Safra-Knit

In 1990 I graduated from college, and had no clue what I wanted to do with my life.  I decided to spend a year in Israel and take some time to think about my future.  I went to Kibbutz Ulpan and then did a volunteer program in what was then the development town of Beit Shemesh.

While on kibbutz, I met a few of the non-Jewish volunteers; one from Alaska and another from Wisconsin.  These were individuals I never would have met under “normal circumstances.”  One was a dairy farmer, the other an Air Force pilot.  I think for all three of us it was a pivotal time in our lives.

Jump ahead nearly 20 years, and we managed to have a reunion of sorts during my visit to the US.  You might wonder what would a dairy farmer, airline pilot and a religious Israeli librarian have in common, but we managed to have a wonderful day together, chatting, walking around and reminiscing. The thought that kept going through my head is whether or not any three people could be put together and get along so well…it just seemed so natural.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but after 7 years of living a rather homogeneous life, it was nice to have some diversity. (But isn’t it funny to note, that all three of us consider Israel to be a central theme in our lives?)Technorati Tags: israel, reunion, friends

I haven’t posted in nearly a month, and I’m in a deep funk, so I don’t know if posting is the right way to go….  I’m currently in Florida…nearly half way through my month long trip to the US.  My current thoughts aren’t very positive….

• My kids are treating each other more horribly than usual.  Not only that, but they don’t show any respect to me, my parents or any other authority figure.  I feel that this is a reflection on me, and not a positive one.
• Being religiously observant with family that isn’t sucks…no sucks doesn’t begin to describe it.  I have never felt so alone religiously in my life.  Firstly, I’m rather apathetic about my Judaism…despite being Orthodox, so it is even harder when I do "minimum" and I can’t get any support for that.  Shabbat with children under ten without an eruv, or with a semi-eruv….keeping kosher when your kosher dishes are being treyfd…early shabbat…how many things have I had to transgress for Kibud Av v’ Em….and even that is being kept up on a wire.
• Tomorrow will be gatherings with other family members, and other issues will come up.

I really need a vacation…from parenting, from my family…but within Judaism.  I don’t see it coming up in the near future. 

Mom in Israel tweeted (that is something you do on Twitter) about making sourdough starter, so I decided to come along for the ride.  I had not idea how interesting it would be!

 Since the starter has been completed, (which took close to two weeks)  I’ve been trying to make a different sourdough product each week.  So far I’ve made pizza dough, coffee cake, onion bread (that was the least successful, too tangy–my fault) and dough for quiche.

I keep the starter in the fridge, and pull some out and "freshen it" the morning I’m going to use it.  Freshening it consists of adding half a cup of water, and half a cup of flour to about half a cup or less of starter.  All of the products I’ve made use 70% organic whole wheat flour, and the kids have been enjoying the food.

 If anyone has any other suggestions how to use the starter, I’d love to hear it.  I’m also looking for suggestions how to make bread when you have very specific and limited bits of time to do it.

• On the needles: Bubbles washcloth and Fingerless glove swatch

I’m not sure how I stumbled across it, but Batzek Alim (בצק אלים) translated as Filo Dough is one of the loveliest cooking websites I’ve ever seen.  With pictures and text they give you a step by step description of how to make a variety of foods.

The recipes today were for Tzatziki with homemade crackers. Every picture is more beautiful than the next.  My favorite part is that they give you a visual shot with everything labeled. 

From the grated cucumbers down to the salt and pepper, they show you what is in the recipe, and how it should look when chopped or grated or sliced.

Another recipe for homemade chocolate pudding gave information about how different amounts of cornstarch would affect the final results.  From this I learned the words for different sizes of teaspoons (flat, regular, generous?, heaping).

Anyway, with Shavuot tomorrow, you may want to take a look at this beautiful site…even if you don’t know Hebrew.  

 
Updates:  Thanks to Yael in the comments for the correct translation of Batzek Alim as "Puff Pastry", and also to Sharon for another good site.  Another note..the third teaspoon I corrected to heaping teaspoon.  My english is truly failing me.

