Post-Pesach/Passover 5779, 2019

Yes, it's hard to believe but last night as Shabbat ended, so did Passover for Jews wherever.  This is a rare year when even those of us in the Holy Land find ourselves still in Passover mode for eight full days. That's because as Passover ended, Shabbat began, and on Shabbat we are forbidden to cook, shop, switch the kitchen etc. Also, the chametz we had sold stays sold until after Shabbat.

Before the Chag Shvi'i shel Pesach, the last day of Passover, we make a special blessing Eruv Tavshilin which starts the cooking of a meal which is to be eaten on Shabbat. We may finish the cooking, and do any other food preparation for Shabbat as part of that Eruv Tavshilin.

After Havdala, the ceremony that separates the Holy Shabbat from the regular days, we can then start rearranging the kitchen into regular Chametz mode. About an hour plus after Shabbat, if we've sold our Chametz, we retake possession.

It didn't take me all that long to take off the counter coverings and get my kitchen back to normal. I made sure to find all of my coffee paraphernalia before going to bed, figuring that in the morning I'd be too confused and tired to think straight. Especially since this is the first year/Passover in the new kitchen, it's a bit more complicated to remember where I'd stashed everything.

B"H, thank Gd I found it pretty easy to get this new kitchen in and out of Passover mode. I'm pleased, thank Gd, with my kitchen.

No, I haven't yet had any chametz. Some years it takes me until Shabbat.

Solving The "Puzzle," First Passover in New Kitchen

Without a doubt, I am extraordinary pleased with the relative ease I had switching my new kitchen into Passover mode, setting it up for Pesach. Even though I made no real/expense effort to plan/build cabinets special for Passover, there ended up being quite a bit of easy to reach/no need to switch cabinets. 

One of the reasons I didn't want to spend extra is because we're not getting any older--meaning that not only don't I host humongous s'darim anymore but even ad meah esrim-we don't have too many left. But that's also a reason to make the Passover switch easier. Yes, that doesn't make sense completely, but we managed to pull it off. And, no, I didn't hire a kitchen planner. Our son-in-law and I planned the kitchen, with one super brilliant tweak by the guy who was hired to be in charge of and do the shuiputz, renovation.

Our kitchen isn't all that big, but it's not small either. My priorities when planning were to have room for two standard Israeli ovens and two separate full-sized sinks. And I have them.

The dairy sink is an "island," and instead of an eating counter, there are closets underneath facing the dining room table. Those closets are full, actually were partially empty, of dairy and parve Passover dishes, pots, etc. They've been empty enough for me to have stored all sorts of Passover pantry items as we purchased them. That was convenient. 

We didn't need to to much switching. I had plenty of room in the big storage drawers to add my mugs and coffee paraphernalia. Then I cleaned and covered the shelves, filling them with Passover mugs, dairy dishes, etc. The only major cabinet switch was for the meat dishes. My husband was able to climb up for that after I emptied, cleaned and covered the shelves. 

My biggest challenge was covering the counters. I was overjoyed to discover that the "oil cloth" I had bought a couple of years ago was more than sufficient to cover all. Cutting to fit required a lot of brain power, engineering skills. I'm very proud that I pulled it off. Here are some photos.

Tonight is the Pesach/Passover Seder, Gd willing, and it is also Shabbat. Blessings and Joy to All.

Shabbat Shalom

Chag Kasher v'Sameach

May You have a Peaceful Shabbat and Joyful and Kosher Passover

Post-Purim = Pre-Pesach EEKS!

I just gave vegetable soup and either a cupcake or nuts as
Mishloach Manot this Purim. 

Purim here in Shiloh is double the fun, mitzvot, work etc. As I'm written before, here in Shiloh we celebrate both days. OK, some people fly the coop after eating an early seuda, feast on the first day, regular Purim, and sleep in a location that doesn't celebrate the second day. But not us. We celebrate both days, at least until the rabbis declare what is very obvious, that Shiloh is supposed to celebrate on Shushan Purim, the second day, since the wall is still at the ancient site, and Joshua was even here. It's all in the Bible. Gd willing I'll blog more about that on Shiloh Musings.

