Visit from a Lone Star

President Bush is planning on riding into Jerusalem on a white horse to save the Middle East. Reports by media in Israel, and this morning's article in the Jerusalem Post implies that El Presidente is coming for a 2 day trip starting January 10, 2008. Well, Buggy and I are going to try to make it a LOOONG weekend away from Jerusalem when Prez Bush is in town. We'll be locking up out liquor too, just in case, and hopefully finding a nice weekend getaway that won't break the bank. Hmmm, maybe Switzerland? We'll see.

Happy First Day of Chanukah to everyone! Buggy and I attended the family Chanukah party last night and, all I can say is that it's much better than last year. This time, instead of calling me fat, his Aunt told me that I looked so skinny that I could eat all of the potato latkes she won't be eating since she's on a diet. I told her I gained 10 pounds since the wedding and am back to wearing my fat pants, but thanked her for telling me that I looked so nice.

Other highlights included a fantastic roast beef, a major announcement from my sister-in-law about her pregnancy (she announced that she was pregnant) and lots of tears that didn't come from either myself or Buggy. Speaking of Buggy, he was so disappointed this year with the gifts that I feel pretty terrible. Now that he's no longer flying solo, we get "our" presents as opposed to "his" and "hers" gifts. Which makes sense that this year we got 2 bathmats and bath towels, 3 hand towels for when we wash, 2 beautiful rose candles, body cream/perfume and 2 mini-silver spoons to match our silver salt and pepper pots.

Two things about the gifts I want to highlight:

1) This year, Buggy's Aunt didn't give him hand cream. For the past 5 years or so, his Aunt gave him hand cream. I was there last year when she presented him for foot cream, actually, and was pretty shocked by the gift. Of course, he gave it to me and I did use it and enjoyed it, but we get a big chuckle out of the present. Note to all Aunt's/Mother's and gift givers of the world - don't ever give a single male, or marriageable age, hand cream for Chanukah. It just send the wrong message....

2) Buggy's sister got everyone CD's this Chanukah and we were fortunate enough to receive Sting's Hit's that no one has ever heard of and Cat Steven's Remembered. Now, Buggy and I are music snobs. I admit it, I'm not nice when it comes to music, I have very, very distinct taste. In fact, I would never listen to either Sting or Cat Stevens. Buggy, of course, is the same as me when it comes to music (one of the first things we discovered about each other and one of the major reasons we went out on a second date. The man loved The Killers, it was Bashert!). Anyway, I really appreciated the gift because it was a nice present, but what the heck was I going to do with it? Well, Buggy's Aunt got a Bob Dylan CD and she has loads of Dylan and truthfully, I only have a handful of songs from iTunes so I wanted to trade for the Dylan. Buggy's Aunt liked Cat Stevens and a trade was made, but not without slightly offending Buggy's sister (mind you, she SAID we could trade CD's if we didn't like what we got). I ask you folks - why did we get the crappy music selection? Buggy's brother got Led Zepplin (another great pic for us), his Aunt got Bob Dylan, his Mother got Mika (which wouldn't be good for us but it showed that at least his sister put thought into the present since my MIL loves pop music), and we got the CD's you find in the bargain basket at checkout. I kid you not, this gift showed not thought or forsight on his sister's part. Now, I got them two really nice children photo albums and I have to say, I put plenty of thought into the gift. I also spent 84 shekel on her gift, 75 shekel on the present for her daughter - and Gaby and I merited two CD's that roughly cost 25 shekel. Where is the love? It's ok, I learn my lesson once. Next year, she gets scotch tape for Chanukah.

Well, I've been up since 6:30 a.m. and it's amazing that I've got some energy. Buggy has his BIG presentation today and he was a nervous wreck when I woke him this morning. Fortunately, he was able to get up and out of the apartment by 7:10 a.m., with both breakfast and lunch and a Chai to drink. I waited for Avi to come and then we went next door to our neighbors to check out the two leaks in their apartments. First, according to Avi, the living leaks are actually not leaks at all but the water that leaked a few months ago drying in their apartment. The worse we'll have to do is paint the wall because of the damage, but he doesn't think there's any new water damage and if there is, it's not coming from our apartment. That was a big relief. The second leak is HUGE and it's in their kitchen but, fortunately, the only way it could be coming from our apartment is it our Mamad had water in it and was dripping. Avi pointed out that, based on where their kitchen is, the water is actually coming from our next door neighbor's apartment. Avi showed us that our neighbor recently had work done (he did, I remember) and they installed a section of the rood pointing downward as opposed to pointing upward. So, all of the rain and even the dew that collects onto that roof is pouring directly into the roof of our neighbor's kitchen. So, Avi suggested they contact the neighbors to let us know. We also encouraged them to get another opinion, in case they weren't comfortable with what Avi said, and they were just going to have their Kablan called Avi to discuss some of the other options. In the meantime, we're waiting for the next big rain to see if it's from our apartment or leaking from the second balcony. The good news is that, based on the current water damage, it doesn't appear to be anything leaking from our bathroom. That really, really made me feel better.

