Skip to main content

pre-bar-mitzva -- all is well weekend

Ah, another week gone, and along with it, some stress.  My oldest son is engaged to be married in a few months.  All was under control except for the hall.  In Israel, it is very common to have weddings with 500 to 650 people in attendance.  My son and his fiancee would like a "small" wedding of only 300.  Some hall will not handle an event will less than 500 people.  Most of those that will, charge a different per-head fee based on the total.  Up until this week, we didn't know how many people would be invited, so we were stuck.

With the holiday season over, it was time to start moving, so a friend made calls to a list of halls and collected general prices and terms.  On Tuesday, my wife and the mother of the bride went to a hall, discussed terms and agreed on the date.  By Wednesday morning, the deal was signed.  We now have a date and location for the wedding!

With that challenge completed, the rest is smooth as silk.  The band leader is a friend and will be handling the event personally.  The only major item left is the photographer, but that is less of a concern. We are ready to go... in three months.

Next shabbat, my fifth son will be having a bar-mitzva celebration.  Our tradition is to take the family and close friends to a field school for the weekend.  It is a low key event, but everyone there gets to reconnect with other family members and friends in a quiet atmosphere for 25 hours.  No pressure, just time to chat and watch how nicely the family has grown.

My father in law arrived on Tuesday, and the airlines lost his checked baggage (as usual).  I am just in awe of how many times they have managed to lose his luggage.  24 hours latter, it arrived at our house with nothing missing, so all is well.  We look forward to spending the next two weeks with him.

But that event is next weekend.  This weekend, we can kick back and relax.  No guests, although we do have a family (who are also family) sleeping over for a Sheva Brachot weekend of a cousin's son.  Otherwise, its going to be slow and nice.  We were invited out for dinner, which makes it even better!

This weekend, I tried a new technique for beef.  My son and wife love beef and will not eat chicken.  They don't like the taste of chicken....  So I'm always searching for beef recipes that will reheat well.  In most cases, you need a sauce.

This time, I took beef rounds which we buy sliced from the butcher and pounded them into thin pieces with a rubber mallet.  Add some seasoning and saute lightly in a hot pan.   Each piece takes only two minutes to cook.  Add some fried onions and red peppers, and you have a nice dish with no sauce that should re-heat well.

I also made a nice vegetarian chili with some of the zucchini we had lying around.   It is based on this recipe, but I used only one kind of bean.  Looks nice and is not spicy.

Have a nice weekend,
Elliot

Shabbat Parshat B-reishit
Lunch - 8
Pepper Beef
Chicken and Rice
Garlic Green Beans
Noodles
Vegetarian Chili
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
13 comments
Read more

Post Wedding!

What a feeling!  Married off my son and gained a daughter.   The wedding was very special.  As befits our family, it went off according to schedule, even finishing 15 minutes early.  Yet, no-one felt that it was too short or that something was missing.  The dancing was perfect and the shtick funny and smooth.  All in all, a good evening was had by all. The young couple are like cats that have just eaten the bird.  They walk around with a big grin.  No worries.  What a wonderful time to be young, in love and married!  May they have many such years together in happiness and health. The weekend after the wedding it is traditional for the families to have meals together.  The mother's of the couple have arranged to serve meals at the local synagogue.  Of course, both families are making parts of the meals.  Like the marriage, this weekend is a partnership. My father, mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law and two brother's...
3 comments
Read more

Family, Friends and Guests

Another week, and this Shabbat is going to be busy.  We have four guests from NCSY who are in Israel for a summer program.  They will be eating dinner with us, but eating lunch with the rest of their group.  My sister and her family are coming over from Alon Shvut.  Her husband works with groups from the states during the summers and is almost never home for summer Shabbatot.  To top it off, we have a few friends who are temporarily alone. Their wife or husband is away for Shabbat.  They will add some flavor to tomorrow's lunch. Menus are pretty simple this week.  All stuff I've made before.  I'm in a bit of a rut, partially because the vegetables this year are less plentiful than last year.  Its a shmita year and even though we hold heter mechira, there is just less good produce.  Partially, its because I need some ideas.  I havn't read a new cookbook in while.  I'll try and review some old ones this weekend.  I've talked to professional chef's who go throu...
1 comment
Read more