International KCC at This American Bite!

Just in time for Shabbat, the latest Kosher Cooking Carnival is at This American Bite, but it's an international affair of kosher food for all.  Click and check it out and visit all the blogs included this month and then share them far and wide.  Actually it has been "live," online since yesterday my time, but I didn't have time to announce it.

Next month, Adar, late February, the Kosher Cooking Carnival will be hosted by Cooking Outside the Box, and we're looking for a volunteer for Nissan, around March 25, and other months.  Please contact me or join our facebook group.  You can send in your links for the Adar KCC nonrecipe@gmail.com with KCC as subject or via facebook or blog carnival, which doesn't work as well as it used to, but I still send the instacarnivals to the hosts.

Shabbat Shalom and Enjoy!

Only in Israel, From The Blog Across The Street and Other Local Blogs

I'm not the only blogger in the neighborhood.  Of course, as you must know, my husband blogs, too.  And besides him, directly across the street is Ester who posts in honor of Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Jewish Month.  For Shvat she posted one of those "only in Israel" stories which you'll certainly enjoy.

The following Dry Bones suits Ester's post:

A bit further east after Ester's house there's another blogger, Yael of Shvut Rachel.  She blogs in Hebrew and recently posted a how-to recipe for easy chicken on youtube.  Most of it is clear from the action.  I'll just let you know that she makes the bread crumbs out of cornflakes and the "creamy-looking stuff" is mayonnaise.



Enjoy them all!

Delicious, Colorful, Healthy and Easy to Make Vegetables

When I saw that nice big red cabbage at Rami Levi I just had to buy it.  I cooked it with:

• onion
• carrot
• fresh ginger
• small apple
• bit of oil to saute it all
• of course the cabbage
• freshly squeezed orange juice

Add the cabbage and juice last, when the carrots start getting soft.  Cook in a large covered frying pan or good, heavy covered pot.  Exact quantities don't exist.  This isn't a chemistry formula.

Enjoy!!

The Most Frightening "Tremping" Experience

OK, except for the times I've wondered if I'm going to be stuck forever waiting for a ride, in the cold, rain, sun or late at night, the following story is really the most frightening I can remember after just over thirty years "in the business" of waiting for rides aka tremping...

It happened last night.
After got out of my friend's car at the Ofra Junction, she gave me her blessing, which has always worked, nudging G-d to give me a "speedy and safe ride home."  Within in less than a minute I was crowded into the backseat, next to a baby in her/his safety seat, with my three bags securing me well.  I was relieved that I had gotten my right foot in with rest of me.

The young mother driving left me off at the Shiloh Junction, but before I managed to cross the street to where I had to wait, I realized that I wasn't alone.  A "teenage" white dog was there, too, sniffing at my one of my bags, the thermal bag with the chickens inside.  Fresh, whole, kosher chickens are among the products Rami Levi purposely keeps selling at low prices, so I've been buying them there for the past few months.  I've saved us a lot of money by doing that.

Well, the dog kept sniffing, and I was trying to cross the street without showing panic or exciting the dog.  I even called out a bit, hoping that there were soldiers hiding, which is sometimes the case.  I wanted someone to shoot the dog.

The street had never seemed so wide, nor had never taken so long to cross.  I still had a long way to go, especially at the "relaxed--don't frighten the dog" pace I was going, when a pick-up truck turned into the road to Shiloh from the south.  I wanted to get into that truck ASAP.   At first it stopped, then it began moving, stopped again and even backed up a bit.  Thank G-d he waited for me! 

After I got in, the driver said that he had noticed me and realized that I was in trouble, so he waited.  And thank G-d and this unknown person going to Shvut Rachel, I made it home safe and sound.

Frosty Dawn

I took this shot a cold, frosty Wednesday morning last week.  Frosty was all I could think of.  I was waiting for a ride to Jerusalem.  Usually the early morning sky here is Shiloh is gorgeous, and to be perfectly honest, just to the right of the frost, there was some color.

Yes, I must be honest and not leave you with the impression that G-d had given us a colorless sky.

