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.

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.

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!