The Bloggers' Meme of all Memes!

Five things I should be doing instead of blogging!

1-washing dishes

2-preparing lessons

3-cleaning the bathrooms

4-emptying the crib, so there will be a place for our new grandson to sleep, when they come for a visit

5-writing a book

Anyone who should be doing something else, rather than blogging, should do this meme, just send me your link in comments. To get the ball rolling, I'll tag ~Sarah~, NYC Educator, and tnspr569.

Israeli "Fall Colors"

These aren't the "fall colors" of North America. Israel may be on the Mediterranean coast, but there isn't much rainfall. The news if filled with dire warnings about droughts and moving beach shores. But it's still legal to grow grass and clean with high-powered water hoses, which I think is immoral.

Global warming is just the result of human waste and short-sighted selfishness.

Some of these gardens are watered and some not. I guess you can guess which.

Traffic

Maybe I should have photographed the licence plate. This car parked in bus stop on the narrow main street in Jerusalem's Givat Shaul, when I was there Sunday on the way to my Har Nof dentist. I had to run into the middle of the street to hail the bus and make him stop.


I suggested that he be armed with a camera to photograph all the vehicles illegally blocking his way. He replied that if there hadn't been so many he would have finished his route ages before. A few stops further on, he yelled at his passengers that they should have helped a women with her bags instead of just watching. It's not an easy job; I can sympathize with him. I was sitting in the front, so I hadn't seen the woman, but he was watching in his mirror.


On my way back, while waiting for a bus, I watched the young "crossing guards." Soon their shift was over, and they enjoyed some cold juice.

The Jerusalem Teachers Strike Demonstration

I was at yesterday's demonstration demanding better conditions, true reform, higher wages and smaller classes.

Following are some of the pictures I took:

Jerusalem Sunset

Yesterday I went with some of my fellow teachers to the big Striking Teachers Rally in Jerusalem. I took lots of pictures, but periodically I looked back and watched the sun set.

Worse than waiting for the pot to boil

I'm not one of those who watches the pot until it boils.
The blogging equivalent is waiting for the pictures to get uploaded onto photobucket. even worse is when they sometimes get stuck, and then I have to redo it and wait again. That's what happened tonight, and I hate the waiting. I needed those pictures for my posts.
I can't even sue them. I don't pay anything for their services.

Guess I'm just an ol' ranting ingrate!

Lots to Read, HH

Soccer Dad has posted a really great Havel Havelim, so take a gander.

For those who submit posts to it, note that he changed the deadline to Friday, rather than After Shabbat. I think that it's a good idea to get the posts in before Shabbat. It makes it much easier on the host.

Great Neck in the Village Green

Last night was a Great Neck gathering of sorts in Jerusalem's famous Village Green, dairy/natural foods restaurant. I was the old lady there.

Ruby Harris, the violin player of the legendary Diaspora Yeshiva Band, is in Israel for a family visit. There don't seem to be too many of us former Great Neckers here in Israel, but no doubt we're all doing something rather unique. I guess it takes a special personality to escape Great Neck and all it stands for.

I had finally gotten pictures from my parents' visit and Yochai's appearance printed and was at the framer's when Ruby called back and invited me to meet him at the restaurant.

Grading Posts for Blog Carnivals

I've been very involved in the blog carnival scene, even "owning" one, the Kosher Cooking Carnival, for a few years already.

Some carnivals, like my own KCC and JPIX accept multiple posts from bloggers, while others are strictly one-post-per-blogger and others, like Havel Havelim, it depends on the discretion of the host.

I post frequently to my two plus blogs. This blog and Shiloh Musings get new posts at least twice a day and usually more. I don't send every post to the carnival hosts, but I also don't think it's efficient to wait until right before the deadline, go over everything I've written that week and send "the best," as if I could judge such a thing.

Sorry for the rant. Thanks for listening. Now I must get ready to go to the dentist and finally print some of the pictures taken during my parents' visit and since Yochai was born.

keeping track

Am I only one who sometimes has trouble keeping track of all my passwords, usernames and codes?

Just before I couldn't get "into" this blog to post, when I realized that I was using the old password, before it became "beta." I used to keep separate codes for everything, but now I don't. I have a few.

Maybe I should write them someplace, but then I'd Have to remember where...

Friday morning

Yes, that means that Shabbat is just a few hours away.

