I was very sad to read that Norman Mailer died, I really like his writing. I found a book of short stories, completely weathered and old, at Halper's Book store on Allenby street in Tel Aviv last summer, and loved it! Granted, every page practically fell out as I was leafing through, but I found that if I was careful I was able to keep it in tact. I spent a fantastic day, back in the Summer of 1999, at Norman Mailer's Hampton's house. It was beautiful, exactly what you would expect a beach house to look like. With gravel instead of pavement on the long driverway from the street to the home, and plenty of white and blue and wood inside. The back terrace and pool though, was absolutely breath taking. I was there for a client event, and the front yard sported a huge white tent. A number of celebrities, Hamptons socialites and writers were in attendance, and I represented my client as best as I could, and then myself and my supervisor drove through town to pick up some salt water taffy and head back to Manhattan. There were only a couple of minutes when I looked around and said to myself, "oh my lord, I'm at Norman Mailer's Hamptons house". It was a little awe inspiring, much better than any Puffy white party could ever be. Rest in Peace Norman, I'll miss your work but I'll never forget that summer day at your lovely home.
Yesterday was a lot of fun! Buggy and I slept in a bit and then we ran some errands. I went back to the ENT at the Wolfson Center and he told me that my vertigo is caused by calcium deposits that came loose in my inner ear. Yuck! The only way to treat that is with physiotherapy and not I have to find someone who will do exercises with me to fix the issue. Annoying but necessary.
After the Wolfson Center, Buggy and I drove to Bayit Vegan to look at the location for his final government project. He is designing a spectacular, groundbreaking and extremely unique Kindergarten, for a location on the main street in Bayit Vegan. I came along as photographer, so we could take pictures of the house that would be demolished in lieu of this kindergarten. It was weird for me to be back in Bayit Vegan, a neighborhood full of really, really religious people who walk around in either yeshiva uniforms of with their hair covered/long sleeves/long shirts. I felt uncomfortable wearing my jeans, and hoped that no one from Michlalalah would either walk or drive by. While I have no problem, religiously, wearing jeans and not covering my hair, I also believe in being respectful of others people's beliefs. Which is why, I always wear the appropriate garb while going to religious neighborhoods. I told Buggy that the next time we come to the neighorhood, I will at least put on a skirt. Personally, I'd like to go back to Michlalah to show Buggy the school that meant so much to be as a seminary student. I have only the fondest of memories and would like to share with him the reasons why.
After we took pictures, we came back to the apartment and Buggy and I had some leftover pumpkin soup before he went off to work at the office. Since last night was a really late night for us, I relaxed a little and just read and watched some TV.
Yesterday was Buggy's brother's 25th birthday and we went out to dinner, the immediate family, to this great restaurant called Pini BaChatzer (I think that means Pini in the Courtyard but not 100% sure of the translation) which is located between Derech Hevron and Derech Beit Lechem in a dirt pit that you would think was a junk yard but really it's hiding two restaurants and a club. We got to dinner at 10:00 p.m. and Buggy and I were pretty hungry and I had left 12 points for dinner! (Weight Watchers points are really annoying!). Anyway, Buggy kinda warned me of the menu, but I was still surprised at their appetizer list. They serve a lot of sweetbreads, spinal chord, oxtail sauce, etc. That's not really my thing, although a lot of people really like those types of delicacies. I don't like my meat raw, or part of a body part that I'm not really used to eating. So, I passed on the appetizers and order the filet minyan - medium to well done. Well, I know that's not the way to eat meat, but I must have my meat cooked through. Buggy, as you already know, loves his meat rare so he got the filet minyan rare. But first, a couple people braved the appetizers and there was plenty of beef carpacio and pea soup to go around. The restaurant brings a lot of great little salatim to the table, and I fell in the love with the lentil salad. The dressing was so refreshing, it was fantastic. And, their breads look like jelly donuts, and they smelled so great but I resisted the urge to eat one. Eventhough, I kept asking Buggy if I could just smell his, because the scent was incredible. The rest of our party polished off the bread, so you can understand just how good it was! Buggy's brother-in-law ordered little mini fish for his appetizer, and well, they were served as mini fish. I kept waiting for that Ozzy Osborne moment, where he would put the head in his mouth and take a big bite, but I was sadly disappointed when he simply cut and removed the heads to his salad plate. That could have been a lot of fun.
