Sore Throat

i woke up early this morning with a sore throat. it was rather hard to swallow. my head also ached and for just one moment, i thought that perhaps i had the mumps. in spite of my symptoms, i managed to eat way too much today. i don't know what happened to me. there wasn't enough food to shovel in. i kept staring at the left over chocolate in the fridge and imagining a good old binge. a friend sent me a chart that correlates specific food cravings to the missing trace elements in the body. for instance, a craving for chocolate could be your body's need for magnesium or protein. so, i opted for a poached fish fillet and a plate of broccoli, string beans, and navy beans.

i took sahar with me to pick up the mail. it was really warm and quite sunny this morning. he fell asleep in his carriage and i fell asleep in my chair. cloey the pincher, got into a fight with the small white male dog ( he remains nameless) and woke us both up. i wanted to put sahar on a blanket on the grass, but he was not interested and most crabby. instead, i returned him to his teenage mom.

i went back to my t.v. couch and tried to take a nap. there wasn't a decent thing on to watch. i went back upstairs and sat outside on the porch with sahar for a while. at 4:00 p.m. i officially "clocked" in as the babysitter. he kept himself amused for about an hour. i saw that he was getting tired, so i put him down for a nap. his parents called to check up on him and i reassured them both, that he was just fine. he didn't seem to want to eat and i hated to waste the frozen mommy milk . i figured that he could hold out until his mommy came home. gal had to rush back out to the dentist because her cap fell out. once again, i put him down because he was crabby and tired.

when his parents came home, i made a dinner for them. i poached some amnon fish fillets and fried up some chips. there was a bit of spaghetti left over, so i added some teriyaki sauce and red pepper flakes.

my throat is still sore. my sister says that there is a virus going around. i don't want to go to the old age center like this tomorrow. it really hurts to talk. gal also needs me to watch sahar while she does errands. i played with him a lot today, but didn't talk that much with him. i think he noticed that i was clamming up on him. i actually, lost my voice for a while, in the afternoon. it's only 9:00 p.m. and i'm totally, exhausted. i guess i will call it a day.

i just spoke with the vet and she sounded terrible. i didn't understand the entire conversation but someone in her family died and she needs to travel to Romania. she asked if i could get the dog down to her place tomorrow. normally, i could manage it, but i'll be busy with the baby all morning long. if she doesn't come by tomorrow, my son will just have to deal with it at the end of the week and go to another vet. end of story. my head is sore!

Mumps

i jumped out of bed this morning at 8:00 a.m. i had some coffee and a yogurt and nuts and half of my pomegranate. i quickly got dressed and ran off to my yoga class. i really didn't feel up to it but i went anyway. i got back in time to walk over to the neighborhood clinic with my daughter- in- law to get the baby his second vaccination. he was so fussy after the first one that i dreaded going through it again. the nurse was from the 'old' school of medicine and gave gal a lecture against breast feeding on demand. it seems that she believes a four month old baby should wait at least three to four hours between feedings. she also said that the baby should learn to adjust to a schedule and told gal to hold off nursing for another two hours. as soon as we got down the street near the park sahar started crying. thank goodness, gal fed him. he was still upset and wouldn't be quiet in his carriage, so gal held him while i pushed the empty stroller.

when we got home i made a nutritional lunch for gal. i'm on a mission of late to feed her good, substantial, food. i made whole wheat spaghetti and used up my can of diced tomatoes.(shachshuka sauce). i also cooked up a small sweet potato and poached two fish fillets. i figured she'd be doing a lot more nursing after the baby's vaccination. on friday morning, i made her a small molasses cake with apricots and cashews. i also bought plenty of dried apricots and prunes for her. i'm also trying to get her iron up to par.

