Sunday, February 7, 2010

And the Big Story this Week is… The Snow!

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The blizzard did not actually begin here until about 7 p.m. on Friday night. All week, though, the weather predictors (or guessers, as Saul calls them) have been saying that we were about to get what might be the storm of the century. We were supposed to be in Baltimore/DC this weekend. Sami had been practicing to read Saul and Maury’s bar mitzvah parashah for her fifth grade class on Shabbat. A preview sample on the phone had both of us wiping tears of joy from our eyes. It was just a coincidence that all three had learned the same parashah—Yitro. The realization hit us both in an instant that we had had the privilege and luck to be alive and well to hear such a thing from our grandchild. Unfortunately, the weather prevented the actual performance.

Earlier in the week, I had my yearly mammogram. Mom and I had always gone to the lab together for this test, and because of her illness last year, I had missed a year. Sitting there in the waiting room, I felt like it had only been a few weeks since we had been waiting there together. Major renovations to the facility were almost at the point of completion while I was there, and I was grateful that I had not come earlier while it was still under the real chaos of construction. Afterward, I stopped at the new Fresh Market to check it out and use up a gift certificate that had been given to me. I was absolutely appalled by the prices, but I found a bunch of esoteric products that I have not seen anywhere else to buy. These included elephant garlic, which I used to get at the local supermarkets, but they no longer carry it for lack of demand; Maldon salt; smoked paprika, chipotle in adobo, Medaglio d’Oro instant espresso powder, watermelon radish (which I used as a striking garnish on the Israeli salad), and heirloom tomatoes. I managed to use up the gift certificate and another $27. For dinner that night, Saul and I had only an heirloom tomato salad with hand-thrown fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, Maldon salt and freshly ground pepper. It was a taste of summer in February and very good for the diet and the spirit, if not for the carbon footprint.

We were going to make the trip to DC anyway, despite the storm, and get snowed in together with Ari, but then we realized that we would have to dig out two cars. They were predicting as much as 40 inches in the Baltimore/DC area. Ari does not have a garage, and even if we had left the car in Baltimore, Alex would have had to dig it out. By staying home, our cars stayed clean in the garage, and eventually our lawn mower guy will come with a plow and plow out our driveway. Since I did not have to pack, I attended my Thursday morning class with Faith where we discussed the influences of Ezra and the Saadia Gaon on Judaism.

We invited Beth to bring Ilsa and Manuel, her housemates, to Shabbat dinner. Larry stayed home, fearful of having to deal with the predicted storm. I had used up the last of my homemade chicken soup and decided that it was time to make another huge pot. After Saul and I got it cooking, we met Adele for lunch at Wegman’s to pick up from her the specially-shaped pans I need to make Izzy’s Cat in the Hat cake for her sixth birthday party next weekend. For Shabbat dinner we had challah and chicken soup with dumplings, all homemade; romaine salad, Israeli salad, black and white rice, baked fennel and potato casserole, raspberry and herb-glazed boneless chicken breast, fresh fruit and chocolate.

We awoke to at least a foot of snow on the ground and did not venture out of the house yesterday as the storm continued into early afternoon. We are feeling very cozy and well-fed, but a little depressed that we could not be with the kids this weekend. Although another storm is expected in a few days, I am planning to be with them next weekend for sure.

1 comment:

Ari said...

I'm surprised from the pictures to see how much less snow you guys got in comparison to down here...