So now, I'm trying to figure out what we're doing for dinner tonight. Buggy has been so stressed lately because of school that I want to do something nice. I think I'm going to bake him some latke's for dinner, so I have to go to the fruit and vegetable store to pick up some necessary ingredients. We're also almost out of toilet paper and paper towels, so I need to pick that up too, and I think I'm going to make some chicken for dinner so I'm going to go to Falcon to get some meat.

Well, my Heroes video is almost done loading so I'm off to watch an episode before getting on with my day. Hope everyone is having a Chag Sameach!

Tomer, the Israeli Turkey

Meet Tomer, the Israeli turkey. This morning, Tomer weighed in at an IMPRESSIVE 12.4 pouds (I used our bathroom scale) and
that was while he was still wearing the three plastic bags we wrapped him in when we brought him home from Falcon yesterday.


Here's Tomer after his paprika, black pepper and garlic powder bath...


Here's Tomer sunning himself in the kitchen before his 4 hours in the oven...


Can ANYONE tell me what I'm supposed to do with Tomer's tusch? That was certainly unexpected..


Getting into stuffed position!


BOOOOOOOOO!

I put Tomer into the oven at 9:05 a.m. and the house smells wonderful! I'm so excited about tonight, I just hope I don't somehow mess up the turkey. We're 8 all together and, fortunately, majority of our guests have eaten here before so I'm not that concerned. Yesterday though, I worked so hard that I literally passed out by the time my head hit the pillow. I did almost all of the side dish cooking, cooked 2 turkey legs, AND vacumned and washed our floors. I also managed to do a load of laundry and we went to the mall to pick up gifts for Buggy's brother and his kids. The last thing I made last night was baked sweet potatos, which I'm going to be serving with white marshmallows. Yum! Fortunately, Buggy chipped in and cleaned the toilets. I can never say he doesn't help out because he really, really was helpful.

Buggy is going to spend the day today working and out of the house. Meanwhile, I'm actually on a conference call with him right now because HOT, our telephone/internet and TV provider somehow managed to give away our new home phone. I kid you not! Two days ago, I used the phone to call a friend in London and then this morning, when Buggy was in the car on his way to an appointment he called the house phone and someone else's wife answered. He thought he dialed wrong, and so he dialed again, and the same woman answered. We're on this conference call with HOT because they're trying to figure out what happened. For a minute there, they didn't believe us when we said we even had a HOT phone in the house. I just hope they stop wasting my time and send someone to check it out and give me BACK my new phone number.

So much to do today before our guests arrive this evening! I still have to make the bed, set the table, put together the salad, make the dressing, set up the hot plate, heat up the soup, toast the almonds, and dust. Hehehe, the tables a little dusty for my taste so I'm gonna have to do some pledging.

And so, I have to cut this blog short because the day is even shorter with Shabbos coming in around 4:10! Will try to upload "after" photos of Tomer once I take him out of the oven!

Product of the Day

Empire and their fantastic frozen turkeys are my pick for today. And, even though some US agency only ranked them 23rd in terms of turkey integrity (what that heck does that even mean?), I would give anything for a frozen turkey than the fresh one we picked up yesterday. Seriously, the guy at Falcon looked like he was holding a baby when he brought Tomer out from the back. It made me a little queasy. The beauty of a frozen turkey is that, someone else already did all the hard stuff for you. Someone ELSE stuck their hands up the turkey's behind and scooped out the junk inside. And someone ELSE picked out all the feathers from the skin. Lord knows how much turkey I'll even eat again, it was a bit traumatizing when I had to clean the tusch area this morning. But hey, it's a Thanksgiving dry run , and I guess this is what I need to do to get it right!

