National Cookie Day!

December 4th is literally my favorite day of the year. Not because this year the date happens to coincide with the beginning of Chanukah, but because it's National Cookie Day! Oh yeah - Buggy and I both harbor the cookie monster within (admit it, you know you do too!) and so, I began prepare for this fabulous holiday by baking! For the first time in my entire adult life, I actually made my Aunt Irene's (TZ"L) cookies and they were just as good as I remembered!

While sifting the flour, baking powder and salt together, I remembered this one summer I had gotten kicked out of summer camp (long story, not worth retelling the reason why in this blog) and I had about 6 weeks left until school started and nothing to do with my days. Since my parents worked, and my siblings were all either away at sleep away or day camp, my days were long stretches of boring. Well, my Grandmother and Aunt Irene both chipped in to help me out and one day I would spend fruit and vegetable shopping with my Grandmother at Kissena Farms. That's where I learnt how to pick good grapes (my Grandmother would pop them into her mouth to make sure they were sweet) and how to tell if a grapefruit was ripe. While, Aunt Irene, would take me over to her house and we would either go errand shopping together on Main Street or we would go to the house and bake! I'll never forget the afternoon we baked her cookies (she let me add chocolate chips even though you really don't need them!) and she let me eat a whole bunch (I was always dieting so cookies were a big NO NO in my house). Aunt Irene was really cool though, and I missed her a lot while baking cookies for Buggy. Anyway, I'm going to bake another batch tonight and bring it over to the Chanukah party.

Yesterday, I was a bit down, but I felt a lot better when I went into town to run some errands. I had to hit the bank to change my name and address since my Teudat Zehut has been changed. Afterwards, I just walked around a bit and looked into shops and stores. Everyone has some sort of Chanukah decoration out in their storefronts, and I was just getting so excited by the holidays that I practically skipped the rest of the way to Buggy's office. He was the only one still there, so I popped over to a computer and lent him moral support as he finished his project. We left around 8:00 p.m. and then I started dinner. We had a nice, balanced and nutritious meal of grilled salmon, brown rice with soy sauce, and three bean salad. Oh yeah, I did it, I actually served us three bean salad! We're way passed not eating certain food items that might be deemed offensive since we live in such close proximity. Anyway, it worked out great, and we were able to watch the latest episode of CSI New York before going to bed.

We had an early night, which was great because Tuesdays are our early mornings, and I had some interesting dreams that included a baby rhino and a dalmation puppy on a remote Island in the Pacific. Anyway, I must have had some sort of dream that Buggy was falling because I woke up - around 3:30 a.m., and lunged at him to make sure he wasn't falling off the bed. Of course, that woke him with a start and he was a little surprised with my sudden, early morning, lunge-to-safe-his-life moment and we had a good little chuckle. He started telling me he was having weird dreams, but since it was so early in the morning, decided to save the retelling until the alarm went off. So, we both went back to bed and I was up before the alarm went off at 6:50 a.m.

Buggy left for school around 7:30 with a tuna melt for breakfast, a deli sandwich for lunch and a whole bunch of goodies for snack (including an apple because it's true that an apple a day really DOES keep the Dr. away) and I, of course, went back to sleep. Four blissful hours later, I was up and on the move because I have so much to do today! First, I had to wrap my Mother-in-law's Chanukah present and, of course, I can't really wrap anything. So, I struggled for about 30 minutes to wrap the two boxes of trivets we bought her, and well, I just hope she doesn't notice the jagged lines or the sloppy tape jobs. We were way past due for a laundry run, and so I put up a colors wash and then got to work on the kitchen. I had to wash up and wipe down the counters and that just led me to my broom and, before I knew it, I was sweeping the whole place. Mind you, our cleaning lady comes tomorrow, but I prefer she not have to clean in a pig sty.

As soon as I sat down to update the blog, though, the doorbell rang and I thought it was the package I've been waiting for. Buggy's getting a delivery today, so I'm home until they come, and for some reason the intercom wasn't working. So, I slipped on my slippers and raced downstairs to find our lovely neighbor leaving us a note. Apparently, she has two leaks into her apartment that she fears is coming from our apartment and now that it's spreading she felt she should let us know. Well, since we're going to have to pay for any damage, I got on the phone and called our contractor ASAP and made an appointment for him to see the leaks at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. I guess tomorrow is going to be another early day for me, but I really hope we get this fixed and soon! She was really sweet about it though, and invited us over for Shabbos lunch of vegetarian Chulent. I told her I had to get back to her after I spoke with Buggy, but we'll probably go since we have no other plans and it would be nice to get to know our neighbors!