This is what my freezer (just a fridge freezer) looks like after two days of Purim immediately followed by Shabbat. Luckily I remembered to thaw out the food I had precooked for this Shabbat. Besides that, there are still leftovers in the fridge from the Family Purim Feast to eat up.

I keep looking around the house a groaning, when I think of what an awful mess it is. Yes, I know that cleaning for Pesach isn't about dirt and clutter, but I have no excuse not to make an effort to improve the general situation here. I'm retired and not working at all. Bli eyin haraa, not to tempt the evil eye, I'm healthy.

Actually the kitchen is the easiest part of cleaning, since we just had it renovated half a year ago. I got rid of a lot of things, and there isn't much to switch. Most of my Passover dishes, pots etc are in easily accessible cabinets in the new kitchen.

It's scary to think that I only have three and a half 3 1/2 weeks before Pesach. Thank Gd I'm not hosting the Seder.

Attractive, Easy to Make Healthy Shabbat or Anytime Food

Bake and serve dishes are favorites for my Shabbat Menu. Here are a couple of Attractive, Easy to Make Healthy Shabbat dishes you may like. I'm vague about quantities and ingredients, because I don't measure, and I also don't obsess about having specific ingredients. That's my approach to cooking:

• be flexible, spontaneous
• don't obsess

When I have an oven, not something I take them for granted*, baked vegetables are on the menu. I have a variety of bake and serve oven pans, so that even the simplest of baked vegetables can look very fancy.

The photo on the right shows "orange vegetables," baked with just a bit of cinnamon and oil. On a "bed" of onion slices, no need to cut exact anything, I placed carrots, sweet potatoes and pumpkin in that order. I bake them in a medium oven, heat from the bottom, until they look baked and are soft.

Tonight's main course is pretty much a "one pot meal," besides being "bake and serve." It doesn't include any carbohydrates, so if you eat carbs, have them on the side with salad.

I layered onion and squash, maybe eggplant, too, on the bottom of the baking pan. I used chopped/minced turkey (500 gram, just over a pound) with onion and a small 100 gram container of tomato paste, plus garlic.

Spread the turnkey on top, with a large spoon and then, as you can see, top with fresh tomatoes. I then added just a spoon or so of vegetable oil and then baked it in a medium oven, heat on top, until it drew from the sides of the pan.

You can substitute ground meat, beef, chicken or a combination. Consider it a version of a meatloaf or musaka.

Cooking should be enjoyable and creative.

Shabbat Shalom UMevorach

Have a Peaceful and Blessed Shabbat

*During the year before our kitchen was renovated, we didn't have a functioning oven.

An Added Advantage/Bonus From Our Kitchen Renovations

I blogged yesterday about how much I'm enjoying our new kitchen, there's something I left out. Renovating the kitchen required going through all sorts of things, sorting, throwing them out, giving them away and also finding items we're happy to use but forgot we had.

No doubt we're not the only people who just let possessions pile up until the mess is overwhelming just to think about. We aren't great at clearing out stuff. Our stuff increases like yeast dough on a hot day. Or you can say that "clutter is our middle name."

One of the things I found when taking apart, emptying closets etc of the old kitchen was this Havdala candle. Tonight we finally used it, about three years after we got it.

My New Kitchen, Am I Happy With It? Is It Worth The Expense?

For those who have followed the saga of my new kitchen and those who are wondering if it's worth going through all the hassle and expense, I must say that I'm really glad that we did it.

We moved in this house over thirty years ago, and although it was custom designed from head to toe in every way, I must admit that there were elements in the kitchen that were problematic from day one. I did have some really good things which I enjoyed from day one until the very last day.

We have a strictly kosher kitchen, so two sinks on two different walls were a necessity for me. Yes, there are people who manage with side-by-side sinks and double sinks, which I had until then. And when we were living in London on shlichut (doing Jewish Zionist youth work) we only had one sink, for which I needed bowls and had to be more organized.

