Just Another Friday Afternoon

it is 3:15 in the holy city of safed.  candle lighting is in another hour.  last night I showcased a suitcase of props and costumes at the play's rehearsal.  luckily, it was in the neighborhood and my friend's husband brought my suitcase back to their home for me in his golf cart. it was a bit heavy for me. I have been hitting clothes shops and art crafts' stores for weeks.  I had a bit of a miff with one of the young actresses but in the end she vowed to wear whatever I chose for her.  it was not very pleasant.  I usually fit one actor privately at a time.  when they are all together they become a hostile mob.  the miserable weather did not allow me to run around that much.  in fact, they predicted a snow storm for Wednesday night and all we got were intense thunder and hail storms.

I stayed home from work yesterday because I was worn out. I have been going to work for weeks in the pouring rain.  I made a festive feast for them on Wednesday.  I gave them their regular lunch and made barley veggie soup,  vegan corn bread, quinoa with craisins, tomato salad and chumus.  for supper, the feast, I served: rice, carrot, sweet potato and pineapple tsimmes, mini Italian beef meatballs, sweet noodle kugel with craisins and pineapples, teriyaki string beans, cole slaw with craisins and mayo, and a white cake with genache and a vegan chocolate cake with genache.  the genache was not great,  I had some pretty cheap baking chocolate to melt.  oh well...  I'm sure the guys loved it.

I also made lunch for Thursday in case I got snowed in.  I made tuna loaf, green lentils and teriyaki spaghetti.  the entire menu took me nearly 8 hours to prepare, cook, bake and clean up.  I could hardly use my right hand afterwards and my hip was acting up.  I felt dizzy, too.  I haven't been drinking lately.  and getting into the men's bathroom at the yeshiva is not an easy task.  on Thursday at noon time, I took a hot shower and got dressed and ran out to the bus stop. it was so sunny.  I was thrilled that it wasn't still storming.  Wednesday night had been pretty extreme.  most of us lost the cable and computer access.  I went to sleep at 10:00 p.m.  I didn't feel like going online and I had had enough of the day and the hail storms.  on Thursday it was quite freezing. I felt quite exhausted and with less than three minutes until the bus pulled up, I made the decision to go back home. I felt guilty but I couldn't push myself anymore.  I stayed home and played around with the costumes. 

I made a non gluten and vegan corn bread for my actress friend who has crohns and a container of chumus without tahini. I made my newest non gluten treat of fudgy brownies.  you take a small avocado, a medium banana,1/2 cup of coconut flour (I used peanut flour) 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/2cup of maple syrup (I used only 1/4) 3 eggs, 1 tsp. baking powder and 1/2cup of Dutch coca powder.  you mix it all together and grease an 8x8 inch pan.  you bake it for 25 minutes on 350 degrees.  the recipe calls for topping the brownies with chocolate chips but I don't. this time I topped it with natural pecans.  yummy!

I thought that I would continue to finish up some costumes today but instead, I made shabbat food.  I really didn't want to go to the supermarket this morning.  I was going to make turkey neck soup but I didn't have celery. I ended up making barbecued chicken wings, instead.  I also made a cauliflower mash because I overcooked the cauliflower.  who likes soggy cauliflower?  I made a very thick split pea soup with carrots and an onion.  I used a whole bag of peas.  I froze most of it in case my friend with crohns can eat it. I bought precooked beets before the storm and a red cabbage salad.  I managed to catch up on some laundry this morning.  it's cold outside but still very sunny.   I made the "just two ingredients' banana and egg silver dollar pancakes.  this time I added about 1/2 cup of quick oats and some cinnamon.  I used one medium banana and two large eggs.  voila! I had 15 small pancakes.

last week I made oat and blueberry muffins.  they were too good.  I ate all 11 by myself.  I need to lose some serious weight.  I spent the morning watching the show about 600 pound people who undergo weight loss surgery.  it is pretty alarming.  I see how I could get there.  heaven forbid!  I still have to finish my 'bridal' dress for the show and the two robot costumes.  it is taking forever.  I still need to sew some tulle to the white dress that I am using.  I needed a fireman's outfit and found a navy blue rain slicker with pants for $20 and added yellow duck tape everywhere.  it works.  I am finished for today. I wish you all a good Shabbat!

Sunday Not So much A Fun Day

it is 7:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed.  I just got home form work.  I was very fortunate to catch a taxi across the street from my work.  I was sitting at a bus shelter and it was hailing and pouring and the winds were unbearable.  I was nearly drenched.  I took a cab to work ,too.  I cannot run around in this weather like I used to.  I think it was 1 degree Celsius today.  I do not know how to compute this into Fahrenheit. sorry.  all I know is that I'm pretty cold.  I'm sitting in front of a space heater. I need to buy triple a batteries for my remote control. I had to manually change the stations last night.  I watched friends reruns until 4:00 a.m.

I had cooked some black beans for Shabbat and decided to take them to the yeshiva to make a soup.  I didn't have much to work with.  I added onions, and a few carrots and tomatoes.  I also made a lot of corn fritters,baked potatoes and hard cooked eggs.  I don't think I made enough food for their lunch. I made a lot more for supper.  I fried up a lot of tiny turkey burgers.  I made a vegan cornbread and a vegan chocolate cake.  I made a sweet noodle kugel, a tray of spicy bulgur and a tray of green lentils.  I had to walk though a torrent of rain to put the food on the electric platter in the dining room.  it was not fun.

tonight is the new Hebrew month of shevat.  it is the height of the water we receive in the winter. we officially start to plant trees on the 15th of  this month. it was so warm and sunny on Shabbat.  I can't believe it turned so drastically cold and wet overnight.  most of my bath towels are on the porch in the rain.  thank goodness, I dragged in my clothes rack this morning. I am in shortage of warm clothes.  almost everything I own is damp.

my friend was supposed to move into my neighborhood with her two sons.  I offered to make Shabbat food for her because she was busy unpacking.  it was a true culinary challenge.  my friend is a vegan by choice and she cannot eat any gluten.  she also suffers with crohns.  I made a red lentil soup with carrots, pumpkin and sweet potatoes.   she cannot tolerate any oil and she doesn't use gugar.  I made a vegan, non gluten cornbread for her.  I substituted avocado for the oil. I used a tbs of apple cider vinegar instead of the egg.  I used cornmeal and almond milk.  I had bought oat milk only to find out that it contained gluten.