OK - I'm off to do some cookie baking in honor of Chanukah and National Cookie Day! Chag Sameach everyone; enjoy the start of this fabulous Festival of Lights!

Product of the Day



Oxo makes three sizes of cookie scoopers and I could really use the medium sized one for Aunt Irene's famous cookies. Since I'm supposed to drop them in 1/4 to 1/2 spoonfuls at a time, what I've been using ends up being a bit insufficient and I get cookies of all different shapes and sizes! With the Oxo cookie scooper, it would be perfectly shaped cookies every time!

Approval

Yesterday was an incredibly productive day for us. It started off with an early morning when our cleaning lady came an hour earlier than she normally comes. I really like her, she's a Brazilian transplant who is studying to become a chemical engineer. She's cleaning apartments for extra money to pay for rent, school, etc. She showed up really really ill, a bad cold, and I tried to get her to go home and rest but she insisted on staying. And, for the first time since she started working with us, she did an amazing cleaning! Go figure.

After she left, I got down to business with my thesis proposal. I've been going back and forth, and back and forth with the powers that be and I just wanted this aspect of my thesis done. So, I did the necessary revisions, got the final approval from the powers that be, and decided to go to Bar Ilan today to personally hand in the document. I also needed to go to school to deal with this Minhal Hastudentim issue, which basically is a mess and I hope to g-d gets cleared up before the budget closes on December 15th. I had to physically come to school in order to request a transcript, which has majority of my grades from last year, that I will in turn submit to Minhal Hastudentim so they can pay for my courses this year. Since I already laid out the money for a semester that - as you all know I'm not having actually classes in - I want my money back. More on what happened at school today in a minute.

After I did some work, I took a quick cat nap and waited for Buggy to come home. Wednesday night, about one a month, we go do a big shopping and stock up on supplies. Since we're eaters, we had to replenish our supplies which dwindle quickly especially when I entertain. Since I pledged not to do any more entertaining until the end of the month - having my sister-in-law and Buggy's cousin over for dinner during Chanukah doesn't count as entertaining - I was hoping we could be a bit leaner this month. Well, we decided to try a different supermarket than the ones we normally go to, and we went to Rami Levi in Talipot. First of all, the place is really, really huge! I was extremely overwhelmed initially, and so I didn't do the best job in the beginning, but I got really into it towards the end of our shopping excursion. First of all, the fruits and vegetables were extremely cheap. It was 9 shekel a kilo (about 2.2 pounds) for artichokes, and we picked up 4 really nice ones. Of course, I always shop with a big list, and so Buggy and I split the list and went about our shopping. Now, I am making Marnina and Shulamit's meat and barley crock-pot soup for first course on Shabbos day, and I needed to get Flanken. No one, of course, knows how to say Flanken in Hebrew. Buggy didn't believe me that Flanken was even part of a cow - he thought I was talking about some strange animal he's not familiar with as Yiddish was a language never, ever spoken in his house. Another cultural difference between us - as a side point - is that I use yiddishisms quite a bit and he looks at me blankly. Who doesn't know what Zozah is? I told him it was "sauce" and he wondered why I just don't say sauce. I don't know - in my house - gravy/sauce is just Zozah.

I digress...Back to Rami Levi. Buggy had me call his Mom to ask about Flanken, who passed me on to a family friend who basically told me to ask for "Basar Rach for Chulent" or basically tough meat for the chulent. I sent Buggy to the meat guy while I hit the dairy section, and he came back with 1/2 a kilo of something. Hopefully, it will be the right thing and the soup will turn out ok. Now, the misconception with Rami Levi is that it's a cheaper supermarket. Wrong, wrong, wrong! I still managed to spend 850 shekel last night and granted, we got a lot of stuff, including expensive cleaning materials, but I marvel at how people in this country pay for groceries. On many anemic salaries, it must be very difficult feeding a growing family. Can you imagine what my food bills will look like once P"G we have kids? Fortunately, I don't need to worry about that tomorrow.

