Its What's For Dinner

We are entertaining this Shabbos and as my chicken's roast, I decided to take a quick break. Yesterday, Pidgeon and I went food shopping so I can cook for the weekend. Well, I have no idea how this happened, but we spent over 1,000 shekel! I was shocked when I saw the check out screen and was just so surprised that we overspent. I didn't think switching my Aloe Vera brand of toilet paper for the SuperSol brand would have made a difference, but apparently I was really wrong.

So, when we got back to our apartment, I looked through my menu and realized the reason the bill was so high. We bought a ridiculous amount of meat and poultry. I'm making a grilled steak salad, so we picked up 2 steaks (frozen). I'm making a macaroni and meat for Shabbos lunch so I had to buy a kilo of ground beef (also frozen) and then I'm making sweet and sour meatballs for Friday night so I had to buy 2 addition kilos of ground beef. Add to that chicken and shnitzel to feed 6 adults and 3 children, and some of the other ingredients needed for the weekend, and you've got a heavy bill. I have no idea how we're going to pay for all this food, but I really believe that when it comes to spending on food for Shabbos, G-d somehow makes sure we have enough to spend. At least, that's what I'm hoping.

Pidgeon is in the middle of his last exam and I'm halfway through my food cooking. I already made the cauliflower and corn kugels, the asian 5-spice chicken and the cinnamon chicken is in the oven, and I'm just waiting a bit more for my beef to defrost so I can get started on both the macaroni and meat and the meatballs. Our cleaning lady is on her way too, so I'm hoping to finish up in the kitchen so she can get in there and do a thorough cleaning. I really want to go to the gym with Pidgeon tonight, so I'm hoping to get enough done today so I don't have to spend the entire day tomorrow in the kitchen. 

Meanwhile, we're gearing up for the Sharaf/Heatwave that's expected to his this Country over the weekend. The news is reporting temperatures on Shabbos to be around 25C, which is approximately really freaking hot for March in Farenheit. And, of course, we have no air conditioning because it's part of the heating unit that has been busted for 7 weeks now. Well, we called our weekend company and gave them an out if they didn't want to come for the weekend. But, since they don't have AC in their apartment all year round, were more than happy to still come for Shabbos. That was nice to hear, how I'm going to deal with the heat will be a completely different story :)

I've been focusing on Pesach and I keep sending my Mom lists of food and provision she needs to stock up on before we come back to the States. The more I think about it, the more excited I am about the trip! I can't wait to see my family and friends, and I'm really looking forward to just being back in my parents house. 

Meanwhile, we have a wonderful cleaning woman who does such an incredible job. She is the most thorough cleaner I've ever had, and I've gone through 3 cleaning people since I moved to Israel. But, here is the problem, she wears my slip on New Balance sneakers when she cleans. When she first asked me if she could wear them, I said yes, because I was surprised by the request and because I thought she was wearing socks. But, then I noticed the other day that she takes off her socks. Which basically means that she sweats inside my sneakers and it really drives me crazy. At this point, I want to just give her the sneakers because I don't plan on wearing them every again. I think I'm going to buy myself another pair when I'm in the States and will give her these sneakers as a gift. This way, I don't have to share. I should have just said no to begin with but I have problems saying no to people. I need to work on that.

Well, I'm off to make the sweet and sour meatballs. 

Yom Tov from Jerusalem!

Flambe'

I set my mother-in-law's kitchen on fire last night. 

More on that in a minute.

Pidgeon and I had the most exhausting day yesterday and it started off with an early morning blood test at Wolfson center. The alarm went off at 7:00 a.m. and I jumped out of bed, got Pidgeon moving, and we were underway a few minutes later. Of course, they had some issues finding my veins (happens all the time) but she was quick so we were able to get in and out of there in no time. Since the workers moved our entire living/dining/kitchen into the spare bedroom, we had no place to go and eat breakfast. We decided to stop off at Aroma and eat a quick sandwhich. We had to be back at the apartment, though, to meet with the AC repair guy about the central heat/AC that went on Wednesday night. I was in pretty good spirits when we drove back, a little tired, but still in good spirits.

And then, when Pidgeon parked the car, I got out and literally stepped full on into a pile of dog shit. Pidgeon tried to warm me - yelling watch out but it was too late. I stepped and I stepped with authority, so the shit was all up in the crevices. Needless to say, I threw a bit of a fit outside the apartment and then walked shoeless upstairs. The workers ALL wanted to chat, but I was still having my fit, until the contractor took my shoe and cleaned it off for me. That made me feel a bit better, although I did spend another 30 minutes with Qtips trying to get all the crap off the shoe. I was in a lousy mood for the rest of the morning.

We left at 3:30 p.m. to get haircuts, since we are both very shaggy and dirty individuals. I haven't had a hair cut in 4 months and it was way overdue. We went to Tzvi Michaeli's on Marcus Street and he did a pretty decent job with the haircut, but with all this dry weather, I had no idea that I was going to be the poster child for Static Cling! I kid you  not, I was like the Bride of Frankenstein doing a kids school experiment. Just without the balloon. We went straight to the SuperSol in Talpiot to pick up food for Shabbos and Pidgeon was having a little too much fun with my staticky hair. If you raised a hand near my hair, the strands would just rise and levitate. It was annoying when my bangs wouldn't get off my face, but we did our shopping and raced home to pack.

We moved into Pidgeon's parents house since they are away for Shabbos, and I immediately got to cooking. Probably NOT the best of ideas since I was super tired at this point, but I wanted to get some stuff going. Pidgeon abandoned me to chill out and relax, but Pidgeon's cousin came over so I had someone to talk to. 

And that's when I set the pan on fire. I still have NO idea how the whole thing happened but one minute, I am sauteing potatoes in the pan and then next it's going all flambe' on me. Fortunately, I was very calm, and just took the pan off the fire. It quickly went out with a few shakes. I mean, I have my mother-in-law issues just like everyone else, but I certainly didn't want to burn her kitchen down. Pidgeon's cousin promised to keep the incident a secret, so that's a relief, and I was able to continue cooking food for Shabbos.

I thought we were going to be a lot more people, so I ended up overcooking today. I'm still in the kitchen, been here since 10:00 a.m., and I am finally almost done. The shnitzel is baking nicely, the roasted vegetables are cooling and the onion soup for tonight is still bubbling. Pidgeon left to do some work, so I'm alone in the house, and it's really weird cooking in my in-laws kitchen. It's just this entirely unfamiliar experience, complete with cooking utensils I'm not used to handling and a gas range as opposed to my great electric unit at home. 

BTW - it looks like this Professor strike is finally over and for the first time in 7 months, I'm going to be back in school this week! Too bad I'm really not looking forward to it, especially since the house is in shambled. 

And, it looks like this cold snap won't be breaking anytime soon and my skin is about to flake off. It's so dry the everything is in need of moisture. I'm just hoping my nose doesn't start bleeding in the middle of the night, we're sleeping on white sheets!

Wishing everyone a very good, and warm, Shabbos!