Emek Refaim Eatery

Last week, I decided to recommit myself to my blog. In all honesty, I missed spending time writing. Besides, its been hard since JuJu was born to find anytime to myself and blogging was certainly one of my guilty pleasures to go. Now that JuJu is almost 5 months old, I think I've gotten the basic hang of things. Now I have her basically on a schedule. I know that an hour and a half after she eats, she needs to nap. This one is a little snoozer - I get 20-30 minute naps multiple times a day. So, I decided to spend one of her nap times doing something that makes me happy. And, if that means the laundry doesn't get folded, dinner is late to the table or I missed a meal (story of my life), then so be it. 

Welcome back Jtownunderground!

I decided the perfect way to get back into the blogging swing of things was to write a review about the new restaurant on Emek Refaim: RYU (pronounced Ree-you). So, on Erev Yom Haatzmaut, I took my husband and JuJu and we went for a walk to the eatery. 

The place can't be missed, with the obnoxiously large dragon draping the old entrance to Yo Ja and the words that scream at you that the entrance is in back. I had read a review about the place on eLuna and was eager to check it out. Especially since I'm a chinese food fanatic! And, Jerusalem is really lacking when it comes to good Chinese food. So, when I heard this place was Chinese and Japanese, I was excited. I'm not that interested in the Japanese part since I'm very, very happy with my take out from Sushi Bar Rechavia and, when I really need a good sushi fix, Yoko Ono Sushi in Tel Aviv.

No, I was looking to satisfy my desire for good sweet and sour chicken, a nicely flavored egg roll and some sesame chicken with a side of beef and broccoli.

So, there we were, hungry for Chinese food and standing in the doorway of the restaurant. The place was empty and it was only 4:30 p.m. Now, eLuna's review said they were open from 12-11, and never mentioned a siesta in the afternoon. But, apparently, the restaurant was not able to seat us until 6:00 p.m.

Well, that was a bit of a bummer, but we decided not to let this opportunity pass us by. We asked if they would be willing to give us take out. The waitress checked with the powers that be and said of course. I poured over the menu - as did the Pidgeon - and we came up with an order that cost 350 shekel! Now, we don't have that kind of money to spend on one dinner, but we decided to splurge a bit since it was Erev Yom Haatzmaut and we really wanted to taste a wide array of menu offerings.

The waitress went in to the Chef to give our order, and then returned to tell us that the Chef didn't recommend the Entrecote as take away. He felt that it would get dried out by the time we got home, even though Pidgeon ordered it rare. So, we said we appreciated his warning but we would like to order it anyway. The waitress disappeared and then returned again, with a very sheepish smile on her, to tell us that Chef Eran Gefen refused to make the dish for us. 

I was shocked. Now, I am a self proclaimed foodie. I watch Iron Chef, Iron Chef America, Top Chef and Rosemary Shrager's reality cooking show. The first thing we did when we got Hot Cable was order me the Food Network, and I spent many a sleepless night watching Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay and even Rachael Ray whip up some fabulous feast in 30 minutes or less when I lived in Manhattan. 

I also used to represent a Chef (as his Publicist) who did his studying under Chef Tom Valenti and Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten at 'Cesca and Jean Georges respectively.  Eran, meanwhile, did his apprenticeship in Michelin-rated restaurants (which ones, I'm dying to know, and at what capacity???) and worked at Arcadia for 5 years (again, was he head Chef? What did he do at that restaurant?). I called my Chef and told him the story and he said the following:

"What happened to you isn’t that crazy for a chef who really cares.  A lot of places suck and don’t give a crap about quality.  This guy obviously cares and wouldn’t want you to try anything he made that wouldn’t be perfect (according to his standards) when you ate it.  I would go back and try his food.

 

The same thing happens a lot when people order meat cooked to medium, medium-well or well done in a restaurant.  It’s going to suck, and many chefs don’t want to serve food that is not going to have any flavor.

 

When the customer doesn’t know what’s good, he can’t be right!"

 

Now I remember why I stopped working with him. I personally like my meat cooked medium-well. I know how it tastes and to me, it tastes good. I personally don't like meat rare, it just doesn't appeal to me. His last statement was extremely condescending and rude. People know what they like, period. And, if they can't get it in one place, they'll just go somewhere else to find it. In todays economy, who can afford to insult a paying customer? 

Thank goodness there's Chef Tom Colicchio, who during the very FIRST season as judge on Top Chef, admonished one of the contestants for not wanting to do something a customer asked her to do. Again, it's always what the customer wants, even if the Chef disagrees. (Tom Colicchio, meanwhile, is a legend in the food world - creator and Chef behind Craft, and numerous other eateries in multiple cities in the United States)

So, back to the moment when Chef Eran Gefen refused to make us a rare entrecote steak with chi-chicki sauce (not sure what that was, but would have loved to find out) for take out. Now, again, we would have loved to have him serve it to us right then and there. But, they weren't serving diners until 6:00 p.m., so what were we to do.

I took my credit card back from the waitress and cancelled our order. I then instructed the waitress to tell the manager that we were willing to spend 350 shekel on a NEW restaurant but the Chef refused to serve us. We walked out of RYU, went down a few blocks, and picked up sandwiches at Aroma cafe. The waitress there was more than happy to make us Chai Lattes with Soy Milk and leave off the onion and mayo in our sandwiches - as requested. Our dinner was also a third of the price.

But, man, I was steamed! I had such high hopes for this place! I mean, it could be our new Chinese restaurant! The one I've been dreaming about since I moved from New York to Tel Aviv and then to Jerusalem. But, with the Chef refusing to serve us part of our order, how would I ever know if it's good or not?

So, I decided to call the manager myself. I got him on the phone and calmly explained the situation. And, after asking me a couple of questions, he said he stood behind his Chef 100%.

I respect that he stood behind his Chef's decision not to serve us. The manager should stand behind his Chef, at least at this stage of the game. Should Chef Gefen continue to refuse to serve customers based on their personal taste, and more and more people walk out of the restaurant unhappy, I wonder if the manager would continue his steadfast alliance with his Chef. If not the manager, CERTAINLY, the owner of this establishment would have something to say?

Back to the conversation. The manager went on to explain that they would never put an entrecote on their take out menu, but there was no take out menu when we went to the restaurant (since they're new and all). I suggested, in the future, that they make sure when someone orders take out that the items not recommended for take out be told to the customer by the waitress, so that this situation is not repeated and no one gets disappointed.

He asked that we try them again and come into the restaurant, as opposed to ordering take out.

Lord, that's what we were TRYING to do the first time.

I politely said I would consider it and we hung up.

So, it was all I guess a series of bad luck for us and RYU:

1) The restaurant wasn't open for customers at 4:30 p.m. on Erev Yom Haatzmaut

2) My husband wanted a rare entrecote steak as his main

3) There was no take out menu to choose from, so we chose an item on the menu that wouldn't have been on the take out menu

I'm hoping other Jerusalem foodies and bloggers will try out RYU and then write about it, so I'll see what we're missing. Provided, of course, that there is something to be missed.

Well, my 30 minutes are up and so is little JUJU

Yom Tov from Baka!

Moonshining

They say that if a pregnant woman, in her 9th month, eats an etrog it's a segulah for an easy birth. So, my dining room table is now littered with etrogim from the holiday and I'm getting ready to go out and pick up a couple of bottles of vodka. With plenty of sugar and at least 6 week fermentation, I should have some good etrog liquor. Granted, I'm due well before 6 weeks time, but I can always sneak a few sips here and there in the middle of the fermentation process.

I am so happy that the Chagim are over and, as enjoyable as most of it was, I'm looking forward to moving on with the year. I should be taking down the decorations today but I'm fighting to stay awake to update the blog before I plan on trying to take a quick nap. The second part of Yom Tov was definitely not as fun as the first part.

Shabbat Chol Hamoed started out really, really great. Pidgeon and I had a lot of fun just being the two of us, and I love eating in the Succah over the Chag. It was very, very hot though on Shabbos day and I was sweating a ton in the Succah. We also didn't have the AC on so it was pretty hot in the apartment too. I managed to take a nap though and when I woke up, was feeling anything but refreshed.

