Blog Kvetching

Our email, the "family" one on the computer via Mozilla Thunderbird suddenly self-erased. It's not the end of the world.

I'm getting terribly philosophical about it. When people die or get very sick, injured etc, that's a tragedy. It's not a tragedy when the email doesn't work or my addresses are erased. Yes, please keep telling me I'm right.

A message saying something about POP not popping or some such thing keeps coming up instead of the mail.

An internet virus once wiped out a book I had been writing.

Of course, that's not a tragedy either. I could/should attempt to write it again.

Maybe I should forget mozilla and return to outlook.

Or maybe I should just get to sleep.

As Scarlet O'Hara said:

"Tomorrow is another day..."

Better Late Than Never

You may have noticed the silence here and on Shiloh Musings for thirty hours or more. I hope you noticed. I hope you popped in to visit...

After my friend and I (and her infant granddaughter) sweated to the oldies, I got myself spruced up, went to Ofra to babysit for the grandkids and then to a wedidng in Jerusalem. I stayed over at friends, because the friend and I study together in Matan, and we had a lecture this morning.

So... after picking up my new reading glasses, the cheapest "free" frame but spluging a big ns40 on a chain--lots less than a nicer frame, I hiked to the bus station and came home. And here I am.

I hope I'll be able to sleep tonight, since I had my morning coffee at 2pm.

That's not the "later" the title refers to. I'm a bit late to see the lastest, most recent, Havel Havelim at Leora's. Over twenty bloggers already posted comments, and it's only Monday!

Considering that the last few previous posts here are all about blog carnivals of sorts, you must think that I'm finished with the subject. Sorry, but you won't be sorry to see that there's also a new edition of the Carnival of Recipes.

I love the community spirit among bloggers. And don't forget Kosher Cooking Carnival. Please send in your posts and anything suitable you see. And if you're interested in hosting one, please write to me at shilohmuse at yahoo dot com

Thanks

The New And Improved Gantseh Megillah

Yes, here's the latest edition of the Gansteh Megillah. Now you can comment on the articles!!

So, nu, visit please.

Picture This!

For some strange reason, I never recieved notice of the latest JPIX Carnival, hosted by Ilana-Davita.

She did a totally great and gorgeous job. I'm glad that I found it. Blog carnivals are a lot of work, so please visit JPIX.

Fitness Carnival and Some Musing...

Lots of blogs are devoted to health and fitness. Here's The 35th edition of the Weight Management & Fitness Forum.

This blog is more a hodge-podge of things, not only recipes, diets, diary stuff, pictures.

Here, on me-ander, I post whatever I don't think will go on Shiloh Musings, which is more political. Periodically, I think of ceasing posting here, but...

As you can see, I haven't. My food stuff, public diet, family stories etc don't belong on Shiloh Musings. In a few days I'll post the premeir edition of "Blogging Losing Weight Carnival." And then #39 of the Kosher Cooking Carnival.

Shavua Tov
Have a Great Week!

Yentel, Rather Passe`

Tonight our little Shiloh Cinema Club saw Barbra Streisand's Yentl.

I had never seen the movie before and found it terribly out of date. Today women can study Torah, Talmud, everything. I'm taking a course in Matan where there are great women scholars.

The movie is based on an old Singer story. He liked strange love triangles, and this is one of them. I think that for him the sex aspect, innocence and temptation were paramount.

Hard To Believe

I have another pound off, and I don't even feel like I'm dieting. If somebody would have told me that such a thing was possible, I'd have him/her tested for hallucinogens.

Such siyate d'shmaya, the hand of G-d, in this. With the wrong diet, I would have gone off within the first twelve or less hours.

Start Fresh kosher weight loss diet, is definitely the type of diet I can stick to. I'm allowed unlimited vegetables of those not considered carbohydrates. I love cooked vegetables, sauteed with a bit of oil and cooked in a covered pot. I don't add liquid at all, so all the vitamins and minerals are there to be eaten.

I've noticed that I'm eating less in terms of total quantities. Portion control will be the key to losing weight pretty soon. That's when "unlimited" is really too much. But it all must be gradual. Maybe I should invest in a slightly smaller frying pan for my "big meals." I have a small one and a large one. Medium would be a good idea. The problem is that I don't really have the money to spend right now.

OK, it's Friday, time to close down blogging for a bit and get into the kitchen. Shabbat is approaching and there's also laundry to hang out.

Don't Forget The Turkey

In Israel we can easily buy turkey parts; whole turkeys aren't the standard.

When I was the cook in our local pre-school, infants to three year olds, day care center, we had a cooking workshop about turkey. Apparently, it has close to the iron of beef with much less fat. It's more like chicken.

I frequently buy ground turkey meat and use it for meatballs and meatloaf. It has more flavor than chicken, too.

