Archive for April, 2007

A tough, tough day

Monday, April 16th, 2007

(Read Adiel’s post on Hashkafah.com)
http://www.hashkafah.com/index.php?showtopic=37695

Yesterday was a very hard day for both of us.

We found out that someone that we both knew was niftar in the most horrific way. The news said he jumped out of the ESB and committed suicide. I really would like to believe that it happened some other way. Honestly, it just does not make any sense. Moshe Kanovksy was a good, sincere, nice, normal guy who lived in our neighborhood and came to us for Shabbos meals. Adiel knew him from Yeshiva. The whole situation is just so bizzare that he would just do that to himself, with zero warning.

Every time I think about his leg just falling down I get sick. I want to believe that someone pushed him, or at least some demon possessed him to do it. It’s not something he would have done. It’s just not. And this is so eerily dejavu of what occurred last year. (http://www.hashkafah.com/index.php?showtopic=20274 ). You know the A’s are still suffering so, even though the rest of us have moved on.

What is this world coming to? How can we make sense of this?
Hashem should give his family strength and nechama in this difficult and tragic time.

Almost overshadowed by this horrible tragedy is the fact that my own Aunt Leah was niftar last week, and Mommy is sitting shiva. Aunt Leah was a wonderful, kind person who never had a bad word to say to everyone. She is the first person that ever made challahs with me, and she showed me how to braid them using twisty ties. We made the shlissel challah in her memory. Mommy is sitting with her siblings until Wednesday.
TNZB’H

Let’s hear some good news soon – PLEASE!

Shlissel Challah

Sunday, April 15th, 2007

The shabbos after Pesach is a time to purposely eat chometz and a segulah for great wealth. One who eats from the ‘Shlissel Challah’ ( literaly ‘Key Challah’) will be given the key to great $$$$. So me being money hungry and all, I rolled up my sleeves and whipped up a challah from scratch – 7 actually. i found a recipe online, made some serious modifications to it – and it came out super duper !

Kick-A**-Challah!

Some people bake a key into the challah while other bake the challah in the shape of a key. i prefer putting the key in cuz its a drop more exciting to anticipate who will get the peice with the key.

We had some great guests this shabbos –> Chaya and Menachem M who are related to a second best friend of mine, Shabsy. We laughed and shmoozed and what not. We also had over MP and her wonderful daughter who has fun turning this house upside down (we enjoy it!). Shabbos day, we went to the Strickmans for the seudah. They actually shaped their challah to be key!

It was all so much fun. I can’t wait to do it all again. Come back soon!

So who are we having over next?

Pesach in a nutshell (get it?)

Thursday, April 12th, 2007

So our first Pesach as a married couple was just so fantastic. Some quick highlights:

First days:

We were by Mommy on the LES. The whole family was there, first time since we’re married and it was loads of fun! Good food, conversatoin, singing and Torah to go around. Mommy found us an apartment that was a DUPLEX! (3rd and 4th floor with staircase in the middle) so we got to escape the chaos in style when we needed a little break :) . The nieces were adorable and a big part of the Seder. SR made the best chicken soup I ever tasted.

One of the new fun things we did: Mommy bought chad gadya masks and we all got into mooing and meowing along with the song (too bad some of the little actresses fell asleep before we got to their part!). I didn’t make it outside, but my friend M came to visit and it was nice to catch up.

Chol Hamoed:

Thursday we took the kids on a choo-choo train:

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to the big free toy store FAO Schwartz!

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I think they liked the train even more than the toy store and they LOVED the toy store!

Other Chol Hamoed points:

  • When Zaidy Was Young was on very often and even the baby was entranced. I later found out we were not the only family that spent pre-post-and on Pesach watching the Oorah CD. (“Here comes the trolley”). 
  • I made some scumtious matzah lasagna with sauteed vegetables, lightly soaked matza and two types of cheeses. It was one of the best milchig things I’ve ever eaten on Pesach, if I do say so myself.
  • A passed his road test :)  and drove our car somewhat and he helped me pay and push off a ticket I was supposed to fight a month ago….
  • I spent time shmoozing with LF and took niece CL to ChinaTown where I bought some new earrings.
  • I bought a grill only to find out that it needed to be toiveled and then dried for 2 days so we lasted for a day or so on tuna and almonds. 
  • We enjoyed a huge meal before we said Good-bye to our family.

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Shabbos Chol Hamoed:

We were by our neighbors, the K’s for Friday night where we were the only guests and got to chill and eat great food. We went to our good friends, the S’s for Shabbos day. They had a few married children there but we felt right at home, as usual. Motzai Shabbos we went to a Shiur in some Bukharian shul.

Last Days:

 We were by our Price cousins where two married cousins were there with their kids. It was so nice to see them and spend time with them, especially B who is here from Israel and doesn’t come to often. Aunt S is an awesome cook and we are very close to all of our cousins so going there for PesaCh is a real treat. My friend R, came for one meal and it was great to catch up with her and shmooze about relationships and yiddishkeit.

We ate one lunch by the J’s who were a lot of fun and served great food. I used to go there a lot when I was single and it was nice to bring Adiel too. The last day was by the Langsners who truly are Adiels (and my) family. There was a nice surprise that N, who was supposed to go to Cleveland with his family, got snowed in so we got to enjoy them. The food was great and the singing was a real treat – they sound like malachim when they sing. OF course, they made us feel so at home and part of their family, like usual. Over Yom Tov, I found out that there are lots of people who read this and don’t bother commeting so a shout out to all of you and SAY HI BACK!! We took a few nice 20+ minute walks on Yom Tov which is a lot more than I usually get out so that was good.

So that’s pretty much it. We got home Motzai Pesach and resisted the urge to get Pizza, instead ate some Kosher for Pesach chicken nuggets and fries. The place is spotless due to the extensive cleaning that we (mainly Adiel) did and it feels so good to be in our clean home even though Yom Tov is over.

Quick Update about Florida

Sunday, April 1st, 2007

I never really wrote the update on our trip to Florida that I had promised. So here is a quick summary of the entire trip:

- Went to Miami Beach and stayed by a friend for a few days including shabbos. We toured aroun, enjoyed the views, checked out a lighthouse at the Florida Keys and then went swimming in a private pool at the top of the apartment building.

- Drove to Orlando on Sunday, toured around, checked into our hotel, and also did an airboat ride where we saw baby alligators, a bald eagle, and other random freaks of nature in Floridas swampland.

- Went to Epcot Center in DisneyWorld. we were there fro the time it opened until it closed and still didnt do every single thing in the park. The fireworks show at the end is AMAZING.

- Went to SeaWorld and saw some shows with dolphins, walruses, and other creatures of the sea. A killer whale had a baby (not Shamu) just a day befre we came – so there was no show. but we got to sea a video of the birth. woo hoo!

- stayed in a time-share suite and got to listen to some guy give us his sales pitch. we actually led him on. poor guy was surprised we didnt want to buy a timeshare.

- chilled out and worked on my tan.

I hope y’all get a chance to go there sometime. It was awesome! woo hoo.