The baby suddenly felt very heavy in my stomach. I tried to wake it up by jiggling but nothing. So, I got out of bed and went into the kitchen to cut up some fruit. I made a plate for Pidgeon and together we ate some fruit. I thought the sugar would wake the baby but again, I felt nothing. Concerned, I decided to dig into a huge piece of chocolate tart that I had left over from the first days of Yom Tov. At this point, normally, the baby would be going wild inside of me. And still, nothing. Not even a movement.

That's when I started really freaking out. Shabbos was over in 10 minutes so I put my feet up and waited for Pidgeon to daven before we called his Mom. She told us to go to Shaarei Zedek immediately. So, we got dressed, grabbed all my medical paperwork, and drove to Shaarei Zedek. Pidgeon's Mom met us there and we went to the 9th floor where a midwife took my vitals and told me to try to relax. I was in the middle of a panic attack so relaxing wasn't really going to happy. My blood pressure was very, very high, so she immediately put me in an area and hooked me up to the baby monitor.

I was relieved when we heard the baby heartbeat and the midwife, concerned about my blood pressure, told Pidgeon and his Mom that they had to sit outside so I could have some "Mommy and baby time". She thought that would relax me - it did the complete opposite. I still could NOT feel the baby moving, even though I could hear the heart beat, and my panic attack worsened. I started sweating through everything and I felt like I was going to throw up, but they had closed the curtain and the garbage pail was out of my reach. I started crying, I hated being alone, hated not being able to feel the baby, and all I wanted was Pidgeon to come and help me. About 30 minutes passed and the nausea was getting much worse, until finally a Dr. came in to do an ultrasound. It was amazing to see the baby moving on the ultrasound but still I couldn't feel a thing. 

The Dr. said it was a number of reasons, one being that she moved (although not, unfortunately, out of breech position) and between lack of space, all that amniotic fluid, an anterior placenta and ALL MY FAT (I swear she said that), it was no surprise that I couldn't feel the baby as strongly as I had.

Bullshit.

This baby is super active and I have felt it moving and punching and swimming very, very clearly. But, in this new position, there wasn't as much room to manuever so I need now to learn what's normal movement for the baby.

Anyway, they wouldn't let me leave until I was confident that I felt the baby. But, I wanted out of that room, away from all the women in labor and with Pidgeon and his Mom. So, they let me sit outside with them both until I was confident that I felt the baby. We were there for over an hour before I felt 3 swift kicks. At which point, I got my discharge papers and was out the door as fast as I could! I was wiped and emotionally drained. I thought I could just come home, relax and calm down.

Unfortunately, Pidgeon had other plans for me. About an hour after we got home, Pidgeon got sick. I mean, really, really sick. It turns out, he somehow caught a stomach virus, and we were up all night together. At 6:00 a.m., he finally felt well enough to try to get some sleep, and I passed out next to him. I couldn't believe we had all this drama - back to back - in one night.

Sunday, we were supposed to go to a Pideon HaBen in the morning and a family Succah party in Beit Shemesh at night. But, we were at the Dr's office first thing and she diagnosed Pidgeon with a highly contagious stomach virus and made sure that everything was okay with me (i.e. my blood pressure had returned to normal). By the time we finished with the Dr.'s, we were both so exhausted that we just got back home and crashed. But, Pidgeon was finally really hungry and we had an errand to run in town. So, we made the HUGE mistake of going to Cafe Rimon Dairy for something to eat. We had no problem getting a seat and the service was fine, but towards the end of our meal an American family with 2 teenage sons and 3 year old twin daughters sat down at the table next to us. The father decided to park the double stroller right next to my seat, thus blocking the pathway for the waitresss and anyone else that needed to pass. We finished our meal, paid the check, and then got up to leave. I couldn't get out as the stroller was in my path. The man saw me struggling and, rather than just get up and move the stroller out of the way, he said "it's better for you to go around" and pointed around the restaurant. 

Now people, had he moved his stroller, it would have been a straight shot out of the restaurant since we were sitting on the periphery. But, he was indicating that we basically weave our way in the opposite direction until we can get out. Well, I was PISSED off. But, I have a problem with being assertive and, I tend to end up aggressive and since I didn't want to start a fight, I decided to be passive aggressive. 

I started bitching and moaning and saying to Pidgeon "Oh, it's BETTER for me that I should shove my way through these table." Whack, my stomach hits some poor lady in the head. "Oh yeah, it's BETTER for me to hit this nice lady in the head with my stomach". I continued as I tried to squeeze my way between tables. At this point, the guy decides now's a good time to stop being a lazy ass and move the stroller (granted, we're at the other side of the table now). And his WIFE, who has been pregnant at least 3 times, says to him "don't worry, sit down, she'll be fine."

The insensitivity of people! I left feeling very frustrated and pissed off that they had the nerve to be so rude. I vowed to learn the proper way of being assertive without being aggressive so that I'm never in this situation again. As you can imagine, by the time we got home on Sunday, we needed to spend the rest of the day just taking it easy.

Monday was a short whirlwind of a day. Pidgeon went to shul with his Dad for Hoshana Rabah and then we joined his family for a big breakfast in the Succah. Afterward, we ran some errands for them before Simchat Torah and Pidgeon went to Orange to deal with his cell phone problems. I spent an hour waiting for him in the car while he dealt with Orange. It wasn't fun. We got home with barely enough time for me to do some work, shower, pack and get dressed before we moved in with his folks for the Chag.

The second day of Yom Tov was a lot of fun and FULL of family and friends. I made it to shul Simchat Torah night and watched as Pidgeon got his Hakafah. We were in the downstairs Minyan at Chovevei and my Father-in-law brought my nieces and nephews some candy bags. My nephew ripped into his and ate all the stuff he liked right away, and then left us holding the bag so he could run around and dance with the men. There were a lot of Americans at the minyan and pretty soon, some women came into the women's section and moved chairs around so they could dance. I'm not one for dancing on Simchat Torah - and especially not 9 months pregnant - so I stayed in my seat and kept watching. Suddenly, an older Anglo gentleman approached the Mechizah and said "I can't take this anymore" and took my nephew's candy bag. I was pretty shocked and didn't know what to say, until I saw him trying to divy out the candy amongst his grandchildren. This was where my new assertiveness comes in, but I was at a loss for words! 

Fortunately, his daughter/daughter-in-law saw my face (she was in the woman's section) and told him that it wasn't his to take and he had to give it back. He threw is back at me and I told him that I didn't think my nephew would appreciate him stealing his candy. He made a face and then walked away.

Chutzpah!

I couldn't wait for the Chag to be over, so I could just get back to some sort of routine. We spent the day with family and friends and then, once it was all over, Pidgeon and I decided not to go home. They have Hakafot Shniyot with LOUD music by our apartment, so we decided to stay at his folks another night. We did go to Aldo on Emek Refaim and picked up 2 movies from Videon. We were planning a quiet night watching movies and relaxing at home.

Well, I have NO idea what was in that ice cream, but by the second movie I wasn't feeling so great. Pidgeon was also feeling nasty and we couldn't believe we were sick again. At Midnight, I started throwing up again and it wouldn't stop. Fortunately, Pidgeon's Mom knew what to do and sent him back to our apartment to pick up my Pramin. I was a dishrag by the time he got back with the medication but at least it stopped my throwing up. Then, Pidgeon felt terrible that he ended up in another toilet in the house. We both dragged ourselves to bed at 2:30 a.m. and I said I was done with food.

We spent the day yesterday trying to figure out what the heck happened the night before. Because we were both so weak and exhausted, we left the Succah up and went about our day. We both had appointments out of the area and I practically fell asleep waiting for my hematologist to show up. Fortunately, the meeting was quick, and we were back home and relaxing in no time. I have a ton of backlogged work to catch up on and managed to do some of it while Pidgeon was out. I made us a quick salmon and salad dinner and we were asleep 2 hours earlier than normal.

Today, I'm hoping to still take it a bit easy but don't know how that will pan out. I have a SuperSol delivery coming in the afternoon and the Kablan coming to look at the leak in our bathtub. We also have our last childbirth education class tonight and supposedly it's some birth video. Just what Pidgeon is looking forward to doing tonight!