I have plenty to do. We have lots of guests, B"H, expected. That means cooking, so don't forget Kosher Cooking Carnival. I'm always collecting links, so please send yours in and anything you find which is suitable. Please send the link via blog carnival.

Thanks and Shabbat Shalom!

I finished that Great Neck book.

Inventing Great Neck is the perfect title, since so much of the book is an "invention" of sorts.

Of course like the joke about the blind men and the elephant, we all see things from different perspectives. Except that this is just a blog, my personal perspective of the world, while Inventing Great Neck, by Judith S. Goldstein is supposed to be a serious history or sociology book, not a personal memoir.

It's bad enough that she skips, totally ignores, the presence and growing strength of the more Orthodox Jewish community during the 1950's and 1960's, but her attitude towards their numbers and commercial power in her Epilogue echoes what Mrs. Sears, Great Neck North's sewing teacher, who retired in 1967 used to say:

"Great Neck was so much better before the Jews came."

Never one to allow such a statement to pass, I asked her what she meant.

"We used to have such beautiful Christmas pageants."

Mrs. Sears also took off an entire grade, from A to B, when I refused to appear on Shabbat at her "Fashion Show."

Goldstein doesn't like the Great Neck of today, with its wealth of kosher restaurants and Sabbath-observing, strictly kosher stores. She admits their existence in pain, as if she's announcing a surprisingly rapid-growing cancer.

Well, the long-serving rabbi, whom she ignores in her listings of rabbis, Rabbi Wolf, of the Great Neck Synagogue, not only planted those Orthodox spiritual seeds, but he carefully tended them for decades. He and his family moved to Great Neck in the 1950's, during the time that Goldstein claims she's reporting. His widow still lives there.

Goldstein praises the Hebrew Schools and youth activities of the Reform Temple Bethel and the Conservative Temple Israel, but she ignores the fact that soon after Jews and gentiles united in the early 1950's to establish the North Shore Hospital, the North Shore Hebrew Academy, Great Neck's Orthodox Jewish elementary school opened its doors to any child whose parents wanted a full Jewish education. Rabbi Wolf even provided rides to children who had no other way of getting to class. By the late 1970's or early 1980's, the Great Neck Public School's were emptying out, as secular Great Neck was aging, and the NSHA leased a school building.

In the early-mid 1960's the most active and intellectually stimulating Jewish Youth activities were in the Great Neck Synagogue, which were also open to teens whose parents weren't members.

We also ran the best "dances." I was on the committee, auditioned the bands, made the posters and sat at the entrance collecting money. When the other shuls saw our success, they imitated and had dances, too. As I became more religious and Joel Paul was hired as Youth Director, the dances ended.

Goldstein only focuses on the Reform and a bit on the Conservative communities. She really hasn't a clue. The major difference between Orthodox and the others is that Orthodox Jewish Life is full-time. Every aspect of life is affected, food, clothes, education, daily prayer.

People have asked whether it's worth reading the book. If you're not from Great Neck, don't bother. I don't consider it accurate enough. If you're from Great Neck, I'd appreciate your comments to the blog, please. If you just want a general idea of how Great Neck grew, I found that interesting, if it's really accurate. Because of the omissions I know of, I'm suspicious of everything else. Some of her mistakes are inexcusable like the building of Great Neck South campus, which was easily a decade earlier than she implies.

Yes, that's me, as I'd go to Great Neck North, Class of '67.

Weather's Changing

I had almost missed it, that first sign of fall. Our early, light rain last week must have had been enough for this flower to emerge from its summer's rest.

You could feel it, smell it.
Rain clouds are approaching.
Early winter's dusk.

Will there be enough rain to make up for the summer's wastage? If there isn't a major change in Israeli water-wasting habits, we're going to suffer a major drought.

Pedagogic Networking

Nothing like blog carnivals for some pedagogic networking.

Read the latest Carnival of Education. There's lots to learn, and the presentation is great.

What are you reading?

This isn't an official meme, but you can continue the chain...

I'm reading Inventing Great Neck, by Judith S. Goldstein. It was given to me by my good friend, whom I've known since we were in Great Neck North together.

So far, I've found one very major mistake. She's off by over a decade concerning when the second high school/junior high campus, Great Neck South, was built. She claims that it was built in the 1960's or 1970's. Badly edited, the book mentions both, but the truth is that the campus was functioning by 1958, so the planning must have begun during the very early 1950's.

