Esther & Adiel’s Blog

This Tuesday was Tisha B’Av and naturally the Shabbos afterwards is Shabbos Nachamu. On this Shabbos we read the haftorah which consoles the nation on the loss of the Bais Hamikdosh.

Our upstairs neighbor had left for the mountains and we thought it best to invite some family over to spend time with us. Although we invited EVERYONE, only Esthers sister and her family we coming (2 adults and 4 children). So we cooked up a storm around 2-ish on friday afternoon. It’s amazing how quickly 2 people can complete several dishes when they work together. By 3:00, we already finished the fish, kugel, chulent, soup, and side dishes.

I had decided that with all the extra time, I could still run out to see 2-3 customers and be back in time to shower for Shabbos. So I go to my room and change from my cooking clothes to my work clothes. While I’m there, I hear the sound of a dish break. I figure it’s just Esther moving something around in the cabinets and no harm done. Then I hear a few more dishes break. Then a moment later, I hear a CRASH and the sound of a lot of glass breaking. I open up the bedroom door, and this is what I see (camera got fogged up from the heat of the kitchen):

In case you didn’t figure it out, our cabinets came peeling off the wall and crashed onto the floor and stove top. When I first saw this (and Esther), I was just shocked at how cheap the construction was that a cabinet should just come of the wall. Esther was just happy that she wasn’t hurt and had the good sense to tell me to get the camera (and toss her her slippers). We said “Baruch Hashem!!!”, snapped some photos, planned on how to continue to make plans for Shabbos, and cleaned up the mess. It took a long time to get all the glass off the floor and put up the rest of the dishes for Shabbos. On top of all this, it was blazing hot because we keep the A/C on in our room and usually let it vent into the house, but not when we’re cooking.

We salvaged some of the dishes, spices, and put them on the other side of the kitchen on top of the dairy cabinet:

We cleaned it all up and here’s how it looked:

Friday night, the apartment was still hot and I was exhausted. We did our Shabbos magic and made it all go smoothly on plastic dishes. But Shabbos day, we discovered that something got busted with the crockpot during the crash. It kept the raw food warm, but didnt cook it. So we served PLENTY of food – just no chulent. In the end, it seemed better because no one was weighed down from the heaviness of the food and didn’t need the long shabbos naps that we usually do. Esther stayed up the WHOLE shabbos playing with the kids and entertaining them. Thats a super mama.

The rest of Shabbos was a breeze. Hopefully, this week will be blessed and be a breeze too.

–where you lay down at night and feel this wonderful mix of tiredness, accomplishment, happiness and pride. Let me tell you, it doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does – it’s gotta be one of the best feelings in the world.

(written last night, but wanted Adiel’s post to have some exposure before mine)

I started the day, like a normal Sunday by staying in bed and surfing. I was wondering what in the world i would do today because it’s the 9 days so can’t go swimming or babecue or party. Maybe I’ll clean up? But I knew I had the whole day, so no rush. Because we had gotten our new little blue Hyundai, we had one day where we had two cars. Adiel had his, and I had mine! So i wanted to drive somewhere! Then, on a whim, I decided to try to reach Leah F, who is my #1 go-to East Side girl. We used to just get together on 5 minutes notice to go for a walk, drive downtown or meet in the park for dinner. So I figured, why not, let me try. I called her and asked if she was in the mood of stopping by and she thought I meant the LES, after all you don’t just ’stop by’ Far Rockaway! Well, turns out she was in BP coming out of a Bris, ready to hop on the F train home. And after a little convincing, and a promise of a ride home, she agreed to take the F to the A and come by our place! Yay! Now that I knew I had an hour and a half to work, I sprang out of bed to clean.

And clean I did!! I organized the cluttered corner and rearanged a lot of clothing that I didnt’ need any more. Than I made the beds and divided the clothing that i did / didn’t need. The place really looked great after just a couple of hours!! And the best part is that I really felt like I could just chill out and relax the rest of the day, because I had accomplished already. what a great feeling, instead of 10 PM hitting and me thinking ‘now what have I done all day?’

Anyway, Leah came and it was awesome to see her. We shmoozed a bunch in my place and caught up on what’s going on (she’s almost an OT!) It’s been a while since we had a good shmooze, since niether of us are phone people. Then, we went to the Coffee Bar for a late lunch, we split a French onion soup, fettuchini alfredo, and Caesar-Greek Salad. (I hope noone’s reading this on Tisha B’av). The food was yummy, and then we went back to my place and I helped her with her school work like the old days, and did some puzzles together. soon enough, it was time for me to go home.

