One big family

I've said this before. Our next door neighbors are two sisters and their families who live in a two-family house. We're trying to figure out who are Rs and who are Ls - and we're still not sure. But they're sweet people and we've already been to one wedding and one bar mitzvah, and the two sisters went to our dinner (their husbands went to a different dinner held that same night.)

We need to know because we can't invite the whole household, but we would like to know how many would be coming if we invite separately.

9 Days Meals

Tomorrow (well, tonight) is Tisha B'Av. Major fast day, mourning the loss of our Temples. No food, no drink for 25 hours.

The Nine Days previous are days of mourning - no new clothes, no swimming, no parties, no laundry.

No meat except for Shabbat. No wine except for Shabbat (wine=grape products. Beer, whiskey, mead - all fine.)

For carnivores, it's a challenge. Because making meals with meat is easy. With dairy, you need to be creative. Also - I want meals with a minimum of fuss and I want to control fat and salt.

Plus this past week, I had an extra restriction that had NOTHING to do with the holiday and everything to do with poor planning the week before - I had rice three of four days in a row. So, we really didn't want any rice dishes. Which is a problem since a lot of vegetarian dishes depend on rice.

It started Sunday night, so the dinners started Monday night:

1. Refried bean tacos with onions, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream. I made the beans spicy and the tomatoes were really good, so no salsa.

2. Spinach baked with eggs and feta cheese, plus bread and butter.

3. Falafel, hummous, babaganoush, Turkish salad, techina, tabouleh, Israeli salad, pita. I bought all of it, of course, although the tabouleh was a mix. I got the falefel fresh from a local pizza place.

4. Normal Thursday night meal: pan-grilled trout, steamed broccoli and baked sweet potato rounds (I dusted them with ginger this time.)

5. Shabbat dinner - New World Casserole (layers of thinly sliced onions, potatoes and tomatoes, with skinless bone-in chicken thighs.) and green beans.

6. Lunch with friends.

7. Wednesday redux

8. Sarah's Pasta (pasta spirals with canned salmon, peas and garlic.)

We were never bored and I didn't and don't miss meat.

Ow ow OW

So, I'm walking out of my office, on my way to a stationery store to get the program for my mom's celebration on Sunday printed up. (It has the order of events, plus an explanation of the procedures and the Sheva Brochot plus translations, in a font I can read without my glasses. It's being printed on Ivory Laid paper.)

And I'm walking on a subway grate, and I slip and fall. I'm fine excep that I tore the skin on my knee. It's ugly and bloody and bad.

I get helped up. Fortunately, there's a pharmacy a few steps away, so I go there and get big bandaids and antibiotic cream. While I'm there, I got to be Notary Woman again. The two dollars went towards the purchase.

I'm wearing knee-highs, so no hosiery was ruined, but the knee-high did get blood on it. There's also blood stains on my skirt. I wasn't really able to clean the knee, but I did put a glob of antibiotic on the bandaid and stick that on.

And then I arranged for the program (it had to be done) and took a car service home. I shared it with a nurse who told me I'd done enough for a first treatment.

At this point - I've cleaned the knee off with first water and then hydrogen peroxide, and rebandaged it with more antibiotic. It's bleeding very sluggishly, so that's good. It hurts, of course - climbing the stairs was awful. I am *not* going to sit on the floor in shul tonight or tomorrow, since getting up will be at best difficult. I'll take a chair. And a ride home if offered. I might stay home tomorrow morning, too - read the kinot by myself.