39 and loving it

for the past few months i've been trying to get my head around the fact that this birthday will be the last that i celebrate in my 30s and that next year will be the big 4 0! i know, or at least, i've heard, that 40 is a wonderful age....new beginnings, etc. etc. and i do believe this, it is just really the thought of reaching that number, of not being in my 30s. it wasn't too long ago really when 40 was considered old age, and then it became middle age, and now, well, really i'm not too sure, but after i saw the pictures of those brazilian grandmothers, i have to say that maybe being 40 isn't old at all. it is really not being thirty-something that will take some getting used to, but i have (almost) a whole year to get used to it. 40 seems so grown up!

having said all that, i don't feel any different now, after my birthday, to how i felt the day before or the day before that, so maybe a number is just a number (says the aspiring numerologist). i have just entered year 2 of my current cycle, so i have the right to be sensitive (lots of pampering required!).

age issues aside, i had a wonderful birthday. starting on thursday night, we had a fun evening at sherri's, which ran till really late, so i started my birthday there – there were cookies and candles and singing. after a short sleep i was woken up on friday morning by three little munchkins with balloons and coffee in bed (no, the munchkins didn't bring it in) and after we took the kids to school we had the whole day to ourselves, to do the things that i wanted to do. we went to 'habaron' to buy dinner and then went to the yaffo flea market. we hadn't been there for years (the last time we went we had the girls with us) it is so much easier without kids (sorry girls, love you, but i know that just isn't your scene). the market seemed much tidier and cleaner than before, much larger too. we had a look at some great furniture, for my office, when we move, and i bought some clothes...birthday pressies from you (claire and si and the girls) so, thanks!

we had brunch at the famous dr. shakshuka's. it's been so long since i ate there, the last time was when i was really young, i can't believe that i couldn't even finish a pan of shakshuka in those days! and then went on to tel aviv, to the craft market at nachalat benyamin. i hadn't been there in ages either, it was fun to look at all the crafts and fantasize about (making and) selling my own stuff there one day....then it was back home to rest before a 'habaron' dinner with my parents....oh, and if you were wondering, mom and dad fetched ben and the girl's went to the sharon's (lior's) while we were in tel aviv. so thanks to mom, dad and rinat, for allowing me to have such a fun day.

birthday celebrations continued to the next day....lunch with the parents (we bought lots of food from habaron) and inbal's surprise birthday party in the evening. it was a karaoke party....which was lots of fun with half the guests being actors (most of the mama cast was there). great party, great fun, and of course, as usual, great food. oh, and believe it or not i even sang! maybe being 39 isn't that bad after all.

     habaron - friday morning

yaffa flea market

nahalat benyamin arts and crafts market

shavout

i can't believe that shavout, the last of the year's holidays, has already been and gone. I love this holiday and find myself looking forward to it even before we start the countdown... it went by really quickly even though i had the girls home from school for three days. we enjoyed a quiet, relaxing family chag, just us, my parents and brett. {talking about brett - he's leaving us and going home in a month. it will be quiet without him around our shabbat table, he'll just have to come back and visit soon! i don't quite know when and how to break the news to the kids. i don't think that they have even considered that he might be leaving, but they do have enough experience with family members leaving and coming back to visit, with almost all of my family living in different countries overseas}. Oops, i seem to be digressing....right, I was telling you about shavout. shiraz's class danced in the special shavout ceremony at school, i didn't get to go (no parents were invited) but i got to see the whole song and dance in my own kitchen, which was good enough for me. ben's gan had a party with milka – their party lady. and i cooked, and cooked and cooked....cakes, mini pizzas, lasagna (thanks brett for the help with that – and of course to effie for doing the shopping), breads, etc. etc. and mom made even more food, quiches, more cakes, cheese, salads....so as you can imagine, we are still eating leftovers. that's about it, we ate, slept, ate some more, didn't do much besides take the kids to the park, but that's what the holidays are for, right? And As usual, I forgot to take pictures - but here are some pictures of the kids going off to school erev shavout.

