5770 so far

The year 5770 has been really nice so far.

My sister-in-law Maya and I teamed up with my step-mom Miryam in making honey glazed chickens with pomegranate sauce for dinner. It meant between 4-6 chickens for each of us. We used small, "grill" chickens and we had 30ish people to feed last night! We quartered the chickens and prepared the sauce and baked them and made mashed potatoes and rice and veggies. My kids helped bake challah and honey cookies.

We gathered at my dad's house and as the women of the family lit the Shabbat candles - that this time didn't only usher the shabbat in, but marked the beginning of 5770 as well - we set out to go to the synagogue and afterwards we devoured the chickens! When everyone was ready to burst, we walked home, put the kids to bed and watched some more Bones, while I was also checking on Michal's Tefillin. I was suprised to see over 100 hits and 300 page views in the first 24 hours, with several browsers being excluded from the stats.

Today was slow and lovely as well. Heading over to my brother's house for shabbat lunch. It wasn't cholent, no. But I found out that my brother already got Aharon Razel and Yerachmiel Ziegler's new album Secret of Shabbos. He lent it to me, even if he is not too crazy about my use of electricity on Shabbat and holy days (and especially when the two are on the same day, like today!), so I listened to it a couple of times and I love it! If you click the link, you can listen to samples. Justin already knows most of the words to the CD, and Matthew is humming along as it is played for the 4th time. I need to give it back to my brother when I see him tomorrow, but I know I'm gonna buy it! I am an Aharon fanboy, but I'm becoming a Yerachmiel fanboy, too! i love his cute American accent! I might not speak Hebrew, but I do hear the accents. The little video on the top of the sidebar is the first music video from their album. Generally I find the album to reflect the joy of Shabbat: the joy that HaShem intended for us on the Shabbat when He commanded us to sanctify and enjoy it.

I hope everyone is having a marvelous new year!