This & That

Twenty-Six

My birthday fell on a Saturday this year, which was nice because it was during restful Shabbat. My roommates and I hosted a dinner on Friday night with 15 of our friends. We cooked an Asian feast of EPIC proportions; sesame tofu stir-fry, orange seitan stir-fry, fried rice, persian rice, singapore noodles, glazed vegetables, cabbage salad, and home-made spring rolls. Due to a fortunate logistical glitch, we ended up with approximately 10 birthday cakes. And per the standard at our house, the cheap wine was flowing. 

At one point during the meal, my friend Kyle asked if I had known anyone at the table the previous year (when turning 25). I looked around the table and realized that, no, I didn't know anyone the previous year. This realization (coupled with 3 glasses of the aforementioned cheap wine) brought a tear to my eye, as I felt grateful and blessed to be spending this year with such a wonderful community.

On Saturday, I slept in, had lunch with my roommates, played board games, went on a birthday picnic with a cute boy (that I'm quite fond of!), and went for drinks and jazz in the evening. Happy birthday to me!

Our table before my birthday shabbat dinner. My roommate got me the beautiful flowers in the middle!

Some of my favorite girls out for drinks and jazz on Saturday night

Beach Day!

When life in Jerusalem gets overwhelming, as it often does, there's nothing like escaping to the beaches of Tel Aviv. Sunshine, blue water, warm sand, scantily-clad Israelis... I don't hate it.

Tel Aviv! The game that is being played with the racquet is called "matkot," and is a popular beach game in Israel.
I don't want to brag (yes I do), but I'm pretty good at it.

Beach diva

Beach babes! Kalie, Me, and Laura

Roomies in the sun.

Laura, Joseph, and Kalie watching the sunset.

:)

Sunset. Not too bad, Tel Aviv!

"Next This Year in Jerusalem!"


At the end of Passover seders around the world, we say "next year in Jerusalem!" This year, I felt incredibly grateful to actually be spending Passover IN Jerusalem.

The Passover seder is an evening in which we sit around a table and re-tell the story of the Jews' exodus from Egypt. I attended a seder at my friend's house, with 12 other people. We were each asked to prepare a short speech and provide some discussion topics, creating an interesting and thought-provoking evening.

After a few hours of chatting, we ate a massive, delicious meal. Sprinkle in some singing, lots of laughing, and four cups of wine, and you've got an enjoyable and memorable night!

Passover prep! Cooking a FEAST at Ben's house.
In other news, Laura's going to hate that I posted this. :)

Ben and his Mom, cooking for Passover seder.

Just one of the delicious dishes for seder

One of the place settings at dinner. The book is called a Hagaddah, and is the story of Passover that we read during the seder.
This particular one is the new Jonathan Safran Foer haggadah, author of "Everything is Illuminated," making the super-nerd in me very happy.

Took this picture of Jerusalem right before Passover came in.