Entertaining

I decided to host a little dinner party. I always enjoyed having friends over for dinner at home and thought it would be fun to do it here. As with everything in Israel, it was different and exciting.

I invited Brinda, Ami and Brinda's grandson Avital for dinner on New Year's eve which was also Shabbat here, For many years at home I had hosted a "bring your own lobster" party. I suppose that somewhere in this country, if you looked hard enough, you could find a lobster but I certainly did not know where. I decided to make a Shabbat dinner however when I really looked at my kitchen, I realized that my oven would not be big enough, my microwave not powerful enough and my 2 burner hot plate, inadequate. I briefly toyed with the idea of buying an already prepared meal, but as you all know, I rarely do things the easy way!

So Thursday I set off for the shuk, an open air market where many Israeli's do their shopping. There are grocery stores in every community here. They typically are much smaller then I am used to and they are much more expensive. So I took the bus to the shuk and plunged in. As I have said, it is an open air market. Vendors hawk their foods, people are pushing and shoving and the sights and sounds are amazing. It is like a series of roadside stands all pushed against each other and set in a maze of ancient Jerusalem streets. I bought all the fixing for chicken soup, a beautiful crusty olive bread and ingredients for an avocado and tomato salad. I also bought a package of matzah ball mix only to discover that the directions are in Hebrew!
I packed everything in my backpack and returned home to cook on my little burner.

I have to say that it turned out well. I enjoyed entertaining once again and we all had a nice time. Avital has been taking his role as my Hebrew teacher very seriously and he brought me a notebook for my lessons and tested me on my vocabulary words.

When all was done and my guests left, I came down with a bit of a flu bug that is going around our house. 4 of the 5 of us have been sick. When I am back on my feet the girls are going to discover what it is really like to live with a middle aged nurse. The clorox is coming out! I don't know if it's the kids I am around, or the fact that I am living in close quarters, but this is the 2nd cold I have gotten here in addition to my eye infection. For someone who is rarely sick this has been shocking. But I am on the road to recovery!

I addition to the pictures of the shuk, I am posting a picture of a dinner I made with some of my roommates. I am also posting a picture of some friends of Zach's that came to Israel for their son's Bar Mitzvah. I went to their hotel and visited with them and then tagged along with their group for a walking tour in the old city and lunch. It was a nice day.

I wish all of my friends and family a wonderful new year. I am confident that 2011 is going to be a great year and I am looking toward the future with great expectations.