And I never got a "ride;" I had to take the bus after waiting a half hour in the freezing cold.  I shouldn't complain, because the bus did get me in to Jerusalem safe and sound.  There are times, like when I finish work at Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin late at night when there is no bus option and I really, desperately need those "tremps."  So, if G-d is limiting the miracle rides (aka tremps,) let me have them when I really have no other option.

Risa's New Banner and Havel Havelim

I was just about to blog about this great new vegetable dish I invented on Friday, when I figured that it would be a good idea to see what my friends had blogged.  And there, right on top, was Isramom aka Risa's blog announcing the latest Havel Havelim and new blog banner.

So, just click on over to Isramom and check out all the posts from blogs far and wide.  For instructions on how to contribute to the next edition check out our facebook Havel Havelim page.  HH comes out every Sunday on a different blog.  Next week's Havel Havelim will be Beneath the Wings.  If you don't have facebook, you can still contribute a link by using the old blog carnival form or send it to me and I'll pass it on to the hostess.

So the vegetable recipes will have to wait until I blog again, G-d willing....  In the meantime you can feast your eyes on Risa's Havel Havelim.  Please read, visit, comment and share.

And have a wonderful week one and all!

"Lively Discussion," Does That Mean It Was a Good Shiur/Class?

Since I began pretty serious, for me, Bible studies* in Matan last year, I've volunteered to give classes to my neighborhood women's "study group," the weekly Shabbat שיעור נשים Shiur Nashim,  Women's Torah Class.  You can still count the times on one hand, but the number is growing.  I gave a class today.

I don't consider myself very knowledgeable.  Even though I've taken classes for years, until recently it wasn't very systematic, and I didn't have enough knowledge to "connect the dots."  I don't lecture.  One reason is that I don't know enough, and enough is that it can too easily get boring.  I hate to admit it, but I've fallen asleep at too many classes.  So, my method is involving everyone in discussion. 

I do throw out facts and read texts, or make my friends read in better Hebrew, but I don't insist that only my answer is the right one.  The class wasn't too long.  One of the women even expressed disappointment that it was over too soon.

I guess that means that I passed, Baruch Hashem, thank G-d!

*three courses, one morning a week

Rami Levi Stores, Not Just Cheap Chicken and Cabbage

This is cross-posted on Shiloh Musings

As you know, I work in Yafiz, which is the chain of clothing stores owned by the Rami Levi discount supermarket chain.  My store is located in Sha'ar Binyamin, the shopping center (like those built in the USA suburbs during the 1950's) just northeast of Jerusalem, in the Mateh Binyamin, Benjamin Regional Council.

Yesterday just before signing out from work and going into the supermarket for a few items, the buzz was that Pnina Rosenblum, Israel's rags to riches cosmetics industrialist and politician was expected in the supermarket.

My husband would tell you that I rarely admit I'm wrong (maybe because I'm usually right) but when it comes to Rosenblum, I must admit that I was wrong.  When I first began seeing pictures of her at all sorts of events, I'd call her the bimbo.  In the end she has proven to be anything but.  She's a blond, but bimbo she isn't.

I had never noticed, but apparently the Pnina Rosenblum cosmetics, soaps etc are marketed in the Rami Levi store. 

I could hear her complimenting the managers on the display.  Now, our branch of Rami Levi, like most discount supermarkets, isn't a fancy place.  It also doesn't sell high end items.  Rosenblum's products and general philosophy match Rami Levi's.  When she decided to go into politics, she didn't choose an elitist Leftist ideology and party.  Today she's an active member of the Likud and even served as a Likud MK for a short time.

Rosenblum didn't enter the supermarket with an entourage of aides and photographers. That impressed me.  I took these pictures from "discrete" distances using the zoom. 

Seconds after putting away my camera, she came right up to me, as if offering a good shot, but I didn't take it.

The most humorous part of this visit was overhearing the other customers talking about her.  Many hadn't a clue as to who she is and why she was there.  One person explained to another that she's a Likud politician and was flabbergasted when told that she's a cosmetics industrialist.

