A Heartfelt Thanks to Sarah and Harvey.

This past Saturday, as I try to do every Shabbos (though the stress at work has made it hard to get up on Saturdays) we went to Shul.  Matthew took the day off as June 17 is our anniversary and this year is our 10th! 

I found out that Matthew had sponsored the kiddush lunch in our  honour, though it was late, so kiddush was cookies, crackers, cake, wine and sodas. Oh, and chips - hmm.  A lot of C food.   (I do not apologize for the bad joke)

At Shul, Sarah came up to me and invited us to her home for Shabbos lunch. It was so nice to be invited and of course, we agreed!  She hadn't been expecting to invite us, and said "we'll make do with whatever I have, I know it's impromptu."

After Shul, the four of us, Sarah and her husband Harvey, Adam and David - two other members of our Shul - along with a few other members who live in the same street, walked home.

Sarah and Harvey are so welcoming, warm and friendly, we were put instantly at ease.  Sarah served such a lunch!!  There were salads, dips, challah (of course), gefilte fish.  And just when we thought we were done, there was roast chicken, cholent, more salads - everything was so delicious!!  And la piece de resistance?  DAIRY FREE ICE CREAM!!  This dairy-allergic girl was in heaven!!

After lunch, Adam and David along with Harvey led us in some bentching songs, Adam delivered a D'var Torah (thoughts on this week's Torah portion), and shortly thereafter, we left to go home, taking a meandering route through the neighbourhood and walking partway home with David.

I somehow managed to pull a muscle in my back, so shortly after we got home, I fell asleep.

As an aside:  This week's portion was the same portion I read at my Bat Mitzvah when I was 12!

I have not abandoned the road.

Just taking the scenic route. So, living a kosher life is both not as difficult as I feared and not as easy as it looks. There are a lot more foods available that are kosher and not terribly expensive. Even No Name brands are kosher. Though some of the foods I loved aren't - like silhouette yoghurt, which I can't eat anyway since I'm allergic to dairy. Speaking of dairy, this year we observed Shavuot somewhat. Shavuot is when the Jews were given the Torah and the Ten Commandments by Gd and Moses (as himself - no Charlton Heston in this version) It is traditional to eat dairy foods (especially cheesecake!!) on this holiday. So this year I tried my hand at making blintzes (cheese filled crepes) and s Found a recipe for cheeseless cheesecake. I must say, both attempts were successful!! Matthew said my blintzes were better than his bubie's - high praise indeed!! And I must mention - when I say I made them, I mean from scratch. Crepe batter and all! Though I did not milk a cow to make the cheese, nor cream a soy bean to make tofu cream cheese, I did make the batter from scratch and not a mix.