travel with. I hope to meet up with my friend there and go out for dinner with her. there is a restaurant where my son works and I've been interested in checking it out. we shall see what happens. I really should get ready soon. the kids may pick me up to bring me to the Sephardi clan. I will dress in flats because there will be plenty of going up and down steps tonight. isn't sukkot grand!!
I already cooked up some chicken and meatballs and froze them in case I return to safed on sunday of next week. I bought prepared salads and kugel. hopefully, everything will be okay. my neighbor came over to put on the bamboo covering of the sukkah for me. I ended up stringing up my plastic grapes and a few plastic pomegranates. it is quite hot here, once again. I didn't bother hooking up a fan to the sukkah. if it is too hot to stay in the sukkah, i'll eat and leave right away. i'm thinking of bringing a woolen shawl for tonight. it gets chilly at night.
I baked two small honey cakes this morning. I used organic whole wheat flour and organic cane sugar. they really aren't so yummy. I used my standard recipe but I don't know where I went wrong. I bought cheap honey flavored cupcakes for the grandkids. I also bought chocolate rugalach. I really wanted to make a tiramisu or cheese cake for the day time but I didn't have the patience to go to the supermarket this morning. I bought tons of chocolates and ate all of them during the week. I have one small package of mini chocolates and halvah hidden in the closet.
I bought a small kids' sukkah and i'm thinking that they are probably too big for it. I will give it to them to take back to Jerusalem if they want it. they already have a huge plastic tent in the backyard. maybe i'll save it for next year and give it to a family with little kids. it's collapsible and fits into a small bag. it's pretty cute. it is so strange not having the grandkids here anymore. that's life now. I have to get used to it. I went shopping at the large supermarket twice and I don't have a single thing to bring to my in-law's tonight. I spent a fortune, too. I didn't buy any presents for the kids, either. I figure i'll get them stuff in Jerusalem.
I did buy the sukkah for 20 bucks and a new scooter for my grandson for 30 dollars. that won't impress them at all. luckily, my check came in early this month so I have a bunch of loot to travel with. I hope to meet up with my friend there and go out for dinner with her. there is a restaurant where my son works and I've been interested in checking it out. we shall see what happens. I really should get ready soon. the kids may pick me up to bring me to the Sephardi clan. I will dress in flats because there will be plenty of going up and down steps tonight. isn't sukkot grand!!
Friday, September 21, 2018
It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Sukkot
it is10:00 a.m. in the holy city of safed. my neighbor just finished putting up the frame of my sukkah. I was not planning on putting up the sukkah this year. the kids are spending the first part of the holiday with the Sephardi clan. I am sure I can wrangle a place there, too. it will be sheer madness. the ladies will be going up and down a very steep stairwell to bring the food into the sukkah. I declined to go there the last couple of years because I dreaded the stairwell. I haven't made up my mind yet. who knows? perhaps, I won't be included this year.
yesterday, I made up about 250 tiny cellophane baggies for the Sephardi family's bas mitzvah next week. I no longer make chocolates. I buy chewy candies and stuff one into the cellophane baggie and close it with a sticker for the appropriate occasion. this crowd loves their candy. I am planning on going to Jerusalem next week for a few days and the daughter-in-law is planning on going to the cousin's bat mitzvah in hadera. I am covering all of the bases. I am trying to be flexible.
I went to the supermarket twice and stocked up on chicken wings, lamb kabobs, hamburgers, steaks and franks for the second half of the holiday. my son likes to barbecue in the daytime. I cooked some chicken and meatballs and froze them for the night meal next week. I also bought prepared salads and kugel so if I decide to stay longer in Jerusalem, we will have food already prepared. I am not much in the mood for baking so I bought prepared cakes. I still need to make something to eat for Shabbat. I'm not so inspired.
I managed to fall off of a plastic chair a couple of days before Rosh Hashanah. I was hanging curtains in a bedroom downstairs and went flying off of the chair. I broke the fall with my elbow and wrist and then the back got the shock of hitting the stone floor. I was extremely lucky to have not fallen on my head or directly onto my back. it was miraculous that I didn't break my arm. I was in a lot of pain for the holiday and shabbat. I got sick and spent the second day of Rosh Hashanah in bed. not my finest hour. I did manage to hear the shofar blowing in synagogue.
I got through yom kippur pretty easily. I am still feeling sore parts of my body from the fall. it was hard to cough at the beginning as the ribs were bruised. I was not looking forward to lifting the metal polls of the sukkah. I managed to bring them up from the storage area downstairs, but didn't get very far into the construction. I didn't remember exactly how to do it. my 9 year old grandson put it together for me last year in about 6 minutes. I dreaded climbing the ladder to place the wooden boards on top. now, I don't need to. living in a Sephardi neighborhood and looking old has its benefits.
the men here are strong and macho. building a sukkah is a guys' thing, anyway. women are not even commanded to eat in them. I don't know why I even bothered this year. I am planning on being away. I have to tie the material around the sukkah now. it is a big drag. I don't really feel like hanging all of my plastic fruits up,either. my back hurts and my knee is on the fritz. last year we had a family cook out. we had over 20 people downstairs. a few of the men had to squeeze into the small sukkah. I used to put up one that was 4x2 meters. now I only put up a 2x2 meter sukkah. four can sit comfortably. I am not planning on having any guests.
I saw my sister before yom kippur. she wished me a holiday greeting and ran off. that was our first exchange in over a year since our blow out. it was bittersweet. it is what it is. I am hoping this year to be stronger and wiser. I do not want to judge anyone nor do I want to get hurt so easily by others. of course, this is easier said than done. it requires building stronger personal borders and not having any expectations of people. it also requires seeing others' differences as interesting and not hurtful. enough of the pyscho babble for now. I am off to the supermarket to return the empty bottles.
yesterday, I made up about 250 tiny cellophane baggies for the Sephardi family's bas mitzvah next week. I no longer make chocolates. I buy chewy candies and stuff one into the cellophane baggie and close it with a sticker for the appropriate occasion. this crowd loves their candy. I am planning on going to Jerusalem next week for a few days and the daughter-in-law is planning on going to the cousin's bat mitzvah in hadera. I am covering all of the bases. I am trying to be flexible.
I went to the supermarket twice and stocked up on chicken wings, lamb kabobs, hamburgers, steaks and franks for the second half of the holiday. my son likes to barbecue in the daytime. I cooked some chicken and meatballs and froze them for the night meal next week. I also bought prepared salads and kugel so if I decide to stay longer in Jerusalem, we will have food already prepared. I am not much in the mood for baking so I bought prepared cakes. I still need to make something to eat for Shabbat. I'm not so inspired.
I managed to fall off of a plastic chair a couple of days before Rosh Hashanah. I was hanging curtains in a bedroom downstairs and went flying off of the chair. I broke the fall with my elbow and wrist and then the back got the shock of hitting the stone floor. I was extremely lucky to have not fallen on my head or directly onto my back. it was miraculous that I didn't break my arm. I was in a lot of pain for the holiday and shabbat. I got sick and spent the second day of Rosh Hashanah in bed. not my finest hour. I did manage to hear the shofar blowing in synagogue.
I got through yom kippur pretty easily. I am still feeling sore parts of my body from the fall. it was hard to cough at the beginning as the ribs were bruised. I was not looking forward to lifting the metal polls of the sukkah. I managed to bring them up from the storage area downstairs, but didn't get very far into the construction. I didn't remember exactly how to do it. my 9 year old grandson put it together for me last year in about 6 minutes. I dreaded climbing the ladder to place the wooden boards on top. now, I don't need to. living in a Sephardi neighborhood and looking old has its benefits.
the men here are strong and macho. building a sukkah is a guys' thing, anyway. women are not even commanded to eat in them. I don't know why I even bothered this year. I am planning on being away. I have to tie the material around the sukkah now. it is a big drag. I don't really feel like hanging all of my plastic fruits up,either. my back hurts and my knee is on the fritz. last year we had a family cook out. we had over 20 people downstairs. a few of the men had to squeeze into the small sukkah. I used to put up one that was 4x2 meters. now I only put up a 2x2 meter sukkah. four can sit comfortably. I am not planning on having any guests.
I saw my sister before yom kippur. she wished me a holiday greeting and ran off. that was our first exchange in over a year since our blow out. it was bittersweet. it is what it is. I am hoping this year to be stronger and wiser. I do not want to judge anyone nor do I want to get hurt so easily by others. of course, this is easier said than done. it requires building stronger personal borders and not having any expectations of people. it also requires seeing others' differences as interesting and not hurtful. enough of the pyscho babble for now. I am off to the supermarket to return the empty bottles.