Well, I'm off to try to take a quick nap before I really have to get my day going. Hope everyone had a wonderful Chag!

Yom Tov from Baka!

On Holiday

Let's go away for a while, you and I, to a strange and distant land.......Holiday, far away, to stay on a holiday, far away, let's go today in a heartbeat!

I'm so excited that we're going on honeymoon #2 today! When we planned this trip months ago, I told Pidgeon I didn't think I was going to have the strength at the end of my seventh month to get on a plane. Good call on my part. I'm pretty tired these days and my energy is waning daily, so I'm excited that we're going on vacation in Israel. I haven't been up North since 1995 (although, my trip in 2006 with my folks to Amuka and other grave sites to pray for a mate doesn't really count since it was all in one day!) and I'm hoping to see some turtles this time! 

We were very lax in our planning of this trip and, aside from two restaurants we want to eat at, we have zero plans. Unlike last year, when we spent 5 days languishing by the pool at the Dead Sea, there is so much more to do up North. I told Pidgeon I wouldn't mind taking the wooden Christian boat across the Kinneret. There are a lot of Christian sites up North and it might be a good thing for me to experience if my friends Jules and Julie ever make it to Israel to visit us. 

Shabbos was very relaxing, which was nice. I ended up not sleeping well Friday night and somehow, fell asleep in between courses at lunch. Pidgeon ended up finishing lunch without me and, when I woke up at 3:30, I was happily surprised to see that all the dishes we done, the food was put away in the fridge, and the table was clean. What an amazing guy I have, no? 

Our plans for last night were supposed to just be getting ready for the trip. I had a huge load of laundry to do and, since there were some items there that I wanted to pack for the trip, I loaded up as soon as Havdala was over. We relaxed a bit on the couch when all the commotion took place outside.

Basically, the neighbors directly across the street from us have not one but two 30+ children with a mental illness. Unfortunately, they don't always take their medication as prescribed, and when that happens they both tend to get violent. They've both attacked women in the neighborhood in the past, which is one of the reasons I'm very cautious about how I walk in the neighborhood. Anyway, as we were sitting on the couches and relaxing, we heard one of them attack a woman near the house. The Father came outside to try and diffuse the situation and, since I definitely don't understand Hebrew when it's screaming, I called Pidgeon over to watch and translate. The women were yelling that he attacked and hit them, while the Father claimed nothing happened. Since I only heard and didn't see what happened, we stayed inside and kept out of it. The police showed up a few minutes later and went from house to house asking about the incident - although they didn't come to ours. I made sure to SMS our neighbor, who had a baby last month, to be careful going out tonight since the neighbors weren't on their meds. She got back to me right away and reminded me that he had attacked one of her friends not once - but twice! Usually, when this happens, they arrest him and put him in an institution. Since the two women who were attacked left (I heard them get into their car and leave), the police didn't take the boys away. I'm just really hoping that both of them get back on their medication and soon! It's not a fun situation to have directly across the street from the apartment.

Anyway, I guess all the excitement got me in the mood for some comfort food, and all I wanted was ice cream. I literally called around to see if ANYONE would deliver ice cream. Aldo on Emek Refaim said they weren't delivering on Saturday night, and Fro Yo on Ben Yehuda doesn't deliver period. I even called Babette to see if they would deliver, and they said no. Same with Waffle Bar on Derech Beit Lechem.

Pidgeon offered to go out and pick me up some ice cream, but  I didn't want him to leave the house. But, the craving got so bad, that I was able to be convinced (it wasn't hard) to get dressed and go to Waffle Bar.

It was good to get a small walk in and the ice cream was yummy! I'm actually not such a fan of waffles, but it was pretty decent, and Pidgeon watched me practically lick my entire plate clean! 

Satisfied and full of sugar, I skipped home and then tackled 2 hours worth of packing and organizing. I was so wound up on a sugar high though that I couldn't fall asleep before 2:30 a.m. You can imagine how wiped I am now that I've been up since 8, but we're hoping to hit the road fairly early so we can get in some time up North today too.

Well, I'm off to get ready to go! Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

Yom Tov from Baka!

Hummus, Lafah and Contractions

From 4:00 a.m. - 5:30 a.m. this morning, I got freakishly closer to Mommyhood. To explain, I have to go back to Tuesday night's childbirth education class. As you know, we're taking a class with Joani THE anglo doula expert of Jerusalem. She came highly recommended as both a doula and educator, so we shelled out the 600 shekel and joined her Monday evening class. What usually happens in this class is that she lectures, we ask questions, she pauses to answer her cell phone in case someone is in labor, we nosh and we learn. We are in the class with 8 other expectant couples - most are due in November - with one due at the end of October and another one at the end of December. The group is very nice, it's informal, and our husbands are certainly getting an education.

This week's class was condensed by 2 hours because Joani had a birth, so she did a bit more lecturing and we did more listening and less asking of questions. What I really found interesting was the parts about contractions. She went around the room and asked each of us if we're experiencing Braxton-Hicks (the contractions that don't indicate you're in labor but just prime your uterus for the real thing). I was pretty sure I hadn't had any of these based on what people were describing and then Pidgeon told her that sometimes my stomach is hard in some places and soft in others and so she said that was Braxton-Hicks. I don't think we explained the sensation well to her because what he's really feeling is where the baby is lying. Basically, if it's hard, that's the baby and if it's soft, the baby ain't there. So, I just figured I'm one of those ladies who is either 

1) not in tune with her body and doesn't know when I'm having contractions or 

2) just haven't had any Braxton-Hicks contractions

And then Joani told us about this great test for determining if you're really in labor or if you're having false labor. She said, once I feel the contractions, to drink some alcohol. If, after a few hours, the contractions stop then it was false labor and I basically just got a nice buzz going during the contraction. If, however, it stops for a bit and then starts up again, I'm really in labor and it's show time. 

Well, I basically told Pidgeon I'm going to spend my nine month drunk cause I'm going to take a shot of scotch each time I get a contraction to see if it's real or not. (Note, Joani recommends using white wine and not scotch. But, since I'm allergic to red wine and just can't stand the taste of white, she said scotch was ok. As long as the alcohol content is above a certain percentage, I can go for it. Obviously, depending on the percentage, I have to figure out how much to drink).

So, I was pretty happy when we walked out of the class Monday night because I had my new how-to-deal-with-labor game plan. 

Fast forward to last night. Pidgeon and I were both busy all day yesterday with work. I had a press release I had to get to a client and Pidgeon was working on his final project. The only thing on our schedule was to go to Chasdei Shmuel and put a 35% down payment on the baby stuff we ordered. Pidgeon, in the interim, had a dentist appointment and so when he got back in the late afternoon, we quickly ate some lunch, I got dressed and we drove to the Charedi neighborhood. We removed some items from the list at the suggestion of both of our parents (they keep saying people will buy us presents, but I don't have such good friends here who are willing to shell out 900 shekel on a baby swing) and then I used my American Express for the deposit.

A number of years ago, when my older sister and my older cousins were all getting married, my Zaydie (ZT"L) told my Mom and Aunts that he wanted to pay for his future Great Grandchildren's cribs as a baby present. At the time, I was no where near getting married, and I think my little brother was in his pre-pubescent stage. But, Zaydie dolled out the cash for each of his 9 Grandchildren and gave them to his daughters to put away in the bank. At the same time, he also gave money for each of us to buy Sterling silverware as a wedding present, and that too was put away for those of us not ready to walk down the aisle. I knew this money was in my bank account and I've been careful all these years not to spend it. So, when we walked into Chasdei Shmuel and put the 35% down payment on all the baby items we purchased, it made me happy to know that my Zaydie was the one who bought the crib. And, P"G, every time I look at the crib it will be a reminder that Zaydie is still a big part of my life even though he's no longer physically here with us.

As you can imagine, I was a bit emotional after Chasdei Shmuel, so I asked Pidgeon if he wanted to go out to eat for dinner. He was thrilled and I was thrilled cause it meant that I didn't have to cook another meal. We went to Emek and found a great parking spot and then went to a restaurant we've been to MANY, many times in the past year.

