it is 9:30 a.m. in the holy city of safed. they predicted a big rain storm last night. it never happened. we did get a bit of rain this morning but the sun is out now. it is supposed to get really cold for shabbat. last night was the beginning of the holiday of Tu B'shvat. it is the 15th day of the jewish month of shvat and we celebrate the new year of fruit trees. by way of celebrating; we eat as many types of fruits that we can find. it is our way to rectify the sin of adam and eve who ate from the forbidden tree of knowledge in gan eden. since the rabbis couldn't agree on which tree it was that they ate from; we try to cover our tracks by eating as many fruits as possible. traditionally, it was thought to have been an apple tree. however, we jews can't agree on anything so we eat apples, pears, figs, dates, carobs, pomegranates, almonds, barley, walnuts, wheat products, grapes or raisins and we drink wine on this night.
the more dedicated of us jews make a seder similar to the pesach seder and include 30 types of nuts and fruits and drink 4 cups of wine. i hosted such a seder for dozens of years. i used to buy 10 types of nuts, 10 types of fruits with large pits and 10 types of fruits with seeds. one year, when the holiday fell out on shabbat; i cooked a meal incorporating all 30 items. i had a folder with the entire parts of the seder in english and dozens of special recipes. a few weeks ago i threw the folder out. i was not thinking clearly. i figured that i would never host a seder again and especially; not during covid. this was years of compilation and hand written recipes.
last week i searched for my folder. i wanted to do a seder alone like i did last pesach. i picked roses and rosemary and lavender on my walks with the dogs. yesterday i picked myrtle in front of y house. i placed a huge candle in a fancy holder on the table. i didn't buy 30 varieties of fruits and nuts this year. i stuck to the7 biblical fruits of the land and added the apples, pears, carobs, walnuts and almonds, that are mentioned in the seder. i did splurge on stewed citrons. there were no candied citrons to be found. and carobs, were almost nearly unavailable. i called a spice and nut store in town to inquire if they had citrons and carobs and i hopped on a bus to town early the following morning. the citrons were very expensive. i paid nearly $15. i didn't care. i was obsessed. i also wanted to buy a lot of carobs. i actually adore them and eat them like i used to eat mini chocolate bars. they gave me a gift of 3 carobs for buying the outrageously, overpriced citrons.
i made parcels for a friend and the sephardi grandparents downstairs. i included a fair amount of stewed citrons and a whole carob. they were recovering from covid and the young grandmother was in mourning for her father who had recently passed away. i made chicken legs and barley with the juice of fresh lemons, tangerines. and oranges. i added a few dates, slivered almonds and a package of precooked chestnuts. i tried roasting some fresh ones but i managed to burn them. i also cooked wheat berries with a splash of honey and a lot of cinnamon. i will use the leftover wheat berries for my shabbat cholent tomorrow and i will cook some chicken wings later to eat with the leftover barley.
at 4:00 p.m. my friend; who lives on the next block ; decided to join me for the meal later that day. i raced around the house collecting shoes and socks and coats and various pieces of clothing strewn throughout the t.v. room and on the kitchen chairs. i washed the dishes and pots and pans in the two sinks and i cleared the table. i put on a clean tablecloth and damp mopped the floors. i set up a platter of fruit and arranged the dried fruits and nuts in decorative glass dishes. i opened a small bottle of red wine and of course, had a problem with the cork. i put the cooked wheat berries and pot of chicken on the hot plate. i hustled to take a shower and get dressed. i had been lingering on the phone all afternoon with a friend. i was still in my jammies and shabby woolen robe covered in dog hair. i let the dogs out by themselves because i had no time to walk them.
we sat for about half an hour trying to come up with a list of songs using fruits in their titles. in past seders; after drinking 4 cups of wine we would all break out in a rendition of 'chiquita banana" and 'lemon tree'. ah!, those were great times. last night my friend; who is a true musicologist; came up with quite a lot of songs. we then started our seder with a glass of wine. i read one sentence about each of the 12 items we were going to eat. i had downloaded them on my cell. it was a bit hard to read. i had planned on duking it out with the torah passages in hebrew; on my own. i was in no rush.
we did rush to get it over and have our dinner finished by 6:30 p.m. because we both are advocates of intermittent fasting and we both usually don't eat after 5:30 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. at 6:30 p.m. i walked her home with my dogs. we were both cold and tired. i washed all of the serving dishes and cleared the table. the girls downstairs were doing a party. they were blasting music on their amplifier. i called to ask if they needed any fruit. i gave them the rest of my grapes and stewed citron and fresh coconut. i didn't really like the grapes this year. i stayed away from the heavily candied dried fruits this year. i ate only fresh fruits and unsalted nuts. i did buy a few dried figs. i also do eat 3 dates every day.
well, it is no longer sunny and it is very cold now. it does look like rain. i have no desire to go outside now. i have what i need for shabbat. i would love to buy a lettuce but i am quite content to live without one. i have some cooked beets in the fridge and plenty of walnuts and tangerines left to make a salad. i bought a small piece of beef to make a cholent for myself for Shabbat lunch. i even bought a bag of mini potatoes. i have enough wine to make kiddush and a bag of spelt rolls in the freezer; so all is well in the middle east for now.
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