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Shana Tova 2018
it's been ages since I blogged. I went back to the yeshiva about three weeks ago. I have been pretty much on my own there and buying, whatever food items I need. the pantry is pretty much depleted. while my sister was visiting, I tried making up fast meals and didn't stay too long at the yeshiva. needless to say, my pay check was pretty skimpy this month. I will be going on another break right after Yom Kippur. I do not think I am needed during the week of sukkot.
the kids very much want me to go to Jerusalem for Rosh Hashanah. I don't have the strength to make such a long trip for just a few days. I prefer to go while I am on vacation and stay for the week. I don't think that it will work out for me this time. I am playing it loose. if I am meant to be in Jerusalem, so be it.
I haven't been sleeping so well. now that I don't have the added burden of picking up the grandkids, I go into work much later. I also, get home much later. I have been coming home after seven, lately. we have been suffering, yet, another, heat wave. it really takes its toll. I spent hours the other day defrosting both freezers. I was throwing around ice and snow and I was soaking wet. it felt so good.
the guys went to a wedding last night and didn't put the food, that I prepared for supper, into the fridge. I tasted the stew and the couscous and it was still good. this is nothing short of a miracle. even the tomato salad was in tact. I served it to them for lunch and they all raved about it. they said it was better than the wedding food. I was very happy not to have had to prepare lunch today.
I ended up making a tuna loaf, baked beets and a sweet noodle kugel for their supper. I went to town to do some errands after work. I didn't get much accomplished. I did manage to get to the fresh fish store and bought a few slices of carp and a huge fish head. it isn't Rosh Hashanah without a cooked fish head at the head of the table. one year I made a fourth of a sheep's head. that was my ode to the Sephardic tradition. my son had been bugging me for years to make one. he kind of paled at the sight of it. my grandson thought it was great and the two of us devoured it. it was truly yummy.
I am not planning on having guests this holiday. I will be going to friends for the first night. I am bringing the fish, and the different symbolic foods. I may also bring some brisket. my other friend has a huge brisket in her freezer and I have agreed to braise it in my toaster oven. we are thinking beer and a pomegranate sauce.
I already bought: carrots, pomegranates, leeks, black eyed peas, pumpkin, dates, beets and beet leaves. are we having fun? my friend might bake small challahs. I need to bake a honey cake for my daughter-in-law's father. he loves my whole wheat version. I already bought the pre- sifted organic whole wheat flour, honey and organic brown cane sugar. I am playing with the idea of using coconut oil. why not?? last year's hamentashen were great.
I don't have to work on Friday so I think I will do most of the cooking and baking. i'll leave the veggies for sunday. I think i'll make honey bars for my friend and myself. I've been hitting the sugar as of late. I'm not going to be very svelte this Rosh Hashanah. oh well......
it was a difficult visit this summer. my older sister ran back and forth between me and my other sister, who is still not speaking with me. she did invite me to meet for coffee via older sister. I declined her offer. I got to hear her complaints against me, via big sister and it made me go into a tailspin. my niece gave birth to a son and I wasn't included in the simcha. my other niece came in from India with her kids and brand new daughter and didn't come to see me this time, either. it hurt.
there was just so much psyche drama babble and hurt feelings to deal with. my sister staged my house and decluttered my walls. she works in the real estate market in L.A. she did a marvelous job. she made the house mine. my deceased parents are now featured in the background. my shrine to my mom and her candlesticks has been dismantled. I just wish we could have had some fun together.
I had friends staying with me for the klezmer music festival. we were in a party mood. one night we barbecued. I only got to the music festival one night. it was way too busy in my house. my sister didn't get any quality time. I was also, too crazy to listen to her speak. after every mention of my feuding sister, I went slightly insane.
the kids very much want me to go to Jerusalem for Rosh Hashanah. I don't have the strength to make such a long trip for just a few days. I prefer to go while I am on vacation and stay for the week. I don't think that it will work out for me this time. I am playing it loose. if I am meant to be in Jerusalem, so be it.
I haven't been sleeping so well. now that I don't have the added burden of picking up the grandkids, I go into work much later. I also, get home much later. I have been coming home after seven, lately. we have been suffering, yet, another, heat wave. it really takes its toll. I spent hours the other day defrosting both freezers. I was throwing around ice and snow and I was soaking wet. it felt so good.
the guys went to a wedding last night and didn't put the food, that I prepared for supper, into the fridge. I tasted the stew and the couscous and it was still good. this is nothing short of a miracle. even the tomato salad was in tact. I served it to them for lunch and they all raved about it. they said it was better than the wedding food. I was very happy not to have had to prepare lunch today.
I ended up making a tuna loaf, baked beets and a sweet noodle kugel for their supper. I went to town to do some errands after work. I didn't get much accomplished. I did manage to get to the fresh fish store and bought a few slices of carp and a huge fish head. it isn't Rosh Hashanah without a cooked fish head at the head of the table. one year I made a fourth of a sheep's head. that was my ode to the Sephardic tradition. my son had been bugging me for years to make one. he kind of paled at the sight of it. my grandson thought it was great and the two of us devoured it. it was truly yummy.
I am not planning on having guests this holiday. I will be going to friends for the first night. I am bringing the fish, and the different symbolic foods. I may also bring some brisket. my other friend has a huge brisket in her freezer and I have agreed to braise it in my toaster oven. we are thinking beer and a pomegranate sauce.
I already bought: carrots, pomegranates, leeks, black eyed peas, pumpkin, dates, beets and beet leaves. are we having fun? my friend might bake small challahs. I need to bake a honey cake for my daughter-in-law's father. he loves my whole wheat version. I already bought the pre- sifted organic whole wheat flour, honey and organic brown cane sugar. I am playing with the idea of using coconut oil. why not?? last year's hamentashen were great.
I don't have to work on Friday so I think I will do most of the cooking and baking. i'll leave the veggies for sunday. I think i'll make honey bars for my friend and myself. I've been hitting the sugar as of late. I'm not going to be very svelte this Rosh Hashanah. oh well......
it was a difficult visit this summer. my older sister ran back and forth between me and my other sister, who is still not speaking with me. she did invite me to meet for coffee via older sister. I declined her offer. I got to hear her complaints against me, via big sister and it made me go into a tailspin. my niece gave birth to a son and I wasn't included in the simcha. my other niece came in from India with her kids and brand new daughter and didn't come to see me this time, either. it hurt.
there was just so much psyche drama babble and hurt feelings to deal with. my sister staged my house and decluttered my walls. she works in the real estate market in L.A. she did a marvelous job. she made the house mine. my deceased parents are now featured in the background. my shrine to my mom and her candlesticks has been dismantled. I just wish we could have had some fun together.
I had friends staying with me for the klezmer music festival. we were in a party mood. one night we barbecued. I only got to the music festival one night. it was way too busy in my house. my sister didn't get any quality time. I was also, too crazy to listen to her speak. after every mention of my feuding sister, I went slightly insane.
Saturday, August 11, 2018
I'm Still Here
it is midnight in the holy city of safed. I just finished doing a touch up paint job on the wall in the roof top apartment. a friend is coming tomorrow and will be staying upstairs. I washed the parquet floor, too. yesterday, I washed the bathroom and kitchenette and swept the bird poo and dirt from the balcony. it looks pretty clean. I will carry up the bed and mattress in the morning. I do not have the strength right now. I thought my friend would prefer the air-conditioned apartment but the breezes downstairs are simply wonderful. I was cold last night with the fans.
my sister is coming for an extended visit on Monday. I know she has trouble with dust and I'm not sure if the upstairs will be suitable for her. as much as I cleaned my house; it is still dusty everywhere. I just washed the kitchen floor with soap and lots of bleach. I did the living room floor, too. I still have pieces of toys and kids' chactchkas in the room. I sorted out the puzzles and legos a while ago.
my son and family moved to Jerusalem about three weeks ago. I watched the kids for a few days while they got the apartment in order. I also cooked every day at the yeshiva. the kids were in a day camp. after they left I took apart the house, collecting toys and kids' stuff from every room. I managed to organize it all except for a few pieces of stuff in the living room. I went on hiatus from the yeshiva and went to Jerusalem to see the kids. I was supposed to be there for Shabbat but I ended up staying for a week. no one wanted me to leave. not even my son.
I came back last week on an express bus. it took us 5 hours to get back to safed. I was exhausted. I went to a friend for Shabbat lunch and then I went into a huge funk. I didn't leave my house for an entire week. I didn't get dressed nor did I bathe. it was like an emotional shiva. I spent all day and night watching videos about covert narcissists. I was transfixed. I went through my entire psychic life span. I remembered so many more details of having been manipulated and used by certain family members.