Another turkey treat is drum sticks (legs) and wings. I used to just cook up the drum sticks, but since some people found it too generous a portion, I now buy the wings, which is a much better deal. The percentage of meat to bone is better, making it less expensive per serving. The wings are cut and much, much meatier than chicken wings, which are just lots of skin, bones and feathers.

Yesterday I cooked up a package of drum sticks and a package of wings, turkey of course. I added an onion, paprika and enough red wine so it wouldn't burn. Since I'm on Start Fresh kosher weight loss diet, I didn't put in dried fruit, raisins and prunes. The sugar per serving from the wine is negligible, since there was hardly any wine.

I don't cook vegetables in the meat, because it will absorb too much fat, and I eat only minimal starch, so carbohydrates don't get added either.

You All Eat. Don't You?

So if that's true, why not post something about food, kosher food, for the next KCC, the Kosher Cooking Carnival? It's more than just a recipe carnival. Here are links to the last three.

#36 Thanks Baila
#37 Thanks Leora
#38 Thanks Ilana-Davita

As you can see, the hosts are from all over the world, Israel, New Jersey and France. I'm hosting the next one, which will be posted pretty soon.

So, please send in your posts and anything suitable you see. And if you're interested in hosting one, please write to me at shilohmuse at yahoo dot com Thanks

I Needed A Better Answer Than: "Duh?"

Today I went to the Bituach Le'umi, National Insurance-unemployment office. I thought I had brought everything in, but a letter arrived requesting my last four pay slips.

Today was the day; I got there very easily. It was one of those miraculous, Gift from G-d, rides which I picked up even before getting to the bus stop, and it just happened to be going a few minutes' walk from my destination.

Getting into the building was also quick and easy; second time is less traumatic.

No wait, and I went in to give the clerk the photocopies. She read through quickly, and then:

"What's this special private contract?"
"Duh? Haven't a clue."
"Then, why do they have that large payment?"
"Oh, you said chozeh ishi-private contract. Yes, I was a teacher, and I taught the kids in a special program, effes sheva, zero seven. And yes, they made me sign a special contract every year, because the money came from a special department."
"OK"

Whew, that was close. And yes, everything I said was true. I just forgot the offialleeze.

Celebrating TU B'Shvat

I had some errands to do in downtown Jerusalem on TU B'Shvat. I heard music coming from Ben Yehuda Street.






Yes, it was quite a celebration. Maybe I'll put more up on my youtube. I'm amazed at what I took pictures of, since I couldn't see clearly. I had just been to the eye doctor and the drops he put in my eyes made it all blurry. I just pointed the camera and hoped for the best.

Saturday night, Shiloh had a big 31st anniversary celebration. The "powers" brought in an "improv" group, known as "play back." They request stories from the audience and then make up skits based on the stories. Here they are showing a young mother, fed up with living without paved paths and roads, being the only occupied house in a new neighborhood. She shlepped her two babies to the office to complain.

Wasting Time

Today has been one of those wasted days. I had planned on going to Jerusalem, but I didn't. The house was cold. It was well into the afternoon when I discovered that the heater was on super low. I don't function in the cold. I didn't function.

The news is full of the elections, and the announcers are full...

I don't know why I have it on. I did watch the classic movie Roman Holiday. I do enjoy the old classics. OK it's not that old, but it's a well-made movie, great acting.

New Update Concerning Moshe Avitan (Moshe Rafael ben Aliza A'isha)

Here's the latest health update about Moshe Avitan (Moshe Rafael ben Aliza A'isha).

Dear Relatives and Friends,

From various e-mails that I have received and from meeting some of you in the neighborhood, I understand that some people have been suffering withdrawal symptoms and are missing my daily updates on Moshe's health! Therefore I decided to send you all a quick note tonight (Tuesday 10 February). However, it seems that you may be fated to wait. Presumably due to the thunderstorms, high winds and heavy rain here, my internet is down. I'll keep this until I am back on line and then send it out.

Moshe went for a checkup to the "mouth and jaw" doctor at the hospital yesterday. The doctor was happy with his progress in that department and says that perhaps next week they'll remove the support that he has below his left eye. This is indeed good news but the big problem still remains - the damage to the nerves at the back of his eyes. He has a scheduled appointment with the eye doctor on 19 February. Perhaps then we will be able to have some idea as to the prognosis for his eyesight.

Please keep up the prayers. We truly believe they are what has brought Moshe this far and will hopefully bring him to a full recovery.

All the best,

Ruth

Just to remind you. During Ehud Barak's reign of terror, the short but terrible time he was Israel's Prime Minister, Arab terror attacks, like the one in which Moshe was so seriously injured, were daily occurrences. The media keeps claiming that it can't understand why the Labor Party under Barak fared so poorly in yesterday's elections. I guess the public isn't as dumb and forgetful as they are.