Another really good thing I had in the old kitchen was a "table" jutting out of the wall, large enough for all the kids to sit around. In the middle of it was a raised section with heat-proof tiles, the same as we had on the walls. And instead of table legs, there was a closet where I kept tablecloths and other kitchen items. Today, that's my heat-proof cabinet for candlesticks. We just had the "table" part sawed off. This piece was my design, so I'm really glad that it could be transitioned and used even now.

In addition, we had plenty of closet space. Another of my demands/requirements/designs was a wall of closets, not very deep, with bookshelves on the side. And that remains in use to this day. The only change is that I got rid of all my cookbooks and sundry books that had been gathering dust. Now, I have mugs and coffee accessories on the shelves.

There were some basic, serious design/planning mistakes in the old kitchen. The refrigerator is on the far left, while refrigerator doors open to the left.  Decades ago, it wasn't a problem, because one could easily have the door switched. Nowadays, unless you have plenty of space and money for a four-door model, it's extremely hard to find one that can have the door switched. Ours is now over ten years old, and it was almost impossible to find one. Our refrigerator is now on the right side of a wall.

One really bad mistake our contractor did was to order the kitchen cabinets to fit our old appliances, the ones we had when building the house. I caught the mistake before the kitchen cabinets were brought to the house, and we gave the refrigerator more space. That's because I had already bought a new wider one. But we ended up with the super small niche for the stove/oven, which was awful. First of all, by the time we had to replace the old one, they don't last forever, there were very few that size still on the market. And in all honesty, I was getting very frustrated baking in super tiny ovens. My dream was to have two full-size (by Israeli standards obviously) ovens, one for meat and one for parve/dairy. BTW, the meat oven hasn't had any chametz, so kashering it for Passover isn't problematic. And the second oven has never had dairy baked in it, so it's really parve.

In addition, the original kitchen was designed for a young family with five children and lots of visiting kids and family. Today, we have an "empty nest" and entertain mostly for Shabbat meals.

Luckily I was able to save a bit of money by not paying a professional kitchen planner. My son-in-law and I planned it, with one little tweak by the guy I found to "do," or more accurately be in charge of all aspects of the renovations.

The old kitchen had upper cabinets to the ceiling on all the walls. Now we have almost none, and amazingly we have more storage space. The lower cabinets are drawers, except for the "island." And instead of an awful impossible to easily access corner cabinet, we have the meat sink there.  And under the sink there's space for the large meat oven trays and the "platta," the large electric food warmer used on Shabbat, plus the covers for it.

I replaced the old "children's table" with another custom designed piece. The new island has the dairy sink and facing the dining room table is a cabinet full of Passover dishes. That island also has a spot to sit and countertop space for dish-drainer and food preparations. 

Of course I now have two full-sized ovens. They are on the left, where the refrigerator used to be. And the fridge is where the old stove used to be. I feel like there's tons more counter space than before, although it may just be an illusion.

The color scheme, wall tiles, formica etc are attractive, as far as I'm concerned. I haven't seen this combination anyplace else. But since aesthetics are very individual, that's not important. I also liked the old kitchen, and the wall of closets that remain blend in all right. There's an option to replace the doors, but I decided that the expense wasn't worthwhile.

Two things my husband kept asking people before we got started was:

How long did you have to suffer without a kitchen?
And did you have to move out of your house while the renovations were going on?

So to answer those questions, it took two weeks until we could begin using the new kitchen, and we never had to move out of the house.

During the two weeks we didn't have a kitchen, we managed without really cooking in the house. I prepared more sandwiches than I had for a long time. We ate out and at neighbors. I also heated and cooked a bit at neighbors and brought the food home. I also used the electric "hot plate," which had been my "stove" for two years. Since it was precarious when mounted on the laundry room sink, I used it only when very desperate. Two weeks aren't forever.

Now cooking is such a pleasure. And I love baking in my new ovens.

Yes, getting a new kitchen was certainly worth the expense and the hassle. 

Following are a variety of photos taken in my new kitchen.

The plug/wire for the light has been fixed since then.

Here's my recycled closet

Finally, The New Back Door

After a few month's wait, the new back door arrived and was installed yesterday. The back door goes to our merpeset, balcony/terrace where we have the clotheslines and set up the succah. It's also large enough for children to play or to just sit outside. Since that door faces south, which is the direction that here gets the most sun, wind and rain, we needed a door suitable to the challenge. Top notch insulation is a requirement for us, and this door is made from the best materials.