I hardly ate but that was fine because I overate in Jerusalem. we did have an extreme heat wave but I wasn't phased. I was inside and my house was cool. I spoke for hours to friends complaining about my sister with whom I'm estranged. I was in emotional hell. my friend was supposed to come on Wednesday and stay for Shabbat. she changed her plans which gave me another couple of days to mope around. on Thursday, I had a 2 hour phone call with my brother, the psychologist. he actually helped me get out of my funk.
on Thursday evening, I went downstairs and plastered the lower part of the walls of the master bedroom downstairs. they were a mess. on Friday morning, I got out of bed and showered. I got dressed, too. I went downstairs to do laundry and painted the freshly plastered walls. it looks pretty good. I then went to the supermarket to buy fish, cans of tuna, chicken cutlets, eggs, and a bit of fruit. I still need to buy veggies but we can all go down to the supermarket together. I bought tons of organic food for my friend who's macrobiotic and tons of protein for my sister who's diabetic.
tomorrow I am going to meet up with my friend in Netanya and we will visit a mutual dear friend together. we had our last reunion about 4 years ago. it should be great fun. this is the first summer that I am not watching the kids. it is a big change in my life. I hope my visit with my sister will go smoothly. I am afraid that she is on a mission to bring peace to the middle east between her two sisters. in the meanwhile, my niece has been here all summer from india, and hasn't called, and her sister just gave birth and I wasn't notified. the bris in on Monday in safed and of course, I haven't been invited. so I stand up and move and get on with my plans to see my friends. they are my family.
my sister is coming for an extended visit on Monday. I know she has trouble with dust and I'm not sure if the upstairs will be suitable for her. as much as I cleaned my house; it is still dusty everywhere. I just washed the kitchen floor with soap and lots of bleach. I did the living room floor, too. I still have pieces of toys and kids' chactchkas in the room. I sorted out the puzzles and legos a while ago.
my son and family moved to Jerusalem about three weeks ago. I watched the kids for a few days while they got the apartment in order. I also cooked every day at the yeshiva. the kids were in a day camp. after they left I took apart the house, collecting toys and kids' stuff from every room. I managed to organize it all except for a few pieces of stuff in the living room. I went on hiatus from the yeshiva and went to Jerusalem to see the kids. I was supposed to be there for Shabbat but I ended up staying for a week. no one wanted me to leave. not even my son.
I came back last week on an express bus. it took us 5 hours to get back to safed. I was exhausted. I went to a friend for Shabbat lunch and then I went into a huge funk. I didn't leave my house for an entire week. I didn't get dressed nor did I bathe. it was like an emotional shiva. I spent all day and night watching videos about covert narcissists. I was transfixed. I went through my entire psychic life span. I remembered so many more details of having been manipulated and used by certain family members.
I hardly ate but that was fine because I overate in Jerusalem. we did have an extreme heat wave but I wasn't phased. I was inside and my house was cool. I spoke for hours to friends complaining about my sister with whom I'm estranged. I was in emotional hell. my friend was supposed to come on Wednesday and stay for Shabbat. she changed her plans which gave me another couple of days to mope around. on Thursday, I had a 2 hour phone call with my brother, the psychologist. he actually helped me get out of my funk.
on Thursday evening, I went downstairs and plastered the lower part of the walls of the master bedroom downstairs. they were a mess. on Friday morning, I got out of bed and showered. I got dressed, too. I went downstairs to do laundry and painted the freshly plastered walls. it looks pretty good. I then went to the supermarket to buy fish, cans of tuna, chicken cutlets, eggs, and a bit of fruit. I still need to buy veggies but we can all go down to the supermarket together. I bought tons of organic food for my friend who's macrobiotic and tons of protein for my sister who's diabetic.
tomorrow I am going to meet up with my friend in Netanya and we will visit a mutual dear friend together. we had our last reunion about 4 years ago. it should be great fun. this is the first summer that I am not watching the kids. it is a big change in my life. I hope my visit with my sister will go smoothly. I am afraid that she is on a mission to bring peace to the middle east between her two sisters. in the meanwhile, my niece has been here all summer from india, and hasn't called, and her sister just gave birth and I wasn't notified. the bris in on Monday in safed and of course, I haven't been invited. so I stand up and move and get on with my plans to see my friends. they are my family.
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Fasting
it is 9:00 a.m. in the holy city of safed. we started our 26 hour tisha b'av fast last night. only 11 hours to go. this commemorates the destruction of the holy temple. unlike the fast of yom kippur; only observant jews keep this one. for the rest of the population, it's business as usual. restaurants and businesses are all open. the cable television broadcasting is on its usual schedule.
I spent the entire Friday cleaning my house. for ten hours, I washed all of the rooms except for the living room on my floor and all of the rooms downstairs. I may be having summer renters. I ran out to buy a small fridge for the downstairs. I am short three bed frames and may have to sort this out after the fast. I haven't received any confirmations yet. I haven't wanted to rent the downstairs for a couple of years but the in-laws called me about specific dates and families. we will see what happens.
the grandchildren are now reunited with their parents and living in Jerusalem. the daughter-in-law returned on Wednesday and took the kids back with her on Thursday. I am planning on visiting them on Thursday. I will stay for a few days. my friend will house and dog sit for me and we will see how it all goes down. unfortunately, there is no cellphone reception in their new house and calling them is very hard. my granddaughter called on friday morning and I couldn't get back to her until just before candle lighting on Friday evening. it was very jarring on my nerves.
I told each of the grandkids to call me when they missed me. my granddaughter was a bit upset, too. this is going to be a huge change in our lives. most people think I have fallen apart. not yet, I have been too busy getting the house back in order. I have been cleaning up all of the slime and collecting and organizing all of the lego pieces, toys and chactchkas. I am almost finished. I have a good friend coming to visit soon and my sister is coming in mid august. I managed to pack up the toys and dolls that the kids wanted to take to Jerusalem on wednesday. I had bought travel bags in the supermarket for 10 shekels each.
I have been very stressed lately at work and home. while the kids were at day camp, I cooked at the yeshiva so I could pick them up at 1:00 p.m. when the family couldn't bring them to me. I had to schlepp around in the heat wave with them to town to buy treats and toys and go to a movie. up here, we had pizza twice and of course, more treats and toys. it was an intense few days. work was a balagon, as usual. I had last minute requests to make a million sandwiches and incorrect information about the count for meals. I was told to cook for only 5 on Thursday. the rest of the students were supposed to be going to Jerusalem.
I took my time coming to work because I knew I had enough food in the freezer for the 5 guys. I quickly defrosted black bean patties and stuffed peppers. I had leftover spaghetti and roasted eggplant and veggies, too. I boiled up some eggs, to boot. I concentrated on making the supper. I fried up about 50 or more chickpea and bulgur patties, made a pot of rice and roasted a pan of potatoes. I even made a cole slaw. I had to get home by 3:00 p.m. because the new fridge was being delivered. I had to do the washing up and floor and I was nearly finished. just then the young manager came in to let me know that all 16 guys were there and needed lunch.
I had left home without my cellphone that day. I guess he had tried to call me at some point. I went into zelda rescue mode. I put out the chickpea patties for lunch and took out the filling of the stuffed peppers, which was buckwheat and couscous and bulgur in a tomato sauce. I should have just cut the peppers in half. they were gigantic. no one ate that mixture. meanwhile, I left the kitchen in a mess and taxied home to be there for the delivery men. I returned back to the yeshiva at 5:00 p.m. and made a zucchini soufflé to go with the rice and roasted potatoes, I had already prepared for dinner. I washed all of the pots and pans and counters and floor and left about 6:30 p.m. I got home and I was in a manic state. the kids were on their way to Jerusalem and I started cleaning up the house and grabbing toys.
I spent the entire Friday cleaning my house. for ten hours, I washed all of the rooms except for the living room on my floor and all of the rooms downstairs. I may be having summer renters. I ran out to buy a small fridge for the downstairs. I am short three bed frames and may have to sort this out after the fast. I haven't received any confirmations yet. I haven't wanted to rent the downstairs for a couple of years but the in-laws called me about specific dates and families. we will see what happens.
the grandchildren are now reunited with their parents and living in Jerusalem. the daughter-in-law returned on Wednesday and took the kids back with her on Thursday. I am planning on visiting them on Thursday. I will stay for a few days. my friend will house and dog sit for me and we will see how it all goes down. unfortunately, there is no cellphone reception in their new house and calling them is very hard. my granddaughter called on friday morning and I couldn't get back to her until just before candle lighting on Friday evening. it was very jarring on my nerves.
I told each of the grandkids to call me when they missed me. my granddaughter was a bit upset, too. this is going to be a huge change in our lives. most people think I have fallen apart. not yet, I have been too busy getting the house back in order. I have been cleaning up all of the slime and collecting and organizing all of the lego pieces, toys and chactchkas. I am almost finished. I have a good friend coming to visit soon and my sister is coming in mid august. I managed to pack up the toys and dolls that the kids wanted to take to Jerusalem on wednesday. I had bought travel bags in the supermarket for 10 shekels each.
