My Baby's First Kick & My First Baby Afghan -- Finally Finished!

I know I haven't posted in a long time...but yes it's true – I'm pregnant! I found out I'm carrying a little girl – but honestly even if it had been a boy I wouldn't have minded. The whole prospect of being pregnant is very exciting. I am very lucky in that from the start I've never had morning sickness or felt adverse symptoms that all first-time moms are especially apprehensive of…

Well, today she is 18 weeks, 6 days in utero, and my exciting news is that I just felt her kick for the first time. I wasn't sure whether I would recognize it when it actually happened – but I'm almost sure that that's what it was…

Anyway here's a picture of me taken today with my little belly that's starting to show:

Also -- one more notable and exciting accomplishment for today is that I finished my first baby afghan (my first non-scarf knitting project). I love it – it's so soft and not too heavy – perfect for a baby born in the spring… Here's a picture:

Life in Israel - a Lazy Weekend in June

After a long break from blogging and a nice vacation in Europe, it's back to life in Israel as normal.

Now, it is a lazy Saturday night which I'm spending lounging at home, reading and surfing a little online. This past Shabbat has been really hot - temperatures well above normal all througout Israel. Weather forecasters have predicted that this heat wave will continue...thank god for air conditioners and fans. While watching the news earlier, at the end of the broadcast, the weatherman even did his segment from inside a pool! While I watched it, I thought -- now that is something you'd only see in Israel -- and I smiled.

Yesterday while cooking for shabbat, I made my improvised version of empanadas with ground meat and spices, roasted red onions with rosemary and thyme, and for dessert -- fresh peach and cherry cobbler. (In addition to the chicken soup, rice, grean beans, roasted chicken and potatoes that my mother-in-law made). It's just too bad that no one in Assaf's family really likes dessert...it's just more for me and my colleagues in the office to enjoy :)

My younger brother Matthew and his fiancee Brianna arrived to Israel for the first time on Thursday morning. Here's a picture of us from Ben Gurion Airport. They are now on a 10-day tour of Israel, which is nice that they'll get to know the country a little and see what I love about it so much.

Now another week has started...we'll see what amusing anecdotes it has to bring.

Sficha & Tulips

Okay --two totally unrelated things from this past week that fall into the category of small things that make me smile...

1. Yesterday afternoon, I succesfully made sficha for the first time (pronounced sfi-ha). These are mini-pizzas topped with ground meat, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and spices. The recipe comes from my new cookbook "Lamb, Mint and Pine Nuts". They tasted great, although next time I'll add a bit more salt...

and...

2. At my work at the headquarters of Teva Pharmaceuticals in Petah Tiqva, the tulips are just starting to come up. I'm sure in the next month, they'll continue blooming in all their glory. They're gorgeous if I might say so... take a look:

In the Beginning...My First Post

I think that "Meanderings through Life" could have been an alternate, or even better title for my new blog, but what I chose isn't bad...

What in my right mind finally convinced me to create my own blog, I can't say...maybe the overwhelming feelings I have to want to express what I can't put into words, but with the spirit that I'll try anyway since writing is an exercise of the mind as well as the soul, and one that I enjoy. Usually it finds expression in emails to friends, but now I'll be able to organize and document it all in one place.

What is the theme of my blog? You might think it's the meaning of life (according to me, of course)....but do I know the secret to the meaning of life? No. Well, at least not yet. But in the meantime while I'm trying to get there, I'll use this space to write about the daily pleasures of life; the small things that happen that make me smile inside. They aren't always significant to others, but they're enough for me.

I think that blogging is like journal-writing of yore, something I enjoyed as a teenager as an outlet for my thoughts, so now that I'm a bit older, I'll give it a try -- just bear with me...

Well - one thing of late that fits in this category is that in the past two weeks I bought three new cookbooks as a present to myself. They're all in Hebrew:

1. Aharoni Setting a Table by Israel Aharoni
2. Secrets of Sweets by Karin Goren
3. Lamb, Mint and Pine nuts - Flavors of the Arab-Israeli Kitchen by Husam Abbas & Nira Rousso

Flipping through them and finding new recipes to make and share with others is exciting to me. It makes life interesting and flavorful...after all -- where did the phrase "the spice of life" come from?

Anyway, two items in my newly created "Food for Thought" category:

1. What does it mean that sometimes I think of a word or concept in Hebrew (my adopted second language) before I can grasp the word in my mother-tongue of English?

2. Murphy's Law in practice...I believe the weekend was created to allow one to sleep in (maybe not always, but certainly today was meant for this). Well, when during the week I have to force myself to get up, why today (Friday -- the start of the Israeli weekend) did I get up an hour earlier than usual, with no effort!? Hmmmm....