Technorati Tags: cooking, recipes, hebrew, israel

• On the needles: Elisa Nest Tote (in the home stretch)

It is time for me to really get this blog in order…I’m posting things to Facebook, and making notes there, but I think that I should get this blog cleaned up and moving.  I’m hoping to cover my knitting and crafting, life in Israel as well as some stuff related to work…

I’m also going to highlight some of my favorite blogs and websites.  Hopefully it will be worth your while to visit.

• On the needles: The Elisa Nest Tote

Things I’ve Done (In Bold)

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea does it count if I was on a docked boat in Lake Michigan?
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning while newly pregnant even
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty I think I was about 12 years old.
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train it was pretty icky
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked - does “tremping from the “trempiada” to Efrat count?
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (of the moon)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language umm Hebrew?
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David - there is a funny story about that…
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance - it was for my dad, not myself, and my then 2 year old was seatbelted in with me.
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris - nope…too cheap.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp- Dachau
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job - only if you count having a contract not renewed
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone -possibly, but they never were sure
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car Saturn
83. Walked in Jerusalem - ummm..I live there
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House - only the OEOB
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous I don’t know if this or this or maybe this counts?
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby x3
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant

I’ve been tagged for a meme by TriLcat at least twice, so I need to do at least one of them…

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people (if possible) at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

7 Facts about me

1. I once worked in a camp kitchen as a cook’s assistant (because I was too young to be a counselor), after hacking apart frozen chickens, I didn’t become a vegetarian, but I hate touching raw chicken (I don’t touch raw beef.) and I complain about it every time I cook it. (Working in the incubator on kibbutz didn’t help the situation.)

2. I have two random medical conditions which are named after French physicians. Maybe this is why I don’t like the French. (As a group…I do have a few (very few) French friends…)

3. I have three daughters, am one of two daughters, my mom is one of three daughters, and my mother’s father was the only boy in a family with four sisters.

4. Part of my family tree has been traced back to Lithuania in 1758!

5. My thumbs are different sizes. One is long and thin and the other is short and stubby. Both sides of my family claim that this comes from their side.

6. I’m a knitter–it keeps me calm, and makes me feel good. My girls are all getting hats knit by me for Hanukkah, and I tend to make only small projects.

7. My family moved every six years…when I was 6, 12, I went away to college at 18. I consider the place I lived from 12-18 (Cobleskill) to be my hometown. I’ve never been to the primary tourist attraction of that area.

I’m not tagging anybody, but if you haven’t been tagged yet, consider yourself tagged, and let me know you are doing it in the comments.

I was having a conversation with my 99+ (may she live to 120) Great Aunt about these big companies which are failing and said but what about the tech companies that failed about 7 years ago? She didn’t remember what I was talking about.

Here is a nice video reminder…

In an attempt to improve the visibility of my workplace, I’ve created a twitter account and a fan page on Facebook. Please sign up and let all your friends know!

I saw a link regarding this challenge to save $1000 in a month. I figured that since I just spent 1000 shekels on a new battery, it would be interesting to see if anything was applicable to people outside the US.

Here are the first five days, and my feeling about them based on being in Israel.

Tip #1: Pack lunches for the rest of the week

Good idea….I do that most days, so it isn’t going to save me any money, but it is a good valid international tip.

Tip #2: Turn your thermostat down 3 degrees

Personally not so relevant. We only use any form of climate control (heating or cooling) abour 20 days a year. We haven’t turned on the heat yet, and probably won’t until January-February. If I include turning on the hot water heater as opposed to using the solar hot water, we still rarely use that. We try to schedule things so that we are using solar hot water as much as possible.

Tip #3: Sell something on eBay today

Interesting…I’ll have to see what I could sell..I probably won’t use Ebay because of commissions. I can use Janglo instead.

Tip #4: Involve your friends in your savings challenge

I talked to hubby, he is cheap, so he doesn’t have a problem with that.

Tip #5: Optimize your cellphone bill

Honestly, what can you do when your monthly bill for two users is only 60 shekels a month? Anyway, the word on the street is that prices will be dropping in January, so we can’t do anything until then.

Well, we are on the sixth and he hasn’t posted a new tip for today. I’ll try to check in with the next five in a few days.