I have been very stressed lately at work and home. while the kids were at day camp, I cooked at the yeshiva so I could pick them up at 1:00 p.m. when the family couldn't bring them to me. I had to schlepp around in the heat wave with them to town to buy treats and toys and go to a movie. up here, we had pizza twice and of course, more treats and toys. it was an intense few days. work was a balagon, as usual. I had last minute requests to make a million sandwiches and incorrect information about the count for meals. I was told to cook for only 5 on Thursday. the rest of the students were supposed to be going to Jerusalem.
I took my time coming to work because I knew I had enough food in the freezer for the 5 guys. I quickly defrosted black bean patties and stuffed peppers. I had leftover spaghetti and roasted eggplant and veggies, too. I boiled up some eggs, to boot. I concentrated on making the supper. I fried up about 50 or more chickpea and bulgur patties, made a pot of rice and roasted a pan of potatoes. I even made a cole slaw. I had to get home by 3:00 p.m. because the new fridge was being delivered. I had to do the washing up and floor and I was nearly finished. just then the young manager came in to let me know that all 16 guys were there and needed lunch.
I had left home without my cellphone that day. I guess he had tried to call me at some point. I went into zelda rescue mode. I put out the chickpea patties for lunch and took out the filling of the stuffed peppers, which was buckwheat and couscous and bulgur in a tomato sauce. I should have just cut the peppers in half. they were gigantic. no one ate that mixture. meanwhile, I left the kitchen in a mess and taxied home to be there for the delivery men. I returned back to the yeshiva at 5:00 p.m. and made a zucchini soufflé to go with the rice and roasted potatoes, I had already prepared for dinner. I washed all of the pots and pans and counters and floor and left about 6:30 p.m. I got home and I was in a manic state. the kids were on their way to Jerusalem and I started cleaning up the house and grabbing toys.
Friday, July 13, 2018
Shabbat Shalom Once More
it is noontime in the holy city of safed. I just finished washing the kitchen floor. yesterday was slime day at the gleich home. it took me forever to wash out the containers and wash off the kitchen table. the granddaughter is a slime addict. I think all girls these days are. the grandson doesn't really have the patience to make it. he is a lego genius. I spent about 100 shekels yesterday on food dye, glue and persil. the granddaughter reached for the persil and glue a little while ago. I did not allow her to make more slime today.
I am planning on taking them to a local playground to let out some steam. it seems to be a bit cooler today. their parents are coming back from Jerusalem for Shabbat. they will be having Shabbat dinner at the Sephardi clan tonight. I don't think I want to go. I hope they won't be making a goodbye party. I am not up for one. the kids are relocating to Jerusalem on sunday. my son has been working there since april. the kids will stay with me for a few days while their mom gets the house in order.
I will be on break from the yeshiva at the end of the month and plan to travel there to visit for a few days. we will see how that goes. my sister will be coming in mid august for two weeks. she is arriving the night before the klezmer music festival starts. it is always a giant balagon in safed during those three days. busses are on holiday schedule and it is a giant mess. I hope to, at least, go to the festival once. we will see how the sister feels.
I would love to throw my sister an early birthday party. she turns 70 in October. I am also hosting a graduation party for a friend later this month. she is getting some sort of degree form Haifa university. I was able to get graduation stickers and cardboard graduation hats. I will also make other props. I live for party themes.
I have been working pretty hard at the yeshiva. the manager and rabbi there have been giving me last minute and inaccurate instructions for a couple of weeks. each time the guys went on a hike or trip I was expected to make them sandwiches. I had completed making 48 omelet sandwiches one morning; only to find out that I needed 60. of course, I had run out of bread and eggs. yesterday I was told to make sandwiches for them. the only problem was that they were leaving at 8:00 a.m. I couldn't stay any longer the day before because the kids were with me and they were restless. and after nearly 5 hours of cooking and standing on my feet, i had no energy to make sandwiches.
I managed to get into work at 8:00 a.m. and it took two hours to make 50 hot dog sandwiches. included in that time, was folding sheets of paper towel around each sandwich; as we didn't have any napkins. it also took time to spread ketchup on each sandwich and place them into baggies. I also was asked to make them dinner. I quickly made two batches of white rice, two tuna loafs and a pan of stir fried squash and eggplant. at 11:00 a.m. I couldn't find any young men to take the sandwiches to the designated rendezvous in Tiberius. I also learned that the guys were having a pizza party after the hike. so all the work and food I made for dinner was in vain. let it go. I was paid for my time.
I do not know how much longer I can work there. starting next week there will only be a few guys there. I will only have the kids with me for a few more days and then I will be on my own. I hate to go in to work for just 3 or 4 hours. I will see what transpires. in the meanwhile, I have spent my entire salary this month already. I went to the supermarket yesterday and spent over $100. my debit card was refused. I had to run back home to get cash. I need to put some money into my account on sunday before some payment is returned. are we having fun yet?
the kids are coming here for Shabbat lunch. I bought fresh corn and a noodle kugel. I will probably make another shepherd's pie with chopped turkey. I also bought soy bean pods. the kids are crazy for these. we have a huge watermelon for dessert. I doubt that I will have the energy to bake a cake. i have dried fruits and seeds and nuts to nash. i bought plenty of drinks. i even got strawberry Bacardi breeze's for the daughter-in-law and myself.
i spent a fortune on markers and drawing papers for the kids and my niece's kids, if they come to visit. if not, i will schlep it to Jerusalem when i come to visit them. i need to watch my spending now. my pension and paychecks come in at the end of the month. after that i will not be spending blindly. i hope it will be alright. i stopped writing checks. i have been mainly using cash and my bebit card. i think i have learned my lesson.
I am planning on taking them to a local playground to let out some steam. it seems to be a bit cooler today. their parents are coming back from Jerusalem for Shabbat. they will be having Shabbat dinner at the Sephardi clan tonight. I don't think I want to go. I hope they won't be making a goodbye party. I am not up for one. the kids are relocating to Jerusalem on sunday. my son has been working there since april. the kids will stay with me for a few days while their mom gets the house in order.
I will be on break from the yeshiva at the end of the month and plan to travel there to visit for a few days. we will see how that goes. my sister will be coming in mid august for two weeks. she is arriving the night before the klezmer music festival starts. it is always a giant balagon in safed during those three days. busses are on holiday schedule and it is a giant mess. I hope to, at least, go to the festival once. we will see how the sister feels.
I would love to throw my sister an early birthday party. she turns 70 in October. I am also hosting a graduation party for a friend later this month. she is getting some sort of degree form Haifa university. I was able to get graduation stickers and cardboard graduation hats. I will also make other props. I live for party themes.
I have been working pretty hard at the yeshiva. the manager and rabbi there have been giving me last minute and inaccurate instructions for a couple of weeks. each time the guys went on a hike or trip I was expected to make them sandwiches. I had completed making 48 omelet sandwiches one morning; only to find out that I needed 60. of course, I had run out of bread and eggs. yesterday I was told to make sandwiches for them. the only problem was that they were leaving at 8:00 a.m. I couldn't stay any longer the day before because the kids were with me and they were restless. and after nearly 5 hours of cooking and standing on my feet, i had no energy to make sandwiches.
I managed to get into work at 8:00 a.m. and it took two hours to make 50 hot dog sandwiches. included in that time, was folding sheets of paper towel around each sandwich; as we didn't have any napkins. it also took time to spread ketchup on each sandwich and place them into baggies. I also was asked to make them dinner. I quickly made two batches of white rice, two tuna loafs and a pan of stir fried squash and eggplant. at 11:00 a.m. I couldn't find any young men to take the sandwiches to the designated rendezvous in Tiberius. I also learned that the guys were having a pizza party after the hike. so all the work and food I made for dinner was in vain. let it go. I was paid for my time.
I do not know how much longer I can work there. starting next week there will only be a few guys there. I will only have the kids with me for a few more days and then I will be on my own. I hate to go in to work for just 3 or 4 hours. I will see what transpires. in the meanwhile, I have spent my entire salary this month already. I went to the supermarket yesterday and spent over $100. my debit card was refused. I had to run back home to get cash. I need to put some money into my account on sunday before some payment is returned. are we having fun yet?
the kids are coming here for Shabbat lunch. I bought fresh corn and a noodle kugel. I will probably make another shepherd's pie with chopped turkey. I also bought soy bean pods. the kids are crazy for these. we have a huge watermelon for dessert. I doubt that I will have the energy to bake a cake. i have dried fruits and seeds and nuts to nash. i bought plenty of drinks. i even got strawberry Bacardi breeze's for the daughter-in-law and myself.
i spent a fortune on markers and drawing papers for the kids and my niece's kids, if they come to visit. if not, i will schlep it to Jerusalem when i come to visit them. i need to watch my spending now. my pension and paychecks come in at the end of the month. after that i will not be spending blindly. i hope it will be alright. i stopped writing checks. i have been mainly using cash and my bebit card. i think i have learned my lesson.