We sat down and I didn't really need to look at the menu, I pretty much knew what I wanted to eat. I ordered a hummus with chopped meat as an appetizer, while Pidgeon had the stuffed eggplant to start. Then, I had the fried chicken pieces, a side of french fries and steamed vegetables while Pidgeon enjoyed a skewer of steak, a skewer or chicken, okra in tomato sauce and steamed vegetables. I chased my meal down with a Fanta and Pidgeon had Diet Grapefruit juice.

All foods we've eaten before. At this restaurant. Many, many, many times.

We finished dinner at 7:00 p.m., got back to the apartment full and satisfied and slightly exhausted. I poured myself a cup of orange juice and took my pre-natal vitamin and my iron pill. We then logged in, downloaded the first two episodes of the second season of Gossip Girl and had a chill night. At 11:00 p.m., I did my Clexane Shot and we were both asleep by 1:00 a.m.

I woke up at 3:45 a.m. in a cold sweat, thinking I needed to throw up. Its been a while since I've felt that way and I thought maybe something else was going on. But no, I definitely needed to vomit. I quickly removed my bite plate and put it away in the case, moved the shower rug in front of the toilet, and just let things go. Since Pidgeon normally sleeps like the dead, I didn't shut the door to the bathroom cause I didn't think he'd hear anything. I was wrong. He jumped up in bed about 5 minutes into me being sick and was very alarmed. He wanted to call his Mom and ask her what to do. Then he wanted to call Terem (24 hour emergency care clinic in Jerusalem) or the hospital. I told him to call my brother-in-law, the Pediatrician, who was for sure awake at 9:00 p.m. in Cleveland. He picked up the phone and called my brother-in-law, who basically said Why the heck are you calling me? Call her OBGYN! and I was not happy with that response. So, in between heaves, I took the phone and told him that I thought it was just bad food poisoning. He said, just to be on the safe side, I really should talk to an OBGYN since I'm B"H already in my 29th week.

Well, I hung up unhappy with his advice (I just wanted to puke everything up and then get back to bed, I wasn't thinking about anything else being wrong) but we called Terem and they told us to call the Maccabi (my health care provider) nurse. She gave Pidgeon all these directions about drinking water and boiling water and putting ice into it, etc. It didn't really sound so helpful especially since any water I was drinking in between puking, I ended up puking. So, Pidgeon again wanted to call and wake his Mom, but I asked him to hold off for a bit longer. I then told him to call the Dr. on call at Wolfson Medical Center. Since we're both members of the Medical Center, I didn't feel too bad about making that call. Fortunately, the Dr. got back to us right away, and Pidgeon talked as I wretched in the background. His advice was very good. He said not to drink anything if I was just throwing it up. He said to monitor my vomiting and if it continued past a certain hour, I should come into the morning clinic to assess the situation (i.e. if I needed an IV fluid drip). It was now 4:30 a.m. and I wasn't letting up at all. My throat at this point is absolutely burning, my esophagus on fire from all this disgusting stomach acid and vomit, and I was really wiped. 

And that's when I had my first contraction. It was 5:00 a.m. at this point, and the contraction was not pleasant. At first, I didn't realize it was even a contraction. But then, about 3 minutes later, I had another one. Now I was ready for Pidgeon to call his Mom. He woke her up and she was very alert and had some great advice. She asked if I had Pramin in the house - which I had since I needed it during my 1st three months of puking. She told Pidgeon to call the Dr.'s at Shaarei Zedek, explain my situation, tell them I was having contractions, and ask if I could take a Pramin to help stop the vomiting. Pidgeon somehow managed to get a nurse at Shaarei Zedek on the phone, she gave him the go-ahead with the Pramin, I took a pill and slipped into bed. 

The Pramin worked and my vomiting finally stopped! But, the contractions didn't, and I had 3 more in the span of 15 minutes. Pidgeon wanted to call his Mom again and bring me into the hospital, but I told him to just give me a few minutes to relax and to see if it would just stop on its own. Obviously, at this point, the alcohol test was out but boy did I want a shot! We both dozed off and, when I woke up a few hours later, was thrilled that the contractions were done.

My dreams, on the other hand, were super disturbing. I dreamt that the baby had salmon DNA and that my friends were trying to eat it. I was running, and running to stop them from eating our baby and just kept screaming that our baby wasn't a salmon but was a baby. It was so weird, I blame the vomiting and whatever poison was in my system for the messed up dreams. You can imagine how happy I was to wake up out of that dream this morning!

So, now I'm in bed. Our Ikea trip was cancelled for today, but Pidgeon and his Mom went to an interior design trade show in Tel Aviv. I think it was good for him to get out of the house, he would have just gone stir crazy staring at me in bed. I was feeling a bit better when I woke up this morning, and was even able to keep a cup of tea down. Pidgeon's Mom suggested I put in some sugar, even though I really try to avoid sugar in general, and I complied. She then told me I have to figure out a way to get some salt into my system today. I might just make myself some powdered soup mix, which isn't the healthiest but is loaded with sodium. Other than that, I'm just taking it easy.

It was a big scare for me, though. And, even though the Dr. at the Medical Center said "At 29 weeks, you can deliver a robust baby", I'm just not ready for this one to come out yet! I think this baby still needs 11 more weeks to do what babies do in the last few weeks of pregnancy. 

Well, I'm pretty tired, so I'm off to take a nap. 

Yom Tov from Baka!

It's Complicated

Just call me Puff Fatty. I have no idea what happened but, seemingly overnight on Monday, I went from pregnant to puffy. I put on 3 pounds in less than 12 hours, my legs resemble tree trunks (pine, not oak) and my face was absolutely huge. It was a bit terrifying, so I went online to find out what the heck was going on.

It looks like I'm suffering from a typical pregnancy symptom called edema. Which, basically, is the swelling of the extremities. The blood pools around the legs and ankles and, depending on diet, your feet and hands can swell too. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't able to take off my rings. That made washing for bread a bit difficult, but I remembered learning a long time ago that people who wear rings every single day on the same fingers don't necessarily have to take them off to wash because it's not considered a Chatzizah as it has become almost a part of the body. Wish I could remember where I learned that - or if it's even true - but I figured why bother asking a Rabbi when I can just paskin myself.

And, depending on the reason why you're puffy, the "solution" varies. I think it had to do with the fact that we spent majority of Monday in a car. So, I made every effort to get the blood circulating by doing lots of errands in the house, getting up from my seated position, elevating my feet when I was on the couch or on the chair, etc. I also drank a TON of water, which I actually do normally every day (I have always been a big water drinker) and decided to not add any extra salt to my food. Then, around 8:00 p.m., I laced on my walking sandals and Pidgeon and I decided to go for a walk.

It felt so great to just be outdoors, in the cool Jerusalem night air, moving. It felt good to just really move, at a normal pace for my belly bump. We, of course, had no destination when we left the house so Pidgeon offered to take me to Emek Refaim and "buy me a treat". Well, I'm like a 4 year old when I hear the word "treat" and started imagining all the yummy goodness he could buy me. Which, sadly, defeats the purpose of a healthy walk if I end up eating some high caloric ice cream (which was what I was craving).

Well, fortunately for me, we ended up at this impromptu flea market down the block from Burgers Bar. Now, it's the 9 days, so I felt bad about buying but figured that it was okay if I really found something nice. There were a lot of jewelry tables set up, but I didn't really see anything in particular that I like. I'm actually obsessed with earrings that Britney Gastineau wears on The Gastineau Girls so I was looking for similar earrings and didn't find anything. But then, we came upon this really cool table with beaded wired animals. The artist made all these animals out of wires and then "colored them in" using different beads. There was this really cool cobra that stretched clear across the table, two beautiful red crabs and lobsters, some scorpions, a black and white lamb, etc. Well, I have had a turtle fetish ever since I inherited my first and only pet Turtle, Angus

There was a small, purple turtle that was really pretty already out on the table, but I kinda like my turtles green. So, Pidgeon asked the woman running the booth about a green turtle, and sure enough there was a beautiful green turtle with red eyes, just waiting for me. That was just the treat I was looking for! So, Pidgeon bought it for me and they wrapped it up in a really nice paper and we headed home. I figured, one good treat deserves another, so we stopped off at this new frozen yogurt store sandwiched between Tal Bagels and Aldo Ice Cream. We samples the yogurt (it tasted like frozen yogurt with a bit of an after taste kick) and Pidgeon got himself a fruit juice smoothie and I just abstained. We walked home with our treats and realized, when we got through the door, that the excursion took us more than an hour! Perfect amount of time for me to be on my feet.