I cooked chickpeas for her and processed it into a very thin paste and added salt and garlic powder.  I added a tbs of tahini.  it was smooth enough for a baby to eat it.  for the boys, I made a chicken soup, potato kugel, egg salad, tuna salad, an Israeli salad, saucy chicken, and a pot of cholent with wheat, chickpeas, black beans and potatoes.  I thought she lived a block away from me.  it turned out that she moved to a neighborhood about 20 minutes away from me.  I called a cab to deliver the food to her.

I hope the food wasn't too spicy for her.  I tried my best.

Wednesday Evening

it is 6:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed.  I just got home from work. I only worked for four hours.  it is cold but semi dry.  I left some laundry outside.  I hope it isn't still wet.  I stopped off at the pharmacy to get eye drops.  my right eye is irritated and not fully open.  it is a weakened muscle from when I had bells palsy about 10 years ago.  I met with my former date this morning and spent two hours organizing his medical papers.  basically, I was trying to sort them out by date.  the rest is up to him.

I only had about 8 guys for lunch so I scrambled a bunch of eggs, cooked two bags of pasta and added tuna, made a corn salad with a bit of chili and put out the leftover cole slaw from last night's supper.  voila! lunch was made.  supper took a bit more effort.  I had to make two batches of food because the rest of the yeshiva is retuning late tonight from a trip to Jerusalem.  I made a huge turkey meatloaf and a small one for eight.  I made two batches of white rice. I made a carrot and sweet potato tsimmes for the larger group and a pot of zucchini and tomato sauce for the eight.  I had no patience to divide the tsimmes into two portions.  I just wanted to get home.  I am wiped.

I saw some yellow circles on the floor last night but I didn't see any strange things for most of the day. I may have seen some red water in the macaroni.  can't believe tomorrow is already Thursday.  I can't wait to finish out the work week.  I am too tired to travel to Jerusalem and no one really is urging me to come.  I think the recent fall has taken its toll on me.  I am cooking a large steak that the dog brought into the house last night.  he goes out every day and brings in bags of bread, and all kinds of meat.  this steak is humongous.  he is quite the scavenger!

I bought a jacket and jumper outside a fancy clothing store on the discount rack.  I paid $20. it is for my friend's play.  I need to dress a character as a wall street savvy lady.  I actually went on line to see how they are dressing on wall street these days.  I thought about going vintage pin striped suit but let's see how this works.  I checked out a wedding dress for the character who is a bride, but she wanted 1000 skekels for this shmatta.  there is a second hand clothes store not far from work.  I hope to get out early enough to check it out.  I also need to dress a character as a jap, aka, Jewish American princess.  I am going with the jap character's look on the HBO show 'girls.'   I am totally into color blocking for the stage. are we having fun yet?

Tuesday, My Good News Day

it is 8:30 p.m. in the holy city of safed.  we had a break from the rain today.  we had a warm and sunny day.  I think the rain will start up again on Thursday.  I very much need to catch up on some laundry tomorrow morning.  the head Rabbi of the Brezlov community in safed died yesterday. it was very sad.  my son was in the brezlov day school for about five years.  I always found the community to be steller.  I walked down to the cemetery from work which was about a twenty minute hike.  I missed the funeral because I had to prepare lunch for the yeshiva.  I got to the cemetery moments after the Rabbi was buried.  I decided to visit the graves of my parents.  I climbed down several sets of steps and actually fell down one landing of about 5 metal steps.  I rather, bounced down five steps, banging my shoulders, elbows and buttocks.  I was quite stunned but I managed to get myself back up right away. 

I am pretty sore today.  I had a 'moment' today while I was cooking, which might have been the beginning of a seizure.  it was an episode, for sure. I saw red fluids while I was stirring the kasha. it lasted for a few moments and was quite scary.  I am very tired and worn out.  I woke up as usual, at 7:00 a.m. to let the dog out.  I decided to lie down for a bit.  I woke up at 11:00 a.m.  I was pretty surprised that it was so late.

I met a good friend who was visiting from New York after work.  we went out to a restaurant to chat.  I had some sort of a latte drink.  it tasted like a glass of warm whipped cream.  I had an awful tooth ache and couldn't really eat anything.  it was wonderful to touch bases with my friend. I didn't get home until 10:00 p.m.  I never go out at night.  it was a nice finish to a very dismal and sad day.  I had an emotional time at my parents' grave sites.  I thought I would meet my sister there but our paths didn't cross.  I did run into a couple of her friends.

I may not have to cook tomorrow.  I welcome a day off.  I was thinking about going to Jerusalem for Shabbat, but I think i'll just stay closer to home. that incident at work made be very nervous.  I pretty much know that if I do the brain surgery, it will take me forever, to recover and I will probably not return to work. I will just wait and see what happens.  I dread being alone again for Shabbat.  perhaps. I will invite a friend to stay over.  we will see.

 I met someone, whom I dated a few years ago at the yeshiva.  he seemed worse for the wear and tear.  I promised to meet with him tomorrow to help sort out his medical papers.  I have aged and I have put on a bunch of weight but I think I am in far better shape.  oh well.....it's an act of charity.