I had ordered it in the summer when we were redoing/renovating our kitchen. It's state of the art, and the insulation is top notch. I went to the factory/workshop in nearby Sha'ar Binyamin to Hi-Tech Windows and spoke to Chaim and his staff. They are multilingual, Hebrew, English, German, Russian. Phone 02-6565575.



Once I realized that the old door had to go, even though I knew that I wanted their quality, I checked other places. One thing they offered, which I didn't see anyplace else in the area, is the internal blinds, between the two thermal glass windows. I don't need an additional curtain or blinds. It's controlled by magnetic knobs.

And immediately, once it was installed the house felt more comfortable. No drafts, and we can control the sun's on a hot day. We also got a screen door from them, so we'll be able to keep the door open without allowing in the flies and stray cats.

The staff that came to install the door was very experienced, professional and polite.

old door

blinds half down and closed from inside the house

new door from the outside

Simple Kitchen "Repair"

From the very beginning of my new kitchen, there was no water pressure from the dairy sink. And it went from bad to worse. I called in the kitchen guy and told him that he must have made a real mistake and had to fix it.

He couldn't understand why only drops were coming out. So he did what I should have done immediately and/or what my kids could have done when they visited. He got a tool to unscrew the little filter at the opening of the faucet.

Without that little filter the water flowed nice and strong. Simple cleaning didn't clean the filter, so he put it in a cup with vinegar and told me to rinse and screw it back on in the morning. That's what I did. Now I can easily wash the dishes, and the hot water comes out quickly, too.



PS In all honesty, I had been thinking of it, but the filter didn't unscrew easily. I should have tried harder, but I never would have thought of using vinegar to clean it.

New Stovetop

When I was searching for new kitchen appliances, gas stove top and ovens, I noticed that there's a choice in the arrangements of the four burner stovetop. Although the total size is the same, in terms of how much of the counter it takes up, there's a big difference in pot space between the two.

I chose the stovetop that has the four knobs close together, not spread out in front or on the side. That leaves enough room for one burner to be much larger. And the manufacturer makes it extra strong, two circles of flame.

As you can see in the photo, I can cook in  two large pots, with room to spare. And there's room for two smaller pots, too. That's the most efficient arrangement. I don't have enough counter space for a five or six burner stovetop.

Cooking is so much easier now.

Suddenly Cooking Again

For the past couple of years, I barely cooked and didn't bake at all. When I didn't have a functioning kitchen I became very lazy. A few times I baked at my daughter's in Ofra and at a neighbor's, but that was it. If it couldn't be easily cooked in a pot on an eccentric electric burner or two, it just didn't get cooked at all. That had been my kitchen for the past year. And for quite awhile before that, when my old mini-ovens still worked, even before we retired the old stove top, which smelled of gas, no more than two burners were strong and reliable enough for cooking.

Now, I have a kitchen, bli eyin haraa-not to tempt the evil eye, and I must get used to making real meals again. No doubt that our food bills will go up, and I pray that my weight won't join them.

The first things I made in my new ovens were a supply of cake and challah. I couldn't make a super-sized supply, since we don't have much freezer space, just the fridge's freezer. Last week I also made us moussaka, one for Shabbat lunch and one for the freezer. Remember that we're only two people at home, versus the 7-9 we'd have at ordinary Shabbat meals a few decades ago, and don't do all the entertaining we once did. Nowadays, I'm overwhelmed when there are five to prepare for!

Yesterday I cooked the meat and poultry for Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah. I didn't make all that much, but it was more and more varied than I had made for a long time. Take a peek:

Practical Low Tech Kitchen Gadget

For someone like me who eats and cooks lots of fresh fruit and vegetables this little sink hanging insert seems like a great idea.

I found it in the Naaman Outlet, Pisgat Zeev Mall, when I was there to buy a dish-drainer. Instead of having to clutter my counter with a plastic strainer for the wet produce, I can now let it drip into the sink.

