Driving Exam!

Its been a few days since I've updated the blog and there's lots to talk about! First of all, Happy Xmas to all of my friends celebrating today and tomorrow. Right now, on the East Coast, Midnight Mass should just about be finishing and all the kids scurrying home to wait for Santa.

Santa visited me last night, in the form of Pidgeon, and he brought me a keychain flashlight. G-d bless him, it's the perfect gift for me! Not only could I use it during one of our unfortunately many blackouts in the apartment,  but it's good to ward off would be attackers. He also brought me cake, since I didn't bake any cookies yet, and I enjoyed a piece of cinnamon crumb cake. It was good, a bit dry for my taste, but still it hit the spot. I need to teach pidgeon the art of selecting cake. I need cream on my cake. I had a hankering for 7-layer last night, but poor pidgeon had no idea where to go to get me some cake. So, I've decided to make it my mission to find good cake places so in my next cake emergency, pidgeon can find the perfect piece!

Friday was extremely mellow as I cooked for Shabbos. We ate out lunch by pidgeon's 2nd cousins, so all I had to do was make Friday night dinner. And, I decided to go ALL out and bake Challot for the first time! Here are some pictures:

Unfortunately, we discovered on Friday night that the big one wasn't cooked through. Pidgeon loved it, telling me it was like eating a donut, but I wasn't happy. We ended up eating around the center and then, after Shabbos, pidgeon threw it out so we wouldn't eat the raw dough. I guess it's a case of live and learn, and I'm just going to keep on trying with the Challah!

Shabbos day we went to Pelech and it was really, really nice. Somehow, we managed to go when there was another Kiddush and a Bat Mitzvah. The shul was packed with people, it was standing room only, and since I didn't show up until Anem Z'miros, I didn't manage to snag a chair. We saw a couple of people we met the last time, and then we joined his cousins for lunch. They are very nice people and we had a great time at their house, and then we raced home to us the facilities. I don't know why we didn't go before we left the house. Either way, we both just made it in time. Phew! And I thought those days were long over.

I decided I didn't want to go out to our usual movie on Saturday night, so we stayed home and pidgeon worked while I watched TV. I'm addicted to SideReel and now that I know they have episodes of Dead Like Me, I've been spending all of my free time on the site. We ended up going to bed fairly early and got up really late on Sunday.

I made us oatmeal raisin pancakes for breakfast on Sunday morning and they were really, really delicious. It took me a while to get into the whole groove of the pancake thing, but by the 5th one, they were coming out picture perfect. It was nice. Pidgeon spent the day doing work and running errands, and I began cleaning the apartment in preparation for my family's visit. My brother should be leaving today (yea!) and so I had to get that room all ready for him. We had so much junk lying around that I'm just trying to get things in order so no one things we live in a pig sty. 

I also decided pidgeon and I need to start doing some exercise. Not to be too graphic but there are things jiggling here that have never jiggled before, so I had to get my butt back in gear. Already, we've gone on a nice walk for 2 nights in a row and we both really, really like. And, as long as the weather holds out, I think we're going to continue with the walking. At some point, I'd like to try to walk around the neighborhood in the sunlight, but for now we walk at night because it fits into pidgeon's schedule.

But, the biggest news of the week is that they have finally scheduled my driving exam. Granted, I've been driving on my American license with pidgeon in the car for some time now, but I finally have a test. I won't reveal when it's going to be because I'm scared of an Ayin Harah, but I'm hoping I'll pass. My friend Lisa told me to make sure the instructor sees me constantly looking into my mirrors, and Pidgeon told me that I should really try not to be too aggressive a driver on the exam. I just hope I'll be able to drive like I did when I was 17 and not give him reason to fail me. Think it will help if I bring him home baked cookies?

I was supposed to go to Bar Ilan today but it didn't happen. On Tuesdays, Pidgeon gets up really early and needs to be out of the house by 7:30 for an 8:00 a.m. class. I need to concentrate on getting him out the door and so I didn't really think about getting myself ready too. That, and I was in the midst of a good catch up session with my Cousin Neil, so I didn't want to pull myself away from the call. Either way, I think it works out better, as I still have to finish getting ready for my brother's visit. Today, I have to make the bed in his room and make sure all "girly" items are out of his bathroom. He gets pretty pissed off if I leave anything too ladylike around. Oh well, I'll see what I can do! I also have to figure out where to put one of my wigs. Right now, his room is the only place for Wiggy 1 (I have wiggy 1 and wiggy 2, as named by pidgeon) and Wiggy 2 is stored neatly away in the carry case. Think I can get away with leaving the wig in that room? Hopefully he'll be kind...