Pearl necklace

For my Bat Mitvah, years and years ago, my Aunt Irene (TZ"L) gave me a beautiful pearl necklace. I even remember when she gave it to me, right as people were arriving and the wait staff were circling with the pizza rolls. I really liked those pizza rolls, but not as much as the pearls, which I asked her to put on me right away. In all of my Bat Mitzvah photos, the pearls are just a lovely addition to my punked out 80's Bat Mitzvah dress. I wore the pearls often until, one day, the strand broke and I was fortunate enough that all the pearls landed on the carpet by my feet. I scooped them up, put them into a ziplock baggie, and kept them in my jewelry drawer. I kept them there for a long, long time and even though my Mom told me that I should just go get them restrung, I was lazy and left them in the drawer. Fast forward to my wedding day, and I thought that perhaps a pearl necklace would look nice to wear with my gown. I ended up not wearing a necklace and opting for big, beautiful earrings instead, but the idea had me searching for the pearls. And, sure enough, there they were in the jewelry drawer of my bedroom in my parents house. So, I told Buggy that I wanted to bring the pearls back to Israel to get them restrung here. I remember last minute packing before we left for the airport and grabbing the pearls and putting it in my handbag. After Sheva Brachot were over, we went back to my favorite person Mr. Meltzer and brought in my rings to be redipped (don't ask, it's one of the things that having a white gold band entails, sometimes the gold needs to be dipped a few times because it turns yellow) and to have my pearls restrung. I also changed the clasp from a yellow gold one to a white gold one, so that it matched my rings. When Mr. Meltzer called to tell us everything was ready, we drove over and picked up my engagement ring and the pearls.

So, here's what happened. I was so happy to see my engagement ring that all I did was look at the pearls, check out how nicely they were restrung, and put them back in my handbag. That's the last time I saw them. I have looked all over this apartment for the pearls and, I just have no clue where I put them! I am really upset about it, especially because of the sentimental value of the pearls, and I'm just going to keep looking for them. Hopefully, they're in a drawer or a cabinet or even another handbag somewhere and I just don't remember where.

Yesterday was very busy with food shopping and Buggy and I went to the Supersol by Derech Hevron so I could stock up on my Thanksgiving supplies. I picked up 5 cans of cranberry sauce (3 whole berry, 2 jellied), 4 cans of pumpkin, 5 cans of mandarin oranges, 4 boxes of whole wheat pasta, 2 packages of crazines, 3 packages of marshmallows, 4 pie shells, 4 cans of spaghetti sauce, etc. The bill was quite high, but I was expecting it so I didn't freak out. Especially with this Friday's Thanksgiving dry-run, I know that things are very costly. Fortunately, we reserved some of our wedding money in an "entertaining" fund and holidays fits that bill. While we were shopping, quick and efficient like I like it, this woman came barreling down with her cart and starting just shoving herself into my cart. Well, I was not happy that she was being so pushy, so I said to her "sleicha" which in that instant was Hebrew for "excuse me" or "WTF?" She just ignored me and pushed her way past, shoving my cart into me. So, I said to Buggy, "what a bitch" and continued pulling whole wheat pasta boxes off the shelf. Buggy leaned over and whispered into my ear: "baby, next time wait until she passes before you call her a bitch". I shrugged it off and kept on shopping, happy that she was on the other side of the store and ready for a confrontation in case she came after us.

What I DIDN'T except was that she would be our check out girl. I kid you not, she was the only lane open and I had no choice but to use her. I'll admit, I tensed up a bit, thinking that she would somehow exact her revenge while we were packing up our goods. But, to her credit, she didn't say or do anything. Of course, Buggy knew that I was on edge and so he tried to calm me down and reassure me that nothing would happen. Let's just say, I was very happy once we loaded up the car and got out of there. Maybe she just didn't understand the word in English? Whatever, live and learn. Next time, I curse people out when they're not in earshot.

We were too tired last night so I didn't do any of my Shabbos cooking or cleaning. We just watched some episodes of CSI and Boston Legal and went to bed. I was already under the covers by 10:30! That's really early for me!