The author is concentrating, it seems, on the growth of the Jewish community in Great Neck. Granted that I'm just in the middle of the book, but it seems more ludicrous than ironic, that she ends the book in the 1960's rather than closer to now.

It was in the 1970's that the character of the Jewish community in Great Neck changed drastically. Considering that she totally ignores the legendary pioneer, strictly Orthodox Rabbi Wolf of the Great Neck Synagogue, it shouldn't surprise me that she ends her book before the Great Neck Jewish Community became strongly Modern Orthodox. I guess that she finds the fact too disturbing.

I'll write more when I finish reading the book.

A nice, big salad

Yes, I had some good meals out with my parents.
One of the more reliable places is the "Hillel" chain. It takes a "big eater" to finish one of their salads, which are reasonably priced. One meal I had out with my parents, at the branch on Rechov Yafo, I ordered their "Health" Salad, which had tuna and lots of greens, and my parents had a quiche, which came with a nice-sized salad.

I gave them some of my tuna, and the three of us found the two main courses enough for us.

Increase Intelligence/Memory by...

... sleeping more!

When I did my teachers license, I did a study to try to figure out why so many students show signs of ADD/HD.

It didn't take long to discover that insufficient sleep mimicked the characteristics of the syndromes.

Now, here's a very detailed article in The New York Times, which agrees with me.

Visit's End

My parents' visit to Israel is ending tonight, as they fly back to New York, just after midnight.

They had a very eventful time, especially with the birth of their first great-grandson and the opportunities to get to know their great-granddaughters and enjoy their Israeli grandchildren.

I still haven't written about all their adventures, but G-d willing I'll post some more.

Luckily my eldest was available to help them when necessary, also my older son. They both live in Jerusalem, which made things easier. But my parents got around very well.

Who knows how we'll all be at their ages? Very few of you who read my blog are older than I am.

I picked my parents up from the airport, but my daughter is taking them tonight. I visited with my married daughter and the grandchildren after work. Then I was lucky and met a neighbor who was also visiting grandchildren in Ofra. We went back home together.

Everyone should just be well.

Over-salted

...and over-priced, too.

I don't know how it is in other parts of the world, but this is the second time, to my tired over-stressed memory, that I've been served a meal coated with coarse salt. The first was in "Lilit," I think that's the name. There's a kosher restaurant in Tel Aviv staffed by young people learning the business as their rehab for various problems. It used to be dairy in one location, and then a couple of years ago it moved to a fancier building and became meat. When I ate there over a year ago, there was a "light sprinkling" of coarse salt on the main course. I hate salt, especially fine table salt. At least this was the coarse or kosher or freshly ground type. I got through the meal without embarrassing my youngest daughter.

Last night, for the "final banquet" with my visiting parents, we went to "Little Italy" in Jerusalem. Since I knew I'd be late, I arranged to order by phone via my eldest daughter. I felt like eating a nice healthy meal and ordered fish, which came with vegetables and potatoes, but I requested salad instead of potatoes.

The food was waiting for me when I finally arrived. The fish and veggies looked nice, but the salad was extremely ordinary. At first the fish seemed ok, but then I hit a large clump of salt. I must have started with the one small spot they had missed. Enough salt to kasher a few pounds of beef must have had been poured on it. The vegetables were also layered with salt. I tried scraping it off, but to no avail. Finally I managed to get the attention of the waiter and complained. He brought me some "clean vegetables," but they still billed us for the uneaten fish. No complementary dessert either.

I would have voted against going there, if I had been asked, since I can never forget the nauseating lunch buffet we ate there a few years ago. I hate salads which have been sitting, waiting. At home I cut the salad right before the meal.

So, less than twelve hours after that over-salted and over-priced meal (desserts were as much as a main course in other restaurants) I'm blogging about it.

Don't go to "Little Italy," that Jerusalem dairy restaurant. I prefer many others, like the nearby "Rosemary." My mouth still tastes of salt. Yuck!

JPix!

How could I have missed it? Yes, I know that I've been rather busy and distracted.

Baleboosteh presents the 17th JPix Carnival, and it's really great.

Don't miss it; it's a feast for the eyes and more.

Shopping in Jerusalem

This is a Jerusalem landmark.

