HH Debut

The latest Havel Havelim is a first time for Baila. She did a truly excellent job!

Maybe now that she's gotten her feet wet, she'll try a Kosher Cooking Carnival!

Don't forget to send in your posts about kosher food. It's not just a recipe carnival. Cookbook and restaurant reviews, halachik controversies and explanations, menus, traditions, anything!

As long as it's kosher!

February, KCC #27, will be hosted by Food History. If you're interested in hosting a future KCC, please let me know, shilohmuse at yahoo dot com.

Interesting Guests

This Shabbat, our Shiloh neighborhood hosted a group of handicapped teens. Apparently, one of the neighbor's kids works or volunteers with the group. Most were in wheelchairs. There was a volunteer accompanying each kid.

They slept and ate in various homes, dovened in the shuls.

We hosted one of the girls and her volunteer for lunch.

For some of them it was their first trip to a yishuv, and they had no idea what to expect. They were surprised at how "normal" we are and how peaceful it is. As much as we need rain, I'm glad that the weather cooperated, which made the visit very easy.

Shavua Tov,
Have a wonderful week!

I see that the spellcheck still doesn't work...grrr...

"Chanukat Ha-Kitchen"

There's a Jewish custom to have a "Chanukat HaBayit" when moving to a new home. When my neighbor had a new kitchen installed, she had a Chanukat Ha-Kitchen.

Another neighbor came in and did a Torah-inspired presentation about baking challah and Hafrashat Challah.

I haven't baked challah for years. And in my challah baking days, it wasn't such a spiritually charged event. Now women (and some men, actually my youngest son used to be my challah baker until we went into the army) use the mitzvah to ask G-d for important things for family and friends. There are all sorts of things to say during every stage of the challah preparation, from sifting the flour onwards.

When we sift the flour, we're to ask G-d to sift out all of our faults, like imatience, jealously etc.
When the challah is rising, we're to concentrate on things like fertility.

Here are some of the pictures:

Bagel, No Bargain

On Wednesday, when I was in Ramat Eshkol, after going to the Neve Yaakov pool, before going to teach in Beit El, I was starving, so I bought some lunch.

There's a nice variety of food places in the shopping center. Yes, the sandwiches were under ns20. I decided to try the bagel place, Sam's. They seem to be real boiled-first bagels. I chose tuna, even though its pale color hinted at much too much mayonaise.


It cost ns17, almost as much as the Red Box I had bought in Cafe Hillel earlier in the week.

Afterwards I was still hungry. And the wholewheat bagel was too sweet, but that's a common problem here.

Reflecting

If you've seen a lot of my photos, you know that I get a kick out of reflections.

The other day going to work, I noticed that the front window of the little "guard booth" has a mirrored window.

In it I saw the snow which was across the street. I could not resist taking a picture.

As I walked past the side window, the guard gave me the strangest look.

At Tel Shiloh

I went there today with some neighbors. I'll blog about the visit, with pictues of course, on Shiloh Musings.

This is the third time I've gone down there recently.This time we more than doubled our numbers.

I've stopped going to Kever Rachel. I feel all stressed out in Kever Rachel, and it's not from the traveling. It's all walled in and very crowded. It's depressing.

I'm not all that crazy about praying by a grave.

I can walk to Tel Shiloh from my house. It's about a mile. The area is beautiful; you can feel G-d's presence. There's a calm, shalva, peacefulness.

I'm Tired

Yes, exhausted.
I was up very early this morning, went to the Neve Yaakov pool, then had a tuna bagel sandwich in Ramat Eshkol (more details in another post) then hitched a ride to work then taught then hitched home had dinner and soon I'm off to a "kitchen (house) warming." A neighbor was given the gift of a "new kitchen."

And I wonder if anybody cares...

Education Carnival! Enjoy!!

Check out the latest Carnival of Education. It's the easiest way to network with a great variety of educators from all over the world.

There's always something to learn.

Strange

Last night I tried making a call to the states, but after dialing, nothing happened, no sound from the phone. Peculiar.

So, since I got up early this morning, I tried again. I tried all different numbers and a couple of our overseas "deals." Same thing, silence after dialing.

Then I wondered...
Maybe it's the line.
So, I picked up the phone and actually listened, silence. I checked that it was plugged in. It was. So I checked the extension. Just as quiet.

Final test...
I dialed the house number from my cell phone. It rang.
So, then I tried it all again, and... a dial tone! I called my parents, B"H.

Strange

Cinema as Literature

I showed my 10th grade class a great movie this week, Men of Honor. I decided to use it to fulfil their literature requirements. I don't think they were happy when they discovered that seeing the movie wasn't just for fun.

They are going to have to work hard. Life's no picnic, and that's a theme of the movie:

"Be the best."