gal asked me to sit in the late afternoon. i agreed to stay home because i was waiting for the vet to come over. i put the baby in his carriage and took him outside for a little stroll. he was absolutely hysterical and wouldn't calm down. i cradled him in my arms and rocked him, but he only cried more. when i stood up and walked with him in an upright position, he settled down a bit. i simply, didn't have the strength to keep it up. after all, the boy is over 15 pounds already! out of desperation, i sat down in my rocking chair with him in my arms, and started to rock. i was preparing to put on a music video for him when i noticed that he had fallen asleep. i placed him back in the stroller and he slept soundly for about three hours. i was beginning to worry because i couldn't remember the last time that he slept that long. i checked up on him several times to make sure that he was still breathing. when i finally saw his hand move, i felt more relaxed. i was getting ready to wake him up when i heard him stir. before he could utter a sound, i had him in my arms and back up the stairs to his mother. he seemed really mellow. he was chattering away and kicking up his heels in the middle of her bed.

the vet never showed. i'll have to call her tomorrow. my sister called to let me know that my niece has the mumps. for a moment i panicked and got scared. i was with her yesterday and i thought that i might have compromised my grandson's health by carrying the disease. i ran back to 'google' to read up on the mumps. apparently, everyone born before 1956, when they gave the first vaccination against mumps, is immune. how that works exactly, is beyond me because i never had the mumps. i can't imagine that i could survive, having them now. they don't seem to vaccinate babies against the mumps until the age of 15 months. they claim that babies don't get the mumps before the age of 2. who really knows? i just hope that my married niece isn't pregnant because it can harm the fetus. anyway, it's all in the hands of the Lord.

i heard from a good friend, who is in the country now, that she will be coming up to zefat for shabbat. we have been corresponding for years and haven't seen each other for over a decade. i can't wait for the reunion!

Tu B'Shvat Menu

although it is still about 3 weeks away, i have more or less chosen my menu for a shabbat meal which will incorporate thirty types of fruits and nuts. * we're using only nuts and fruits that grow on trees.*

waldorf salad
green cabbage and pomegranates salad
cranberry and orange relish
red cabbage salad with apples and toasted pecans
chumus with pine nuts
mango salsa
marinated figs with toasted hazelnut on bed of spinach leaves
cream of chestnut soup
avocado and lemon spread
whole wheat couscous salad with macadamia nuts and cranberries
rice with almonds and raisins
fennel and pistashio salad
lettuce salad with cherries and oranges
stewed carots and dried peach,apricot,prune and persimmon tsmis
olives
lemon garlic fish fillets
coconut chicken with lychee and cashew
coconut carob soufle
candied estrog
poached pears in red wine
assorted baked goods:
raisin oatmeal cookies
carob brownies
molasses apricot bars
blueberry muffins

if you want any of the recipes write to : zeldagleich5@gmail.com

Saturday Night

just got home from the sephardi family in canaan. shabbos ended at 6:00 p.m. and it's now 9:30 p.m. don't ask me what took so long. the kids were all over the place doing all kinds of things. gal was in the kitchen scrubbing and shining all the pots and pans for a long while. the boys were hammering nails into things and attaching batteries and making electric objects. zvi was sitting on the couch in a daze. some of the girls found an electric shaver in their mother's bedroom and were doing their legs in the boys' room. miriam was on the phone and i was drinking coffee and just taking it all in. two of the sisters were fighting over the baby.

my grandson absolutely doesn't relate to me in this crowd. i don't get a minute with him being that i live with him during the week. everyone gets a turn to handle him except his father and me. his 19 year old mother is only too happy to have her family take care of him all day long. last night the sephardi grandfather gave him a lick from his ices. no matter how hard i try to explain the dangers of sugar for babies, i am ignored. i am the silent minority. i think that someone was actually thilnking about giving him a sip of cola today.

last night i stopped in to visit my niece after dinner with the clan. she sprained her ankle on thursday. my sister called to ask me to bring over my mom's cane for her. i didn't think that would help her so much. i did have a small office chair on wheels that was very handy in the past when my mom couldn't walk, so i sent it over by cab. i wanted to check in on her and bring over some chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies. my nephew was quite thrilled to see me and crawled right over to greet me. i played with him for a while and then made my way home.