Before buying it, I had to ascertain that it would be a suitable size.  That was more complicated, since my sink is a bit larger than standard. First I called my husband who was home and asked him to measure the sink. Then I checked all of the labels on the drainer to see who large it is. No dimensions listed, so I asked the young clerk who was manning the shop for a tape measure. He didn't have one. So I looked around at other items of similar sizes to find something with measurements, and I found one. Then I compared the size of the drainer with that item and visually calculated the approximate size. According to my estimate, it should fit, so I bought it. And I also explained to the young clerk what I had done and demonstrated to him. I added that he should request from his boss a tape measure or they may lose sales.

There wasn't a color that really matched my kitchen, so I chose the lilac for fun.

A Peek into The New Kitchen, The New Dish Drainer

I must confess that although my new kitchen has been functioning for a couple of weeks, I haven't finished setting it up. There are still some things, mostly Pesach/Passover dishes I haven't put away, and there are a number of items I still have to buy, such as a couple of stools for sitting at the dairy counter/table and a step-ladder or stool to help me reach some upper shelves. Remember that I'm short and most probably getting shorter.

Yesterday I finally got myself a new dish drainer for the dairy sink. My husband and one of our daughters picked out a different one for the meat sink last week, which was assembled by a son who dropped by very luckily for us. The counter area around the sinks are different, so what's good for one doesn't fit the other sink. And for the past few years, my husband washes the meat/fleishig dishes, while I was the dairy and parve ones.

A lot of people told me to buy the dish drainers and other kitchen accessories online, but I like to see and touch products first, even though I have a good concept of size and space. And for sure I'm going to have to try out the stools, to make sure I feel comfortable getting on and off.

Since I had refused to allow the old dish drainers into the new kitchen, to be perfectly honest I had wanted to replace them for at least a decade. The cutlery compartment was always falling off, besides after years of use, it was grimy. In the interim I purchased a couple of those dish-dryer cloths which are popular nowadays.  They were disastrous. Even my talents couldn't prevent breakage. One of my favorite dishes flew off and shattered. Maybe they're good when you just wash a few things by hand, but there was no way I could safely pile up all the dishes, pots, pans, cutlery etc I had.

So, yesterday I went off to buy myself a new dish drainer. My original plan was to buy a hanging one, rather small to hang to the left of the sink on the wall, but my son convinced me that it wouldn't work well. So, I just looked for a small counter one. There actually is enough space on the counter for a larger dish drainer, but I plan on using the counter space for eating and food preparation.

I decided to go to the mall in Pisgat Zeev for two reasons. First of all, it is relatively close by. Second, it has two stores, which most probably would have a choice of dish drainers at reasonable prices. The stores are the Naaman Outlet where everything is discounted; I got the tray/basket for onions there. And there is a Home Center, which has a really nice selection of products, though it's not one of their larger branches.

First I went to the Naaman, and they had one dish drainer. It seemed nicely made, not too big, but it was only one level, meaning not much drying space, and cost NS100. So I then went to the Home Center, where there was an really large choice of dish drainers of all materials, sizes, styles etc. I ended up choosing one on display that I had noticed previously. The size seemed right, and it has two levels, plus a small compartment for cutlery and a section for hanging glasses. It was the most efficiently planned one on display, a real space-saver. At NS80, the price was right, too. It was the last of that model and didn't have a box. I had to pay another 30 agarot for a large bag, since bags are no longer free in most stores, and it was too large for the bags I had brought along.

I washed it well when I got home, and it's now in use. For full sinks of dishes, I do have the cloth to cover the counter...

What do you think of it?