I rested a bit and then decided to get started on dinner. I had found Alaskian frozen pollack the other day, and in my mind thought it would be a good fish to bread and fry like shnitzel. So, I got to work on breading and frying and imagined a great dinner of pollack shnitzel with some leftover quinoa and roasted curried cauliflower. Well, I don't know if it was the fish or my crappy non-stick frying pan, but what I ended up with was basically little fried fish bits and fried breading. It looked absolutely nasty, like a bomb exploded all my fillets. But, Pidgeon insisted that it would taste great, so I just spooned out some quinoa and topped it with the fish bits.

It actually tasted okay, it just wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as I had hoped. We finished dinner in time for a rerun of How I Met Your Mother in Hot Stars and decided to relax for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, we've been trying to join the online shopping group of CityDirect. Any New Yorkers reading this will think immediately of Fresh Direct except CityDirect is more like a hybrid between Fresh Direct and Urban Fetch.

Ah, Urban Fetch. I freaking LOVED Urban Fetch when I lived on the Lower East Side. I would order movies, pints of Ben and Jerry's, cold medicine when I was sick, cigarettes and once I bought a big box of glow in the dark condoms. I don't know why I did it, I never used them, didn't even have a remote reason to think I would need them, but I wanted to see what would happen if I bought them. Nothing happened, the delivery man brought them with all the other stuff I ordered, and I kept them in the back of my underwear drawer. Fortunately, my 90 year old Grandfather (at the time when we lived together and I was all about the Urban Fetch) never found them, and I tossed them out when I moved to the Upper West Side a couple of years later.

But, I digress.

So, we've been trying to become members of City Direct so we could order our groceries online. Now, fortunately, we're at a position right now when we can actually find time to go to the grocery store, but figured this would come in handy P"G when the baby comes and we both just can't get out. Plus, I already order my fruits and vegetables from our local green grocer, so figured why not get everything else online.

We had some problems setting things up, but then Reut the most amazing Customer Service representative in ALL the land, called and walked us through the process.

Now, I love online shopping and I love food shopping, and this just combines my two passions. I literally spent an entire hour just putting together our food shopping list for delivery this afternoon. I didn't order any of the fruits or vegetables from the shuk, but was VERY happy to see that you could order baked goods from Marzipan. The great thing about this was that I was able to find items I didn't even know existed, like whole wheat puffed pastry, and a cheaper brand of edemame. I kept the list pretty small, just what we need for the next few days, just to try it out. The best part was that I knew, before even placing the order, how much money I had already spent. For people like us, who are on very strict budgets, that was just brilliant. This way, I knew what I could and couldn't afford, and even decided to get rid of certain items this month because I didn't really need them.

I was a bit perplexed when the site didn't ask me for payment information, but I was so caught up on the site that I forgot about my shot and was late getting the icing process started. We went to bed and I figured I would call Reut in the morning to check it out.

We slept in a bit, which was nice for me since I was so tired last night, and I called Reut to ask about payment information. Turns out, after the delivery and once they know we're satisfied, a customer service representative calls and asks for credit card information. That's fabulous! Now I know that I don't have my credit card information on their servers, which makes me very happy. She called me again a few minutes later to tell me that some items weren't available, or the brand I wanted was available but they had a different brand instead, and I was very happy with that. And, within minutes of hanging up, my delivery was here.

The delivery guy was very nice, he unpacked the groceries for me out on my kitchen counter, and I gave him a little tip and he was on his way. It was just a pleasure, and I'm looking forward to P"G using this service again.

Meanwhile, I've spent my morning watching four back to back episodes of Denise Richards: It's Complicated. I gotta say, it's pretty addicting, and I'm all about the E! programming these days. I have about 6 more episodes to catch up on, but I'm thinking there's more drama to come and it's very entertaining!

Well, Pidgeon just got back from his morning out, so I'm going to go and try to figure out what's for lunch.

Yom Tov from Baka!

86 Minutes

So, I've been sitting on the new Leopard software for my MacBook Pro since Pesach. When we were in the States, I picked up the software and had every intention of upgrading my system, but just forgot about it. Well, in yesterday's cleaning rampage, I found the box still shrink wrapped and decided it was time to bite the bullet. Last night, I spent 2 hours upgrading my system. At first, everything seemed fantastic. I had some cool new features like Photo Booth and Expose, but something funky was going on with my Mac mail. See, I use Mac Mail to filter all of my e-mail accounts. Yet, for some reason, I wasn't able to delete anything out of my inbox. And, my inboxes tend to fill up with crap and spam pretty quickly.

At first, I got in touch with an IT friend over on Facebook but he wasn't able to pinpoint my problem. Then, I went to the Apple website and looked around for some troubleshooting information about mail. There appears to be a lot of Mail issue with Leopard, but nothing I tried seemed to work. Finally, with Pidgeon's coaxing, I picked up the call and spoke to a Mac technician.

86 minutes people!

It took 86 minutes for him to basically tell me that I needed to input all of my outbox and inbox information from scratch. Fortunately, my mailboxes are all set up and working. Phew. My ears were sweating and my ass was stuck to the kitchen table chair by the time I was finished. Here's hoping there isn't anything else wrong with Leopard! I am really liking the new look and feel of Safari though, it's great.

So, the BIG news of the day is that Bar Ilan posted my grade from Professor Harvey's Philosophy class. I'm THRILLED to say that I got an 83 in the course! Woohoo! That means that I not only passed the final exam, but I will P"G never have to take another test again in my entire life. I feel such a tremendous weight lifted off of my shoulders, and all I want to do is toss my Philosophy papers and notes. I'll probably hang on to them for a little bit longer, in case I meet someone taking Professor Harvey's class who could use my notes. 

Today was really busy. In addition to my Mac issues, I had a huge fight with the folks over at FTD.com. My Grandmother, B"H, turned 85 on Friday! Sadly, all of her Grandchildren live out of States or Country. So, I spoke with my siblings, and we decided to send her a beautiful FTD bouquet for Shabbos and her birthday. Now, I placed the online order on Wednesday, received immediate confirmation that it would be delivered on Friday, and then didn't do anything like make a follow up call because I thought it was taken care of.

Ha! That will teach me NOT to follow up with an online order!

When I spoke to my Grandmother on Sunday, she told me nothing was delivered and I felt terrible. The woman LOVES flowers and I knew she would be so happy to receive the gift from us, so I felt terrible that they never delivered anything. I called FTD yesterday but the florist was closed and they couldn't tell me what happened. Then, I called again this morning and they told me the florist tried to deliver all weekend but no one was home.

Ummm, my Grandmother is practically homebound and she has an aid. How the hell is that even true?

So, I composed myself and didn't rip them a new one. Instead, I calmly explained the situation and told them I expected the bouquet to be delivered ASAP. By the time we got home tonight after a celebratory dinner at the new Italian restaurant on Emek, I was happy to hear from my Grandmother that she got the flowers. And they were gorgeous. And she was happy.

But I will never order from FTD again.

Well, I'm off to finish watching tonight's episode of Kochav Nolad! What can I say, I'm hooked to this Israeli rip off of American Idol, it's my guilty pleasure!

Layla Tov from Baka!

Official Sponsor of the War

NEWS FLASH

First official sponsor of Israel's next big war (g-d forbid) is.....Meal Mart! (Complete with logoed stickers that afix easily to soldiers helmets and armored personal carriers).