Well, I've been up since 6:15 a.m. so I'm ready for my morning nap. Hope everyone whose off today is enjoying the vacation and I wish all of my non-Jewish friends and very Merry and Happy Holiday!

RIP Mixer

This morning, I decided I wanted to make Challah for the very first time! I went online and found a Challah recipe, took out the ingredients and then set up my American Goldline brand of electric mixer. It came with the kneeding rods and so I figured I would use it to make the Challah. It worked great for a bit, and the dough was coming together nicely and I thought it was looking good, and then the mixer started to smoke. It was a little frightening and so I quickly unplugged and watched as more and more smoke poured out of the mixer. Obviously, I just burnt out this little motor trying to bake Challah for Shabbos. And now, I'm 10 days away from my parents coming to visit with no electric mixer in sight!

I need a Kitchen Aid STAT! And, I'm really annoyed right now that I don't have one. Let me explain. My sister-in-law, Pidgeon's sister, asked me what I wanted for a wedding present. First, she mentioned getting us a plasma TV and Pidgeon and I were all for that. Then she told me that the back of the truck she was supposed to get it off of was - well - I think busted, so there went that wedding gift. At that point, I realized that the electronic mixer I was using now wasn't really strong enough for my needs. I mentioned that I really could use one and she said "done". That was three months ago. No Kitchen Aid. And damn it, I really need it now! I hate that I'm going to have to ask my Mom to get me one, especially since it's so freakin expensive, but it's one of the essential kitchen tools that's needed!

I'm so excited about this Challah too! The dough rose very nicely the first time and I was instructed to "punch it down", which I did and walked away with a punch of dough on my hands. I think that means that my dough is too "sticky" but I'm not sure. I'm going to wait a bit before I add more flour, maybe in the rolling out process I'll add some more to the dough. Anyway, I have 45-60 minutes left to let it rise a second time and then it's time for some braiding. I've never done the whole braiding thing, so I think I'm just going to make little rolls. I know how to make the "breakaway" Challah, you know with the little balls all stuck together that you just rip apart instead of cutting. I'll guess I'll just have to see when I'm at that point.

The electrician is supposed to come today around 4:00 p.m. to fix a couple of problems and I really, really hope we don't lose power. One of the reasons I'm so busy cooking now for Shabbos is just in case something goes wrong. The chicken for Friday night is already cooling and I'm saving the soup for later. I'm making crock-pot meat and barley soup for Friday night, and will probably steam some artichokes later as well. We're having edemame for a first course with a dipping sauce, so I don't have to do that until tomorrow. Sadly, Pidgeon and I have to go pay a shiva call later. I also want to go to the Mikvah to toyvel some coffee mugs we picked up at Soho in Tel Aviv the other day. With the folks days away, I'm trying to get everything set for their visit. It's gonna be loads of fun!

I didn't make it to campus today, I couldn't get out of bed. I have no problem fasting, it's the day after a fast that gives me trouble. It really takes a lot out of me to not be able to even drink water, and so I was feeling particularly nauseous and tired this morning. Pidgeon rules though, because he called the school and they said we could just fax the page over. Pidgeon is on his way to the office now to take care of that. I'm slowly acquiescing to his request for a fax machine though. We do so much faxing in this Country, it's ridiculous! When will they get on board with the whole e-mail thing?

Last night, after we broke our fast, Pidgeon and I went to Rami Levi in Talpiot to do a food shopping. We've been really good and haven't hit a Supermarket in a few days, and this was such a great experience! I wrote out a list and we really stuck to it, no deviation because something else caught our eyes. We look at prices, something I've never done in my entire life, and we went with other brands based on shekels. We bought a 1 shekel cheaper bag of corn because, well, it was 1 shekel cheaper. We had about 120 extra expense this trip that we won't have the next time around and so, I'm proud to say that we only spent 737 shekel yesterday! That's really, really great for us! First of all, it's 100 shekel cheaper than the last time we went food shopping. Without the two boxes of tea (one big box for me and one for a present for our lunch hosts on Shabbos) we would have been at 627 shekel! That's pretty impressive if I do say so myself. Plus, I got enough frozen protein to last a while. I already make 3 quarters of chicken for dinner Friday night, and we have pargiot and shnitzel and 1 kilo of soup/chulent meat to last at least 2 weeks! Here's hoping we stick to this rigid money-counting life and be able to live on what little money we bring into the house!

Well, I'm off to figure out the next part of the whole Challah making thing! Will hopefully post pictures later so you can see the finished product!

Stay warm!