So I drove the car home to Manhattan, and it was good to be on the road again, though I’m going to have to get used to some things about the car. I dropped Leah off and had dinner by mommy. She prepared a whole feast and Aharon and Moshe were so happy to see me. Makes me feel so good . After dinner, I went ’shopping’ at Mommy’s, showed her the new car, and dropped of a present for my friend Julie at the Seidenbergs. Haven’t seen them for a while either so it was a good excuse to go say hi.

And then I drove home and that was pretty much it. Just a busy, fulfilling day, spent talking to people that I don’t see as often as I should, eating good food, cleaning up, driving and ’shopping’. I went to sleep feeling very good about myself and very tired too.

Have an easy and meaningful fast everyone!

This Shabbos, Esther & I went into the heilige Brooklyn to visit her cousins: Elimilech and Basi P (and family). We ate the friday night seudah with them and their parents Uncle Mayer and Suri. It was a fun geshmake meal with tons of food and what not. One exceptional dish was the soup. I don’t know if it was the sweet potato she put in or her kneidlach that prompted me to ask for a second bowl (which i don’t EVER do).  Esther thinks it was the kneidlach.

Their kids are cute and a bucket of fun. woo hoo.

Shabbos day – i davened in some shteeble down the block where the rav (who was a one-man show for ALL the services) offered me an aliyah (chamishi). I didn’t play the ‘Levi’ role yet. Not until i ask a shailoh. But after the aliyah, he gave me a mi sheberach and a big bracha for children! woo hoo!

After davening, we went to Chaya & Menachem M (shabsys sister) for the day meal. it was an AMAZING meal. i had some dishes i’ve never had before including chicken roll up (meat inside of chicken and fried in bread crumbs- a mans dream) and a yummy chulent. thanks C&M for the great time. Lets do it again – but this time you come to us.

The chulent knocked me out and i slept until mincha. Then had shalosh seudos with the whole family including Mordechai and Liba K who are going off to Israel for just one year. lots of louck you two!

After shabbos Esther and I went to YGX (remember him – Lord of the Tish) and family for a little visit in their awesome upscale yuppie apartment.

By the time we got home, it was 2 am. And, I didnt get up today until 8:30 (which is late for me). What a gr8 weekend.

As you’ve previously heard, we had a very special guest here this past Shabbos, hailing all the way from Atlanta, GA — our very own dear Mom!! She missed her ‘bubbalehs’ and wanted to see us, so she booked a ticket, and hopped on a plane (thankfully, we knew about it in advance and weren’t surprised). It was loads of fun seeing her, spending time, shmoozing, catching up, reminiscing (well her and Adiel), and just plain being around our wonderful, humorous and helpful mother (in-law).

She came in Thursday afternoon. Adiel picked her up from the airport, and then picked me up and we got home around 5. As we were all starving, it was a good thing we had planned in advance. We took out our two crockpots (cholent one and shalom bayis one) and put up dinner in the morning. I made wild rice with mushrooms, and Adiel made chicken with potatoes. We both made minor changes but all in all the end product smelled and tasted delicious! I just threw together a salad and dinner was served and gladly eaten. After dinner, Adiel had to go to a meeting, so Mom and I spent some time together shmoozing and relaxing. Than we did one of the 3 special mitzvos that women have — making challah!! We only made the dough as it was already too late to start baking.

Friday, while I was at work, Adiel and Mom went shopping to Costco and Brach’s. Mom insisted on buying us tons of stuff that we never would have bought ourselves, and paying for it. She absolutely loved Brach’s as it had loads of Israeli and hard-to-find Kosher products all available. Thanks Mom, we’re still using all of the stuff!! When I got home, she prepared some baked chickpeas and cumin, what a fun snack. And than, the work had to begin. There seemed to be a ton more work than normal, partially because we were home for both meals (last time that happened was months ago!), and partially because we had done practically ZILCH Thursday night, we usually start a lot of food up then. Plus, randomly, two different sets of friends called up (one couple, and one set of girls) to invite themselves for a meal, so there was a couple of more mouths to feed.