Today, we got another early start as our contractor came to fix the hot water boiler, which blew on us (and blew ALL of our electricity) Erev Shabbos. For 400 shekel, he fixed the necessary piece and then waited as we flipped back on the switch to the hot water boiler. I'm really hoping that this will fix the entire problem. After he left, we got ready and Buggy drove me to the Central Bus Station. I haven't been there in at least 2 months now, but it was so nice to be back and see that the place was ready with their Chanukah wares. There was a huge table of menorahs and candles and oil, it was amazing. All of the bakeries are churning out Sufganiot (jelly donuts) and people are walking around with wrapped gifts. I can't believe Tuesday night P"G will be the first night of Chanukah, and my second here in Israel! I really need to learn how to make potato latkes!

The ride out to Bar Ilan was uneventful, I did a bit of work brainstorming for a potential client, and then I went to the English department to drop off my thesis proposal. Yonatan was on campus and we met up, which was great as I really needed his help getting my transcript. Turns out, the woman who was supposed to collect my thesis proposal was not in the office. I ended up making another copy and leaving it for her on her desk. I hope on Sunday it's still there when she gets back to work. Afterwards, Yonatan and I went to the administration building to deal with my transcript issue and it was confusing - my Hebrew is decent but I just didn't understand this woman. For some reason, the 30 shekel I paid entitled me to 4 copies which I asked she send to my apartment. I wanted her to send it directly to Minhal Hastudentim, but it looks like I'm going to have to do a Tel Aviv day sometime next week to deal with that too. Hopefully my TA friends will be around and I will be able to at least get together will my friends so the trip isn't all about dropping off a form. And then, 25 minutes after arriving on campus, I was done with what I needed to do. Yonatan and I grabbed a quick bite and then I was back on the bus heading to Jerusalem. Buggy picked me up and I was starving - I didn't eat lunch with Yonatan cause I knew Buggy was waiting for me to eat - and so we went to Al Dente for some good Italian. Well, I actually think they changed chefs - or the one I'm used to just wasn't there - because the food was disappointing. Buggy liked his ravioli though, so it was worthwhile.

I'm hoping not to cook so much tomorrow as we're eating out at Buggy's parents tomorrow night. It would be great if I can get a quick walk in in the morning, so I can get some exercise. It was sad that the walking I did today at school was the most physical excursion I've done in weeks! I'm feeling like a bit, lumpy, couch potato so I need to get my butt in gear and soon! Anyway, I'm also leaving all of my Shabbos lunch cooking for tomorrow, but I'm hoping not to have to make too much. As a treat for Buggy, I got us lamb chops so I'm making my Aunt Amy's skillet lamb chop and spanish rice for lunch, and I'm making Marnina and Shulamit's soup for first course, roasting some cauliflower and also trying my hand at my sister-in-law's "Full" recipe, which is a French/Algerian origin. I'm thinking the marinade includes garlic, olive oil, paprika, salt and pepper but I need to get in touch with her to get the real deal. Hopefully, it will turn out great and Buggy will really, really enjoy lunch!

Product of the Day

Oxo Good Grips mixing bowls are the product of the day. I have no mixing bowls and I am in dire need of the Oxo ones! First of all, I believe that Oxo products are just great, great quality products. And, when it comes down to it, I just have nothing to use to make any of the foods I'm preparing. These days, I use salad bowls as a substitute and now my salad bowls have turned grungy and oily from all of the varying ingredients I use to make - well - whatever. Anyway, if anyone reading this can tell me if I can get the Oxo mixing bowls somewhere in Jerusalem, that would be great! Otherwise, the folks over at Oxo, please, please import some more of your amazing kitchen products!

Accident

10 minutes ago, Buggy was in a car accident. He was rear ended while crawling up Keren HaYesod by some idiot kid who probably just got his license. B"H, Buggy is okay and the car doesn't seem to have sustain any big damage. But, I'm absolutely enraged that it happened. I'm so angry and so, this blog will be all about me venting at the crappy, stupid, and dangerous Israeli drivers.

Israeli drivers are absolutely, 100% dangerous. They ALL act as if they own the road, and other drivers be damned. No one, not one single Israeli driver on the road, is at all cautious. They are all aggressive drivers, and that's why every single day we hear on the radio about people killed in driving accidents. And for what? Where's the big damn emergency? Why is EVERYONE in such a hury? It's a ridiculous cultural problem that needs to stop - and needs to stop now - because people are DYING for no good reason! Isn't it bad enough we have to worry about terrorist, but now we have to worry each and every time we get behind the wheel? I was taught to always be a cautious driver, not to be aggressive and to always stay on guard. I will prorbably be one of a handful of drivers on the Jerusalem roads who is not gunning the motor or trying to cut someone off for no good reason. The other night, Buggy almost got into 2 accidents because two morons decided they were going to run red lights. They were actually racing each other, and Buggy had the green and started to go and these two guys cut him off and so close that he was shaking when he made it to the next light unharmed.

