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!