Anyway, for the next 5 hours it was work, work, work. Cook! Clean! Bake! Clean some more! Cook and bake some more! It seemed never ending but was lots of fun. The kitchen was very hot and we all kept taking turns breathing in front of the AC. Here’s a list of the foods we made:
Adiel: chicken soup, gefilte fish, lots of potato kugel (we even sent one upstairs!)
Me: tomato and scallion dips (5 minutes before Shabbos, literally), lukshin, cholent, sauteed mushrooms, Israeli salad, deli roll
Mom: Challah (with my help), delicious soy chicken with Israeli couscous underneath.
The day zoomed by, but definitely one of the highlights for me was being able to say the bracha on hafrashos challah (seperating challah) with Mom.

Here’s how the challahs came out. Looked and smelled great!! Behind the challah is the cholent cooking, and next to it is the gefilta fish.

You know the chazal, ‘mishetarach b’erev shabbos, yochal b’shabbos’? Boy did we all deserve a wonderful shabbos and we certainly got it. Both meals were lots of fun and full of good food and shmooze. Friday night, we had Toby and Sari, who are awesome friends of ours that really should NOT be dieting (I hope you guys are reading this!) and Shabbos day our friends Shoshana and Yanky Koenig came who just moved into a two bedroom nearby. Everyone loved Mom and Mom loved everyone, it was a shidduch made in Heaven! We also went to the kiddush of Laya and Gershon Russel’s baby girl, Shevy, where we saw some of our favorite Strickman-Bayda people. We also rested a bunch (Mom could only get in a 1/2 hour nap, unlike the two of us who managed 2+ hours). Than we went to our wonderful upstairs neighbors for a yummy shalosh seudos. After that, Adiel went to daven, and I went for a walk with Mom. We walked to the beach, and actually waded in! Then we walked along Beach 9th Street, and I showed Mom some of the shuls and homes in the neighborhood. We met Adiel coming out of Maariv, and went home for havdalah.

Being that it was 10′Oclock, Mom thought the day was pretty much over. But she doesn’t know Motzai Shabbos, especially in New York! Rochie and Shabsy, who had hosted her sister and BIL, Mina and Moshe, for the kiddush invited us over for pizza and a game. The game never ended up happening, but we had loads of fun munching on yummy pizza and talking about everything and anything under the sun! Although we got home close to 1, and Mom’s flight was early on Sunday, it was still worth a few less hours of sleep.

Sunday morning, we tearfully bid Mom good-bye (I admit, I was still in bed when her and Adiel left) and sent her home with a few good ol’ Kosher NY bialies. All in all, it was a wonderful experience for us and for Mom. She got to see how wonderful our community is, and meet some of our terrific friends while also being able to celebrate shabbos to the fullest . All of us thoroughly enjoyed Mom’s insights and comments about everything and anything from blonde hair dying to cooking ideas to life in Atlanta. We miss you Mom, and hope to see you again real soon!!

As you all know, I’m a BT. That means that I get the privelege of picking my own customs and working with Daas Torah to make decisions regarding choosing a derech. Be it as it may, in this exciting ride called life, new challenges present themselves everday and I have to figure things out so I can properly move forward.

Until now, I’ve been doing my daily routine as an ordinary Yisroel would do. Aliyos, minyan (usually), and what not. But this last Shabbos my mom came up to visit and we were talking about such things and she says i’m a Levi (we still have to post about her visit). Although most of you know that I’m a bit out of touch with my father, even if I was in touch – since he isn’t frum, i would presume that he wouldn’t know if he was a Levi either.

What can a person do to truly find out about their own status? I wish there was some sort of document which cleared up the air.

It’s not like it makes such a difference in my life. I’ll just be priveleged to get the Levi aliyos, was the hands of the Kohanim,  and Sing when the temple is rebuilt.

Oh, it also means I can’t be Moshiach.

The past two weeks have been vacation for me (between school and camp) and I must say I enjoyed it immensely! Besides for celebrating our anniversary and having an interesting emergency room episode, my first week, this past week was really chock full of action and fun.

Sunday we joined Nooch with his son and daughter at a Yankee game. The Yanks are really doing badly this year, and they lost this game as well, but we nevertheless had fun cheering and screaming from our usual seats way up in Shamayim. Then we ate dinner by the Langsners where we saw C and M along with the rest of Nooch’s family.

Monday I met a bunch of very special Hashkafah.com women in Central Park. It was a gorgeous day and a wonderful experience meeting some new friends while seeing some olds ones too. I always enjoy my ride into the city, and the beautiful weather actually encouraged me to walk most of the way from CP to Penn Station (nearly 2 miles!)

Tuesday was a sad fast day, and also a day that we were preparing for our big trip —

to the Catskills!!

And that’s where we spent Wednesday through today.

