WELL THERE GOES THE DIET

Well the second siren just went off marking Rememberance Day. Still sad. If you ever want to really know what Israel is all about come here around Pessach time. That got us out of Egypt. Then two weeks later we have Yom HaShoah remembering the six million who were killed in the Holocaust. Then a week after that we have Yom HaZikaron, Rememberance Day for our fallen.

A lot to put into three weeks, don't you think? But that is who we are...who we were...and who we will be.

But our Founding Fathers (and Golda) were very clever. They knew that no one could ever bounce back from the memories of mourning our dead, so they attatched Yom Ha'Azmaut, Independence Day to the tail end of Rememberance Day.

Tonight at eight o'clock everyone will be glued to the television watching the ceremony at Har Herzl. Within sixty minutes the country slowly goes from mourning to celebration as we understand how all our dead helped us get and save our country and celebrate their sacrifice.

And then there goes the diet. Tomorrow everyone will be at a picnic. The entire country will smell of steak and hamburgers and chicken being cooked on charcoal grills or mangals.

Every park, every garden, every backyard will have a mangal going and the spices added to the meat will depend on where your family came from.

Cumin, hawayaj, paprika, baharad, turmeric, as well as other traditional spices will be added to onions and garlic and boy oh boy if you weren't hungry before you stepped out of the house you sure will be the moment you open your door or window.

In my husband's family we keep it simple. Meat, more meat and a little more meat. And just to make it go down easier I make a huge bowl of arabic salad. That and a few pitot and forget about watching your weight or cholesterol.

Every year the family congregates at my brother-in-law's house. He has a great place in Ein Kerem with a full backyard and jacuzzi off to one corner. The babies love to play in the water and slowly but surely the men go in to join them.

Here is our menu for tomorrow. Arab salad consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions cut up into teeny tiny little pieces and then sprinkled with salt, lemon juice and, if you like, olive oil.

We have steaks, lamb chops, hot dogs for the kids, hamburgers, and I'm making turkey kabobs and meat kabobs. Added to that marinated chicken wings...Rena gave me the marinade...olive oil, crushed rosemary, and a little lemon juice. She's bringing her huha chocolate chip merangue cookies...don't ask. Oh, and finally we also have chicken livers.

That's what we are bringing. My other brothers-in-law will probably bring lamb fat and chicken hearts. My sister-in-law will bring stuff and probably more salads.

Some people make stuffed grape leaves, and potato salad and cole slaw and hummus.

Not us. We pig out...I mean, we stick to stuffing ourselves with meat. After all, why waste stomach space with potato salad when you can eat another lamb chop instead?

This year we all sat down at the shiva house and decided not to postpone the chance of meeting again but this time for a happy occasion.

Personally, I am thrilled as the family needs to heal and being all together will do a lot to close some wounds.

I am not going to take 'before and after' shots, even if I did know how to put them on my blog, which I don't...sigh. So you will have to take my word for it when I tell you that on Tuesday, I will not count calories. And on Wednesday, I will not get on the scale.

Lamb chops and steaks my friend. Grilled on a mangal...with family and friends all around. Now what could be better than that?

I want to take a second to thank my friend Muse (Me-Ander) for writing such a special blog about our recent loss. Please go visit her blog. I can't seem to add the link so please find her on my list at the right.

Happy Yom Ha'Azmaut my dear friends.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.