The younger generation just doesn't get it. You get what you pay for.

Beit El's Another World

Israel's a tiny country, and climate differences abound. We had snow in Shiloh, yes, lots--by Israeli standards--snow. But by the time I went to work yesterday, the snow was just a memory. As I rode south, it was different. By the time we passed Ofra, the roads were surrounded by snow on both sides.

Here at Givat Asaf, the T Junction to Beit El, snow wasn't a memory at all. There was lots more in Beit El, but I didnt' feel like taking out my camera.
Though I did take it out for this sunset. It's not terribly clear, since I took it from inside the classroom. The double window, one bullet proof, was closed.

Bullet proof, you may be asking. Yes, bullet proof since during Ehud Barak's reign of terror, Arab terrorists shot towards the yeshiva from Ramaala.

Siyata D'Shmaya and Lunch Bargain

Yesterday I just had to get out.

Sunday is a day off, and we had been snowed in for most of last week.
I had an important "assignment," to get prices of the medications my parents need. I was hoping that the "mitzvah" would facilitate my travel. I needed the help, since we don't have a 9am bus. It's either around 8am, too early, or 10:30, too late.

Before leaving, I hung out two washes and planned on returning home on the 3:30pm bus at the latest, so I could take in the wash before the dusk humidity dampened it all.

By the time I got out, it was almost 9:30, the worst time for rides and a full hour before the next bus. Being Sunday, I also knew that there would be lots of competition for rides, if any car did leave.

Miracle! Before I got to the bus stop neighbors stopped their car, "Jerusalem? Get in!" If I had left my house a minute earlier or a minute later, I wouldn't have gotten that ride!

Bonus! First thing they asked when I got in was:

"Where is -- sitting shiva?"

Oops! I had forgotten that I had wanted to copy the address and visit (pay a condolence call) her. So we werent there before I checked out medicine prices.

Jerusalem looked gorgeous, post snow.

I walked and walked. It was time to eat lunch. I decided to budget myself a maximum of ns20. I wasn't in the area of cheap sandwich places. I also didn't have water with me, not smart. Finally, I made it to downtown Jerusalem and decided to try out the Holy Bagel. I peeked into the "old one" but decided to try the new one near Sambooki. Of course, I wouldn't go to Sambooki, since they didn't give me olive oil last time.

So I went into the new Holy Bagel. A worker was cleaning away "something" from one of the cream cheeses. That was a turn-off. Then I checked out the tuna. It had some of those, I've been sitting out a long time brown spots on the top. Puke! I figured that the girl was clearing a sign of "unfreshness" from the cheese, and to think she was doing it by the front door meant that Holy Bagel is off my list. So I continued walking.

I checked out the Cafe Hillel and noticed the sign for their "Red Box Breakfast Special." At ns19.99, it qualified for my ns20 budget. It's a great deal and like many "breakfasts" served all day. I had a tuna sandwich, a yogurt drink, cup of coffee and some olives. It was a "to go," so I couldn't eat there, but it was really a full meal. I had the yogurt later, on the bus home.

Blogging a Carnival part 2

Well, I'm on a roll, or crusade (just took Man of La Mancha out of the video place but that's another post or two) about blog carnivals, how to host one, and now I'll write a bit more, including how to be a good "guest."

First bit of advice, if I hadn't made it clear in part 1, don't plan on doing it in one sitting. Hosting a blog carnival is definitely one of those things which should be done gradually. No, you don't have to add a link everytime you find one or get one mailed to you, but it does take me a good few hours, and I like to do it over a period of days. I once did a Chanukah HH with the concept of "eight days" as my theme.

If you've done your own searching for links, send them to yourself as emails, so you can file/save/store them, see part 1.

About illustrating with pictures, you can use the services of one of those free picture hosts like Photobucket and flickr. They give you the Html codes for various sizes, which you can copy into the draft on Word, see part 1.

Now, most important--

How to be a good "guest"

Just like any guest, you should provide a "gift." Now what's the most suitable gift to give a carnival host who has mentioned/linked your blog?

In one word-- recognition

Please write a short post mentioning the carnival and asking your readers to visit. Then you comment to the carnival itself. I usually add the link to my thankyou to make sure the host is aware of it.

Enjoy blogging!

PS Another super important thing. It's not enough to just have your post mentioned, right? You want other bloggers to visit your blog. So, you should visit the other blogs mentioned in the carival.

Big question: Is anyone else having trouble with blogger's spellcheck?

Blogging a Carnival part 1

There's a part 2

As you probably know by now, blog carnivals are "floating internet magazines." At least that's my term for them. Besides being the "owner" and initiator of the Kosher Cooking Carnival, I've hosted a number of Havel Havelims and at least one of the lamented--we await its return JPix.

