Artichoke stuffed meatballs, fried eggplant, soft white rice Oh My!

Friday night and Saturday, also known as the 25 hours of resting for the Jewish people, consists of family time, praying, resting, and food; really really really good food.

I spent shabbat in Modiin and stayed at Ronit and Dudis house. There kids are 3 girls Hadar, Rotem, and Lital and one boy Netanel. After finishing mine and my second cousins' new favorite game, UNO, I went to Beeni and Yisrael's home for shabbat dinner. I entered the amazing smelling humble home to be greeted by their kids; Yedidyah, the oddly blonde hair blue eyed newly 6 year old, Oriah, the beautifully black eyed brown hair tom boy, Binayah, the child that will smile and smile and smile, and Eliah, the newly born blue eyes black hair baby. We immediately sat in their sukkah and began to eat the amazing food that once again greeted my stomach.

Home made schnitzel
green beans covered in tomato sauce and sesame seeds
Sweet chicken
Meatballs that sat in the heart of artichokes and onions
soft white rice
and lastly: a pancake covered in parve chocolate and vanilla ice cream with chocolate drizzled over it; not to mention the sweet honeydew.

This was just the first meal of shabbat.

After the meal Suzie walked me back to Ronit and Dudi's house and I changed into comfortable clothes and continued to read the book i Started "The Red Tent." A few chapters later Ronit and Dudi sat down and I got some time to know them. it did not surprise me that they were as sweet and as smart as can be...just like every other person in the family.

I woke up Saturday morning around 12 o'clock (paradise) and awaited the return of the parents from shul. I continued to read and 20 minutes later they appeared eager for the shabbat lunch. Once again, their cooking skills blew my mind when I tasted the pasta with meat sauce and pesto and potato blintzes, and more and more and more. Everything was so so tasty and of course there was tons of leftovers...they told me any time I want they will give me some of their leftovers for my dorm... :D

After the meal I played Uno with the girls and then went to sleep for about an hour. I woke up and started to read once again...eventually finishing it (it was very good and recommend it certainly to women and any man that can handle woman power, ...and life cycles...)

Post Shabbat was a dairy dinner with mushroom pasta, bread and cheese, tuna salad, etc. Better then any deli... I am staying another night with the Lavi's since they invited me to go somewhere for a day trip...I'm excited to see this family outside of shabbat and in action.
Left to right Yedidyah, Rotem, Eliah, Me, and Lital


Coming early has certainly proved that my relationships with my Israeli family has been getting closer and closer as time passes....and it's only been a week...