Thunder And lightning

I'm going to have to turn off the computer and unplug everything if the thunder and lightning get closer.

Three of our kids came home to vote today. One's in New York, and the other votes near her own home.

The weather has been stormy, but it was very pleasant in the school where the voting took place.

It has been years since I "manned" a voting station for Knesset Elections, but my neighbors still expected me to be there for more than a personal vote. I'll probably be running our local elections in a couple of weeks. It's my civic duty, the only volunteer work I do here. Most everything else has a paid person, and I don't volunteer with salaried people. My time is no less precious, and I do need work.

Another Reason Not To Get Very Thin

I am happy that I'm losing weight on Start Fresh kosher weight loss diet, but I don't really want or expect to become very, very thin. If I do, I'll look much older for sure.

My aim is to get as much weight off as comes off without major effort. And now I just read an article saying that when identical twins have been different weights, the heavier one looks younger. I noticed that with a neighbor and her sister, but I thought it was just them. Now I know that it's a documented fact. If I had known that before my diet, it would have had been another excuse not to diet.

It would have been a very foolish excuse at best. I'm glad to get some of this extra weight off. As I've mentioned before, my kids are so supportive, it gives me the impression that they really want me to lose the weight and probably have for a long, long time.

Another "Good News-Bad News"

Good news!
It's raining!! Israel is suffering from such a serious drought, every drop of rain is precious, as is every drop of water.

Bad News!
Many people had been planning a real vacation funday, like a Sunday before, after voting. Schools are closed for Election Day; it's a national holiday without any religious restrictions.

Teaching English

Yesterday, when I picked up my granddaughters from gan, pre-school, the older one mentioned something about my giving them English Lessons. I didn't think all that much of it, since I'm always giving them lessons by only talking to them in English. OK, it's not "pure English."

There's more than a "smattering" of Hebrew in the English I use with my grandchildren, but they are learning more English than they would be if I didn't use any.

"Throw it in the pach, (garbage.)"
"Go to the toilet to make peepee."

There are terms they understand and even repeat like:

"Be careful."
"Wash up." (Which they hear as one word, washup.)

English isn't a "foreign language" for them; it's familiar.

When I was babysitting, before we got the baby, toddler age but not yet independently walking, the mother of the elder's best friend called:

"M- said that you're giving them an English Lesson today. What time should I bring her?"
"Really, I didn't know that, but no problem, I'll put something together."

Within a few minutes, the "class of three little girls" were ready for their lesson. Obviously, I had no time to prepare "materials." When I was the temporary girls gym teacher, for 13 years, I used to start lessons with the song, "Head, shoulders, knees and toes," so I taught them that, which has a lot of vocabulary. Not even my granddaughters know all the words, so they put them at a more even starting level. We sang it a few times until the girls felt confident joining in. Then I "quizzed them" a bit.

Next part of the lesson was colors. They were all wearing some pink. I taught them the word and had them go around the room pointing the pink things and shouting "pink." Then we did it for white and blue. That was enough. I didn't want to push too much, especially for my "new student."

Afterwards I wrote out the song and "vocabulary" for the "new girl" to take home and study.

Because I Never Planned On Working...

I never planned my retirement. And now life's going to get more complicated. It never occurred to me that we'd need my income, not when we were young and not now. As modestly as I've been living, I guess it hasn't been modest enough.

I just read a NYTimes op-ed, which brings up some very good points.

• What do you think?
  
• What do we owe our kids?
  
• What do we owe ourselves?
  
• Do overly helpful parents stunt or stimulate their kids?

Coffee Cents

According to Consumer Reports, it doesn't make sense to buy the expensive, name-brand coffees, like Starbucks. The most inexpensive, at $5.99, I saw last summer, in the supermarket, Eight O'Clock did better in the taste tests.

Unless you're totally desperate and jetlagged, like I was during a recent visit to New York, the biggest rip-off is buying a cup of coffee "out."

You can get lots more coffee for your buck, shekel, lira, pound, peso etc, if you make it at home or in the office. Here in Israel, I can get an entire package of ground coffee for less than the price of two cups from a coffee shop.

It's hard to believe that I went for years without drinking coffee...

#103, From The Apple, Up The Road

About ten minutes, or less, north of Shiloh is Tapuach, Apple. That's where the 103rd Hevel Havelim has blossomed like a shkadiya, almond tree, in a year blessed with rain.
It has been nurtured by the indefatigable jblogger, Ya'aqov.

Isn't it amazing how similar the apple and almond trees are?

Chag TU B'Shvat Sameach! May your lives be very fruitful!

PS Just to remind you that the next KCC, The Kosher Cooking Carnival is soon, so please send in your posts or any you see which will suit the menu. And if you're interested in hosting one, please let me know. Thanks!