I sometimes love reading the Jerusalem Post online edition because they have some gem articles hidden on the bottom. This morning, as we woke to the fast of 17 Tammuz, I found this article about Meal Mart equipping IDF infantrymen with food packets in the event (g-d forbid) of another war.

Gotta love corporate sponsorship, already the IDF has lined up some contenders for the next (g-d forbid) war. Pidgeon and I couldn't stop laughing when we read about this for numerous reasons. First, because of all things they found wrong in the Second Lebanese War, it was that the infantry soldiers need to take with them boxes of food until supply lines could be open? Pidgeon's brother fought in the Second Lebanon War, and from what he's told us, hunger was certainly an issue but there were far greater things that needed fixing first and foremost. 

Next, we got a good chuckle because we LOVE Meal Mart foods. There is a Meal Mart on Main Street in Queens, where I'm from, and my Mom loves Meal Mart. In fact, she places a Shabbos order from them almost every single Wednesday night and my Dad picks up the food before Shabbos. Meal Mart makes some great Southern Fried Chicken, potato kugel, turkey legs (ask for those special, they're great!) and other yummy Ashkenazi traditional Shabbos fare. We're a big kugel family, and their sweet potato kugel is also yummy.

But then, Pidgeon and I got to thinking, about what all this yummy Ashkenazi food would do to Israel's soldier's intestines. And, we'd like to warn whatever future enemy might attack next (g-d forbid) that they should invest in some gas masks. Cause, if all those soldiers are gonna be chowing down on some Meal Mart chulent before battle, it's gonna get stanky! It seems like Israel's newest secret weapon is Meal Mart greasy chulent and their smelly side effects.  So beware, the flatulence a coming to get ya!

It was the Jewish fart heard round the world - that's what they'll write in History books. Just you wait!

Moving on. 

Shabbos was an affair to remember. In fact, it started with Friday afternoon's Simchat Bat that left me feeling a bit overwhelmed. I am not a big fan of big parties, never have been, never will be. I prefer small, intimate affairs. And, the Simchat Bat was just so huge and full of people who all seemed to know me even though I didn't know half of them, that I kept searching for a corner table to hid at. It didn't help that Pidgeon, g-d bless him, ditched me twice because he claims he was also scared of the guests and it was every man for himself so he found his corner first. He left me at the mercy of a table full of his first cousins. I coulda throttled him. Anyway, I finally managed to make it over to his table where there wasn't even a seat saved for me! 

As I write this, Pidgeon is protesting that he had in fact saved a seat on his left for me. Fine, he did. Granted, that seat was smack in the middle of the sun, and being 22 weeks preggo, that's not the best place for me to sit. Especially since I was wearing black, and sweating, and hungry and thirsty and needing to get off my fe fi fo fum feet. 

After Pidgeon's brother and girlfriend did some creative manuevering, I managed to sit down in a semi-shady spot and stayed there until we got up to leave. Then, I came home and cooked up a storm for first course, as we were eating both meals with Pidgeon's family. I made fettucine and  vegetables with creamy peanut sauce and steamed 3 bags of edemame. It was a big, big hit with the family! I was pleased everyone like it. The food Friday night was pretty good, the conversation however could have been better.

For some reason, Pidgeon's Mother and sister decided that the dinner table was the perfect time to talk about breast feeding. And, in particular, the state of my nipples. I prayed the floor would open and swallow me up, but it didn't. For about 15 minutes they went on and on and on about nipple erections as I tried to eat my noodles. I just nodded and smiled and looked around at Pidgeon and his brothers for help. FINALLY, Pidgeon's little brother couldn't take it anymore, and he begged for the topic to be changed. I could have kissed him, I appreciated it so much.

We decided not to sleep over at the house for Shabbos and so Pidgeon and I walked back to our apartment at Midnight. It was really nice weather and we enjoy the walk usually, but it was hard for the first time for me to walk. Once we crossed the train tracks into Baka, I was in some serious fatigue. My legs were shaking and I needed to just crawl into bed. And, the fact that I had to do this on Shabbos during the day - twice - was very scary. We managed to make it home without me collapsing and I think I passed out dressed on the bed.

When Pidgeon's alarm went off at 8:15 a.m. on Shabbos, I was in no mood to move. But, we had a 45 minute uphill climb ahead of us and Pidgeon wanted to get to the 9:30 a.m. Minyan at Chovevei so I peeled myself away from the sheets and got moving. It was hot, and not an easy walk. I packed with me a change of clothing and a big water bottle, which I finished right before I got to Pidgeon's parent's front door. The worst part was the Chovevei Hill from the Inbal hotel, as usual, but Pidgeon was kind and patient and took things at my pace. Bless him. I let him go inside the shul for Minyan and then sat for a few minutes on the bench outside drinking my water and trying to calm my heart beat down. I walked the rest of the way to his folks very, very slowly and then when I got inside the house I made a beeline for the kitchen. I was so hungry, I hadn't thought about eating anything before we left, and so I was famished! Fortunately, the kitchen was well stocked with some Kiddush food. I had some crackers and cottage cheese and then went down to Pidgeon's old bedroom and passed out.

We were finally down with Kiddush and lunch around 3:15 and, even though we were offered to stay over until after Shabbos, I wanted to get home. Our apartment has great air conditioning, and I love my bed. So, we filled the water bottle back up and began out journey. It was so, so hot outside! The streets were practically deserted until we got to Emek and we kept passing a couple of people who looked like they were in the middle of some torture walk. It was bad. We stopped a number of times under trees for some shade and so I could get some water into me. But, I hate hot water, so it was difficult to choke it down. Finally, around 4:00 p.m., we made it through the front door. 

I thought very hard about taking a shower, I was all red in the face and my body temperature was very high. Pidgeon told me to do what I needed to feel better, so I took a spray bottle and just spritzed myself good and collapsed in the AC coolness of the apartment. I woke up 3 1/2 hours later and just snoozed on and off until Shabbos ended. It was worth it. Difficult and probably not the smartest thing to do while pregnant. But definitely worth it.

Today, we're really staying around for most of the day. Pidgeon is fasting and I'm trying to at least hold out until mid- day even though the Rabbi told me that I don't have to fast. It's already 12:20 so I'm gonna eat something soon. We're hoping to go to the Kotel tonight too. I haven't been there in a while and, since it's the start of the 3 weeks, thought it couldn't hurt to head over for some praying. Meanwhile, our neighbors are hosting an Open House party tonight after the fast to celebrate their new apartment. We were invited but I declined. I don't go to parties during the 3 weeks, just not my minhag, but I'm sure we'll hear the cacaphony of noises down below.

Well, I think I'm off to break my fast. Here's wishing everyone who is fasting a very easy and meaningful one!

Shavuah Tov from Baka!

Whee and Wii

It is so nice to be home, I haven't been this excited in a long time! We spent the past 12 days house sitting for Pidgeon's parents, who were on a family ski trip in Europe. It was nice house sitting, I got to take the dog out for a walk a lot and we raided their pantry supplies, but there's just something about being in our own apartment. I missed my bed, my TV, my VOIP phone and most of all, my kitchen.  I ended up getting hit with a bout of insomnia last night - I blame it on the pepper spray incident - and when my alarm rang 30 minutes after I finally passed out there was just no way I was rallying awake. So, I switched the alarm off and turned around and went back to sleep. A few hours later, I woke up and realized I missed class, and Pidgeon spent 45 minutes making me feel a lot better about it.

We packed up our room, tidied up in the bathroom and then went downstairs to say hello to his parents and daven. Before Pidgeon could put on his Tefillim, we were given presents from abroad. I got a really nice burgandy scarf (although, with this incredible springlike weather I doubt I'll be using it anytime soon!) and Pidgeon got a really nice dress shirt and a pair of swim shorts. And then, the gave us the new Nintendo Wii and we were clueless as to what it even was! I pride myself on being "in the know" but I have no idea about Nintendo. Truth be told, I just am not a big gaming person. Pidgeon felt the same way, but we both thanked them profusely for the extremely generous and kind gift, and then brought it home with us this afternoon. 