People come here from all over the world, including Israel, to buy sandals and other shoes. I'm pretty sure that I bought my first Israeli shoes here. They were a sort of tan colored corduroy, which I wore on Yom Kippur, when I was a student in Machon Greenberg. Yes, that was a long time ago.

Styles have changed, as have popular shoemakers and some of the staff, but I don't think anything else has changed here in the almost forty years I've known the store.

Can anybody guess its name? Or at least the location?

I'm still alive

It's the tail end of my parents' visit, and things have been hectic, to say the least.

I'll blog about it later, but let it suffice, at the moment, to say that by the time I was returning home last night, the Jerusalem Central Bus Station was closing down.

At least the bus was on time, and half way walking up the hill, someone gave me a ride. He's the father of this year's favorite so far student. But he's a nice guy and would have helped even if I wasn't teaching his son.

I'll be blogging more about yesterday, but not at this moment.

Gets Better All the Time

Yaaqov of Esser Agorot posted a really great Havel Havelim.

It's well-organized and full of some very well-written posts from the jblogging world.

Take a gander!

Winter Sky

Yes, the glorious winter sunrise is back. It's the bonus for waking up early.

"Quiet" Shabbat

Actually, it was pretty quiet, but busy--ish.
Friday night, no guests, but some friends knocked on the door as I was dozing after eating. So I took a walk with them.

Then today there was a kiddush in the Mishkan Shul in the middle. It was in honor of the birth of a baby girl to neighbors. I'm very friendly with the grandmother who lives in Eli, so we went down. That was convenients, since a "distant" cousin of my husband was in Shiloh for Shabbat. He was staying further down, and the kiddush was the perfect place to meet him and bring him up to our house for lunch.

After eating I went to the weekly "Shiur Nashim," Torah Class for Women.

Later on I took a walk. The sunset was gorgeous, but as it was Shabbat, no pics.

Radio Interview

I was interviewed on the radio the other day. It is the show you can hear until next Tuesday, (October 23). Here's the access information:

http://www.zoaphilly.org/
Click on "listen anytime."

My interview was short and in the middle of the program, since they called me 6:30 pm Israel time. I wrote more about what I had wanted to say here.

ps If someone knows how to record it into a format which will be "permanent," please do and send me the link to that. Thanks

Being Nice

One shouldn't get the wrong impression about the school I work for. Sometimes, most of the time, they are nice. Otherwise I would have taken up the various offers I've gotten over the years to work somewhere else.

Yesterday, for example, a meeting was called about one of the classes. For three reasons, I said I wouldn't be there:

• It's my day off, and the logistics are difficult
• It's my day off, and I had plans to see my parents and then a meeting of the women in my synagogue, and then, I found out only yesterday that I'd be going to, a "Seudat Brachot/Amen."
• As part of the teachers strike, which unfortunately our school still isn't obeying, the least I can do is to refuse to attend anything more than actual teaching. That means no staff meetings.

So, in the afternoon, traveling in a cab with my parents back to their hotel, after going to the kotel and then shopping and schlepping and late lunching in downtown Jerusalem, I got a call from the afternoon secretary asking me to give her a report about the students. I asked her to call me back in a few minutes, since I couldn't do it in the cab. She did, and I found it much more efficient and pleasant to just give her an oral report, which she transcribed, than attending a meeting.

Now, there's lots to do here before Shabbat.

Just before going to sleep

Yes, I'm tired.
Yes, it was a busy day.

Not everything was pleasant.

But I do suggest you check out the latest Carnival of Education, which is good. There are some great posts.

Good night!

More pressure-cooker than sandwich, A Rant

I don't like to kvetch, but that's how I feel.

Too much to do, and the logistics, especially the tremping to work, are getting me down. My part-time teaching job requires full-time traveling without any direct transportation. The one "reliable bus" drops me off at the T junction to Beit El, Givat Asaf, and then I wait. Yesterday a ride came quickly and the sweet young driver even offered to take me to the yeshiva, instead of my walking another ten minutes. But most days I'm there, at Givat Asaf, waiting 10-20 minutes. The place I wait isn't protected from the elements--rain or shine. If I go into the little "shelter" I won't get a ride.