i woke up very early this morning with a headache and my eye was bothering me too. it was unseasonably warm. i had a coffee and some cashews and half a pomegranate. i'm hooked on them. they are really healthy and aid in lowering cholesterol. the only problem is that the skin turns my hands black. i have to learn to use gloves. i set out for my nieces' at 9:00 a.m. i wanted to bring her baby wipes ( she was down to her last one the night before) and help her with the baby. i think i got them all up a little too early. we got the baby dressed and i took him over to my sister's on the next street. i sat in the sun with him and then called up to my sister's apartment. luckily, she heard me and came down. she was in a hurry to get to the shul for a bris. i was the one scheppling the carriage up hill and trying to keep up the pace.

we made it to the back of the shul for the bris. i didn't see or hear anything because the baby was screaming. we then went around to the ladies' section on the top. my sister took her grandson and i started to daven. i heard another woman's voice with the baby and looked up. he was having a ball with her. i managed to catch up with the prayers even though i really couldn't make out all the words from upstairs in the women's section. a little later when he started to cry, my sister told me that he needed to go home and nurse. i complied with her wishes and put him back in the carriage. as i was pushing the carriage back to my niece's, i asked myself why i was designated to leave shul and take him home. after he nursed for a while, my niece asked if i could take him back outside so that she could finish reading the book of psalms. once again i complied, and took him for a short walk until he fell asleep.

i sat outside while he snoozed and read psalms and finished my prayers. my niece came back from shul but i stayed outside until he woke up. when my sister came back from shul, the four of us women had our lunch together. as soon as i finished eating. i walked over to the in-laws for a third meal. i realized then that i hadn't drank for seven hours. i was beginning to feel faint. my sister stopped in for a moment with the baby to see my grandson and then she left. she wouldn't even stay for a coffee. i made up the excuse that the baby needed to get home and nurse right away. and i took my place at the table and ate another meal.

gal's mother gave me a huge bag of leftovers for the dogs. as i was feeding them, i started to eat most of the food, myself. it was a chicken binge! i'll weigh myself in the morning and see what the damage is. i guess i was just really tired and a bit dehydraded. i'm feeling a bit uncomfortable right now.

i hope i'll make it to yoga in the morning. gal is taking sahar for another vaccination tomorrow morning. this week ought to be quite interesting! i've been asked to babysit in the afternoon for him. it's supposed to be hot again tomorrow. i spent the entire morning on friday, washing and bleaching out the apartment. it smelled so doggie that i couldn't stand it a minute longer. the bleach was not such a good idea for my palsied face. the vet needs to deworm the new dog, give him nutritional supplements and a shot against doggie diseases tomorrow afternoon. whoopie do! and a shavuah tov!

Another Family Get Together

this morning i heard footsteps and jumped out of bed to see gal leaving with the baby. it seems that she had a 9:30 a.m appointment at the hospital with an endocrinologist to check her thyroid. thank goodness the problem repaired itself. but at 9:00 a.m she was waiting downstairs to be picked up by her mom. i didn't think that the hospital was the safest place for a healthy little baby. gal said that her mother would take the baby to her home. i tried my best to explain where the clinic was situated. luckily, her mother's friend worked there, and 'pulled' some strings for her. i felt guilty all morning, that i didn't rush to get dressed and accompany gal to the hospital. it turned out that her mom stayed with her the entire time.

as her mother was driving away, she invited me to come over at noon for a family celebration. gal's cousin turned three and was getting his first haircut in meron. the family was coming to zefat afterwards, for a festive meal. i quickly drank my coffee and went downstairs to the store to buy chocolate to make some fancy shapes. i had a new chocolate mold that said " i'm a 3 yr. old boy" in hebrew. it was in the shape of a rattle with little scissors on it. the only chocolate that i could find with a good heksher, was a block of bakers' bitter sweet chocolate. i had never used it before. the instructions said to add some oil and use a double boiler to melt it. it already had sugar in it so i decided to try it.