Oh, and before I get to the mains, I have to complain about the drinks. Pini BaChatzer is really NOT a drink place. The bartender tried very hard to accommodate me, but he had no idea what I was talking about when I asked for an extra dirty Ketel One martini. Granted, he at least heard of Ketel One (although they don't stock it) but we had a whole discussion about what extra dirty means. I told him, it meant olive juice, and he was confused. He thought I meant olive oil and I said no, it's the juice of the olives. He made a face like that was the nastiest thing I could want - as if spinal chord is better - and so I just dropped it and let him made me a drink with Midori sour mix. It was flourescent yellowish/greenish and made with some mellon juice, and was very sweet and tasty. I made sure it wasn't too weak though, sometimes you need a shot of courage in a glass to make it through an evening with your new family,
Well, finally, the mains came out and it was a veritable poupou plattter of beef barely cooked. My MIL got the sirloin rare, Buggy got his filet rare, Buggy's brother got his entrecote rare, and Buggy's sister got her filet medium. Buggy's brother's girlfriend ordered the liver with mashed potatoes and I give her props, I can stomach chopped liver but cannot actually cut through a whole liver looking the way it did while it was inside a chicken. Well, Buggy's sister's dinner hadn't arrived yet and just as I cut into my first piece of meat and noticed it was a bit too red for my taste, did the waiter come by to tell me that they made a mistake with my food. Mine was still cooking, and I was eating my SIL's. Phew! I was happy it was hers because I didn't want to send it back to cook longer, and so I waited for my meal to finish cooking.
That's when the waiter brought me a little sample of the Beef Cheek Stew. He set it down in front of me and told me that it was chickpeas and beef cheek, while indicating with his hand his own mouth and cheek area. I thanked him for bringing it to me and, as soon as he left, passed it around the table. Sorry, but I don't like to eat any part of the cow's face. If that means that I am common, so be it, but this common girl just says no to cheeks and tongues. My MIL asked which cheek he was referring to and I was confused for a minute, until I realized she was referring to the cow's ass. Yeah, that would have been worse, so I was happy the beef cheek was on the other side of the table. Meanwhile, my FIL absolutely LOVED it and he helped polish off the plate. The waiter came by and asked if I didn't like the beef cheek, and I smiled and told him that I just wanted to share the wealth with the rest of the family. Buggy didn't understand why I did that, he thought that I should have just told the guy the truth that I wasn't into beef cheek, but my food was still in kitchen. I never piss off wait staff at restaurants, especially anyone who can do anything unsavory to my food before it's brought to the table. So, I'm always polite and enthusiastic and kind, and pray that no one ever spits or pisses, or WORSE, in my food.
Well, the drink has at this point really worked its way through my system, and my normal filter is off kilter and the next thing I know, I've inadvertantly insulted my SIL. Then, to add insult to injury, I explore the insult further through a discussion. Buggy was laughing the whole way through, and that's when I realized I was done for the evening. Fortunately, no one wanted dessert (not even the birthday boy), so we got the bill and left. Meanwhile, I had only eaten a quarter of my meal thinking there was going to be a birthday cake for dessert. I felt gyped! So, I told Buggy that we are going to have his brother over and I'm going to bake him a birthday cake so I can at least have a piece! I mean, why else do you think I went to the party? A birthday party should ALWAYS come with cake, preferably cake that has lots of yummy frosting too! I'm all about the frosting.
I got home and had no problem falling asleep and today is going to be a relaxing day. I did some yelling at Bar Ilan this morning because I discovered that as a Minhal Hastudentim student, I only had to pay 500 shekel when I registered instead of the 3200 shekel they asked me to pay. Hearing about that really pissed me off. Also, Minhal Hastudentim told me that if I don't get my grades into them by December, I'm not going to be financially covered since they close the budget. Well, I'm still waiting on 3 grades (2 for no reason whatsoever) and so I had to be a bit firm about that since I can't afford to pay for school out of pocket.
And now I'm just doing some work and some writing. We have a new cleaning person here today, Monique, who is very sweet and nice but I'm nervous that she's not doing such a good job. She has spent 2 hours cleaning 3 rooms and I only pay her for 3 hours and need her to do my living room/dining room and kitchen! Hopefully she'll be here soon cause I got 1 hour to go before I have to tell her to leave.
OK, I'm off to inspect the apartment! Come back later for some Product of the Day
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