Wedding in an apartment...

I finally went to the perfect wedding yesterday! The Chuppa (ceremony) was called for 2 PM, but it got going at 2:30. Nobody cared. there were exactly 10 men, including my DH the photographer, 5 women including the bride and 4 kids. It was in an apartment, and we all had a home cooked lunch after. One neighbor brought a cake. Did I mention the Kallah/Bride was the grandmother of most of the kids there (except mine)? And the Chatan/groom is about 60? no? Well, it was the sweetest wedding I've ever been to, and I hope they have many joyful years together. No muss, no fuss, just happy married people and candy throwing kids. The way a wedding should be.

I can't believe how much I neglect this blog. People still read it though, so here's something new to look at.
Did you know we have a ZOO in Jerusalem? Seriously. It's built into one of the valleys outside the main city, and it's pretty darn awesome, for Israel. Shevy had her first trip there yesterday and was captivated by it all, and not scared in the petting zoo, like many of the kids are. Go my kid! do I get a mommy prize because she didn't freak when the goats nibbled her toes? OK, maybe not.
Here are the highlights:

Monkeys fail to impress her. She was more interested in the cigarette butts on the ground.


She liked the fish in the Tiger exhibit quite a bit. This means a trip to the Seattle Aquarium in January!
The goats totally cleaned all the crumbs from the stroller, and from her clothes.


We both liked the leopard. Her dad loves the big cats, so we couldn't neglect them!
But it turns out the Bears were her favorite. I thought she was going to pull herself over the fence to get at them!

Can't you just get a Rabbi to bless this?

Kosher. the basic were covered by Frum Meets World really well. I, too, am amazed by the idea that most non-Jews have about what Kosher means. As someone who didn't grow up with the whole kosher food thing, it's much simpler than it looks from the outside.
The questions I hear most often vary by source. From OJ's I mostly get things like, "Does Treif (non-kosher food) taste good?" (no, it tastes awful, that's why all the Gentiles eat it, duh.) "do you miss certain foods?" (yes, like Clam Chowder and Taco Bell)
From the gentiles, it's more like "Can you eat at my house?" (not really, but thank you for asking. How about a bottle of water or a coke?) "Can't you just get a Rabbi to bless this and make it kosher?" (if only it was that easy...)
What about you? Do you have a burning question about what is or isn't kosher? No question is stupid except the one that goes unasked...

What's them strings hangin' out, Rabbi?

So one of my regular reads, Casey (mooshinindy.com) wrote about Mormon undergarments, and it made me think of the number of times my DH has been asked about his "garment". So, here I am to de-mystify the underwear of the Orthodox man (at least kind of).
All OJ's wear a 4 cornered garment of some kind with strings/tassels/friendship-bracelet-looking-things attached to each corner. Here's a picture:


The main part is called a Tallit Katan, and the strings are called tzit-tzit. The cloth can be anything other than linen. My husband prefers traditional wool, but many men wear t-shirt like material or even the kind of nylon net that football jerzees are made from. The strings are made from tightly wound wool. Some people wear all white, some add in a blue string. All white is most common, the blue thing is kind of controversial, but too big of an argument to get into here. The strings are tied in a prescribed manner, which differs by community. As the garment is holy, it is not worn next to the skin, but over a t-shirt, or completely outside your regular clothes. Also, most men pull the strings to hang outside their pants if their shirt is tucked in, as having the strings (which are tied in a way that numerically represents the Holy Name) by your underwear isn't the best idea.
All that being said, the garment itself is believed to have given rise to the rumor that OJ's can't see each other in *ahem* intimate moments. The idea of trying to reproduce through a hole in a sheet is kind of funny to me, but when gentiles see this big piece of fabric with a hole in the middle (hello, it looks like a poncho!) hanging from the laundry line of their Jewish neighbors, I guess there was some speculation. Actually, the opposite is true. Nothing can be in the way, not even socks. So there you go. Mystery solved.


I'm thinking about doing a series of these, so if you've always wondered something about Jews, send me an email or leave a comment and I'll try to address it. I know you all have questions...I see the way folks in America look at us in the grocery store....

All the sickos...

Who show up here after googling "wifeadv-ntures" can just go away! Ick, ick ICK! Don't google it yourself, friends, just trust me it's not nice content.

a little batty

I was hanging out laundry the other night, enjoying the relatively cool summer night, when I saw something swooping in my general direction. It was a bat. Not a big one, just a lil' guy. I actually like bats. They're secretive and make the best of the least-favorable hunting times. I know, they have rabies and all that, but as long as they're not in my house, what's the harm?
So, I tilted my head back for a minute and let them swoop around me out on the laundry porch. And I felt pretty peaceful and in tune with the world around me. Just because there were bats, and I wasn't scared of them.


PS-I hang my laundry out at night to avoid it getting faded from the strong Jerusalem sun. just FYI.

Better than Bubbe's Matza Balls

I've been meaning to do this post for ages, but I really wanted to do it with photos, so you all had to wait until my camera finally arrived. This is the full recipe for my famous matza ball soup. If you want to learn ONLY matza balls, skip to the end.

You will need:
Heavy stock pot
Large bowl
Sieve that fits inside bowl

Ingredients:
Soup-
1 lb chicken parts (bones, wings, necks, whatever)
2 large onions
4 medium carrots
1 small bunch celery
handful of parsley
Salt
Hawaj (soup spice, a mixture of turmeric, cumin, and black pepper)

Place the pot on med-high flame. Once warm, add chicken parts and cook until brown on all sides
While chicken is browning, roughly chop onions.Add onions to pot once chicken is lightly browned. Cook until onions are limp and bottom of pot has a nice dark brown glaze.

Chop up carrots roughly and add to pot.Add Hawaj (I use 2 Tablespoons, you may want to use less until you know how much you like the flavor) and salt (to taste, about 3 T) to pot.

Now add water to the pot, until it is nearly full (the amount will depend on your pot). Then chop parsley and Celery (including the leaves) and drop into pot.
Lower heat and let simmer for several hours, up to 10 hours. The longer it goes, the better. I average about 6 hours. Keep adding water as necessary.
Later, your soup will look like this:

Not so yummy looking, but trust me it will taste wonderful! Put the strainer inside the bowl and pour the contents of the pot into the strainer. scrape the sides of the pot to get the gunk off.Pour the broth back into the pot and bring it back up to a gentle boil. Now is the time to add any veggies, barley, rice, noodles, whatever to the soup. My husband is a purist, so no veggies for us. Oh well.

Now, get ready to make the matza balls!!!


Matza balls-
Small bowl
mixing fork
2 eggs
1 T Oil (any kind)
1/2 c matza meal
1 tsp baking powder

Crack the eggs into the bowl and add oil. beat it...just beat it...
Put the matza Meal in and the baking soda. Beat...oh wait, no, just mix it all until just combined.
Put it aside for 15 minutes. In the fridge, if you're unusually worried about salmonella, but the counter works fine for me. Now, get ready to form balls by wetting your hands. take 1 Tbl or more of the mixture (depending on the size you want them) roll it into a soft ball (no perfection needed) and slide it into the boiling broth.Repeat until you run out of batter. Never, ever boil your matza balls in water. bland city. it also works best if you are going to serve them in the next hour or so after you make them. keeps them from being too mushy.

Now, sit down and enjoy your soup. It cures many ailments and keeps kids happy.