Yesterday afternoon, after I had finished with my last lesson, we had a useless teachers union meeting. When I finally got out and started the trek to the Beit El bus/tremp stop, I could see the sky darkening doubly. Not only was the sun beginning to set, but rain clouds were rapidly gathering. The season's first rain was drizzling down, just in time for us to change the line in the "Shmoneh Esreh Prayer."

I didn't need the extra stress wondering if I'd be drenched or get home dry. I had neither a raincoat nor umbrella nor even a jacket. There was no sign of rain when I had left home just around 11:30am. B"H, I didn't wait long before a car going to Ariel came by. It took me to the Shiloh junction, and there I caught a ride with a neighbor who was nice enough to take me up the hill. Then I walked another five minutes home. The road was wet in Shiloh, but it wasn't raining.

Thanks for listening, and I hope to start visiting blogs when the pressures lessen.

KCC #23, Thank You Teddy!

Yummy, yum, yum!

Teddy, of Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen, has presented the most amazing Kosher Cooking Carnival!

Thank you!

If anyone is interested in hosting next month's or further in the future, please let me know.

And don't forget, whenever you post something about kosher food, or see a post that would be good for KCC, please send the link via blog carnival.

Remember that KCC is more than just recipes. Any post about kosher food, whether traditions, halachik issues, restaurants, cookbooks... anything, as long as it's kosher!

Wasting time and... coffee

I just seem to waste too much time.

Just before getting on with my morning and then to work, I want to remind you of the latest Carnival of the Recipes. Its theme is cereal, breakfast, just the way to start the day.

Actually, I start mine with a few cups of water, then strong coffee. And of course, I drink it all here in the den, while busy on the computer. I "perc" strong "Turkish" coffee in my coffee maker, filter-style. I used to use a real percolator, but now I have this electric filter one. When "perc-ing" on the stove, you could smell the coffee all over the house. Now, it's more discreet.

Considering how much I pay for the coffee and how much is charged in coffee shops for a much smaller cup, it seems terribly wasteful to drink coffee out.

Israeli Restaurant Guides

Many people don't like eluna, since it's a business* see the comments, since someone involved replied saying it's not true, limited to the restaurants which pay it for the ads. I used to use it a lot, printing off the 10% discount coupons, but then I got tired of having to plan in advance, and it does seem to have fewer restaurants recently. For those who can't handle Hebrew, eluna, in addition to just googling your restaurant seach is best.

If you read Hebrew, this site is good. Your Hebrew doesn't have to be great, just good enough for a menu. The same Hebrew level for this one and another which some people prefer.

All offer lots of options, location, menu, kashrut etc.

Lots to Read

Carnival Time!

Be sure to check out Carnival of Family Life and the monthly edition of the Gantseh Megillah. You'll find some great posts and articles to read.

Strolling in Jerusalem

I took these pictures yesterday morning.









There's nothing like Jerusalem.

And this was in the Kings Hotel, reflecting on the ceiling.

Yochai Arye's Brit Milah

Here are a few pictures from our grandson Yochai Arye's Brit Milah.













I took some of the pictures, and my cousin's son took the others.

You could smell the coffee!

Yesterday morning, before the Brit Milah, I met my visiting son for breakfast. I thought we'd go the kashered Aroma on King George, but after peeking in and not wanting to sit on the busy sidewalk, we decided to go the Hillel on Hillel. But just as we got to Rechov Hillel, we noticed a big shiny, new, all-windowed coffee shop. We checked for kashrut certification and couldn't ignore the all persuasive smell of strong wake up now coffee.


Arcaffe` has a limited menu but is large, clean and friendly. I had a mini-sandwich and coffee. It was fine; though the fancier coffees weren't part of the breakfast deal.

The music was great, jazz, Billie Haliday style.

Hope I'm not too late

I was a bit slow this morning at setting up the "uploading" of pictures from the Brit Milah on Photobucket. There's a problem sometimes once the avg virus check "kicks in." Photbucket stops working, and then I have to re-choose all the pictures which haven't yet been uploaded, and each picture takes ages to upload.

Of course, I didn't remember the problem until I clicked "upload."

I find myself happier with Photobucket than flickr. That's because it's much easier to get the codes from Photobucket, no steps other than highlighting what I need and then pasting into the blog, just remember it has to be in html and do your spellcheck ahead of time, or the pictures will be messed up. Believe me, I've had to redo everything too many times.

Slowly, slowly I've been learning new things.