Friday, July 6, 2018
Another Shabbat
it is 4:30 p.m. in the holy city of safed. once again, I neglected to blog. I have simply, been too tired. I have been putting in around six hours of cooking in the yeshiva, daily. by the time I get home, I am brainless. my legs are like lead after standing for that amount of time and my back is tight. I usually take the little shuttle bus back to the main bus station to catch my regular bus to home. this is an easy 10 minute walk when it's not devastatingly hot or freezing cold.
I have been a bit forgetful lately. I also have been more careless in the kitchen. I managed to slice off a bit of the tip of my middle finger with a very sharp vegetable peeler, a couple of weeks ago. I managed to stop the bleeding and applied aloe vera from my garden. it still hurts. I wonder how long it will take for the skin to grow back. I also sprinkled a 'special' mixture of salt and cinnamon on to my bread pudding that I prepared for the guys. I really do not know how I managed that blunder..
I hadn't seen the grandkids in a couple of weeks. they are currently in day camp at their school and I haven't been needed to pick them up. they came over for a few hours this morning. they didn't want to leave. I also wanted them to stay. their family is relocating to Jerusalem in a couple of weeks. my life is going to change, significantly. everyone assumes that I will also be moving to Jerusalem. I am not planning on anything like that in the meantime. I will wait and see how they fare there.
I do have options so I am not in any rush to make a change. I will visit them after they get settled and spend a Shabbat with them. we will see how that goes. I plan on staying on at the yeshiva until I can no longer physically do the work. it has been wonderful having extra pocket money. I have been under a lot of pressure lately trying to get all the work done in less than six hours. we are very low on staples and I have been struggling to come up with meals. I find that I do not have the patience to cut up veggies into small pieces for stir fries. I try not peeling too many things anymore. I use a knife for peeling. I am not going near that peeler again.
last week, I combined leftover quinoa, wheat, buckwheat and couscous. I didn't have enough of any one of these grains alone,to make a meal. I also combined the rest of the canola oil bottle with olive oil. I even used it to make a white cake. it was not my finest hour. I made omelet sandwiches, a couple of weeks ago, when the guys went on a hike. needless to say, I did not know that I would be required to make these sandwiches again for the trip to the beach and again, for their trip to the winery. it takes me 2 hours to make 50 to 60 sandwiches. I work pretty fast, too. I was told last minute about the sandwiches and didn't have the chance to buy peanut butter and jelly. the guys actually love the egg sandwiches. go know!
I have been trying very hard to stay away from sugar. I do eat a lot of fruit. I do not think I have lost any weight. I look fat. I haven't had the energy to do a really strict diet. I am too tired when I come home to cook for myself. I use a tiny bit of honey on my yogurt and I bought agave syrup yesterday. I drizzled a bit on my waldorf salad for tonight. it is pleasant. my sister is coming to visit next month and I am trying to get as many healthy food items in the fridge, freezer and pantry. she is diabetic and on a strict diet. a good friend is also coming and she is on a macro biotic regime. I think she is also using organic products. the supermarket nearby has a lot of 'green' products. I will also stock up on organic brown rice, chickpeas, and whatever else they have.
it is really hot here. by the way, we had an earthquake. I did not feel a thing. people are good and frightened. I couldn't care less. I was in a big earthquake in California back in 1971. I woke up to my bed rolling back and forth. I think it was 7.1 on the richter scale. i remember asking my sister what was going on. being a true new Yorker, i went soundly back to sleep after she told me it was an earthquake. i guess i haven't changed in all these years.
the kids are coming for Shabbat dinner. it is very hard for me to cook now. i made a simple meal. i bought a Jerusalem peppery noodle kugel at the bakery but i think it has gone off. i made some tilapia fish fillets but i left out the hot pepper. the daughter-in-law has been suffering from a stomach microbe. i made a shepherd's pie with chopped beef and mushrooms and onions. i also made some bulgar and buckwheat mixture. the kids like to eat it with soy sauce. i made frozen string beans in a tomato Sephardi style sauce and i made a waldorf salad. i skipped the mayo and used a bit of tahini. i didn't have any walnuts so i used a few cashews.
i cooked some soy beans in their green pods. apparently, the kids are nuts for this. i don't know if they will be up for eating by the time that Shabbat rolls around. they want to sleep over. they even placed mattresses, pillows and covers in the living room. it is hard for them to schlepp home at 10:00 p.m. i don't mind if they sleep over but their mom wants them home for lunch. that entails a 20 -30 minute uphill trek home in the boiling sun and heat. i am not sure that i am up for that. we will see what transpires, i guess. i want to make it to synagogue tomorrow morning. they bless the new moon. in another two weeks we will do the arduous fast of the 9th of av. this one is a killer. i usually stay in bed the entire day and watch sad videos. can't wait!
I have been a bit forgetful lately. I also have been more careless in the kitchen. I managed to slice off a bit of the tip of my middle finger with a very sharp vegetable peeler, a couple of weeks ago. I managed to stop the bleeding and applied aloe vera from my garden. it still hurts. I wonder how long it will take for the skin to grow back. I also sprinkled a 'special' mixture of salt and cinnamon on to my bread pudding that I prepared for the guys. I really do not know how I managed that blunder..
I hadn't seen the grandkids in a couple of weeks. they are currently in day camp at their school and I haven't been needed to pick them up. they came over for a few hours this morning. they didn't want to leave. I also wanted them to stay. their family is relocating to Jerusalem in a couple of weeks. my life is going to change, significantly. everyone assumes that I will also be moving to Jerusalem. I am not planning on anything like that in the meantime. I will wait and see how they fare there.
I do have options so I am not in any rush to make a change. I will visit them after they get settled and spend a Shabbat with them. we will see how that goes. I plan on staying on at the yeshiva until I can no longer physically do the work. it has been wonderful having extra pocket money. I have been under a lot of pressure lately trying to get all the work done in less than six hours. we are very low on staples and I have been struggling to come up with meals. I find that I do not have the patience to cut up veggies into small pieces for stir fries. I try not peeling too many things anymore. I use a knife for peeling. I am not going near that peeler again.
last week, I combined leftover quinoa, wheat, buckwheat and couscous. I didn't have enough of any one of these grains alone,to make a meal. I also combined the rest of the canola oil bottle with olive oil. I even used it to make a white cake. it was not my finest hour. I made omelet sandwiches, a couple of weeks ago, when the guys went on a hike. needless to say, I did not know that I would be required to make these sandwiches again for the trip to the beach and again, for their trip to the winery. it takes me 2 hours to make 50 to 60 sandwiches. I work pretty fast, too. I was told last minute about the sandwiches and didn't have the chance to buy peanut butter and jelly. the guys actually love the egg sandwiches. go know!
I have been trying very hard to stay away from sugar. I do eat a lot of fruit. I do not think I have lost any weight. I look fat. I haven't had the energy to do a really strict diet. I am too tired when I come home to cook for myself. I use a tiny bit of honey on my yogurt and I bought agave syrup yesterday. I drizzled a bit on my waldorf salad for tonight. it is pleasant. my sister is coming to visit next month and I am trying to get as many healthy food items in the fridge, freezer and pantry. she is diabetic and on a strict diet. a good friend is also coming and she is on a macro biotic regime. I think she is also using organic products. the supermarket nearby has a lot of 'green' products. I will also stock up on organic brown rice, chickpeas, and whatever else they have.
it is really hot here. by the way, we had an earthquake. I did not feel a thing. people are good and frightened. I couldn't care less. I was in a big earthquake in California back in 1971. I woke up to my bed rolling back and forth. I think it was 7.1 on the richter scale. i remember asking my sister what was going on. being a true new Yorker, i went soundly back to sleep after she told me it was an earthquake. i guess i haven't changed in all these years.
the kids are coming for Shabbat dinner. it is very hard for me to cook now. i made a simple meal. i bought a Jerusalem peppery noodle kugel at the bakery but i think it has gone off. i made some tilapia fish fillets but i left out the hot pepper. the daughter-in-law has been suffering from a stomach microbe. i made a shepherd's pie with chopped beef and mushrooms and onions. i also made some bulgar and buckwheat mixture. the kids like to eat it with soy sauce. i made frozen string beans in a tomato Sephardi style sauce and i made a waldorf salad. i skipped the mayo and used a bit of tahini. i didn't have any walnuts so i used a few cashews.
i cooked some soy beans in their green pods. apparently, the kids are nuts for this. i don't know if they will be up for eating by the time that Shabbat rolls around. they want to sleep over. they even placed mattresses, pillows and covers in the living room. it is hard for them to schlepp home at 10:00 p.m. i don't mind if they sleep over but their mom wants them home for lunch. that entails a 20 -30 minute uphill trek home in the boiling sun and heat. i am not sure that i am up for that. we will see what transpires, i guess. i want to make it to synagogue tomorrow morning. they bless the new moon. in another two weeks we will do the arduous fast of the 9th of av. this one is a killer. i usually stay in bed the entire day and watch sad videos. can't wait!
