Israeli Independence Day - 57 years old

[judih]

It's a National Holiday. The most important holiday celebrating Declaration of Statehood in 1948.

Fireworks all over the land were booming last night - the colourful sort for a change.

But, i have a problem.
i forgot to go shopping.

Here i am on a kibbutz, land of potential plenty without a cucumber or tomato in my fridge and a family of 5 to feed.

What kind of Israeli mother am i?
(oxymoron - i'm off the charts)

The traditional 'picnic' or 'mangal (barbecue) will all go on without me and mine, cause we don't even have an onion to roast.

Sure, i can whip up a pizza or two (have yeast, flour, grated cheese, olive oil and tomato paste), but what about the traditional salad and pita?

Where lies the tehina glory?

O, ye who know not the situation of 'no stores open on a holiday', how can i expect you to understand? Yet, i confess! To you (cause i trust you won't spread the word to my neighbours), to you, i admit this unprecedented situation.

All will be fanning their grills, washing the smoke from their hair and here, in our front yard, will be hardly a burp.

(who's to remember when these holidays actually start? i guess i should have read the local papers instead of walking in an altruistic stupour of existentialism)

j

[Lightning Rod]

Israel was born in the same year as I was, 1948

Why do i feel connected?

[judih]

connected? hmmm
is this a trick question?

'''''''cause everyone hates you? (nah)
.....cause you're surrounded by countries who'd prefer to see you driven into the sea?
----cause you make beautiful music?

should i make a poll?

===cause you're filled with outspoken, relentless need for self-expression?

(am i getting warmer?)

[panta rhei]

no picnic! oh no.
no grapes or tomatoes, no tehina, not even a humble pita or a modest onion - now whatcha gonna do?

(yes, what a failed family managment, my dear - you forgot! to go! SHOPPING!*)

your only choice might be to give a concert of rumbling stomaches in your front yard (give it some genuine blues feeling, with the longing sound of salivating mouths and the grippng effect of true tears in your hungry eyes), and put a neat, clean hat in front of your family band.
if you're lucky, you'll not only receive smiles and shekels, but also a carrot or an egg or two.

the rest is all about creativity.

good luck (and my heartfelt sympathy to this phenomenon very well known to me)!

-a


*last weekend, when we had planned our canoe tour, with friends and picnic, i opened the fridge in the morning before we started and saw.... OH NO! NOTHING!
i had forgotten to go shopping, and it was sunday. sunday = all shops are closed.
no vegetable. no bread. no cheese, no feta. all that was left were a few apples and some müsli (mixture of grain flakes, cereals, nuts and so on), but no milk.
ooops. luckily, our friends saved us. they had a picnic basket fileld with deliciousies, and they shared. and in the evening, we all went to eat asparagus at a "straussi" (farm house that has a license to offer meals to dine on solely during the spring and summer months when the fruits from the fields are ripe).

we were lucky. maybe you got some friends, as well?

[judih]

ha!

lucky you.
i thought of pawning off our kids on neighbours, but our neighbours are not especially hospitable.

One is blaring Santana while making his barbecue. And i think the others have left the kibbutz for greener pastures.

Meanwhile, G is making brown rice and cooking up 1/2 a cabbage found in the lower echelons of our refrigerator.

Tonight, we can go the eggs and toast route - perhaps spaghtetti!
We'll survive.

But i do like the growling stomach chorus for dessert! thanks for the idea!

j

[panta rhei]

brown rice and cabbage - well, why not. at least the colour fits the landscape, and the rest is spicing.

no hospitable (or present) neighbours?
well, what can you do. you might just creatively integrate the barbecued santana sound into your family choir...

at least there are eggs and toast on the horizon, along with a distant hope for spaghetti.
apart from that fill your bellies with water!


.... now i better mount my bike and buy something for lunch.
i just checked the fridge....
(and that's not just a joke in order to make a funny post)!

-a

[judih]

and as always when there's nothin to eat, i'm making cookies - this time it's oatmeal chocolate chip. Let us go down crunching!

Bon appetit

[panta rhei]

fuck! (the folks in the state almost 20 years ago told me to say "fudge" instead of "fuck", but i don't mean something sweet like that)

i raced to the store like a maniac, but ti was closed already ( noon to 2:30 p.m. = siesta, shops closed).

so i searched the remotest corners of the fridge and found a few leftover carrots.
now i'll make some quinoa and grilled carrots with garlic and olive oil.... should be tasty.

cookies sound good. and crunching sure will add to your family serenade....