i then stopped into a local toy store to buy a pencil case for the birthday boy. i bought some colored markers to put inside the case. i had some religious articles stickers for a boy and threw them into the gift bag. i also threw in some left over candies from zvi's birthday party. by the time i returned home from the store, it seemed too late to fool around with the chocolate molds.

as i entered the house, miriam called to say that they were just leaving the hospital and that gal was fine. they were on their way to the outdoor market to pick up a few things for the meal. she told me to come over around 1:30 p.m. since i had more time now, i started to make the chocolates. at first, the mixture looked thinner than usual, but it poured out nicely. it froze well and the shapes came out easily and were really clear. i made the entire hebrew alphabet, a dozen 'mazel tovs', a dozen religious shapes, and about twelve chocolate rattles. there wasn't one chocolate left over with this crowd.

the family didn't arrive until 5:00 p.m. i helped miriam peel a sink full of potatoes. i think it was 15 pounds of potatoes for just one meal. as i peeled, she cut them up for roasting. she also put up a pot of chicken legs. while she was putting the potatoes into the oven, i went to play with sahar. he acted as if he didn't know me. i called him a 'snob' and went back into the kitchen. miriam had already made a vat of spaghetti and was making salads. she then got a phone call to make a cake. so she took out her hand mixer and started to make a birthday cake, totally non plused. she is one amazing lady! she ushered us all inside to start to eat.

while her eight kids and me and another five kids and their mom sat down to eat, miriam started to fry chicken cutlets. zvi showed up at the same time as his brother-in-law but they waited to eat. after the women and children finished eating, the men came in for their meal. we all crammed into the boy's room to hang out. miriam set up the next round of food and brought out another batch of cutlets. i don't think she ate anything the entire day. miriam had to go to her daughter's party at school and said goodbye and left.

i slipped into the kitchen and washed some dishes. the house was trashed from all the little kids. they were actually, all very sweet children. they were aged 6, 5, 3 1 1/2 and 4 months old. the family left at 8:00 p.m. and gal and zvi went home. i went over to visit my niece. i hadn't seen them in nearly a month. i had a few outfits for menachem mendel from the gift package that my sister ann had sent from california. he was fast asleep and his parents were just sitting down to supper. they asked me to join them but i declined. i was still full from the dinner and i definately, needed to walk home. it was pretty mild outside.

i'm still revamping my tu b'shvat menu and searching the markets for certain fruits. i gave up on finding non roasted pistashios. perhaps, i'll hit the health food store tomorrow. i still need some carob powder and apricots. and i guess i should try to square things at the water department. i just remembered that i want to go to yoga aat 9:00 a.m.

Volunteering

I assume by now that you are all recovered from your new year's libations. I got a call yesterday to come to the old age center to volunteer in the small group of memory loss and demented elderly. You may recall that I missed the 2 week training course because I didn't check my mail in time.

I got up early this morning in spite of having had a rough night. I drank some coffee and ate a hand full of almonds and caught a cab into town. I believe there were ten in the group. Half of the group were female and the other half were male. There were two people in wheelchairs and the rest could walk with the aid of canes and a walker.

One man was formerly from Brooklyn and he reminded me very much of my father. I don't know if he is recovering from a stroke or is suffering from memory loss, but we had a lot to discuss together. There was a lovely woman who was born in Romania. She used to have a knitting shop in town. She must have been very beautiful in her time. I was supposed to show her pictures and ask her what they were. At first she was impatient and didn't want to play along. Afer a while, she was compliant and we had a nice conversaton. The rest of the group were Sephardim from Moracco. One man lives in my neighborhood with his son's family. One woman sat and knitted while another did arts and crafts with tiny pins and sequins. Another woman did needle point.

