Back On My Feet

it is 300 p.m. in the holy city of zefat. i just got back from work. i had a long weekend this week. yesterday, was a fast day so i didn't have to go to work. i offered to come in and make a pot of soup to break the fast, but i was told it wasn't needed. the young man in charge of the kitchen, when i'm not there, prefered breaking the fast with cake. a friend came over and we blabbed all afternoon long.

i stayed an extra couple of hours on thursday, to make two cakes. i made an eggless chocolate cake and an eggless banana-squash cake. the young man also put up a vat of prepared frozen fish sticks. i'm glad they had what to eat. i had left a watermelon for them also, but he didn't cut it up. i served it this morning at breakfast. i don't know why these kids aren't mad for melons.

i fell asleep yesterday evening, just before the fast ended. i woke up at 8:30 p.m. i broke my fast with a whole wheat pita and a couple of boiled eggs. i then had cookies, grapes, and iced tea. i drank some coffee so i couldn't fall asleep. i finally passed out at about 4:00 a.m. i was a real hot mess this morning.

i got up at 6:00 a.m. and took the dogs down the street for a quick walk. i showered and got ready to leave early. my neighbor offered me a ride to town. i had to go to the produce store to buy eggs and veggies for the week. i bought way too much. luckily, as it turns out, they will be having a shabbaton at the yeshiva this week; so there will be plenty of produce for the young men.

i dragged two flats of eggs, a couple of green cabbages, and some tomatoes back to the yeshiva. that entailed climbing down quite a lot of steep steps. there were plenty of cucumbers left in the fridge, so i made a huge amount of salad. i didn't have the patience to dice everything into tiny pieces to make an 'israeli' salad. instead, i sliced the tomatoes into rounds and sliced the cucumbers into thin strips. i didn't make a dressing, either.

i quickly boiled about 20 eggs and made a huge pot of oatmeal. it was hardly touched. the vegan is apparently, fasting all week long during the day. i am a bit upset about him. i know that i worry too much. i want to speak to the rabbi about him, anyway. i don't want him to know that i'm determined to speak to someone who can set him straight. he only let me know so i wouldn't go to the trouble of preparing anything extra for him. he is such a sweetheart.

i diced up a bunch of potatoes and parboiled them. instead of oven roasting them, like i usually do, i threw them into a lot of eggs and fried onions and made almost, a fritta. it was more like scrambled eggs than a fritata, but it was the same kind of principal.

i made an inexpensive type of fish fillet, in a spicy 'morracan like' tomato sauce, for lunch. i cooked up a bunch of tiny macaroni and left it pretty plain. i coated it with olive oil and oregano and garlic. i made another batch of chunky tomato and cucumber salad. this time, i added lemon and made some tahina as a dressing. i made a pot of spicy chicken wings with turkey meat balls for supper. i cooked some plain rice and made a pot of spicy green cabbage and zucchini. i don't think that rice and veggies will sustain the vegan after fasting all day. i didn't make anything else for him, either. he'll just have to eat some bread and tahina. there is always peanut butter. i should have made him an eggless cake. i was so tired and hot. i just wanted to get out of the kitchen and go home.

i sure hope that the kids liked the fish. the director, the rabbi, and the yeshiva manager, all sat down to lunch, too. i hoped they saw first hand, what i am doing for them. more important, they approve of what i am doing there.

my niece and family are returning to india today. i thought that they had more time here. i am so sad. i never got to buy any gifts for the kids and i did want to give them a contribution. perhaps, i'll get some energy to visit them later tonight.