Weekend Hospitality

What joy, what suspense. The school year starts on Sept 1 for four of my boys. Summer is officially over and we can get back to some sort of regular schedule. I can't wait. I enjoy vacations, but between the heat and the general lack of direction, I find summer to be a burden. I can recall as a teenager that summer was The Best Time. No school, and I could make some money. As an adult, summer is just another season with no more or less freedom than the rest of the year. Oh well, so much for being morose. On to brighter subjects, We are eating out this friday evening, and having a pick-up meal for lunch. There is a bar-mitzva on the yishuv and many adults are invited. But, their children are not invited and so, they pick up the phone and call us. I'm terribly pleased, because I think it says alot that these young adults feel comfortable enough to invite themselves over. And I do enjoy their company. So, lunch is cold cuts, left-overs and a crock pot beef stew. Nothin...

We went on vacation this week. I am sooo out of shape. We did a day of kayaking (Cfar Blum), had pizza dinner and then watched a DVD (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure). We were all asleep by 9:30pm. The next morning, we slept in, had breakfast, circumnavigated the Golan, saw Kunetra, and went for three hours of ice skating a the Canada Center. Then off to Tiveria for lunch at Decks and home to rest. Half the family was still up for more and went to the beach for the morning. I'm pooped. My brain knows how to ice skate, but my muscles have forgotten. They are doing a very good job of reminding me who actually moves me from place to place. Shabbat should be quiet. My sister and her oldest son are visiting for the weekend and we are hosting a family that made aliyah this week for lunch. Small numbers: 9 and 13. Oh well, not to shabby. Some of my readers have complained that many of my recipes take too long. This weekend, I'm making food that takes a while to coo...

I am a voracious reader. I have a large library (about 500 books) consisting mostly of science fiction or fantasy. Occasionally, I read a book that I can't put down, and so, it makes sense for me to tell you about them. Here are two books that I really enjoyed. Magic Strikes by Kate Daniels (Part 3 in The Kate Daniels Series ) This is a book about a female fighter in an Atlanta where magic and technology are complementary. Sometimes technology works and magic is non-existent, sometimes its the other way around. The first two books were good, but this one is very good. Its a real page turner, with good character development and an interesting world. The Lies of Locke Lamor by Scott Lynch (Book 1 of a proposed 7 book series about the Gentlemen Bastards) This book pulls no punches. Its set in an alternate medieval Venice where magic plays a very minor roll. Its really about thieves and politics. The images raised by this book are painful. People die in graphic ways, and...

I'm tardy. I should have posted before Shabbat started, but instead I decided to complete re-wiring the network for my wife's new office. That, coupled with small meals and an early shabbat left me no time to post. So, here is a "post"-mortem. We have a nice family with little kids over for friday night. Binyamin and Shira moved to the yishuv last November. They have two little tikes (3 and 1.5) and one on the way. For lunch, not only did we not have guests, but my wife was out running a luncheon. Way too small with just six of us. We finished in less than 30 minutes. Cooking for less than a crowd is hard. There are many fewer options and the food tends to be blander because everyone need to eat something. The food was good anyway, but I look forward to the return of the students starting in September. We already have a few guests pre-booked, because we knew their families in the old country. A word about my roast chicken this week. I'm confused about m...

Its a quiet summer weekend here in Israel. Many of our friends are on vacation to parts previously inhabited. Others are just staying indoors because of the heat. We do have my army son visiting us again. Two weeks in a row is some kind of record. He tells us that its going to be a number of weeks before he gets back home again. Oh well. We also have one of his old friends, Nechemia. It will be nice to reconnect. Sergio and family is coming for lunch. His wife and daughter are still away on vacation. Meals are small this weekend, 10 and 12 respectively. My wife really wanted beef, so I made a lot of Beef Burgudy. The chicken is for me. I made a nice chicken and rice casserole for lunch. Saute garlic and onions, add diced raw chicken and cook until they are no longer pink. Add rice, salt and pepper along with water. Bring to a boil and set in a 325 oven until the water is gone. It smells wonderful, but next time I'm going to add peppers. Its too white. I also made ric...