I got up a bit late today and quickly got my cooking started. The most annoying thing to make is the bread pudding, which you have to soak and then drain. You know, I've never actually made a bread pudding before but I remember sitting in the kitchen watching my Mom make them. She made them whenever the freezer got too full of left over Challah bread and, since there was a time when I was banned from actually cooking in my parents kitchen, I got to watch. I guess I took note because this morning, I did exactly what she does when she drains the bread with a wire strainer. The bread pudding came out great and then Buggy and I took my HUGE hiking knapsac and we went to Falcon to pick up the turkey.

People, I have no idea how big the male turkeys are cause our turkey is MASSIVE! Seriously, I don't think we'll need to make two of these for Thanksgiving because I think one might be just big enough. Buggy could barely hold it, it was that heavy. He made some comment about my nephew Sammy in terms of weight and how he thinks the turkey is just barely bigger than Sam, and he's 27 pounds! I decided to do all the rest of my Shabbos cooking today and tonight so that I can spend HOURS cooking the turkey tomorrow. I also asked them to cut the legs and the neck off, so that I can cook those at a different time. I might even put them in the freezer and save them for Thanksgiving, because Buggy's family tends to like dark meat.

I'll take a picture of the turkey tomorrow before I prepare it so you can see just how big it is. In the meantime, I think my pecan chocolate chip pie is done and ready to come out of the oven.

Oh happy day!

Got Celery?

My friend Eta sent me an e-mail foward with "inspirational artwork" and this was one of them. I love it, so I thought I'd share with everyone.

I cannot find American celery in this country and it's so unbelievably frustrating. At this point, I think we're having 6 people for Friday night dinner, and I want to make my Aunt's bread pudding and I need celery for that. Worse comes to worse, I'll just buy a lot more of the "regular" celery and use that, but I'd really prefer the American kind. See, the difference in celery is as follows:



I'm used to big, beautiful, robust celery. The ones you can fill with peanut butter and chomp on as a good, nutritious snack. Where one stalk of celery is enough for most onion/celery stir frys.

But, here in Israel, what they sell is this: celery root



And I can't fill this with peanut butter! Plus, I have to buy at least 2 of these to equal 1 cup of finely chopped celery for my onion/celery stir fry. Now, it's not the end of the world to do it this way, it's just more annoying. Especially when it comes to making chicken soup. A lot of Israelis put the celery leaves into the chicken soup, in addition to the stalks. But, I miss having a nice piece of cooked celery in my chicken soup sometimes, so I always ask my fruit and vegetable store if they carry the American kind.

I called them yesterday and walked over two days ago to see if they had any, and of course they were out. Since I want to do a lot of my cooking for Shabbos today and tomorrow, it seems like I'm going to have to suck it up and just use what they sell here in this country. It shouldn't be too bad - hopefully.

It was stinkin hot the past two days and I was so happy to wake up this morning to an 8 degree drop in temperature. It's gloriously crisp and cool outside today and, once I get myself out of bed, I'm going to make me some diet hot chocolate that I brought from New York. I went looking for some more in Jerusalem the other day, and I hit the Moshava on Emek Refaim and all I could find was Hershey's hot chocolate. It had more than 400 calories a package. I put it back on the shelf and walked away, it was hard, but I walked away.

Buggy is B"H much, much better than the other day. He stayed home from school yesterday because his back was a bit stiff and he wanted to do a lot of his work from home, which was good. He got a lot accomplished, as did I. I decided to do some of the things I've been putting off for a while now. I made my appointment with the American Consulate in East Jerusalem to change my name on my passport and then I printed out all the forms that I need to bring with me. Fortunately, we're going to go to the appointment after we get back from London, so hopefully all will work out and I won't be without my American passport for too long.

Since yesterday was election day in the USA, I also registered online as an official overseas voter. Woohoo! Now, they will be sending me the ballot in the big election - which I predict will be between Rudy and Hillary. And if I could, I would start a group of Jerusalem Anglos for Rudy! I sincerely hope Big Rudy will be the next President of the United States of America.

I guess y'all know who I'm voting for next year :)

All I have to do now is mail in the forms to the election office in Queens, New York, and I should be good to go.

I also found 2 more thank you notes that I missed and so I quickly wrote those out, filled in the addresses and dropped them off at the post office. I then made my way to Falcon, the Supermarket on Derech Beit Lechem that has a really great meat and poultry counter, and proceeded to have the funniest conversation in broken Hebrew and English with the man behind the counter.