As I've mentioned frequently, "timing is in the Hand (Power) of G-d, Siyata D'Shmaya.  Yesterday was certainly an example.  Why else would I have ended up working that day, and shopping at exactly that time?  And the icing on the cake was that just as I got on line to pay, I saw my next door neighbor on the next line, and yes, he took me home.  Thank G-d, G-d is Great!

Shabbat Shalom to Everyone

Three "Bad Things," Kappora!

There's a "legend" of sorts that bad news comes in three's.  Something in my mind connects this with the post I wrote last night about my husband's visit to the emergency ward. 

It's rare for me to break things, but yesterday three relatively minor things broke:

• my thermos, which I fill with hot delicious (less expensive and much better than buying ready-made) coffee
• a pen which I found leaking in my bag, dirtying my yoman, pocket diary/schedule
• the metal tab for pulling the zipper on my good backpack

About the thermos, it had been one of those amazing free give-aways with instant coffee one Pesach time.  I knew that I had another one (from the same sort of source) in a closet, found it immediately and quickly made another pot of coffee.  Yes, of course it broke when it was full of steaming vanilla flavored (from good vanilla extract, not the fake flavored junk) percolated Turkish coffee with milk and sugar.

Kappora!  There's a Jewish concept that something material like the things that broke can be atonement, instead of human lives and illnesses.  I used to be the most hysterical person about anything breaking.  Not long ago I mentioned to one of my kids that we're probably rare in that we have the same drinking glasses for close to forty years, and she said that's because everyone always lived in terror of breaking anything, because I'd get so angry.  Now, I see it all differently.  Priorities, let the material things go and keep us all safe, sound and healthy!  Kappora!

May this be a refuah shleimah for Natalie (Nechamah?) bat Chaya Rasia

Some Things Get Better

My husband blogged about his recent visit to the emergency ward.   When I got there this morning, (trekker son was with him when he was admitted last night) I came with all the food I'd need for myself for the day.  OK, I must admit that the food had been prepared to take to Matan for my morning of Bible study.  I even had a full thermos of coffee. 

My husband had spent the night at Sha'are Tzekek, a hospital I had once known very well.

My youngest was in the hospital for a very long six weeks when he was a tiny baby.  I lost a lot of weight during that time, because I didn't have a way of getting food most of the time.  The visitors snack bar shut down early afternoon, and even though my son as a patient could have gotten formula, I the cow nursing mother got nothing to keep up my strength and milk supply.

A few years ago, when my parents were here for their last visit together, my father needed a check-up in the Emergency Room.  I was amazed that some charity fund kept passing out sandwiches and pastries.  This was for people just spending a few hours in the hospital.  What an improvement over that time all those years ago when I barely ate for six weeks, and I was producing milk for my baby.

And this morning, someone made the rounds with food for the patients and visitors. Things really have changed.  Yes, they have gotten better.

PS for years I've heard about the amazing Shabbat meals in Israeli hospitals offered to those staying with patients.  Nothing like that was available way back then.  I had to get food from friends or eat almost nothing.  And in case you're wondering, no, I'd rather not have the need to ever sample any of that wonderful food. 

Refuah Shleimah, A Complete Healing to all in need.

The Real Me

When my blogs suddenly show a large surge in readers, it's usually because Rafi, Life in Israel has included a post in his "Interesting Posts series.  Rafi reads a lot of blogs and gives a good variety of posts for those of us who are less friendly or ambitious.

Tonight I looked at his latest selection, #348 and began reading Modern Uberdox, Secret identities and blogging.

As you must know, I blog under my real name and even use pictures of myself.  Those of the family are more discrete except for those in public life, like my husband, who also blogs as part of his identity, not hiding much.

Here's my comment to the post:

When I started me-ander.blogspot.com, I had also planned to hide my identity, but I just couldn't write what I wouldn't say under my real name. So shilohmusings.blogspot.com is more political and me-ander less so. They are different sides of the same me. Rarely I write something that could go on either blog.

Many of the bloggers I follow also blog under their own identities, although a large percentage of those who comment don't reveal their identities. What do you think?