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Just Anither Shabbat
it is 8:00 a.m. in the holy city of safed. the grandkids just got picked up for school. I will go to town a little later to pick them up and go home on the minibus. the older kids torment me on Fridays. I even cursed one of the brats once, after they were making fun of me. I finally told one of the teachers and they got a bit of a chastisement. kids here are very disrespectful. however, no one is bringing an automatic rifle and killing anyone, either.
my feet are hurting badly. standing all day is not helping matters at all. yesterday, I was getting ready to leave work at 3:00 p.m. I had to get the kids by 3:45 p.m. I wanted to buy some hamburgers at a local store before I got the kids. the manager asked if I could make a vat of tuna salad for the night's Chassidic 'get together. they were having ,yet, another evening of vodka, snacks and inspiration. I hadn't washed the stovetop or the floor but I went to work on a salad.
I simply, dumped two industrial size cans of tuna into a huge bowl with 5 cans of chickpeas and cut up a few onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. I didn't have any eggs to boil and I decided not to add canned corn, olives or mushrooms. I made a vinaigrette like dressing and made a mad dash to clean the stove top and floor. I arrived at the school late. the kids were waiting with a teacher who gave us a ride to town. their backpacks are like heavy rocks. it is quite a schlepp to town from the school. we stopped off for some frozen coffee drinks. I have been avoiding sugar but I had one and finished my granddaughter's. I felt like throwing up afterwards.
we ended up food shopping and taxied it back home. I did some much needed laundry and changed all of the sheets. I did some more laundry this morning. I have fresh towels and sheets now. everything is still wet. I hung all of my jeans skirts outside on the porch. after cooking all day, my clothes stink of sweat and cooking oil. even my snood smells. the dog tried to wake us all up at around 5:00 a.m. the poor thing needed to pish and I was too tired to let him out. he relieved himself in front of the door. oh well...
I babysat for my friend's elderly dog this week and she shat and peed in the kitchen while I was away. in a little while I will wash the floors. I need to go to the supermarket and buy some fruit for Shabbat. we will be having hamburgers and franks for supper. I do not feel like really cooking. I bought some Jerusalem noodle kugel at the bakery. my grandson loves it. I also bought some lettuce. the kids are mad for it. I will buy some mushrooms and voila! we will have salad. after cooking all week long, I am truly,bushed.
my friend bought me tow novels for my birthday. we ordered them from England and didn't have to pay tax or shipping costs. I doubt that the kids will let me read tomorrow but perhaps while they play, I will get to read. I adore a good book on Shabbat day. I do not have the strength to read during the week. I usually collapse in front of the t.v. I have been falling asleep lately in front of the computer. they say when you get old, three things happen. one is that you lose your memory and sorry, I forgot the other two.
Shabbat Shalom!
my feet are hurting badly. standing all day is not helping matters at all. yesterday, I was getting ready to leave work at 3:00 p.m. I had to get the kids by 3:45 p.m. I wanted to buy some hamburgers at a local store before I got the kids. the manager asked if I could make a vat of tuna salad for the night's Chassidic 'get together. they were having ,yet, another evening of vodka, snacks and inspiration. I hadn't washed the stovetop or the floor but I went to work on a salad.
I simply, dumped two industrial size cans of tuna into a huge bowl with 5 cans of chickpeas and cut up a few onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. I didn't have any eggs to boil and I decided not to add canned corn, olives or mushrooms. I made a vinaigrette like dressing and made a mad dash to clean the stove top and floor. I arrived at the school late. the kids were waiting with a teacher who gave us a ride to town. their backpacks are like heavy rocks. it is quite a schlepp to town from the school. we stopped off for some frozen coffee drinks. I have been avoiding sugar but I had one and finished my granddaughter's. I felt like throwing up afterwards.
we ended up food shopping and taxied it back home. I did some much needed laundry and changed all of the sheets. I did some more laundry this morning. I have fresh towels and sheets now. everything is still wet. I hung all of my jeans skirts outside on the porch. after cooking all day, my clothes stink of sweat and cooking oil. even my snood smells. the dog tried to wake us all up at around 5:00 a.m. the poor thing needed to pish and I was too tired to let him out. he relieved himself in front of the door. oh well...
I babysat for my friend's elderly dog this week and she shat and peed in the kitchen while I was away. in a little while I will wash the floors. I need to go to the supermarket and buy some fruit for Shabbat. we will be having hamburgers and franks for supper. I do not feel like really cooking. I bought some Jerusalem noodle kugel at the bakery. my grandson loves it. I also bought some lettuce. the kids are mad for it. I will buy some mushrooms and voila! we will have salad. after cooking all week long, I am truly,bushed.
my friend bought me tow novels for my birthday. we ordered them from England and didn't have to pay tax or shipping costs. I doubt that the kids will let me read tomorrow but perhaps while they play, I will get to read. I adore a good book on Shabbat day. I do not have the strength to read during the week. I usually collapse in front of the t.v. I have been falling asleep lately in front of the computer. they say when you get old, three things happen. one is that you lose your memory and sorry, I forgot the other two.
Shabbat Shalom!
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Ruby Tuesday
it is 5:p.m. in the holy city of safed. I just got home from town. a friend of my daughter-in-law's family, gave me a ride home in her brand new shiny car. I had a twenty minute wait for my bus when she saw me. I went to work early this morning. the guys were taking a 4 hour hike to Meron. I needed to make sandwiches for them.
the grandkids slept over left night. I placed mattresses on the t.v. room floor for them and I fell asleep on my loveseat, as usual. my grandson finally conked out at 11:00 p.m. and I was asleep by midnight. I got up at 6:00 a.m. to let the dogs out. my friend left her dog here last night. she had to be out of town for the night. I have babysat her dog for years. she often brings her here for Shabbat and the dog is very comfortable here.
I thought I was out of dog food but I didn't have the strength to stop off at the supermarket down below, before I left for work. my dog hardly eats it anymore. luckily, there was a new bag of food in my pantry. I didn't even remember buying it. I got a lift to work this morning, too. Tuesday turned out to be a good news day.
I got confused and thought I needed to make about 30 sandwiches. there are about 16 guys currently at the yeshiva. I opted to make omelets. my only other choice was tuna fish and I thought that in this heat it wasn't the safest way to go. I wanted each guy to have two sandwiches. after I had made about 36 of them, the rabbi came into the kitchen to let me know that there were 30 guys going on said hike. I had one of the students run to a local store to buy me more eggs. I made another 24 sandwiches.
I made myself an assembly line. I used 6 eggs for every omelet and cut those into quarters. I made four sandwiches at a time. while the next omelet was cooking, I placed the sandwiches in baggies. I did this for about an hour or so until I had 60 sandwiches. I sliced tomatoes and opened an industrial sized can of pickles and another one of ketchup.. I got the plates, napkins, utensils, cutlery, cups, salt, oil and onion organized. I put all of the pitas and snacks in one bag and organized the turkey schnitzels, franks and veggies in another. I even seasoned the schnitzels.
they decided that I needn't make dinner for the guys. the few guys who didn't go on the hike were a bit bummed out that I wasn't making supper for them. I thought about making a cake but I ran out of time and energy. I still had pots and pans to clean from the Shabbat Kiddush. they had been soaking for days. I ended up working for 4 hours. that's being on my feet for hours, once again. I don't ever sit while I cook or do prep work.
I am going back to the Japanese restaurant with a few gals tomorrow for my friend's birthday. I have to go straight from work. I am pretty smelly and dirty after cooking. I don't know if I will have enough time to go home first. I guess it depends if I manage to go in really early. I think it will be tuna loaf, carrot kugel and sweet potatoes for tomorrow's lunch. I might fry turkey burgers if I have enough eggs. I used a major amount of eggs this morning.
it looks like I will have the grandkids with me from Thursday to sunday. the daughter-in-law needs to find a school for them in Jerusalem. I will have to go in early again on Thursday. I told my friend that I would go with her to the hospital for a biopsy. perhaps, I will be able to do some extra food tomorrow morning. rice, macaroni, buckwheat groats and bulgar take little time to cook. I just need tons of strength.
the grandkids slept over left night. I placed mattresses on the t.v. room floor for them and I fell asleep on my loveseat, as usual. my grandson finally conked out at 11:00 p.m. and I was asleep by midnight. I got up at 6:00 a.m. to let the dogs out. my friend left her dog here last night. she had to be out of town for the night. I have babysat her dog for years. she often brings her here for Shabbat and the dog is very comfortable here.