There was one woman, also from my neighborhood, who refused to do anthing but sit and scowl. The other ladies did their exercizes and played cymbols and tambourines during the organ recital. But this one lady wouldn't budge. She did come into the lunch room and have her meal but that was all. One of the elderly Sephardi men was quite learned in torah. They certainly kept the people engaged or tried. One lady read a story about Tu b'Shvat. there were two seperate, exercize instructors. I sang along during the recital and did all of the exercizes too. I think that the instructors thought that I was one of the gang.

I stayed for the lunch and helped serve and cleaned up afterwards. I also helped to feed one of the men. It all felt natural and familiar for me. There was no one medicated or zombie like in the group. It is actually, a very pleasant environment. I kept thinking of how much my father would have enjoyed being there. While they had a tea break, I helped myself to two cups of expresso coffee. I thanked them all for sharing the day with me. They asked me when I was coming back. I almost want to go back again this week. I told the social worker that I would commit to tuesdays from 9:00 a.m til 1:00 p.m. I really enjoyed myself. The time didn't go that fast, but I made sure to talk with everyone in the room when I wasn't grilling Murry from Brooklyn.

I stopped off in town to buy some nuts and dried fruits. Tu b'Shvat is in another three weeks and since it falls out on Shabbat this year, I have decided to make a Shabbaton and invite some women to sleep over. I have made up an elaborate menu to incorporate 20 varities of friut and ten varities of nuts. We have everything from mango salsa to chestnut soup. That's just on paper, nothing is written in stone. We'll just see how the shopping goes and if I can find all the ingredients that I need.

I have been searching the web for days for recipes. The strangest and most ambitious of them all is a Thai coconut, cashew, lychee chicken dish. It's really two types of Thai chicken combined so I can use both, coconut, and lychees. A little sooner to the time, I'll post the entire menu. I was fortunate today to find a bag of frozen mango in a store in the old city of Zefat. I don't think that mangos are in season now. I also don't know if I'll be able to find fresh kumquats either. If I can't find the fresh ones, I'll have to serve the candied ones as dessert.

We just got back form a neighbor's Pidyon Ben at the loal shul. That's the Redemption service of the first born son. I had the pleasure to hold my grandson, Sahar, on my lap for a while. He looked so darn cute in his blue sweater, jeans and brown suade mocassins! I'm really enjoying this grandma 'thing'.

New Year's Day

i just lost my entire blog for today. i was so cocky about making shabbat and handling everything so well that i hit the wrong button and poof, went my entry.

i went to bed last night at around 4:00 a.m. i spent hours on the phone and blog and finally called it a night. i jumped out of bed at 9:30 a.m. and said my morning blessings and had two coffees. amazingly, i didn't have a headache or muscle ache. i quickly threw in my pot of potatoes and boiled eggs for tomorrow's lunch. since i had run out of eggs and the umph to treck downstairs to the local store, i opted for making a one egg coffee cake and an eggless chocolate fudge cake. the secret ingredient here is mayonnaise.

i did the washing up from last night and put away the plates. i threw in a super batch of laundry, including the doggie sweater that michal lent us. the kids took the pooch for his haircut in town. they'll buy the challas and if not,there are always tons of frozen pitas in the freezer. sahar is fast asleep in his carriage in the kitchen. apparently, he also pulled an all nighter. he didn't even put up a fuss when i put him down. when i came upstairs to see him, he actually chose to watch me instead of his children's show. i guess nature isn't his thing yet.

i am planning on making a 'simple' shabbat meal. potted chicken and potatoes and an israeli salad. i have a little bit of the home made humus left and i guess i have some canned goods in the pantry. i will make the fish fillets that take about 10 minutes to stew. i will try to doctor last week's rice. i'll serve the left over pomeganate as a side dish. i'm not into cooking chicken with it. tomorrow morning, michal can have the left over chicken while the kids have their mashed egg and potatoes lunch. perhaps i'll throw a few veggies together with some canned beans and call it vegetarian cholent.

i need to wash the floor because it reaks of 'doggie'. no matter how many drops of aromatic oils i use, you can still smell the pooch. hopefully after his baldie and shampoo, he will be more pleasant smelling.

happy new year and good shabbas!