Tzofim trip!!
I've been waiting for the tzofim trip for a while. Last year they went away overnight, so hubby and I also went away. This year they did a day trip, so no vacation for us. Sad face. But on the happy side. I had a girls day out with a friend I've known for twenty years. Eek, that seems like a long time. It was a perfect day. Took the train, walked around, ate food, tested liquors at the liquor store, had a beer, (because why not?) and took the train home. Fun times.
Oh, and I think the kids had fun.
The holidays are over. Life is back to normal. Sort of. We spent sukkot entertaining which as a lot of fun. We had a l'chaim, a scout event, a party for my ulpan class, our fake cousins over, another group of friends over that hubby hasn't seen in years and half of whom I'd never met, (basically another scouting event.) This was in addition to the regular meals we ate in our sukkah. Note, this isn't a picture of my sukkah. This is the view from my kitchen window on sukkot.
#1 L'chaim was for me, as I passed the Israeli nursing exam!!! Now I have to look for a job!
#2 Scout event for my youngest. Someone has to volunteer their sukkah to host the 10 boys in his small group. Except only one boy and their counselor came. So they had plenty of snacks available.
#3 friends and semi family over for meals. We can't fit everyone in our tiny sukkah but we made it work. We had a house full of kids, adults, etc.. Lots of food and fun.
#4 ulpan party for my new ulpan class and a few people from my last class. Towards the end we heard some loud music, so the men (okay, just my husband the husband of one friend) went to investigate. It was coming from the Chief Rabbi's sukkah.They went in, (after telling security that they didn't have weapons) and got to see the speaker of the Knesset and some other people who they don't know. You really never know what you'll see here.
My whole point of describing our sukkot activities here, is a very Jewish one. I cooked. Because Gd forbid someone should be hungry. Oy, my mother and ( I assume my grandparents) would never forgive me. But forget the cooking. I have suddenly gotten very into baking, something I have always shied away from. Let's chalk it up to the miracles of the land.
So in this blog, I will give you a little idea of my cooking conditions here, VS America. I've never had a fancy big kitchen. But I've always had a full sized American oven and stove top. You know, the kind where you can fit two large pans or four lasagna pans inside, and theoretically cook in four pots on top of the stove. That was always normal for me. We aren't a huge family, but we aren't a small one either. So I was always cooking something. Oh, I also used to own three crock pots. And I used them.
Now here in Israel, I've ummmm, downsized??? My kitchen is actually a decent size. It's about the same as the kitchen of my first house, where I lived for ten years. So that's good. But I have a standard Israeli oven. Aka, it theoretically fits two lasagna pans, but if I do that, the bottom pan doesn't really cook. So almost always, it's a solitary oven, one item at a time.
Then we have my "stove top." We had an issue fitting the gas line for a four burner top. So instead, we have a two burner electric thingy. Except it isn't really two burners unless you only own pots that are small enough to feed one person at a time. If I put my regular pot on the burner, I can only fit one pot. So, that's interesting.
When we first moved here, I wasn't used to cooking in such a small capacity. It took me hours to prepare dinner. And then after a few months, I was able to develop a feel for the kitchen and reorganize my cooking. Now I can cook just like I used to, but it takes a lot of planning. And since I love planning and organization, it's worked out quite well. Now I'm wondering, why did I ever need four burners?? That's crazy talk!
Okay, sometimes I do have a lineup of items waiting to be cooked in the oven. But like everyone else in Israel, they have to learn patience. So they just wait quietly on my counter.
And thanks to the miracles of the land, I've been able to cook many delicious cakes and cookies and meals in my tiny appliances.
Just don't get me started on the washer and dryer.