By the time we got back to our apartment, it was past 2:00 p.m. and we still hadn't eaten breakfast! So, we decided to enjoy the warm weather and treat ourselves to an affordable lunch at New Deli on Emek. I had the New Deli salad with Pastrami and Corn Beef and a side of Hot Dog (no bun) while Pidgeon feasted on my hot dog bun and a grilled chicken sandwich. It was just what the Dr. ordered and we really enjoyed a nice, relaxing lunch. We then trekked back to Derech Beit Lechem to run some errands, stopped off at the post office to pick up Pidgeon's bi-weekly supply of comic books, and came back home to settle down.

After unpacking and putting up a much needed load of laundry, we decided to see what this whole Wii thing is all about. The instructions were pretty simple and we set everything up, until we got to the part where we have to unplug the TV from the cable box in order to plug into the Wii. Well, since we are such TV junkies, the thought of unplugging the cable box from the TV just didn't appeal to us. So, we hooked everything else up, set the Wii next to the TV, and just put on the TV and watched a Tivoed episode of CSI: New York. It was a perfect afternoon!

I've been working on a story for my thesis which is part of the reason why I didn't sleep last night. This is the evolution of a story I had written for class last year, but after getting feedback that it was reminiscent of American Pie, I just knew something had to be done! When Pidgeon woke up this morning, I told him the new premise and he agreed that it was much better than the old one. I wrote about a page of the new story this evening and I'm hoping to get the bulk written tomorrow. 

We have a huge food shopping to do tomorrow and I sat down this afternoon to write my list. I decided the menu for Shabbos is as follows:

Friday Night

First course: grilled steak salad and homemade techina

Main course: sweet and sour meatballs, white rice, asian 5 spice chicken, carmelized onion and fennel stir fry, cauliflower kugel

Dessert course: chocolate cake (courtesy of our guests) and fruit

Shabbos

First course: Israeli salad, purple cabbage salad, homemade coleslaw, techina, olives and pickles

Second course: chulent soup

Main course: corn kugel, grilled and fried schnitzel, macaroni and meat, leftover cauliflower kugel

Dessert: apple pie and fruit

I'm hoping to start cooking sometime on Thursday morning and after our cleaning lady leaves on Thursday night. Friday, I'd like to take it a bit easy, and hope to spend most of the time just getting the apartment ready for our sleep over guests. I'm hoping we won't need the heaters as the apartment should be full of kids! I'm really looking forward to that and have my Hebrew version of Eric Carlysle's Caterpillar book all ready to go!

Well, I'm off to start on dinner before Pidgeon has to run an errand. 

Erev Tov from Baka!

Videon Snobs

OK, so I'm a bit obsessed with the Heath Ledger story and have spent the majority of this morning surfing the various websites for more information. The latest news that the maid called Mary-Kate Olson for advice is ridiculous! The man was not breathing! You don't call a friend in California, you call 911. You know, even in celebrity PR, we learn that you have to trust your instinct and deal with a scandal later. I'd rather save a dying client and deal with the media fallout later, than try to protect a potential media frenzy by delaying a life saving procedure like dialing 911 to do something stupid like try to protect his privacy. And, had any one of my previous employers instructed me to do otherwise, I would have refused. I don't need something like than on my conscious.

It's interesting, but this part of the story reminded me of something I dealt with while in College. My boyfriend at the time and best friend were roommates in college and my best friend has epilepsy. Before they moved in together, my best friend's Mother told my ex that if he ever finds my BF in the middle of a seizure then he should call her first before calling for help. Sure enough, a few months into their semester, the ex came home late at night and found our BF in the middle of a seizure. He didn't call his mother but called for Hatzolah instead. Well, when our BF's Mom found out that the ex didn't call her first, she had an absolute shit fit. Bottom line, I told the ex he did the right thing. What the hell would his Mother have done 45 minutes away by car when the BF needed immediate medical attention? Nothing. Sometimes, people are so scared about the reputation or fallout from these types of experiences, that they make bad choices. My BF's Mother's request, from the beginning, was absolutely ridiculous. She was hoping to protect her son from having people discover his condition (which he is able to control with medication, so that it's not really public knowledge) and in the end, she neglected his basic need for emergency medical care. Fortunately, my BF is healthy, married and no longer my BF (I blame his wife, she never liked me, but that's a blog posting for another time). As for the ex, well, he's an ex for a reason. Nuff said.

Yesterday, an angel named Ellen came to our apartment and did the most incredible cleaning job EVER! I love her. I told Pidgeon all day how much I love her, she did such an amazing job. Granted, she was here for 6 hours (and that cost us a pretty penny) but it was well worth it. You wouldn't know there was work done in this apartment, she was that thorough. I need her to come back next week to help finish up the rest of the apartment, and I'm really looking forward to that. We still don't have any heat in the apartment, and our upstairs neighbor is dicking us around so I'm pissed. We need her to let in our workers because half of the unit is up on the roof and is only accessible through her apartment. I left two messages asking to organize a time, and have yet to hear back from her. I left her another message last night, trying to appeal to her human side, and explaining that we are freezing in the apartment without any heat. No response. We had scheduled the workers to come this afternoon and now I'm going to have to cancel and once again, Pidgeon and I won't have heat for another night in the apartment. It's a really crappy situation to be in, but it's our reality. If she doesn't get back to me soon, I'm gonna find a locksmith to break into her apartment. Seriously. It's ridiculous at this point!

So, with no heat in the apartment, Pidgeon and I went out to eat again last night. This time, we went to Marvad Haksamim on Emek. It's a GREAT little restaurant that has some great Yemenite/Israeli food. We split a hummus with meat (yummy) and a Saloof (I think that's what the bread is called, it was great and spongy), then Pidgeon got the chicken shishlik with rice and beans and green beans. I got the chicken nuggets, french fries and green beans. The green beans were so salty, I took a pass on them, and then we both did something amazing. We didn't clean our plates and were able to bring back leftovers that will be another meal for us today. I sent Pidgeon to school with his leftovers today since he will be class from 10:00 - 4:30 and I plan on finishing my food for lunch. That is, if I ever get out of bed today. We have a mini heater in the apartment and it's on in this bedroom and keeping me warm. The rest of the house is absolutely frigid so I'm trying to stay in the areas of the house I can keep nice and toasty. 

We also stopped by the Video store on Emek to drop off the movies we took out last Saturday night. Well, with the Oscar nominations recently announced, Pidgeon had a great idea that they already do back home at Blockbusters. He suggested to the woman behind the counter that they could set up an area with all the Oscar nominated films. We were looking for the Israeli film Bafour, which was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar, and thought it would be great idea if everything nominated would be in one area. Well, this snobby woman responded indignantly that she absolutely HATES any Oscar films because they are the worst movies ever. I laughed as we walked out of the store. Interesting perspective from the adult working behind the counter of a video store. Everyone's gotta opinion in life; I thought Pidgeon had an excellent suggestion.

Meanwhile, Pidgeon has to hand in a final project next week and is waiting on an upholsteror to get in touch about building the chair he designed. I think the chair is very cool and it's really the ultimate TV watching chair. I begged him to had the upholsteror make a real-sized model so we could put it in our living room. That would be so cool! I'll take a picture of the model next week so you can see the brilliant mind of my hubby.

Well, I think it's time I actually get myself up and out of bed. It's cold in the apartment, but I still have a lot to do today. Here's hoping my neighbor will stop being a bitch and help us out! My skin is so dry from the cold that it's literally flaking off!

Cya!

 

Patient Zero

Pidgeon named today's blog entry as it's all about him. This afternoon, Pidgeon had a surgical procedure to remove a lump on his shoulder. We had been calling it his second head  for a few weeks now, and we were both very happy when it was finally taken out.

The morning was very stressful, with the build up and anticipation of the procedure. Pidgeon and I picked up breakfast at Aroma and came back to the house so he could shower. We picked clothing that were buttoned up or zippered so that it would be easy to get in and out of it, and Pidgeon got dressed and ready to go with 30 minutes before the schedule date. I drove us to the hospital and we went to the recovery room where they checked Pidgeon in, took his stats, weighed him, and gave him a gown to change into. We were then escorted to a room where Pidgeon changed and we waited for the surgeon.