I’m not going to go into too many details about our fun little vacation but let’s just say it was a great way to experience some new things while going down memory lane with my best friend. Although there are some new stores and camps, for the most part, the ‘country’ is vastly similar to the one that I spent so many years growing up in. Some of my fondest memories are just spending time hanging out in Ganz Resort, and than later in Camp Sternberg, although I don’t even know what we did all day!! It was just such an ideal time, living with nature, and spending all day outside, with barely a care in the world.

It’s certainly a different experience coming as an adult. The first thing that struck me was how quick the ride took. About 2 hours from Far Rockaway to Monticello — an hour shorter than our usual trips to Lakewood! As a kid I always thought we were going to the moon when we went to the country. I also realized how shabby everything looked. Now, I’m not spoiled, by a long stretch. But these bungalows are really gross. I don’t know how adults put up with it! I also realized (and this is my husband influence) how much money some of these places make just over the two summer months. One night we went to eat pizza at the former Fialakoff’s pizza store. The place was PACKED! A bus from Camp Shira had pulled up with about 40 staff members all waiting to just dump their money for pizza and fries — what a treat from the usual camp food! The $$ was barely fitting in the cash register by the time it was our turn! I guess the biggest difference I felt coming as an adult was the freedom we had with our car. I remembered how locked in we were to the Shortline Bus Outlet, and relying on rides when we were in camp – no MTA service up there! It was a pleasure being able to just go and come as we please.

Anyway, very quickly on some of the things we did:

Wednesday:

Visited my good friend Laya, her bungalow colony was right near Monticello. Since it was raining, we checked out the Monticello gaming place. I actually got lucky with my second (and final) $20, and managed to walk away from the machine with $35! Than we did a little horseracing betting. I bet on 7 and Adiel bet on 3, but #4 won. It was kind of cool to watch (we were inside) and we decided to try the same horses once more. THis time it was a lot more exciting, with both our horses racing for the front. And #3 won!! We walked out with 5 times the $ that we bet ($25 for $5), so we just about spent nothing that afternoon. Later, we wanted to make a barbecue (we had brought up a full cooler of meats and ice) but it started to rain. So we ate dinner at the Shwarma King, very yummy, and Adiel caught a Mincha-Maariv while I shmoozed with Laya. Than, we stopped by Mountain Fruit, which was right next door to the hotel we were staying at. Wow, have they upgraded their supermarkets! They sold every type of food, including fresh bakery stuff and sushi! Brachs, move over! We got some nosh and headed back to the hotel.

Thursday

We were very happy when it was somewhat sunny in the morning, as we planned the Delaware for that day. We mamash passed by Sternberg on the way, but despite the 10 years I spent there, I don’t know a soul now and decided against visiting. The actually canoeing was nice and relaxing, not quite as exciting as I remember it but still enjoyable. We stopped in the middle to eat lunch. Unfortunately, Adiel wasn’t too generous with the sunscreen and burnt his arms and legs! . After a shower and rest, we decided to try for the barbecue again, but first I wanted to visit my old colony, which was about half hour away. We took the long route through all of our old stomping grounds – South Fallsburg, Fallsburg (camp Jep!), and Woodbourne. Wow have these places shrunk since I was a kid! There are literally 10 stores in Woodbourne, and still it’s the place to go! Unfortunately, as we were nearing Loch Sheldrake, the skies once again opened up and the rain started pouring. There was thunder and lightning and it was scary to even drive! When we got to Ganz (which also looked exactly the same), it was still pouring and we opted against going out to tour and take pictures. Still, Adiel listened patiently and actively as I waxed poetry about barns, salamanders and bungalows from a kid’s point of view. Of course, barbecueing was out that night too, so we went to the Pizza store (where we met the whole Camp Shira) instead. We shmoozed with the owner – who believe it or not – comes in with a couple of her married kids from Israel every year to run the store!

Friday

As Friday was a short day, and the roads were full of traffic, we opted against doing anything too major. We did go to camp Romimu to visit Rabbi and Mrs S. They were their usual warm and wonderful selves and showed us their 2 room mansion while we shmoozed. Then, we went to visit one of the biggest attractions up in the Catskills – Walmart!! Adiel needed a Shabbos shirt (his was in the cleaners) and I needed a couple of things so we went to one of the frummy hangouts to buy our wares. After a couple of more slices of pizza (at Pizza D’Pie — accross from Kiamesha Lanes) we were on our way to our Shabbos plans. But I will stop here and let you all comment while Adiel describes the Shabbos we had.