A "host" collects "suitable to the topic" links to posts from various blogs and sites. Honestly, there's a pretty fine line distinguishing between the two. And it's the job of the host to somehow put it all together in an organized, interesting or haphazard "carnival."

The Blog Carnival is like a clearing house plus. You can look through its listing of carnivals to send your post. It sends the carnvial host posts with even a suggested "sentence." A couple of days before the carnival is due, the host gets an offer of the full collection of posts sent. That's a great backup, if you're afraid you lost some.

All of us who host carnivals have our own way.

I developed a method with two backups, that's one besides blogcarnival's ready-written listing.

How to Put Together an Edition of a Blog Carnival

• First, whenever an email annoucement from "bc" or letter with link arrives, I file it away in my special yahoo mailbox.
• When I'm ready to start putting together the carnival, I write it as a "word document."
• I start going through the mailbox, check out the link, write something I hope is suitable on Word, "mark" the letter but not delete it, etc.
• I also add the sender's address to my blog carnival mailing list.
• After each "session" besides the "regular save" on Word, I save on my "extrenal memory."
• So the links are in three places: the mailbox, the Word document and the external memory.
• When everything's finished on Word, I create a new post on my blog for the carnival.
• I copy/paste what I wrote on Word in blogger compose mode.
• Then I flip it to "Edit Html."
• Then back to Compose.
• That's necessary, since I have my KCC logo in Html as part of my Word document. I just keep copying it from edition to edition. Also if you use any of the blogcarnival suggestions, it comes with Html, which is very helpful. You can always play with it.
• Then I add any additional pictures, and then I choose font, size and color.
• Publish and that's it!
• ps If I'm posting it early, I post-date it by clicking "Post Options" on the bottom of the compose screen.

Also, please consider this a reminder to send in your links for KCC by clicking here!

Super Bowl, Shmuper Bowl!

Being that I've been an Israeli longer than most jbloggers have been... in real life existence, and considering that my father was never the spectator type, so I really don't know anything about the Super Bowl. And the only giant I grew up hearing about was the one Jack found when he climbed the beanstalk.

So it's really strange that Jblogger Jack wants the Giants to win his Havel Havelim. Or maybe I misunderstood something there. It's possible, of course. I may not be a CPA, like him, but I'm my father's daughter and can't imagine being on the sidelines.

But back to Havel Havelim #152. Jack did a great job. There are interesting posts, and it really seems like he read them all.

May the best team win. I admit that my kids will say that means the Giants.

"Off Time"

My concept of time is totally out of wack. Generally I have a very accurate idea of the time, but now it's off.

"Forever" my computer was 15 minutes ahead, and suddenly it's "exact" time, and now I keep miss-calculating.

I hope that nobody "corrects" the wall clock we have up. It's 10 minutes fast, and I calculate everything according to those ten minutes.

ps Am I the only blogger who gets error for spellcheck?

Migratory Reflections

Shameless self promotion by Isramom:

My husband and I and two of our daughters spent a week in November in the United States. It was a whirlwind of visiting family on both sides and attending a wedding in far off Connecticut. Trips like this -for me anyway - always involve introspection and reflection about the experience of leaving family and the familiar, making aliya and raising my own family far away from blood relations.

My blog has a longish post about this .

But I Did Take a Walk

First of all, if you haven't seen enough snow pictures on this blog, try out pesky's. She has a much better show, with music and everything. I'll have to take lessons from her.

But since you're here, take a look at some of the pictures I took on Friday. Some snow remained, but the sky was ugly.

This snowman had obviously seen better days.
This one, too. His house wasn't built to last, either.
That's Eli, just north of us. It looks like it's lit by a spotlight.
Shavua Tov!

Have a wonderful week.

S'more Snow

Please don't make fun of us here in the Holy Land, where any time that snow sticks to the ground, it's headline news.


Of course, the buses could have run, but why ruin the fun?




A snow holiday was called by the Wisemen of Chelm.


It seems like by the time I dragged myself out, everyone else was home and warm.


The pool was full, but no swimming.


It's funny how some of the trees here seem to belong in more tropical regions. Yes, from their height, it's obvious that they've survived previous snowstorms.




One major advantage of seeing all this on the screen is that your toes will stay dry and warm. I'm still trying to defrost mine. And you should know, that I had to take my goves off to snap these shots, so I hope you appreciate my m'sirat nefesh on your behalf. Enjoy!
















Shabbat Shalom!!

I Was Hoping To Hang Out The Wash Today

Yes, I was.


But it's just not that type of day.


The sunrise was totaly anemic, and the sky is dirty white.


So, I'm stuck. I guess I'll just have to hang it out in the house and transfer it to the den for Shabbat.

PS Sorry, if there are more than the normal amount of typos and spelling errors. Spellcheck hasn't been working.