Busy day again today. It's my extra long teaching day, but we're leaving in the middle to go to the big strike rally in Tel Aviv.

Busy, busy, busy... yes, of course!

Yes, today was the day of the baby's Brit. He has a name, Yochai Arye. I don't have time to do anything with the pictures. You can see some on my husband's blog: My Right Word: At My Grandson's Brit Milah

The latest Havel Havelim also came out today, over at Soccer Dad's.

Yes, busy, busy, busy for many of us.

KCC Reminder!

The next KCC is simmering on the stove.
It will be served this week by Teddy of of "Help I have a fire in my kitchen," who has a request that the recipes be presented in a specific way.

Your email should have the following format (of course you can add to it,) but this is the minimum; (though only two are required):
1. Your comments or story about the recipe you are submitting (not required but suggested)
2. Ingredients (clearly marked and counted - 1,2,3 etc.) - Required
3. Pots, Utensils and thingamajigs needed to make the recipe
4. Directions For making - Required
5. And any picture you want to go along with the recipe (not required) Just send it in if it is too big he will format for it for the blog.

It's all very clearly explained here. His blog is extremely professional and well-respected in the internet food world, so I'm very pleased that he has volunteered to host the Kosher Cooking Carnival and hope to learn a lot from him. If you're interested in hosting a future KCC, please let me know, shilohmuse at yahoo dot com. Please submit your posts for KCC via blog carnival.

Thanks!

Night Before the Brit Milah

Boys are saying the "Sh'ma" Prayer for the baby.

Busy, no surprise!

Baruch Hashem we're nice and busy.

We had a "Shalom Zachor" in our home Friday night. That's the Ashkenaz Jewish custom after the birth of a boy. Lots of neighbors came in. It was a sort of party. Since our daughter is now Tunisian, their custom is to have a "Brit Yitzchak" the night before the Brit Milah, and also children come and say the "Shma" for baby. So after Shabbat we went to Ofra to their house.

Tomorrow, G-d willing, is the Brit Milah. And I do have a lot to do, so I'm leaving the computer for the night. I hope that nobody's upset that I haven't been visiting blogs much the past few weeks.

The Big Sisters

Yesterday I went over to help my post partum daughter. Thank G-d, she's doing well, very busy organizing the Brit Milah, (Jewish circumcision ceremony.) Having a newborn girl is much easier, no doubt. But they have everything under control.

On my way I went to our local clothing and miscellaneous store; that's after calling to make sure she had what was needed. I bought a "suit" for the baby to wear to his brit and a few other things. We have to add lots of blue to the baby wardrobe.

I got to hold the baby, who was not fussing, but why should we only hold crying babies?

I also picked my granddaughters up from their pre-schools. We had fun as you can see.



Now I must cook, since she "ordered catering" from me.

I wish I could write...

...this. And even more, I wish paying publications, like the NYT's would pay me to write.

I can dream, can't I?

Busy, of course!

Yesterday was one of those frustrating days at work. My students were impossible. I got nothing done. They don't understand that in the end, they'll suffer, since they won't pass the tests. Those are my 11th and 12th grade classes.

Afterwards, I rushed back home, via miraculous rides, ending up with time to spare before going to a wedding. No, I didn't take my camera.

Traveling is so stressful, never knowing how and when I'll get anyplace, but I don't think, joining this woman as a skirted motorcycle driver will help.

I'm now also blogging on Arutz 7

Take a look!

Now off to work for me!

"Cooked Vegetables"

Most diets allow, even encourage, unlimited cooked vegetables. They are easy to make and very healthy, besides being low in calories. The key to successfully cooking them is a good covered pot or frying pan, covered, of course. To keep the flavor in without having to add salt, a diet no no, is not to use water. Water dilutes the flavor, ends up being thrown out along with most of the vitamins.

Here are a few general principles:

• start by sauteing onions in a bit of oil
• add other vegetables in the order of slowest to cook first--that means that carrots before squash and squash before cabbage
• cover and stir periodically
• when they're almost soft enough to eat easily, turn off the heat, and let them finish cooking. You can cover the pot with a towel, so the heat doesn't leave too quickly, and yes, keep the cover on.
• Of course you can use garlic and herbs, fresh or dried and other seasonings. Miso is good, too.
• I generally don't reheat them, and yes, they can be eaten cold.

Enjoy!

I want one, too!

