Sunday, March 30, 2008
CATCH-UP TIME
Instead of translating Veni, vidi, vici as "I came, I saw, I conquered" - my brother used to say "I came, I saw, I went". And that's just what he did - and now he's gone back to Canada. We had a wonderful visit - talked and ate and visited and talked some more and ate some more and I threw a big party for him and we went to his in-laws for dinner in Nes Ziona and we went to the Bar Mitzvah in Rehovot and to the reception at Gannot - and then he went. I miss him - we're each other's history - we can say one word and burst into gales of laughter - and only we understand what's so funny.
I'm still driving the "loaner" car from Eldan as my own car isn't yet here - the Toyota Prius Hybrid which I ordered in a light color (the one I'm driving now is black and shows every grain of sand and every bit of dust) - and I just love the car - except for the color. I drove more than 900 kilometres last week and the car is really a dream and gets good gas-mileage - well, it should, it runs most of the time on the auxiliary battery. By the way, the car is called a Toyota Pree-yus High-brid - except it's pronounced by Israelis as Toyota Pee-ree-yus Hee-brid. The same way that Israelis call a Mitsubishi a Meet-see-booshi - go figure.
My nephew says my whole life is a blog - and he's probably right. One day David and I went to the Herzliya Marina and while deciding which boat to buy ( that's a joke) we decided instead to have a light lunch as we were going to Ouri and Devora's for dinner. We just wanted two starters and a salad. I saw on the menu a starter of fried calamari, eggplant and tehina with a tomato salsa - sounded good to me. There were two prices listed 38 / 44. I asked the waiter what the difference in size was between the two prices. No difference in size - one had calamari and the other didn't. So why were there two different prices listed next to the description of the dish and no indication that one had calamari and one didn't? "Kacha zeh" (that's the way it is), he answered. "Doesn't everyone question that?" I asked. "Yes" he replied. "So why not correct the menu?" I queried. "Kacha zeh" he replied - go figure.
I just got a new cell-phone - Bluetooth-enabled so I can speak and hear through an earpiece while I'm driving. I still don't know what Bluetooth is - but I have it. Fine. But I couldn't get it to work. Pushed this - pushed that - you know the drill - doesn't work. So when I went to Ros's for dinner on Friday night I brought the phone and the earpiece with me - surely someone there would know what to do. Her son-in-law, Shimon, asked me if I had activated the Bluetooth thingie in the phone. Nooo - was I supposed to? How was I supposed to do that? How was I supposed to know that? He did it for me. Then I couldn't figure out how to turn the earpiece on and off. Guess what? Ros's grandson Elior - 10 1/2 years old!! - showed me how it works. The kid knows these things - this grownup doesn't.
And that brings us up to date. Pesach is less than three weeks away. I cooked my little heart out for David's party - and now I have to begin shopping and preparing for Pesach. I already have my menu planned - I have my lists made of what I have to buy and what I have to cook for the Seder (my brother says that my lists have lists) - and here I go again. I'll keep you up to date.
Yalla, Bye.
I'm still driving the "loaner" car from Eldan as my own car isn't yet here - the Toyota Prius Hybrid which I ordered in a light color (the one I'm driving now is black and shows every grain of sand and every bit of dust) - and I just love the car - except for the color. I drove more than 900 kilometres last week and the car is really a dream and gets good gas-mileage - well, it should, it runs most of the time on the auxiliary battery. By the way, the car is called a Toyota Pree-yus High-brid - except it's pronounced by Israelis as Toyota Pee-ree-yus Hee-brid. The same way that Israelis call a Mitsubishi a Meet-see-booshi - go figure.
My nephew says my whole life is a blog - and he's probably right. One day David and I went to the Herzliya Marina and while deciding which boat to buy ( that's a joke) we decided instead to have a light lunch as we were going to Ouri and Devora's for dinner. We just wanted two starters and a salad. I saw on the menu a starter of fried calamari, eggplant and tehina with a tomato salsa - sounded good to me. There were two prices listed 38 / 44. I asked the waiter what the difference in size was between the two prices. No difference in size - one had calamari and the other didn't. So why were there two different prices listed next to the description of the dish and no indication that one had calamari and one didn't? "Kacha zeh" (that's the way it is), he answered. "Doesn't everyone question that?" I asked. "Yes" he replied. "So why not correct the menu?" I queried. "Kacha zeh" he replied - go figure.
I just got a new cell-phone - Bluetooth-enabled so I can speak and hear through an earpiece while I'm driving. I still don't know what Bluetooth is - but I have it. Fine. But I couldn't get it to work. Pushed this - pushed that - you know the drill - doesn't work. So when I went to Ros's for dinner on Friday night I brought the phone and the earpiece with me - surely someone there would know what to do. Her son-in-law, Shimon, asked me if I had activated the Bluetooth thingie in the phone. Nooo - was I supposed to? How was I supposed to do that? How was I supposed to know that? He did it for me. Then I couldn't figure out how to turn the earpiece on and off. Guess what? Ros's grandson Elior - 10 1/2 years old!! - showed me how it works. The kid knows these things - this grownup doesn't.
And that brings us up to date. Pesach is less than three weeks away. I cooked my little heart out for David's party - and now I have to begin shopping and preparing for Pesach. I already have my menu planned - I have my lists made of what I have to buy and what I have to cook for the Seder (my brother says that my lists have lists) - and here I go again. I'll keep you up to date.
Yalla, Bye.
