Suspended Reality: Escape to the North — Part 1

Once again Ju-Boy and I packed our bags, made sure children and dog were safe and snug, made sure there was good music in the car, and escaped.  We do this often, at least twice or three times a year.  With both of us in the Chapter Two of our lives this is something that is not a treat, it is a necessity.  Ju-Boy explains this very well:  we each have baggage, and we each have packages.  The baggage is the flotsam of our previous life without each other that we are still dealing with, sometimes on a daily basis.  The packages are the jetsam that we have each brought into the marriage, children, philosophies and political beliefs.  As happy as we are with our lives, sometimes we need to escape…

Chatting with Miriyummy: Hannah Katsman

Meet Hannah Katsman.  Hannah is a very busy woman.  I am a huge fan of both of her blogs.  Yes, the woman writes two blogs, among other bits and pieces and major articles.  I sometimes wonder where I am going to find the time for my one piddly blog, and Hannah manages to write interesting posts for both of her blogs, Cooking Manager and A Mother in Israel.

Hannah is a woman of many talents.  She can tell you ten different ways to cook a turnip.  She hosts her own Israeli baby names forum.  She’s a highly respected breast feeding coach.  She has a wonderful interview series on Cooking Manager (she even interviewed me), and she was clever enough to even interview herself!  When her son became bar mitzvah a while back she did all the catering herself for three Shabbat meals for 35 people!  I’m sure you agree, Hannah is SuperHannah!  But none of this impresses me as much as the fact that the woman is a human GPS.

It was a dark and stormy night…

Like Talking To A Wall

If you have ever been to Israel, whether you are Jewish or not, you have most probably visited the Kotel, the Western Wall.  And whether it is your first time, or your 100th time, you probably every now and again leave a little note for God, stuffed in the cracks of the wall.

Honey Honey

It’s been a slow summer for me.  I don’t do well in the humid heat of Ra’anana.  I feel sluggish, ponderous, as sticky as thick honey.  All that, and a bout of pneumonia last week, has left me full of ennui and it hasn’t helped the blogging much either.  I haven’t been in much of a mood to cook, or to write about cooking.  Pity this hasn’t extended to my appetite, that’s been as healthy as ever, in the most unhealthy of ways.

It took my friend Abby to get me out of my funk.  Well, not totally out of it, just to nudge me a bit.  She’s been asking me about Rosh Hashana menus.  I haven’t really thought about the holiday yet, I mean, it’s not Rosh Hashana until next year…

Knit One, “Pearl” Two

Summer.  Yes, it’s hot out there.  Summer in the Middle East, really hot out there.  Summer in Ra’anana, hot, muggy and uncomfortably hot out there.  So what are the two things that relax me the most in the summer?  I like to slave over a hot stove, I like to bake things in the oven, and I like to knit and crochet.  Granted, the AC needs to be working.  Without the AC my favorite thing to do in the summer is to lie supine in bed, in a coma.  Wake me in November.

Bloggers’ Day Out — Gush Etzion Winery — July 2011

It was a glorious Friday morning a little over a week ago when Ju-Boy and I set out for the wilds of Petach Tikva to pick up the marvelous Mimi of Israeli Kitchen… wait a minute, haven’t we done this before?  As the late (and great) Yogi Berra once said, it’s deja vu all over again!  [Edit:  Oops, Yogi’s still kicking, thanks Abby, sorry Yogi… blushing…]  Yes, it was that same glorious Friday morning, but after we had viewed, tasted, tippled and nibbled at the food expo at the Lone Tree Brewery in Neve Daniel, a bunch of us decided a little wining and dining was in order, and we made our way to the Gush Etzion Winery.  I ended up getting even more than what I came for…

Fish on the Beach

Last night was the start of the Hebrew month of Av.  With the nine day countdown to Tisha B’Av, we put aside all thoughts of chickens, cows and lambs and turn to the sea, literally…

Foodie Friday, But On Tuesday

Ju-Boy, Chip and Shy-Boy are off together for a three-day bonding trip to Eilat.  I was invited to come along, but the lure of three boys (yes, Ju-Boy turns into an unruly teen on these trips) who didn’t bring enough underwear, the broiling desert heat and the ambiance of a hotel named La Playa (The Beach) that is nowhere near the beach (but has a great view of the airport runway) is underwhelming.  Didi and I will stay home and suffer the air conditioning and a selection of chick flicks.  And yes, take-away sushi for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We will have to just suffer through it somehow…

Chatting with Miriyummy: Varda Epstein

Meet Varda Epstein.  Varda and I are landsmen.  That means our families come from the same area in Eastern Europe.  In fact, we share a cousin, Judy, who is the keeper of my family tree.  Varda and I met on the Internet, in the Israelfood group.  We email each other back and forth, yatter on Facebook and have even met once for breakfast. The two of us have a lot in common, a love of food, a love of family and a love of playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.  It’s a family addiction, apparently.

Chatting With Miriyummy: Leora Wenger

Meet Leora Wenger.  I started reading her blog about a year ago, mainly because some of my favorite bloggers were mentioning her blog, Here in the HP, and I was curious.  And it’s a bit embarrassing to say (but when did I ever let that stop me), but originally, I thought her blog had something to do with Hewlett-Packard.  I never really thought I was that much of a computer geek, but when you say HP, that’s the first thing that comes to mind.  Considering that I think I’m such a foodie, I’m adding insult to self-injury by admitting that I didn’t immediately think of HP Sauce either.  What I will proudly admit to is that I’m a native Nu Yawker, and excluding the two times I’ve been to Newark Airport, I’ve only been to New Jersey twice in my life, so the connection with Highland Park never popped into my head.  But thanks to Leora and her glorious photography, I’m starting to learn that New Jersey is not all turnpikes, toxic chemical processing plants and strip malls.  You can get quite an education reading Leora’s blog, and not just about New Jersey…