I thought I was out of dog food but I didn't have the strength to stop off at the supermarket down below, before I left for work. my dog hardly eats it anymore. luckily, there was a new bag of food in my pantry. I didn't even remember buying it. I got a lift to work this morning, too. Tuesday turned out to be a good news day.
I got confused and thought I needed to make about 30 sandwiches. there are about 16 guys currently at the yeshiva. I opted to make omelets. my only other choice was tuna fish and I thought that in this heat it wasn't the safest way to go. I wanted each guy to have two sandwiches. after I had made about 36 of them, the rabbi came into the kitchen to let me know that there were 30 guys going on said hike. I had one of the students run to a local store to buy me more eggs. I made another 24 sandwiches.
I made myself an assembly line. I used 6 eggs for every omelet and cut those into quarters. I made four sandwiches at a time. while the next omelet was cooking, I placed the sandwiches in baggies. I did this for about an hour or so until I had 60 sandwiches. I sliced tomatoes and opened an industrial sized can of pickles and another one of ketchup.. I got the plates, napkins, utensils, cutlery, cups, salt, oil and onion organized. I put all of the pitas and snacks in one bag and organized the turkey schnitzels, franks and veggies in another. I even seasoned the schnitzels.
they decided that I needn't make dinner for the guys. the few guys who didn't go on the hike were a bit bummed out that I wasn't making supper for them. I thought about making a cake but I ran out of time and energy. I still had pots and pans to clean from the Shabbat Kiddush. they had been soaking for days. I ended up working for 4 hours. that's being on my feet for hours, once again. I don't ever sit while I cook or do prep work.
I am going back to the Japanese restaurant with a few gals tomorrow for my friend's birthday. I have to go straight from work. I am pretty smelly and dirty after cooking. I don't know if I will have enough time to go home first. I guess it depends if I manage to go in really early. I think it will be tuna loaf, carrot kugel and sweet potatoes for tomorrow's lunch. I might fry turkey burgers if I have enough eggs. I used a major amount of eggs this morning.
it looks like I will have the grandkids with me from Thursday to sunday. the daughter-in-law needs to find a school for them in Jerusalem. I will have to go in early again on Thursday. I told my friend that I would go with her to the hospital for a biopsy. perhaps, I will be able to do some extra food tomorrow morning. rice, macaroni, buckwheat groats and bulgar take little time to cook. I just need tons of strength.
Monday, June 18, 2018
Blogging Now
it is 6:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed. it has been quite a while since I last blogged. the month of june has been a blank. I have been falling asleep in the early evening and awakening at 10:00 p.m. I stay up until around 4 or 5:00 a.m. and rest until I go to work. it's been pretty weird. I am now cooking for 16 or 18 young men. I haven't quite found the correct amounts to cook yet. so far, I don't believe anyone has complained.
yesterday, I arrived to find the kitchen in total disarray. there wasn't an inch of clean space for me to work. I spent almost 5 hours washing plastic containers, utensils and serving bowls. the sink was backed up and I couldn't clear it because I had so many things to wash. I couldn't wash anything because I had no room at the sink. it was a horrible catch 22. apparently, the yeshiva had hosted about 150 people for a Shabbat day Kiddush. the boys consumed a great deal of wine to boot.
the guys had left out tons of food unrefrigerated. I actually tasted most of the food to determine if it was fit for human consumption. I took out a ton of macaroni and roasted veggie salad and managed to make a quick spaghetti sauce to cover it. I thought about throwing in a can of tuna but I didn't really have the space to open up a huge can of tuna.
I put out a tray of left over roasted veggies, a tray of quinoa, and a huge platter of macaroni. it looked like baked ziti. I found some left over salads to put out and I cut up some melon. after I put out the lunch, I started the enormous washing up. I felt like Cinderella. it was endless. I finally finished washing everything and scrubbed down the counters. I fried up about 40 turkey schnitzels. I left the macaroni on the electric platter as well as the quinoa. I think I cooked up some rice and roasted some potatoes. I couldn't wait to get out of there.
I headed back to town by bus, as I was too tired to walk the short distance. I went over to a trendy indian- like clothes store. my friend gave me a gift certificate for about $60. I couldn't find anything to fit me. I had bought a lovely pair of silver earrings the week before, for my daughter-in-law's mother. I wanted to buy another pair for my friend, who has a birthday on Shabbat. I bought her an indian suede handbag and a very silly looking silver shopping bag with red metallic lips. I plan to take her out to a restaurant on Wednesday.
I bought myself two turbans and a cotton printed blouse from the gift certificate. I also bought myself two blouses in another store. they are all indian, very large and cover my enormous belly. I desperately need a couple of skirts. I will look at the outdoor market place on Wednesday. I only have three jeans skirts. my wardrobe is seriously lacking.
my daughter-in-law took me and the grandkids to a Japanese restaurant on Wednesday night. I sprang for Belgium waffles and ice cream afterwards. I am still not eating sugar but I haven't dropped an ounce. I must do something drastic. I think I have to drop the carbs for awhile, too. I have never ever been so fat. I am not happy with myself.
I am too tired to walk. after I return from work, I collapse. my back is usually tight. it's funny that I didn't feel tired yesterday. I didn't get home until nearly 8:30 p.m. I slept well and even did my dishes from Shabbat and washed my kitchen floor before I went to work. I made a vat of veggies and a spicy sauce to put over couscous. I used sweet potatoes, white potatoes, squash, onions, red peppers, carrots and cabbage. I also made a green salad and added some leftover hard cooked eggs. I served a small squash soufflé with the meal and put out some melon..
I made two medium sized shepherd's pie for dinner. I used canned corn. I didn't have any peas and carrots. I only made one tray of roasted eggplant. I don't think I made enough for dinner but I had to leave to pick up the grandkids. tomorrow morning the guys are doing a hike and a barbecue afterwards. I need to make them sandwiches for the hike and get them sorted out with utensils, disposable plates, cups, and napkins. I have to pack everything up.
the last time they had a barbecue, I had to make a couple of hundred burgers. I only need to pack up some franks and schnitzels for tomorrow. I left out a frozen box of about 100 schnitzels on the sink. I hope I will be able to separate the schnitzels in the morning. I plan on making omelets for the sandwiches. hopefully, i'll get in early to do all this. I will have to leave them dinner. I think it will be tuna loaf. we will see how I feel in the morning.
yesterday, I arrived to find the kitchen in total disarray. there wasn't an inch of clean space for me to work. I spent almost 5 hours washing plastic containers, utensils and serving bowls. the sink was backed up and I couldn't clear it because I had so many things to wash. I couldn't wash anything because I had no room at the sink. it was a horrible catch 22. apparently, the yeshiva had hosted about 150 people for a Shabbat day Kiddush. the boys consumed a great deal of wine to boot.
the guys had left out tons of food unrefrigerated. I actually tasted most of the food to determine if it was fit for human consumption. I took out a ton of macaroni and roasted veggie salad and managed to make a quick spaghetti sauce to cover it. I thought about throwing in a can of tuna but I didn't really have the space to open up a huge can of tuna.
I put out a tray of left over roasted veggies, a tray of quinoa, and a huge platter of macaroni. it looked like baked ziti. I found some left over salads to put out and I cut up some melon. after I put out the lunch, I started the enormous washing up. I felt like Cinderella. it was endless. I finally finished washing everything and scrubbed down the counters. I fried up about 40 turkey schnitzels. I left the macaroni on the electric platter as well as the quinoa. I think I cooked up some rice and roasted some potatoes. I couldn't wait to get out of there.
I headed back to town by bus, as I was too tired to walk the short distance. I went over to a trendy indian- like clothes store. my friend gave me a gift certificate for about $60. I couldn't find anything to fit me. I had bought a lovely pair of silver earrings the week before, for my daughter-in-law's mother. I wanted to buy another pair for my friend, who has a birthday on Shabbat. I bought her an indian suede handbag and a very silly looking silver shopping bag with red metallic lips. I plan to take her out to a restaurant on Wednesday.
I bought myself two turbans and a cotton printed blouse from the gift certificate. I also bought myself two blouses in another store. they are all indian, very large and cover my enormous belly. I desperately need a couple of skirts. I will look at the outdoor market place on Wednesday. I only have three jeans skirts. my wardrobe is seriously lacking.
my daughter-in-law took me and the grandkids to a Japanese restaurant on Wednesday night. I sprang for Belgium waffles and ice cream afterwards. I am still not eating sugar but I haven't dropped an ounce. I must do something drastic. I think I have to drop the carbs for awhile, too. I have never ever been so fat. I am not happy with myself.
