Weekend Hospitality

Each person has their own ways of dealing with their problems.  When I get sick, I want to be in a quiet, warm place until I feel better.   When I start to feel better, I want company.  Like our forefather Avraham, having company makes me feel whole.  (this assumes that I am healthy enough for company.  I may be righteous, but I'm not stupid ;-). My wife is wonderful.  She knew what would make me feel better, and she accepted requests from five guests to stay over for Shabbat.  She also invited a local family for lunch!  I was a little overwhelmed, but there really is no difference between 1 guest and 5. Today (Friday) is the first day that I'm feeling almost normal.   I still have a little tightness from the surgery and I'm definitely favoring my side.  But, I was able to cook up a storm.  As I looked on my handiwork this afternoon, I felt very good.  We start with raw materials and make something appetizing and healthy!  What could be a better parable for recovering from ...

We're having family over for Shabbat.  Its been some time since one of my siblings came to visit and we are very excited.  Unfortunately, there are two other pressing items this weekend.  One is that I'm leaving on a business trip Saturday night.  The day before one of these trips is always more intense.  The second issue is that my wife is running a Bar Mitzva weekend.   In this case, it means that she will be working two out of the three shabbat meals for the Bar Mitzva and will not be eating with us. So, to make things more interesting, we invited over one of my sibling's friends from the community.  Their seven people added to our family and my sibling's five will make for a reasonably full dinner of 18.  Lunch will be smallish with only 15 people. There is a new tradition called the Kosher Cooking Carnival.  Its a monthly compendium of Kosher cooking blogs.  This month A Mother in Israel will be hosting the next Kosher Cooking Carnival on April 7.   Topics will in...

Every time I travel, it takes a week or more to get back into our normal schedule.  Last weekend, we had no out-of-town guests and were even (gasp) invited out for a meal.  This weekend, things have gone back to normal.  Three boys from  Shapell's are visiting with us.  A family in our community is remodeling their kitchen, so they are coming over for dinner along with three of my 15 year olds friends.  How quickly we reach 20 for dinner.  A family whose matriarch is 8 month pregnant will be with us for lunch (8+3+4 = 15 people total). This week, I'm revisiting an old recipe I made up in college.  It is fittingly called College Goo.  It was something I could whip up that stretched the ingredients, was very filling and tasted good (to a college student on a limited budget).  Its ground meat, rice, onions, mushrooms and peas and garlic, and is usually served with soy sauce.  Quantities are very loose, so its more of a make it up as you go dish.  I usually add Cumin while I saute...

I feel that we are finally back on track.  We had a really nice group of people over last week.  They must have told their friends because by Monday, we were asked to host three young ladies.  That's unusual as most people hold off until Tuesday or Wednesday to make weekend plans.  About the same time, we invited a local family over for lunch.  They are between 7 and 9 people, so Lunch will be full.  Dinner will be small (for us), only 10 people. This summer we made business cards for our house.  They have this blog address as well as our phone numbers and email addresses.  It seems that the cards are actually working, in that our guests are, for the most part, not coming from the regular "Anywhere in Israel" program.   Its word of mouth and it's very rewarding that people are willing to recommend us to their friends. Its been some time since I posted recipes, so today I'll add three that I just tried.  They all smell great. Shabbat Parshat Va'eira Dinner - 10...