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Pesach Excess

April 6, 2009 by 16 Comments
Cleaning a Rug for Passover

While my house gets turned upside-down in advance of Passover (and no, I won't tell you where I'm "holding"), I've gathered yet more thoughts about Pesach. First of all, it is hard. Even the minimum involves hard physical labor and more important, planning. Not everyone is blessed with organizational skills or the discipline to follow a strict schedule. But because it's Pesach, we let things get out of hand, and pay for it in all kinds of ways. Here are some examples: Too much kashering. I used to kasher my microwave just because I could, until I realized I only used it once or twice during Pesach. Now I have it available until the last minute. Same with some pots. After Pesach I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Homemaking, Pesach, Shopping Tagged With: , , , ,

Creative Cooking Using Leftovers: Chicken Casserole

February 25, 2009 by 5 Comments
Chicken-Marinara Sauce Casserole

chicken casserole I am enjoying Mimi's challenge of cooking with whatever she has in the house. As food manager of a large family I have had to learn to keep well-stocked, but when I run low I try not to run across the street. We shop at a large grocery every three weeks or so, the shuk for produce once a week, and daily at the makolet (corner store) for bread and milk . I've talked with my husband about buying produce once in two weeks, but he fears we don't have enough room. We are enjoying the variety of inexpensive vegetables post-shmitah and I had put up a couple of batches of marinara sauce. I don't know why fresh tomatoes are so cheap while canned tomato products shrunk in size … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Frugality, Homemaking, Recipes, Shabbat, Shopping

Updated: Lessons for Life: Rude Pizzeria Owner Lambasted on Internet

December 18, 2008 by 48 Comments

Who could imagine that a rude storekeeper would attract such attention in our little country, never admired for its warm customer service?According to financial magazine Globes, a woman came with her autistic child into a pizza store for a lesson in practical living, giving him a 20-shekel bill and instructing him to buy a slice of pizza and a can of tomato juice. The store owner helped another customer instead, despite the boy having stated his order three times. Finally the owner told the boy's mother, "This isn't a school." The mother put the story into an email decrying the owner's rudeness toward children with special needs and included his name and address. Thanks to the internet (she … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Israeli Living, Parenting, Shopping

A visit with Abbi, and the bug in the challah dough

September 19, 2008 by 16 Comments

What I've been up to this week:Met Commenter Abbi in the park. Her children are so sweet! (Sorry about the photo quality--I can't get through to Canon about repairing the camera.) I was glad for an excuse to get out of the house and socialize. On a related note, I don't understand how Israeli mothers manage to spend every afternoon in the park and still get their kids into bed at a reasonable hour.Got a new closet installed, leading to a major reorganization of stuff. Anybody want lighting equipment the electrician had me buy when we moved in four years ago? The contractor had already bought the identical items. Thinking about that electrician still gives me palpitations. I once heard that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Israeli Living, My Children, Recipes, Shmitah, Shopping

Modiin Mom Told to Nurse in the Changing Room

July 11, 2008 by 41 Comments

Yiska visited a mall in Modiin with her young baby. Here is her story:I was at the mall this morning with my 3-week-old daughter. While modestly nursing her, a security guard approached me and told me I shouldn't nurse in public, and that there is a changing room which I should use, "so everyone will feel more comfortable." I nodded and said OK, and just left it at that.An hour later, in a different spot, the same thing happened. This time it was one of the cleaning men. I told him I was perfectly comfortable where I was.It seems to me they were told by the management to ask women not to nurse in public.It's pretty ridiculous. It's fine for women to walk around half naked, but feeding your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Babies, Breastfeeding, Israeli Living, Shopping Tagged With: , , ,

Left foot, left foot, left foot, right

June 5, 2008 by 11 Comments

My mother always advised buying identical pairs of socks. That way you still have matching pairs even after you lose a few. Sock manufacturers have figured this out, obviously, because they sell socks in packages containing different colors and designs.My husband says I need to spell out the meaning of the above sentence. I mean that the manufacturers want you to throw away the second half of the pair when one sock is lost.I bought a pack of three pairs this week. But as you can see from the picture, the socks were not as identical as I had thought. I haven't seen left and right socks since toe socks.When I took out the last pair of socks to photograph, I realized that the package actually … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Israeli Living, Shopping

A Clean City with Lots of Shoe Stores

June 3, 2008 by 30 Comments

I remember my mother taking me from store to store trying to find a pair of shoes that fit. My own daughter is fairly easy to shop for, but we must have gone into fifteen stores over two days to find sandals for her rapidly enlarging feet. In most of the stores, she wouldn't consider even a single pair. And of the ones she tried, none were comfortable. I had asked her several times to look for girls in school with shoes that she liked, and find out where they got them. But she did not respond to this reasonable suggestion(!). In the second-to-last store the salesperson convinced her to try on half a dozen pairs. He offered one of the pairs, which she hated, about ten times. And we left … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fashion, Shopping Tagged With: , , ,

Navigating an Israeli Supermarket

May 7, 2008 by 50 Comments

I once read a blog post by an American on an extended visit to Israel, raving about how much easier it is to keep kosher in Israel than in the US. True, a variety of kosher food is available just about everywhere in Israel. But keeping kosher in Israel is far from simple.Lately we have been shopping at Aleph, one of the haredi chains. They tend to focus more on basic items and family-sized packages. The disadvantage is that meat and dairy products with a mehadrin/haredi supervision are much more expensive. But a few years ago Aleph added a selection of meat and dairy products under the supervision of the Israeli rabbinate.Another issue with products under haredi supervision is that they … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Aliyah, Kosher, Shopping

Between Two and Four

March 18, 2008 by Leave a Comment

What is the number one obstacle to remaining sane while raising small children in Israel? No, it’s not the cost of your child’s birthday party in gan.Shhh--I'm talking about the afternoon quiet hours. Ask any immigrant mother how she first learned about the rule requiring quiet between two and four PM. Chances are she was chastised by an irate neighbor. You can see signs in public parks, and occasionally in apartment buildings. Many offices and stores are also closed between one and four. (This is changing.) Of course well-behaved children nap at that time. But if yours are abnormal on a different schedule, it’s your job to keep them quiet.I gradually adjusted. I learned never to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Israeli Living, Parenting, Shopping, Sleep

Israeli Fashions for Religious Women

February 28, 2008 by 40 Comments

My town has seen a proliferation of stores catering to religious women; I am sharing some highlights with my loyal readers. For the first few years after I made aliyah, the only colors in women's clothes were beige, brown, and gray. Then things improved, and for a season or two you could find kelly green and hot pink. What hasn't changed is the way Israeli designers, especially those targeting the religious community, manage to combine such a bizarre assortment of colors, shapes and fabrics into one outfit. Note: I am not making any statement about the "tzniut" standards of these items. For more on local fashions, see: Burkas: The New Fashion A Clean City with Lots … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Israeli Living, Shopping, Tzniut/Modesty
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