vicky's birthday brunch

the english speakers' craft group gets together once a month to knit, or work on anything else they might be doing at the time, and although i haven't been at many of their meetings i try to make it as often as i can (i.e. when i don't have any urgent translation deadlines to meet). this week the crafty ladies decided to throw vicky a surprise birthday brunch on craft morning. and although not much crafting actually got done at the meeting everyone worked hard creating a large assortment of scrumptious brunch food to bring to the party. there were borakus, quiches, blinches, salads, cheeses, bread, different types of fish, cake and cookies...and of course any aspirations i might have had of sticking to my diet were left outside in the dust.

here are the recipes for the things that i made, which i promised to some of the ladies...

focaccia

this recipe is so easy and fun to make.

51/2 cups bread flour (i used regular white flour)
1 package powdered yeast
11/2 tsp salt
2 cups warm water
4 tbs olive oil

coarse salt, fresh rosemary, dried oregano (or basically any other type of topping you feel like using).

1. pre heat over to about 180oc

2. place four, yeast and salt in a mixing bowl (if you want you can also add some fresh/dry herbs in here).

3. stir the water and 3 tbs of the olive oil in with a wooden spoon (i usually just put it all together in the mixer and let the mixer do the hard work) and beat for 5 minutes.

4. cover bowl with a clean towel and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes (it should double in size).

5. place dough on a floured surface and gently knead for one minute.

6. divide the dough in half and place each half on a baking sheet. press each half out.

7. cover with clean towels and leave to rise for about 30 minutes.

8. make indentations all over the surface of the focaccia with your fingertips, brush each one with the remaining olive oil.

9. sprinkle with coarse salt (and herbs).

10. put in the oven for 15-20 minutes (until golden brown)

11. take out and enjoy.

tehina cookies

2 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup tehina paste
200g butter – soft (or margarine if you are making them parve)
2 tsp vanilla essence
almonds for decoration

1. warm oven to 180 degrees c.

2. mix all ingredients together

3. place 5 cm apart on baking tray.

4. bake 15 - 20 mins. don't let them get brown.

cabbage salad

1 carrot
1 onion
1/2 cabbage
1/2 vinegar
1/2 oil
1/2 sugar
salt
2 tsp dijon mustard

chop the carrot, onion and cabbage finely, place in bowl and mix together.

mix the vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and mustard together on a low heat until it is mixed well.

pour over the veggies and mix together.

the delish birthday cake which my mom made for vicky

thank you all (especially you, mom) for the wonderful morning. looking forward to the next one.

friday afternoons – a family tradition

on fridays the kids finish school and nursery early and we usually go to pick them up together and then go on to buy our favourite friday lunch – it's much easier than cooking lunch at home on a friday, because i don't have enough time that morning to do much work, both housework and work for customers, also i need to cook for shabbat, so this is a fun break for me which makes my life a lot easier.

every week our lunch of choice is hummus fool. we always buy it at the same place, the only thing that differs from week to week is the scenery, during the winter we take our hummus fool home and eat it there, unless it is warm out and then we might take it to a park and sit on the grass and eat. during the spring and summer we usually go to the beach to eat. needless to say i prefer to eat out (no clean-up afterwards), and everyone knows that food eaten picnic style is always much tastier!

if you are not from around here and may be wondering what hummus fool is - it is a dish of hummus topped with cooked fava beans, a hardboiled egg, falafel balls, on top of which they drizzle olive oil and paprika, it is served with pita bread, pickled cucumbers and at the hummus place where we buy ours they make a delectable, extraordinarily hot, spicy eggplant salad which i love to mix in with the hummus.

warning - hummus fool tends to be addictive – a few people i know have become hooked after eating friday afternoon lunch with us. if you want to try some and you're in ashkelon i recommend our guy – his shop is located under the municipality building. if you're somewhere else in israel and you can't make it here to eat with us on a friday, you will probably be able to find hummus fool in most respectable hummus joints all over the country.

 

betayavon!

today's conversation at our house....

M: (Looking at a picture of a groom holding his bride) Who's holding the bride?

Me: The groom.

M: Will my groom also hold me like that?

S: Only if you faint.