Skip to main content

Thanksgiving

My wife and I were married on Thanksgiving day, 24 years ago.  Since then, we have celebrated our anniversary with the traditional thanksgiving day meal.  If you search this blog, you can see past thanksgivings here, here and here.  For some time now, we have hosted huge thanksgiving events with more than 300 friends and guests.   This year, we have a change.   My sister's son is celebrating his Bar Mitzva this weekend and we are all invited.  Our thanksgiving party has been canceled for this year, but we will be celebrate a condensed version  next weekend with a smaller group of friends (20 or so).

I am very excited to participate in this Bar Mitzva. My nephew is a bundle of energy and excitement.  He has grown significantly over the past few years from a very independent child to a real mench.  It is a pleasure to watch him grow up and blossom.

From the thanksgiving point of view, I will miss our big gala event.  It was very much part of my yearly calendar.  This year we will have a Thanuka (Thanksgiving+Hanuka) dinner next shabbat.  We will make the same foods for which we have become locally famous and will share the good times with our friends.

We have much to be thankful for this past year.  My eldest was married in February, bringing my first daughter-in-law into the family.  My second son who had a kidney transplant last year in may, is fully recovered and has entered the army as a volunteer. My third son graduated high school and is now studying in Yeshiva until his army duty starts this spring.  Numbers four, five and six are all healthy and studying in high school!  We are done with elementary school.

My wife is studying in a two year tour-guide course and really enjoying the country and the learning.  She is going to be a great guide (shameless plug for business) and constantly impresses us with her knowledge, passion and excitement about the land and its history.

Of course, I just finished my Phd thesis and I'm now starting a new venture.  I'll probably have to start a new blog for the business side, but I hope to continue with WeekendHospitality for my personal views and events.

To give thanks is to recognize positive events in our life, to recognize the people who made them happen and the people who were with you throughout.  I give thanks for the past year, to God for the many miracles, to our friends for their support, to my wife and my family for being there always.

May you recognize the gifts that you have and the wonderful things that have occurred.  May we continue to share these gifts and events in the year to come.

Elliot

Comments

Hasya Ya'ara said…
Elliot,

Happy Anniversary to you and your wife. And mazal tov on all of your's and your families successes.

May each year bring you more simchas.

Hasya Ya'ara

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

Unusual pesach meals part 2: Zupa Chrzanowa

What was I going to do with the horseradish root that I used for the pesach seder?  5 inches of spicy goodness.  Then I found this recipe for Zupa Chrzanowa,  Horseradish soup. I tried to keep close to the version in the link.  I made my vegetable stock from kitchen leftovers, carrot peels, onion skins, the green parts of leeks, celery and artichoke trimmings.  All parts that I would usually just throw in the trash.  They too contributed to my cooking today. Ingredients 1 carrot diced 1 stalk celery diced 1 onion diced 5 inches of horseradish (2 in diameter) grated 1 large potato diced 8+ cups of Vegetable stock 2 Tbsp olive oil Instructions Saute the carrot, celery and onion in hot olive oil until soft Add the diced potato, grated horseradish and vegetable stock (or water) simmer for 1-2 hours puree using an immersion blender or food processor Serve hot Update: Major failure.  The soup came out very very bitter and I'm pretty sure the culprit was the vegetab

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