My new job and more

I have a new job. This week I started cooking for a yeshiva. It is only a few portions for lunch. I prepare food for my family along with the yeshiva's food. The boys seem to like it, so that's good. I like the Israeli way of eating better, I think it is healthier- the big meal of the day is lunch. I prepare protein - usually chicken sometimes fish or ground meat (or ground meat product), starch and soup and/or salad. Dinner is a light meal like sandwiches, pancakes or eggs. When I was cooking for only my family I relied too much on prepared food (soy, fishsticks) and the main meal was dinner, neither of which is health. Now I am sure that my family is getting a healthy meal at the right time. May Hashem give me the koach to continue.

I already read part of this weeks Mishpacha. As I was reading the "Daughter of The King" article I realized I know the woman that it is about! I worked in her gan. I have often wondered how she is doing. It is so nice to know she is happy. It is so good to hear that she has adopted a child - whom she was able to nurse! And who she homeschools! As an educator she always had such passion for doing right by the kids and warmth and love just flowed through her every interaction with them. This is one of those times that I think I missed out on knowing someone better. I worked at the gan in a time in my life when I was very self absorbed and I think I could have learned alot from Chana... Maybe I will try to contact her. If anyone has any leads on Chana Ilyin (she has another first name that I knew her by but I don't like to publicize people's personal information without permission, it really bothers me when people do it to me!) please let me know.

I wonder how MOchassid did or is doing on his bike ride.

Have a gut shabbos everyone.

Sloppy Joes saved the day!

We hosted a barbecue, but it was in some else's house. It was for a bunch of families, lots of kids and my husband went shopping. We fired up the grill, put on some wings and some hot dogs. Then we went to put on burgers. Uhoh. Husband bought "motzer basar tachun" which is ground beef mixed with soy protein. It does not make good burgers. We had 4 or 5 kilos of the stuff. We added eggs and breadcrumbs. It just melted into the grill. Not good. We were despairing that we would not have enough food. And then what would we do with 4-5 kilos of ground meat product? All of a sudden I had a great thought! Sloppy joes!. All I needed was a few things, and it was eaten up! Everyone thought it was really good. It was like a crazy adventure, I was rushing to finish and everyone who walked into the kitchen just stared. The people whose house we were at were really great. We were having a barbecue so understandably they expected everyone to be outside, and did not expect anyone cooking! But it turned out fine. The more Israelified (all the adults were English speakers/ Americans)and some of the kids did not know what sloppy joes were or how to eat them- but they learned, and liked it.

My recipe:
1 green pepper, cut small
1 or more onions, cut small
some garlic
fry the onions (garlic) and peppers. Put on the side
Brown the ground beef.
Add to the onions and peppers- tomato paste (resek agvaniyot, agvaniyot meruseket will work too but I like the consistency with paste better), some vinegar, black pepper, garlic powder if you didn't put in fresh garlic, some brown sugar and cook. Then add the meat.

I know, I am not too good at writing recipes, but that is how I make it. I serve it on regular (Berman's, the yummiest) sliced bread, and roll each piece in half to hold the sauce. If you have hamburger buns (you are lucky!) use those.

Enjoy

Biting the bullet

I have planned posts, one specifically about my 2 day trip to Jerusalem- now two weeks ago, that one has actually been partly typed up as a word doc already, but between yom tov and all the chaos here (nothing new!) I can't seem to finish it. Or the one I wanted to write on a mishpacha article from yom kippur. So at least I am biting the bullet now and posting a totally empty post saying nothing just so I don't feel like I am letting this blog slip away.

Here is a link I like, in case you are bored, so this post is not completely useless:

Faq on Chassidim

Aliya l'regel- the holy city of Jerusalem

I went to Yerushalayim on a two day trip last sunday. I got off the bus at the tachana mercazit. The "new" tachana. As opposed to the old one or the old new one - the temporay central bus station that was in use for two years or so while they were building the new one in the place of the old one. First of all, after having lived in and around Jerusalem for a few years it is so strange how now, after not living there for awhile instead of it being home it is a big city (compared to my present home) with ALOT of old memories. Alot has changed in 11 years but so many things are the same. So, first I went to see the new tachana. It is like a small mall. A small food court, decent bathroom. I wanted bagels, so I left the mall to go to "holy bagel". It was closed :(. I was sleeping at a friend, but I knew she wasn't home and was busy, so I had some time to kill. I love walking in Jerusalem, it is one of the things I miss about living there. I don't miss how pushy and in a hurry people can be though. I continued up rechov yaffo, toward the shuk. They built this big new wall across from the french hospital(?),right before the gas station, for the life of me I cannot remember what that part of the street used to look like. I past the shuk and the memories swarmed around me. I remember all the different shopping trips there, inlcuding my trip with my (then) chasan to buy household stuff. I remeber trips there as a single seminary girl being overwhelmed bot the many new sights and sounds. I remember being heavy with preganancy, living a long bus ride away from the shuk but still insisting on shopping there, for the experience. Shlepping home a big, overstuffed, back pack. And then as a young mother, baby in a backpack, going to my regular vedors and picking up my regular shuk items on thursday, for shabbos.
The menmories continued to flood my mind as I walked through this holy city, so dear to my heart.

Finally finished and posted this post, almost a year later (sep. 13, 05), after finding it unfinished. I planned it to be much longer, a whole walk through of my trip, but, I'll just post it as is.