Skip to main content

Another working weekend

Amongst my wife's many skills are wedding planner and event coordinator. We occasionally pay the price for these skills on Shabbat when there is a happening on our community and they ask my wife to run the event. My wife's partner in this enterprise is her best friend C.

Sometimes, the events are big enough that they both need to pitch in. This weekend, I will be eating meals by myself. C's family will eat with us tonight. I'm the token adult at these weekends, since most of the people eating are my children or their friends.

In addition to the regular shabbat events of meals, strategy games and bridge, we also host a kiddush after the early morning minyan. The minyan starts at 6:45am and finishes no later than 8:30am. We take the long walk (100 meters) from the shul to our house, and have kiddush for 30 of our closest friends. This weekend, the kiddush is sponsored by the K. family in honor of their daughters bat-mitzva.

So, I tried a new soup concept this week. I had lots of celery left over from the party. Whenever I have made soup from celery, it comes out stringy and tough. This time, I shredded the celery in a food processor, sauted it with onions and then simmered it with garlic and ginger. Once it was "done", I strained it. The resulting liquid is a beautiful light green color and has none of the uncomfortable texture. I will serve it with soup nuts so that it has some body.

Dinner - 14 people, but only two adults, C's husband and me!
Celery Soup
Beef stew with wine
Prepared Shnitzel
Stir fried Chicken and vegetables
Stir fried vegetables
Pita and Zatar chips
Rice

Lunch - 6 + ? ( we never know who is going to show up)
Grilled meat
Chicken Jeera (cumin chicken)
Kobanos (dried sausages)
Mashed potatoes
Green Salad


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A change of pace (Kidney Failure)

I have been trying to keep this blog focused on hospitality and food.  God though has other plans for his creations and I find now that I will have to expand the scope to cover new topics.  I'll try to continue blogging about my menus and our guests, but expect more posts that have little or nothing to do with food. In February of this year, My second oldest son, Asaf was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure. Simply put, both his kidneys are damaged and scarred from some infection or defect that happened years ago.  They will likely cease to function sometime within the next six months. The good news is that there is no immediate danger to his life.  Kidney Dialysis is a viable option and can maintain his health for up to ten or more years if necessary.  Unfortunately, the process is not easy and there are potential side effects. Given Asaf's generally excellent health and age, Kidney Dialysis is considered only a stop-gap measure and not a long term solution. The best solutio

B"DE Clark Evenchick

B"DE = Baruch Dayan Emet, Blessed is the truthful judge. This is the traditional jewish response to hearing that someone has passed away. My friend Clark Evenchick passed away last night. He suffered for a number of years from ALS. His passing is both a loss and a blessing. We will miss his wit and his powerful presence. On the other hand, ALS is a terrible disease for both the patient and their family. As the body becomes less responsive, the family and caregivers need to spend more and more time providing physical and mental support. Clark's passing frees both himself and his family from this disease. Clark built our house. At one time, he ran a construction company. Clark was not only an honest contractor, but also a joy to work with. At a time when most houses took up to two years from ground breaking to residence, Clark built our house in 7 months. Whenever there was a problem, we were more than comfortable telling him to find his own solution. I believe that

TX +2 days

The transplant was on Monday afternoon. As I write this, its Wednesday afternoon. Call it 48 hours since my son received his new kidney. My wife and I are taking shifts at the hospital. She had the first night, I had the second. Tonight is her turn again. I just got back from the hospital and that's why there have been no posts. There is no Internet in the transplant ward. Medically, my Asaf is doing VERY well (as is the donor). When we went in, Asaf's creatinine level was about 6.4 mg/dL (GFR: 12). It means that his kidney was pretty much not doing anything. Today, we got the latest results. His new creatinine is 2.03 mg/dL (GFR: 46). That's better than my own and almost in the normal range (0.9 - 1.2 mg/dL). Each day its getting better and better. What this means is that his new kidney is working! He is able to eat a normal meal and is no longer on a restricted diet for kidney disease. This is great news! Our next hurdle is to make sure that his body does not reject the n