Broadway producers want a younger audience and various schemes are being offered to sell discounted tickets to people young enough to lower the average audience age.

I love going to shows, and I'm much too old to improve the demographics. There's a magic feeling when sitting in the audience of a live show, but I can't afford the $100 seats. My trips to New York are so expensive. The airplane is a fortune, and then The LIRR every time I go to "the city." And I end up going a lot. Of course, I end up eating out quite a bit. I can have a few good meals for the price of one Broadway ticket...

So, it seems like the shows will just be part of my memory...

Not today

I was supposed to go to help my daughter today after work, but then she called to say that her husband would be home, so I wasn't really needed, but I could come if I wanted, so...

... I said that it would depend on what ride I got out of Beit El. If I got a ride to Ofra, I'd go see them for a bit, but if I got a ride to Shiloh, I'd go home. Well, ...

... I got a ride going to Tapuach, which passes Shiloh, so I went home. From the road I got a ride to the grocery store. There I went shopping, and when I staggered out weighed down by all my purchases...

...you should understand that my daughter "ordered catering" from me for Shabbat...

... another ride came quickly and took me straight to my door, even though it was a bit out of his way.

So, I'm home and I won't see my grandchildren today.

Nice Meal--Eating out in Israel

I'll consider this my post for Yaaqov's Restaurant Meme. The Pictures were taken in Olive &Fish, when I ate there with my parents and daughter during Succot.

Of course, my taking pictures embarrassed my company, who claimed that all that would show would be a flash of light. They don't know the powers of my Canon 620!

Now, on with the meme, which I've changed slightly....

List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location:

I live in Shiloh, and we don't have restaurants here. We do have a caterer named Rivka, who is highly recommended. For restaurants I go to Jerusalem. My neighbors are good cooks, and when we're invited out, it's always a treat. I don't know if they feel the same about my cooking.

1. Pizza

Sorry, I really can't answer that, since it has been years since I've eaten pizza. I no longer eat yellow cheese, and I think that the cheese used on pizza is faux cheese. That's what I've read. The dairy business makes an industrial fatty thing that melts like cheese. It has the worst of milk solids.

2. Shawarmah

Sorry, I don't eat that either. I had never tried it before my 25 years of vegetarianism, and then when I tried some, I decided that I hadn't missed anything. so I don't eat it.

3. Yemenite

There used to be a great Yemenite restaurant on Yoel Solomon Street, Jerusalem; it is now closed.

4. Ashkinazi

I prefer my own cooking.

5. Bakeries

For fancy stuff, I have two neighbors, one from New Zealand and the other from France, who bake better than any commercial bakery. For natural whole wheat, I agree with Yaaqov that Natural Choice on Agrippas is best.

6. Fallafel

My neighbor, Moshe Siton, used to have a felafel place on Rechov Meyuchas, between Machaneh Yehudah and Geula. His was the best. Now I go to Shalom Felafel, on Rechov Betzalel, near the corner of Shiloh Street. I used to buy from the Yeminite Felafel on Neviim, but they used an additive which not only tasted funny, but made me doze off.

7. Dairy

There are lots of nice dairy places in Jerusalem, but be careful if you're lactose intolerant, since many add dairy to things you'd never guess. You're better off getting vegetarian--and make sure it's really parve, not the same pan and oil as meat or fish--in a meat restaurant. Try Chez Gitta on Chavatzelet, downtown Jerusalem or the Ne'eman and Sambooki chains.

8. Coffee

I think it's outrageous that a "good cup of coffee" can cost more than a simple felafel. Coffee is definitely over-priced.

9. Sandwiches

Cafe-net in the CBS is good. And while you're there, the restaurant on the second floor, near the escalators is a good deal for "full" meals.

There's lots to eat, kosher, too, of course, and everything I've mentioned is kosher. And thanks to "Jacob DaJew", who started this meme.

I'm tired!

This is nothing like the "I'm Tired" from "Blazing Saddles," but my first day back at work was really exhausting.

Now for some dinner. I don't have a wife at home cooking me supper. Actually, my husband doesn't either. Today I got back after he did, but at least there was cooked food for him to reheat.

Havel Havelim, not Norishkeit!

Soccer Dad hosts and produced the long-awaited post Holiday Havel Havelim. Take a gander, and if you want to take a try at hosting one, contact him.