Another Advantage of Always Having My Camera on Me, Caption This!

I should have taken two shots of this scene, since the part I left out was even stranger than the picture I'm showing you.

My Canon A620, a bit of an antique by today's standards, is too large to be discrete.  It's smaller than those big impressive professional cameras, but it's not a simple pocket camera either.  I was afraid of disturbing that guy in the window.

So, nu, how would you caption it?  Tell me in the comments, please, thanks.

Havel Havelim and My Coffee

Good morning!  Usually I post about Havel Havelim some time on Sunday, but due to my attending an Al HaPerek lecture on Elisha and Eliyahu at  Matan last night and the major time difference between Denver and Shiloh, Israel, I just saw Chaviva's Havel Havelim as my coffee percked.  So, I'm sipping and reading and blogging her very inclusive and attractive HH right now.

It's never too late to read and share Havel Havelim and all the great posts included in it.  Next week it'll be hosted by Risa at Isramom.  You can contribute links by mailing them to her.  News updates about HH can be found on our facebook page.

Talking in Shul...

Chaviva, who is probably working on the latest Havel Havelim as I type this on my keyboard-- so please keep checking her blog so you'll be the first to see it-- wrote about one of her pet peeves, talking in shul (synagogue services.)

We are supposed to "talk" in shul, but we're only supposed to "talk" to G-d. That's what prayer is.  If you ask a rabbi the straight question of whether it's important to understand the prayers or mumble gibberish, you'll be told that you should understand what you're saying.  So if you take that question one step further and ask if you should pray from translation in order to understand the prayers, and have an easier time staying focused on them, most rabbis will tell you to use a bilingual siddur, prayerbook.

Just like the children who disturb in class and are discovered to have some learning problem that makes it hard to follow the teacher, many people who talk non-stop in shul just can't relate to the prayers.  Honestly, it's better to bring a good translation and come for a shorter time.

Prayers time isn't "social" time, and if you talk, you make it harder for others to concentrate.  If you're bringing young children, make sure they have quiet toys with them, not something that will disturb others.  And when the kids get bored, go out.

Our neighborhood Shiloh shul started Junior Congregation and has had a special Children's Kiddush for years already.  There is also a playground behind the shul near the ramp to the "extra" women's section for wheelchairs and baby carriages.

There's nothing educational in taking a young kid to shul where he screams:
"I wanna go home!"

Small spiritual doses are better than tiring the patience of all.  If you want a more social experience, join the crew who sets up the kiddush while the rest of us pray.  I did that when my kids were young.  Now I'm the nasty old lady who shushes.

Most Winter Days, I'd Like to Just Hibernate

I can really relate to the animals that spend the winter warmly hibernating, hiding from the cold and hiding from the food they would have to use to try to heat themselves up.  This winter is cold!  Don't let that blue sky fool you!

Thursday, dry and sunny

You can tell by the green that it's winter, but you'll have trust me about the temperature.  OK, maybe not everyone suffers from the cold as much as I do, but I do suffer.  My feet are numb.  I can't take walks most days, because the ground is so cold.  And I eat more, because I'm cold and hungry and cold and cold and freezing and keep hoping the food will warm me up.

For a few hours of the day, the sun does heat the house a bit.

We've had some sun showers recently.  Can you see the glistening rain?  I hope so.

Friday rain

I walked out during the drizzle to take that shot.  And do you know what frequently accompanies sun showers?

Rainbow, Friday afternoon before Shabbat

Yes, rainbows.  Rainbows are pretty, but you shouldn't think of them as "love letters" from G-d.  They are more like warnings that we should remember G-d's power to punish us.

The meteorologists had predicted rain from Wednesday until Shabbat. It did start raining on Wed, but then on Thursday after the Bibi-Barak team sent in their troops to Mitzpe Avichai to throw people out of their homes and destroy the property, the sun dried up all the rain clouds to punish us all.  We're one people, for good and for bad.

That Friday rainbow was a warning.

Now, how did I get politics onto this blog? Sometimes the posts write themselves.  All I had planned was a rant/kvetch about the cold.  I'm still cold!