Down for the Count

Remember when you were a kid, and you got a 24 hour stomach bug? Somehow, magically, at the end of 24 hours, you felt all better, like none of it had ever happened. Doesn't quite work that way for adults, I have discovered. On Tuesday morning, I was the proud winner of a case of the stomach flu. I will spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say, whether or not the symptoms are over in 24 hours (they nearly were, yay!), you do NOT feel like getting up and dancing the hora. Or sitting up for an extended period of time. Or pretty much anything. In fact, leaving my room was not an option for about 30 some hours. It was not exactly the lazing in bed we always dream of. And in proof that misery is indifferent about company, I learned that several of my friends had this virus, too. The knowledge didn't make me feel better then or now, except to know that it was indeed a virus and not food poisoning.

Anyhow, it is now almost two weeks since my last post. I was looking at a couple of blogs that I follow, and was wondering why they had not been updated, when I suddenly realized I was doing the same. SORRY! So here goes.

Shabbat Parashat Bereishit, as I mentioned quite a while ago, was Elisha's bar mitzvah. He did an outstanding job on the laining, despite an intense case of nerves on Friday. The family had a large number of family members visiting for Shabbat, which was so nice, and I was honored to provide the desserts for their meals. Lori picked out ten flavors, which I divided into two lists, along the lines of appearance, color, and, most of all, flavor - one for dinner, and one for lunch.

Dinner:

Whoopie pies

Ginger crinkles

Chocolate chip cookies

Mexican brownies

Linzer cookies

Lunch:

Sugar cookie ganache sandwiches

Molasses cream sandwiches

Glazed lemon cookies

Chocolate crinkles

Banana chocolate chip loaf

Each type of cookie was laid out on an individual square orange dish - six cookies per plate - and then the five different flavors were set onto each table. It looked really cute, and I got lots of great feedback from the guests - they were all so nice, and it was great to get to know some of Lori and Seth's family. Here are some photos of some of the flavors and platters before delivery.

The orange is very fun and lively and worked perfectly with their color scheme. And it's a good thing, because I was told that not a crumb was left, so you want the plates to be cute if they are going to sit empty...

The other platters for the week looked something (not all identical - it was kind of a mix and match) like this:

Sunday night was the party for Elisha. It was a beautiful event at Neot Kedumim, a nearby Biblical nature preserve with a really cool hall - it is very rustic looking, with tent like blankets covering the ceilings. We danced very late into the night. Dani, attending his first bar mitzvah, had a great but very tiring time. David got a shout out in the bar mitzvah boy's speech - for translating his words into Hebrew, and for being his buddy. It was adorable.

Monday was recovery day - ha, ha, little did I know. The next two days are a total loss, so let's gloss over to Thursday, when Yosef and Binyamin, twin brothers and David's bar mitzvah students, celebrated their bar mitzvahs. They both lained at the shul, one laining and the other getting an aliyah at each of two minyanim. And then they (and we) partied on Thursday night, at a very fun celebration at S'dot HaAretz, near Beit Shemesh. The theme was, as you could guess, Noach, and they used the twin thing and the theme to great effect. We even brought home very cute souvenir photos of ourselves.

This Shabbat was a sad first - it was the first time since beginning Dvora's Cookie Creations that I had to turn down orders. I was just too sick to do a good job, and likely too germ-ridden as well. Let's hope this does not negatively impact the future. I guess there are just pros and cons of running what is essentially a one-woman show.

Because I had to bake something, especially as we were having guests for dinner, and it was Parashat Noach, so I made rainbow frosted cupcakes.

This was a frosting technique I had seen, and thought looked straight-forward enough, but never had the chance to employ. This is all a part of my grand scheme to have parasha-related foods every Shabbat - mostly desserts, of course - that has so far never made it many weeks into the year. I have a great many ideas for Parashat Noach, but somehow, something happens every year to make it difficult to do everything. But this idea worked, and was certainly cute.

Dinner was fun, with a family of new olim - the wife, Rahel, and I are old friends from Midreshet Moriah, but had not been in touch for quite a while. It has been really nice to reconnect. Then we went over to Shoshana and Steven's for their annual aliyah anniversary oneg. This year marks 12 years. Mazal tov! We had a good time, headed home, and collapsed.

Yosef and Binyamin did a good job of laining, though Binyamin had lost most of his voice and Yosef had also partied a little too hard. After shul was a lovely kiddush, and then we were invited to join the family and out of town friends for lunch. It was a good time. Suzanne, the boys' mom, has a wonderful eye for detail and a lot of creativity, so everything was great, from the centerpieces to the colors of the linens. Ariella went home with Rachel after lunch - she loves playing with older friends (one year in this case) and did not come home until havdala time, whereupon she wanted, but was refused, a movie night. Another time, girls!

On Motzaei Shabbat, Dani and Ayelet attended the opening of B'nei Akiva's Chodesh Irgun, which combines the ethos of Torah V'Avodah with a love for setting things on fire and brainwashing style sleep-deprivation. I keep reminding myself that this is an important part of integrating into Israeli society, and Hashem will watch over them. And at worst, they learn the love for wearing hokey shirts with shoelaces to close them. Just remember, we did not move here for the education, or the fashion... David and I went out to the mall for a bite to eat and a little alone time. We sat in Cafe Hillel, enjoyed cappucinos and a sandwich (David) and pasta (me), and were mostly just happy to be together.

And now we seem to have caught up. David is preparing for a trip Stateside, so he has been strengthening his upper body to deal with carrying the very heavy suitcases he must return with. No, not really. But even Ariella is looking forward to this trip ("So I can sleep in Abba's bed on Shabbat and he can bwing me fings fwom Amewica!!!"), as it has been a looong time since his last trip. I do not enjoy the single parent time, but it is certainly manageable, and I do like helping him unpack!

A wonderful sweet week to all,

Dvora