All around us, in curtained off areas, were other people recovering for their procedures. The gentelmen right next to us kept moaning, and I was worried that Pidgeon would get nervous from his pain, so I tried to distract him. We talked about the movies and ice cream we bought on Saturday night, in preparation for his recovery, and Pidgeon just laid back and held my hand, and we chatted. The surgeon finally came by and did the final check, looked at the lump, felt around, and then discussed how long the procedure was going to last. Since Pidgeon was only going with a local, no sedation necessary for my guy, he was allowed to keep his shoes on with these blue booties on top. I helped him with his hair net and even joked we should pocket some to take home while preparing food in the kitchen, and before we knew it the nurse came by to get him.

He was a male nurse and said to Pidgeon he was going to be his "Ach" for the day. Ach, in Hebrew, also means brother and Pidgeon remarked that his brother looks totally different from you, but it's nice to have a new one. I gave him a hug and a kiss, and then his new Ach took him away for surgery.

The next 30 minutes were absolutely grueling, and I've never felt this way in my entire life. The anxiety stretched like a band across my chest and I did the best I could to keep my breathing under control. I said my Tehilim, but I couldn't really concentrate after a few perakim, and so I took out Pidgeon's hand held computer and played a few games of Solitare. That didn't calm me down either and so, for 20 minutes, I just stared out of the crack on the curtain by the bed and waited for Pidgeon to come walking back through the door - post-procedure. Every time the doors opened, my heart skipped a beat and I got excited thinking it was him, but when it turned out to be someone else it just made me really scared and sad. I kept imagining that he was awake on the table, and scared and in pain and lonely, and the not knowing what was going on was the hardest part. I would have given away my entire life's savings if the surgeon would have let me in the room during the surgery, just so I could hold his hand. I just wanted to hold his hand.

Meanwhile, the room started to stink as more and more people in recovery were farting away. It was loud and smelly and almost comical if I wasn't so scared about Pidgeon. And finally, in walked the surgeon with Pidgeon's lump - all white and pink and peach - floating in a bottle that will be sent to pathology. A few minutes later, Pidgeon came walking in with a female nurse, and I felt the same way I did when he came to our badeken 5 months ago this past Saturday.  Thrilled that he came for me, love because I care about him so much, and scared shitless that I have this man in my life that I cannot ever imagine losing. 

I helped him get dressed and, after resting for a bit, we walked out together. I drove us back to his folks house and we have been resting ever since. Pidgeon indulged in some comfort food - the ice cream we got at Aldo/Max Brenner's, some chocolates and a big bowl of left over meat and barley soup. We watched Season 2 episodes of Heroes, this great movie with Christian Slater called The Quiet Man and some news. Fortunately, he isn't in any pain yet, but I have a huge bottle of Advil next to the bed just in case something happens in the middle of the night. Here's hoping tomorrow will be a much better and brighter day.

And here's wishing my Pidgeon a Refuah Shelaymah! May he never have to go through something like this every again.

Alone at last

Sorry I've been MIA for a while, but we had two weeks worth of family visitors and I haven't had a chance to update the blog. Unfortunately, my folks left late last night and I've been feeling a little down since they've gone. I'm in bed, listening to pidgeon snore ever so gently this morning, and waiting for the Dud to heat up my water for a much needed hot shower. It's weird to have the apartment to ourselves again, and the visit was so quick, it was much shorter than I would have preferred.

But, here are some fascinating highlights of the trip:

• We ate out anywhere and everywhere - breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks - for almost 2 weeks straight. Pidgeon and I put on a lot of weight in that period of time, but it was well worth it. Yesterday, pidgeon's brother taunted me for passing on a piece of cheesecake. I just smiled and told him I ate steak for dinner - 4 nights in a row last week - and he was pretty speechless. Steak trumps cheesecake, anytime, any day. We also tried the new restaurant down on Emek called Buffalo's Steakhouse and it was surprisingly good. My steak was pretty tasty and the bread was amazing. My parents liked it so much that they decided to eat there again before their flight last night. They raved about the bread too. We got breakfast each morning from Bagel Bites and I actually have another plain bagel with American tuna in the fridge should I want it this morning. But, I think the biggest hit with the folks and the Dude this trip was Neeman Bakery on Emek. My brother, as you recall, picked up a chocolate mousse cake for our lunch meal two weeks back and my father was in heaven! He bought loafs of marble cake, chocolate chip cake, rugelach, danishes and my Mom and I surprised him with some tiramisu cake. Which, I finished straight from the container using a fork, after they left last night. What can I say? I'm an emotional eater and since I've given up the smoking (1 month and counting!) all I got is my TV, a fork and some dessert. 
• You Ate All That! - Last Tuesday night, pidgeon and I slept at his parents because the apartment was full and there was no room for us as well. We decided to celebrate some alone time by going out to eat at this new sushi restaurant at the bottom of Emek called Tamago. Personally, I have a huge preferance for Sushi Rechavia because their fish is fresher and their rolls are a lot more interesting, but pidgeon wanted to try this new place so I acquiesced. We were starving, having missed lunch and since it was close to 9:00 p.m., we ordered appetizers and a main. I had the tempura and pidgeon had the soup. I ordered the vegetable platter (which was 3 rolls of sushi) and pidgeon had the sushi/sashimi platter. We got jasmine green tea for the table, and I got a nestea and pidgeon got a juice. All together, the bill was 252 shekel. What happened next was just appalling. The manager came over to present us with our bill and he proclaimed: My goodness, I can't believe you ate all that food! I mean, I checked the bill and looked at your empty plates, and I see that you did finish everything! Needless to say, I was not happy with his comment. And, were I a bit more on the ball, would probably ask him if that was a fat comment. But, we left and vowed never to eat there again (besides, it pales in comparison to Sushi Rechavia and the rice was hard). We then decided to really stick it to him and helped ourselves to dessert at Aldo's next door.
• How do you know you've made an impression on your mother-in-law? I'll tell you. When she sends you an e-mail forward about a neighborhood woman selling plus sized clothing from her home. American sizes 18-24 no less! Now, I haven't been a size 18 in YEARS! I actually will admit that I wore a size 22 suit to my cousin's wedding a number of years ago, but I'm a healthy size 14 today (and trying to get to my dream size 10). Which means, B"H, I can shop in stores throughout the Globe! Any store carries a size 14, except perhaps the uber-designers and Zara, but I've been a member of the mainstream shopping society for 4 years now. And proud of it. Not really sure where that leaves me with my MIL. Am still obsessing over that e-mail, believe me, obsession.

My parents had a really great time on their trip and we did a lot of shopping, meetings and planning. Starting Wednesday, this apartment will once again undergo a transformation, and that means I am now looking at 2 weeks of hell. We discovered a tremendous amount of mold growing in the Mamad, which is unusual since the Mamad is now obviously ineffective against outside agents. So, the contractor is coming to do some construction in the room, and will also do some work in the master bathroom. We are switching ALL of the light fixtures in the apartment because they are much too weak and the lighting is really lousy. My Mother couldn't even read her book because, with all the lights on in the living room, she still couldn't see the words. Meanwhile, the toilet in the master bathroom went on us and we're going to need a new one of those. And, we ordered an entire wall unit for the living room, so pidgeon and I can get some of our stuff out of boxes. I'm thrilled with all of the renovations, but it will mean the following:

early morning wake up, stranger work men flitting in and out of the apartment every day, tremendous noise, tons of dirt, plaster and paint, smells that I could do without, etc.

The plus side is that, when everything is finished, this place is going to look great. 

The electrician wanted to come early this morning and I begged off, telling them that I needed one morning to sleep in. With the family in town, we were up and out by 8:00 a.m. which is really too early for me. The irony of it all is that I woke up, on my own at 8:00 a.m. 

I'm meeting the contractor this afternoon in town to finalize the light fixtures my parents ordered, have a Dr.'s appointment later, and will spend the rest of my day just taking care of all the linen and towel washings I need to do. After that, I have to move the entire contents of our wall-to-wall closet into one room so they can work in the Mamad. 

It's gonna be hell people but hey, I guess that's just the reality of Israeli construction. Wish me luck!