I am too tired to walk. after I return from work, I collapse. my back is usually tight. it's funny that I didn't feel tired yesterday. I didn't get home until nearly 8:30 p.m. I slept well and even did my dishes from Shabbat and washed my kitchen floor before I went to work. I made a vat of veggies and a spicy sauce to put over couscous. I used sweet potatoes, white potatoes, squash, onions, red peppers, carrots and cabbage. I also made a green salad and added some leftover hard cooked eggs. I served a small squash soufflé with the meal and put out some melon..
I made two medium sized shepherd's pie for dinner. I used canned corn. I didn't have any peas and carrots. I only made one tray of roasted eggplant. I don't think I made enough for dinner but I had to leave to pick up the grandkids. tomorrow morning the guys are doing a hike and a barbecue afterwards. I need to make them sandwiches for the hike and get them sorted out with utensils, disposable plates, cups, and napkins. I have to pack everything up.
the last time they had a barbecue, I had to make a couple of hundred burgers. I only need to pack up some franks and schnitzels for tomorrow. I left out a frozen box of about 100 schnitzels on the sink. I hope I will be able to separate the schnitzels in the morning. I plan on making omelets for the sandwiches. hopefully, i'll get in early to do all this. I will have to leave them dinner. I think it will be tuna loaf. we will see how I feel in the morning.
Sunday, May 20, 2018
The Party's Over Shavuot 2018.
the holiday of Shavuot ended a couple of hours ago. the grandkids slept over last night and just left. I had them from 7:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. I managed to get them to synagogue this morning to hear the ten commandments. we had an horrific heat wave. I felt faint on Friday night and had to hold onto the kitchen counter for dear life. my friend came over and I made fried chicken cutlets. I had some leftover rice, kasha and beets and that is what we ate. for lunch we had cold cuts sandwiches.
I was supposed to go to a friend's for lunch. I woke up looking like a Cyclops and didn't feel any better than I looked. I was beyond exhausted. the kids were with me on Thursday afternoon and slept over. I picked them up after work. it was pretty warm but nothing like it was for the holiday. we made no bake cheesecakes on Thursday. I froze them. they weren't too good but the kids enjoyed making them. I kept them home from school on Friday. I was in no mood to schlepp to town to pick them up in the heat. we waited 40 minutes in the hot sun on Thursday for the school van.
I worked from 7:30 a.m. on Friday until 7:30 p.m. preparing the Shavuot meals. I ended up making a lasagna, two types of prepared mini ravioli, cheese pancakes, a Greek salad and a spinach mushroom salad. we had a French creamy goat cheese, lox, a raisin whole wheat challah, strawberry yogurt drink, many flavored Yoplait yogurts, chocolate puddings, cream cheese, salty butter and a fruit platter of grapes, plums, cherries and peaches. we had a hybrid fruit which was a mix between an apple and a pear and we had a huge fresh papaya. I think it was my first papaya. we ended up putting it into the spinach salad.
and of course, I made a cheesecake. I was afraid that there would be complaints because I used lemon pudding instead of the standard vanilla. last year I used chocolate and it was left untouched. the caramel pudding was, actually, liked. the real winner of the evening was the parmesan cheese shaker bottle. it went on the lasagna and the ravioli and even on the spinach salad. the lasagna was a bit problematic. the sauce was a bit watery and the cheeses didn't really melt. I don't know what happened. I baked it for over an hour. my son thought I accidentally bought synthetic cheese. I'm sure I didn't but, then again, I had my doubts.
I left it on he electric platter all morning and it was finally cooked. it tasted good the night before but it was definitely, not up to par. this morning I got up at 6:30 a.m. and set the table before the grandkids woke up. I made a new Greek salad. I read online that, under no circumstances ,should an authentic Greek salad contain lettuce or onions. in safed they, pretty much, shred the lettuce and mince the tomatoes and cucumbers and grate the cheese. today I made chunky veggies and chunks of cheeses.
I also sliced up the smoked tuna and plated it. it tasted like a bland lox. I made another spinach salad but this time it was without mushrooms. I used up the rest of the papaya and added the remainder of the creamy goat cheese and added some red onion. I forgot that the daughter-in-law doesn't like goat cheese. go know? I made a new fruit platter. I put the pancakes on the hotplate to warm them up. I set everything up clearly in the fridge in case I was still at services wen the grown up kids came.
it was extremely hot this morning. we got to services, just before they read the torah passages which included the ten commandments. it was unbearable in the synagogue. they didn't have the a.c on nor did they turn on any fans. I left right after the commandments and prayed at home. the kids were happy to get home and out of their clothes and back into their summer pajamas. I think I took 3 cold showers today. I placed a fan in every room but it was still, pretty hot in my house. I made sure that we had plenty of cold drinks.
I have to work tomorrow but the kids don't have school. they will be brought to the yeshiva and stay with me until I finish up. we will then go to town and get them prizes for going to hear the ten commandments. I quizzed them all day long on the commandments and on the megilla Ruth. they earned points which will add up to shekels at the store.
I saw myself in some selfies at the cast party and again in the video of the play. I really am fat. I am so miserable. I had yogurts and lasagna and ravioli and bread and butter and cheeses and tons of fruits but I didn't touch the cheesecake. I have to get this weight off now. I have never been this overweight. I do not want to post any pix.
I was supposed to go to a friend's for lunch. I woke up looking like a Cyclops and didn't feel any better than I looked. I was beyond exhausted. the kids were with me on Thursday afternoon and slept over. I picked them up after work. it was pretty warm but nothing like it was for the holiday. we made no bake cheesecakes on Thursday. I froze them. they weren't too good but the kids enjoyed making them. I kept them home from school on Friday. I was in no mood to schlepp to town to pick them up in the heat. we waited 40 minutes in the hot sun on Thursday for the school van.
I worked from 7:30 a.m. on Friday until 7:30 p.m. preparing the Shavuot meals. I ended up making a lasagna, two types of prepared mini ravioli, cheese pancakes, a Greek salad and a spinach mushroom salad. we had a French creamy goat cheese, lox, a raisin whole wheat challah, strawberry yogurt drink, many flavored Yoplait yogurts, chocolate puddings, cream cheese, salty butter and a fruit platter of grapes, plums, cherries and peaches. we had a hybrid fruit which was a mix between an apple and a pear and we had a huge fresh papaya. I think it was my first papaya. we ended up putting it into the spinach salad.
and of course, I made a cheesecake. I was afraid that there would be complaints because I used lemon pudding instead of the standard vanilla. last year I used chocolate and it was left untouched. the caramel pudding was, actually, liked. the real winner of the evening was the parmesan cheese shaker bottle. it went on the lasagna and the ravioli and even on the spinach salad. the lasagna was a bit problematic. the sauce was a bit watery and the cheeses didn't really melt. I don't know what happened. I baked it for over an hour. my son thought I accidentally bought synthetic cheese. I'm sure I didn't but, then again, I had my doubts.
I left it on he electric platter all morning and it was finally cooked. it tasted good the night before but it was definitely, not up to par. this morning I got up at 6:30 a.m. and set the table before the grandkids woke up. I made a new Greek salad. I read online that, under no circumstances ,should an authentic Greek salad contain lettuce or onions. in safed they, pretty much, shred the lettuce and mince the tomatoes and cucumbers and grate the cheese. today I made chunky veggies and chunks of cheeses.
I also sliced up the smoked tuna and plated it. it tasted like a bland lox. I made another spinach salad but this time it was without mushrooms. I used up the rest of the papaya and added the remainder of the creamy goat cheese and added some red onion. I forgot that the daughter-in-law doesn't like goat cheese. go know? I made a new fruit platter. I put the pancakes on the hotplate to warm them up. I set everything up clearly in the fridge in case I was still at services wen the grown up kids came.
it was extremely hot this morning. we got to services, just before they read the torah passages which included the ten commandments. it was unbearable in the synagogue. they didn't have the a.c on nor did they turn on any fans. I left right after the commandments and prayed at home. the kids were happy to get home and out of their clothes and back into their summer pajamas. I think I took 3 cold showers today. I placed a fan in every room but it was still, pretty hot in my house. I made sure that we had plenty of cold drinks.
I have to work tomorrow but the kids don't have school. they will be brought to the yeshiva and stay with me until I finish up. we will then go to town and get them prizes for going to hear the ten commandments. I quizzed them all day long on the commandments and on the megilla Ruth. they earned points which will add up to shekels at the store.
I saw myself in some selfies at the cast party and again in the video of the play. I really am fat. I am so miserable. I had yogurts and lasagna and ravioli and bread and butter and cheeses and tons of fruits but I didn't touch the cheesecake. I have to get this weight off now. I have never been this overweight. I do not want to post any pix.
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