Me: I need to order three turkeys. I know that my Mother in law already called to give you the heads up that I was going to be ordering them, so I need one turkey for Thursday and another 2 for November 21st.
Mr. Falcon: OK, you need turkey for mama?
Me: Ummm, sure. It can be in my mother in law's name, no problem. But I need the other two to be big enough to feed 24 people. ok?
Mr. Falcon: OK, no problem. You tell me name and I write down.
Me: Sure. My name is HolylandHipster Buggy and we need 2 turkeys for November 21st
Mr. Falcon: OK no problem.
Me: Are you sure 2 turkeys will be enough for 24 people?
Mr. Falcon: Oh yeah, yeah. It will be good. We call those that you want Nekayvah (which is Hebrew for female). No problem. All good. All good. No problem.

Some lady is standing by and smirking as we banter. I thank Mr. Falcon and continue shopping. 5 Minutes later, Mr. Falcon starts calling my name.
Mr. Falcon: Holylandhipster, when does your Mama want her turkey? November 21st - right?
Me: No, no, my mama wants her turkey on Thursday. This Thurdsay
Mr. Falcon: Oh, okay
Me: And the other two turkeys are for November 21st
Mr. Falcon: ok, ok, now I understand.

At this point, I am seriously concerned that I'll be going to Falcon on Thursday (at 10:00, which is when he said it would be ready for pick up) and there won't be any turkey for me. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make chicken if that happens. Next time, I bring Buggy and he speaks to everyone in Hebrew. Much, much simpler.

I did some work for a client yesterday morning, and then I spent the rest of the day just thinking about Thanksgiving. I called Aunt Amy and she gave me some great tips on how to make the dinner, and she told me a some funny stories about her own first Thanksgiving. And how, that first year as a married woman, she went out and bought a completely cooked turkey and served it to her guests as if she made it herself. People, if I could find a completely cooked turkey in this country - on Thanksgiving day no less - believe me, I would probably do the same.

I also spoke to Cousin Neil last night, who caught me up on some UWS gossip, which was fun but extremely lacking in information. Cousin Neil, I've discovered, is not exactly the person to talk to when I need some UWS gossip. I know who to call and I'm thinking I'll give her a buzz in a few hours just to catch up. Hehehe, I know, I know, I'm a bad Jew - but this girl needs some gossip.

Today is going to be very quiet. Buggy was up early and went to school for his 9:40 a.m. meeting with his final project advisor. I got up with him to make him some breakfast and then left all of the dishes in the sink and crawled back to bed before he could even get out the door. I'm tired, so I like trying to catch up on some sleep when the bed is empty. It's not easy being a light sleeper married to a snorer. That, and the kids downstairs wake up screaming every single morning at 5:30 a.m. and I feel like they're in the room with us. They are that loud. I can't wait until my family comes to visit - they too will be up at 5:30 a.m. with our neighbors!

Today, I'm going to make the bread pudding and the pecan pie for Shabbos. Buggy promised to take me to the supermarket so I can do my big Thanksgiving shopping, which I really want to do before we leave for London. Since we get back from London really early on Monday morning, I want all the stuff in the house so I can cook from Monday evening straight until Thursday before our guests arrive! I also have to go to my green grocer to see about that American celery, for the bread pudding, and then I'm hoping to do some writing on my thesis project.

I'm finally ready to get back to my thesis project and I've been doing a lot of thinking about my stories. I really think I have a good handle on what I'm writing for my third story in the collection, while I also have to continue editing my previous two stories. I have 2 written, 1 in the works, and at least 8 to go. Wish me luck people! Oh, and happy writing!
:
Product of the Day




My apartment is pretty nasty and, since we're hoping to have company for Friday night dinner, I need to get moving on cleaning this place up. I don't bother washing my kitchen floor until after I finish cooking, but everything else could use a good scrub. I'm seriously missing Windex and wish the folks over at SC Johnson would start importing some to this Country. For a year now, I've been using the Israeli brand of glass cleaner and its been leaving streaks all over the place. I don't like that at all. Plus, I have a really hard time getting off the toothpaste splatters from our bathroom mirror, and that just grosses me out a bit, so I went searching the other day for stronger glass cleaner. I actually found 409 glass and surface cleaner at Falcon and I was jubilant with the find. It's not my beloved Windex, but at least it's a step up from the Israeli brand. Today, I'm going to clean all of our glass tables, windows and mirrors with the 409. Here's hoping it won't be streaky!