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.

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.

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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.