#morningcoffeehaiku in New Kitchen

hard to choose a mug
at least the coffee's ready
cold press in the fridge
#morningcoffeehaiku

such perfect coffee
grateful for my new kitchen
Rosh Hashanah soon
#morningcoffeehaiku

strong sun defeats clouds
cold strong coffee wakes me up
Gd willing great day
#morningcoffeehaiku

love my new kitchen
enjoying the great upgrade
planning was fun, too
#morningcoffeehaiku

coffee wakes me up
sun still hidden by grey clouds
perked last night and chilled
#morningcoffeehaiku

early coffee, sigh
didn't sleep enough again
too much on my mind
#morningcoffeehaiku

another grey morn'
looks brighter with new cellphone
coffee cheers up day
#morningcoffeehaiku

morning sans smartphone
it died suddenly last night
still coffee sunshine
#morningcoffeehaiku

awfully early
didn't sleep enough last night
coffee to rescue
#morningcoffeehaiku

Recycled Furniture

As you all know by now, we've redone our kitchen. And as is well-known, it's not a cheap project. It cost a lot. Besides that I had a problem even finding suitable professionals to do the job. I wanted a few non-standard things in the kitchen, and I didn't want to knock down walls, change windows etc. We had to use the space that we had. One thing I did was to keep an entire wall of the old cabinets. It's from floor to ceiling, and I call it my "pantry." Since it wasn't connected to the plumbing or cooking, there was/is nothing wrong with it. I just made sure that the rest of the kitchen included its color in the color scheme.

But my real favorite "savings" was to recycle the specially built "table" that was part of the old kitchen. It was my design. It was an "island table" or "peninsula," since it attached to a wall and divided the "L Plan" between the kitchen and dining area. Instead of legs there was a closet. The center of the table was raised and that part was covered with heat proof ceramic tiles, the same as on the walls. The "overhang," which made it a table was on three sides. By using a bench on the long side and chairs, our entire family of seven could even sit there, though it was used more by the kids and their friends. And after the house emptied, it became "my spot." I sat there to prepare food, eat and even watch television.

Once I realized that I would really be making a new kitchen, I immediately saw a new use for it, aka recycling. By cutting off the table/overhangs I had the perfect piece of furniture for my Shabbat Candlesticks. For about a quarter of a century we've been using an old television table. Our kitchen guy agreed to saw off the overhangs, and the carpenter sent me wood to use for a mosaics project to cover the side that had been against the wall.

Thursday night I got the old tv table schlepped out to the recycling corner of our neighborhood, and Friday afternoon someone had already taken it.

Before Shabbat, I managed to clean and polish all the candlesticks and setup everything.

I'm very happy with my recycled cabinet.

Cooking in New Kitchen, B"H

Yesterday, although it's still a mess in my house, I began cooking for Shabbat. I used both ovens, though not simultaneously. Since they are large and have a turbo setting I could even use more than one tray at a time. That's a timesaver for sure. I bought Electrolux which is larger inside than the Sauter.

Some of the cooking/baking was done in bulk so I won't need to do it weekly. Challot and cakes freeze well for sure. I may have enough challah rolls to get me through most of the fall Jewish Holidays, Rosh Hashanah, pre/post Yom Kippur meals, Succot and Simchat Torah, depending on how many guest we have and meals we're invited out. The cakes will be enough for a few weeks, especially if I make my traditional Rosh Hashanah Applesauce Cake. And I already froze some of the baked chicken breasts.

So, yesterday's cooking/baking was truly a time investment, besides learning how to use the new ovens.

For those wondering about oven temperatures, something I never paid attention to with my old oven,* I sort of followed the guidelines on the inside of the oven doors:

To whet your appetite, here are some photos of my cooking/baking experiments from yesterday:

Challah recipe

Simple Basic Cake**, with blended banana and mango rescued from the freezer

These Chicken Breasts were simply layered over sliced onion and topped with tomatoes, dehydrated basil and coarsely grated pepper. I baked them covered with foil. I could see their cooking progress, since I used a pyrex baking pan. (Recipe)

Oven Baked Chicken, the food my kids consider my specialty

Besides enjoying the ovens, I'm super happy to be finally cooking on gas after almost two years of using an old two burner electric "hot plate."

The kitchen is almost completely organized. I think that all of the chametz dishes and pots are stored, but I will need help with the Passover things which will be on higher shelves. More updates, Gd willing, in future posts.

Bottom Line:

Was the expense and chaos of a new kitchen worth it?
YES!

*The numbers had long been rubbed/cleaned off the old oven, so it was like telling time from a sundial. 

**I made a few small changes, cinnamon instead of vanilla, and the blended banana and mango instead of some of the water. That's the beauty of the recipe; it's very adjustable.