And now that you should be well recovered from all the Holidays, no excuse not to post something for the Kosher Cooking Carnival, which will be hosted by Help I have a fire in my kitchen. His posting request is here. If you're interested in hosting a future KCC, please let me know, shilohmuse at yahoo dot com. Please submit your posts for KCC via blog carnival.

Shavua Tov!

And now... some baby pictures!

You do want to see pictures of my baby grandson, don't you!? Well , first you can take a look at the ones my husband put up on his blog.



I spent the day happily "sandwiching." First I went to see my parents who are staying at the Kings Hotel. Then I ran out to the nearby Super Sol to get some things for my daughter and my parents. Then I went with my parents by foot downtown to get presents for the kiddies. Then back to the hotel by cab to rearrange what to bring.



Then we took a cab to Hadassa Ein Kerem to see the youngest of the clan. Then after my husband, the other grandmother, my parents, my eldest daughter, the proud father and the two over-joyed big sisters left, I stayed awhile. Then my older son came, and we both visited for awhile. I got to hold the baby for a long time! He slept very peacefully in my arms.... Then my son and I shared a cab to the bus station, so I could catch the almost last bus of the night home. And, to make things even more fun, we got lost in the underground pathways of the hospital.... but that's another story.



Here are a couple of pictures. First is of proud grandfather and mother, and the second is an awful one of me. But who cares how I look when there's a baby in my arms?

Waiting and "Interference"

Well, we're all just going to have to wait for pictures of the baby, our first grandson, since I haven't seen him yet. G-d willing I'll be there today, and my daughter will want me to take pictures sans flash, etc.

And the "interference" has been electrical. For the past few weeks we've been suffering all sorts of "quick blackouts." Suddenly, for a second or two, there's no electricity. This happens almost every morning around 6am. This morning it happened three times. On Erev (the eve of) Simchat Torah, we were without electricity for over an hour and a half. First it didn't seem all that bad, since light would flash on, so we knew they were trying to get it going.

I was in the middle of walking my friend home. There was too much mist to have much light from the quarter moon, and we were on a path which has lots of steps, and there is no railing. Her night-vision ended up even worse than mine. We kept having to wait until I adjusted to the starlight. Then we took tiny low steps, so we wouldn't fall down the stairs. Finally I got her to her house. And then I managed on the long stairless path connecting our houses.

It was a problem not being able to put the food away in the fridge, but when I got up in the middle of the night, the electricity was back on and I got everything put away. Neighbors had a fire in their house, since they left a candle in their bathroom which was too hot and burnt through the plastic of their toilet tank.

MAZAL TOV

These two young ladies, walking down the stairs with their father and mine, who is their great-grandfather, are now the big sisters of a baby boy!

Yes, the long wait is finally over. A nice big baby boy was born to my daughter Saturday afternoon, a few minutes before Shabbat ended. Baruch Hashem, Thank G-d. G-d willing, I'll meet my grandson tomorrow.

Proud of my wrinkles and my maternal bulges

There's no way I would undergo surgery to excise the physical manifestations of life's milestones. In simpler terms, I'm not interested in face-lifts, breast-lifts, tummy-tucks nor any other procedure or operation to mask the true me.

I have given birth to five children and nursed them all until they were ready to eat "real food." I'm a grandmother. I'm old enough to get some "senior discounts," but not all. I've had my stress and worries over the years. I may look a bit young for my age, but people do get up in buses to give me their seat. Sticking to strict diet regimes is too stressful.

Yes, that's me, all of me.

I think that it's healthier to make peace with what and who you are than to undergo surgery or any other extreme procedure or restrictive regime.

dreaming of laundry

I haven't done any laundry for a full week plus. It's part of the "holiday restrictions" during the Succot holiday, according to Jewish Law. When my children were little and when the boys were in the army, I did launder on the "intermediate days."

This year I had no reason to do the wash so I didn't.

But I definitely need to wash a few things before Shabbat. How do Orthodox Jews abroad manage. They are still celebrating the Holiday, and they can't do any laundry until Saturday night. They have had three three-day Holiday restrictive weekends in just over three weeks.

Life's sure easier here!

Scroll through the great jpix #16

Mr. Bagel presents a jpix which was worth waiting for!

#16

With all the holidays, routines change, and jpix certainly couldn't appear on its biweekly schedule. Get comfortable and take a look!