Stupid, stupid, stupid drivers. It makes me sick when I'm in the car and I watch people being so reckless with their lives. Do they not realize how many tons of steel they are controlling? Do they not realize that it's not just their own lives they put in danger, but everyone else on the roads? (and that includes people just crossing the street!). Don't get me starting on the rules of the crosswalk, which many drivers simply ignore. If you see someone standing at the cross walk and preparing to cross, you STOP! Period. You don't go because you feel like it. The pedestrian, in this instance, has the right of way. So you yield. And screw all the people behind you who don't want you to wait. Unless it's Magen David Adom or Hatzolah with the lights flashing and the sirens freaking blaring, you wait!

Ugh, I'm so mad right now I could scream. Stupid, stupid, careless, reckless, insensitive, bullheaded, moronic, asshole DRIVERS!

OK, now that I have that out of my system, I am very thankful that Buggy is okay. He is very shaken up and extremely shocked, but he should be fine. I'm going to give him a massage later on cause his back is hurting him a bit, and hopefully he'll be able to put this experience behind him.

Yesterday, we had a wonderful anniversary. We each did our errands, I went for a nice long walk on Emek Refaim and checked out Tollmans, which is a great store for housewares and pots/pans. Unfortunately, their prices are not necessarily in my budget range so I left empty handed. We went out to Selena's for dinner, which I actually think is better than Joy, and we had a really nice time. We decided to walk there and back, so we could get some exercise and not have to move the car. It was such a gorgeous night out, that the walk both ways was perfect. I love that you can look up at the sky and see all the stars, you can't really do that in New York City.

This morning, I stamped all of the thank you notes and took them to the post office. Now, only the envelopes without addresses remain and so I have to figure out how to get these notes to the people who gave us such nice presents. I then decided to go for another long walk and went to 4UGifts on Derech Hevron to pick up some items on hold for us. I needed two trivet holders, a gravy pot for Thanksgiving, and a metal strainer to make my Aunt Amy's bread pudding. I am thinking about giving her a call in a few minutes to talk about Thanksgiving, since she always hosted when we were growing up. Between my Mom's turkey recipe and her bread pudding, I think I should do okay in a couple of weeks.

We're also really planning our London trip and can't believe it's already next week! We decided to spend Thursday doing a bus tour around the city, so I can see all of the touristy locations I've never been to, and then shop on Friday in Brent Cross. Shabbos will be with the family and Saturday night we might just go out to eat or get together with some friends. Then on Sunday, before we fly out, we'll go to the London Eye to check out the City from the air. Personally, that is going to be the scariest for me as I'm not such a fan of flying, but Buggy promised to keep me calm. As long as he holds me, I should be ok!

Tomorrow, once again, I don't have school so I'm going to do some cleaning and organizing and some work. I did get a small project that I need to hand in soon, and so tomorrow while Buggy is in school will be a good opportunity for me. I also finally got comments back on my thesis proposal, and I need to make edits to that and hand it in to the Masters committee for approval.

This afternoon, while Buggy is at work, I'm going to do some cooking. Since we ate out both meals this Shabbos, I have no leftovers and so I'm going to make something fresh. Hopefully Buggy will have an appetite when he gets home, but we'll see how he's feeling.

Product of the Day


The Oxo Good Grips Turkey Baster is the coveted item of the day. First of all, I think Oxo Good Grips is a fantastic brand. They produce some amazing and durable products for the kitchen, and all I want these days is a good ol' turkey baster. Only, I can't seem to find one. I went to Tollmans and they didn't have any; I went to 4UGifts and they too didn't have one. Apparently, there is some new cook store that opened up in one of the little malls in Talpiot but I haven't been there yet and don't know if they would carry a baster. I even looked for one at Ikea and didn't find anything. I'm at a loss people, but fortunately, I'm going to London next week and I would be SHOCKED if I can't get one there. Fingers crossed that I can find one, otherwise I'm gonna be serving a dried out turkey in 2 weeks!