Passover in New York!

We're here! I can't believe that we are actually here! It's completely surreal but the past 2 days have been amazing for me. It's 9:18 a.m. and I've been up since 7:00, a feat since I woke up the past 2 days at 5:30 a.m. from this jet lag. I'm giving the Pidgeon 20 minutes to snooze and then I'm going to wake him up and get our day going. New York is simply beautiful! The weather is sunny, dry and cool and the Queens neighborhood is hopping!

Last week, I was so busy trying to get everything done before our trip that I had no time to blog. Between cleaning our apartment for Pesach, packing, and Pidgeon's 34th birthday, I barely had time to breathe! It's nice to be able to update the blog now and just relax a bit before the Pesach preparation gets us busy again. 

We flew out of Ben Gurion on Sunday and, fortunately, our flight wasn't overly full. The seat next to me was empty, which was really great, as I was able to get as comfortable as one can flying El Al cattle class. I'm crazy about germs though, so I made sure to have plenty of Purelle on hand and made sure to take my multi-vitamin before the flight. I also drank an entire bottle of Mei Eden during the flight, which was great to combat dehydration but not so great for a sleeping Pidgeon who had to wake up each time I needed to use the bathroom. 

When we got to JFK, the line to pass through customs was 5 rows deep and it took both of us some time to get through. Pidgeon ended up being the biggest Mitzvah man and helped this Charedi-Yiddish/Hebrew only speaking woman who was having a difficult time communicating with the American customs officials. Pidgeon ended up tracking down her Hassid husband to go back and try to help get his wife through to the States. Meanwhile, I went to get us a cart for our luggage and I swiped my credit card into the machine and $1.50 in quarters came out. I asked one of the sky cap guys what happened and he told me that "some poor shmuck didn't have enough change and so he just gave up." Pidgeon suggested that, with my newfound luck, we go to Atlantic City on the trip. I'm going to donate the money to Tzedakah as soon as I figure out where I put it.

We got into my parents house around 1:30 a.m. and it took us a while to just unwind and fall asleep. The night was pretty restless for me although Pidgeon slept fine, and then Monday we had a bit of a whirlwind. We went to run errands and put our clothes into the cleaners so the wrinkles would be ironed out before Yom Tov. We also went to visit my Grandmother, who we haven't seen since August, and that was really nice until she told us that we "both got really fat". 

Oh, and did I mention that somehow in all of that we managed to stop up the toilet and had to wait for the plumbers? By the time we sat down for a Chinese dinner, Pidgeon and I were just exhausted from it all! 

Yesterday was a much better day, we went to Bay Terrace shopping center and did some retail therapy. We got some books at Barnes and Noble and bought all the drugs we need for Pesach. I also managed to introduce Pidgeon to TCBY and we enjoyed yummy frozen yogurt for lunch! I managed to keep myself up until past 11:00 p.m. last night and got a much better stretch of sleep. I'm going to need all the rest I can get, my Mom is putting us both to work tonight in the kitchen! I can't wait.

Well, it seems Pidgeon woke up without me and I hear music coming up through the floorboards. Before I run down to say good morning, I have to say just how disappointed I am with Susie Fishbein's Passover cookbook. We bought 4 when we heard it was coming out, one for each of us, and I honestly didn't realize that there were only 30 new recipes. People, I'm lazy, but not that lazy. I have all her other cookbooks, I could have easily adapted them too! It was a bit of  a waste of money for us, and I feel bad I made the recommendation for my Mom and some of my friends. It wasn't Susie's fault though, her website CLEARLY mentioned that she adapted most of the recipes. I just didn't read the site before I ordered the book. I think it's time I become a better consumer! Live and learn.

Till tomorrow! Yom Tov from New York!!!