Okay - I promised everyone a health update. Racheli's hip bone started to hurt her about a month ago. She's not able to walk on her leg without high
levels of ibuprofen, which she's been on for weeks by now. We're seeing a top pediatric rheumatologist (American trained), and he's sent us out for a bunch of tests to rule out potential bad news. The results from all of Racheli's recent battery of tests are in (bloodwork, x-ray, bone scan, and
ultrasound). Everything looks good. We're going to do another round of bloodwork next week and then circle back with the doctor in another 10 days to see if she's hopefully feeling better by then. At the moment, the doctor is really encouraged to see that the results from all the tests came back normal. We'll find out what's causing all the pain in a week or so, but for now it's a nice relief to know what's not causing the trouble :)
And now onto more relaxing topics of conversation ...
Inside the shuk, there's a restaurant called Ema's Kubbeh Bar. It serves a handful of soups celebrating kubbeh, a brilliant Middle Eastern food - it's a pastry filled with a mixture of beef or lamb, aromatic spices, and pine nuts. They are bundles of joy which sink to the bottom of the bowl, surrounded by soup that only an Israeli mother could conjure up. My kubbeh soup was filled with squash, swiss chard, and other green delights. You fill your spoon with the soup, take a sip, and your stomach just thanks you. Ema clearly cares, and my tummy will be back there for more.
Don chose a thicker tomato based soup instead of my broth based delight. He smiled from the first spoonful til the bowl was empty.
| The inside of kubbeh (sometimes called kibbeh) |
One of the fun things about Ema's kubbeh bar is that it is right next to Maadanei Tzidkiyahu - the great shuk seller of salatim (Israeli salads). Sitting at our table in the restaurant (read: stall in the middle of the shuk), we could lean over and order salads from Tzidkiyahu. A win-win situation which prepared us for Shabbat in a most efficient manner.
I'll take a minute to tell you about one of the highlights of winter break (Chanukah) with the kids. We went to Tzippori and the girls got to go horseback riding! Take a look at some of these faces:
While the kids were waiting for their horses, they had a quick snack - here's a precious moment ...
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| What could he be thinking??? |
And then there was a very sweet moment when Don and Noam were bonding while taking in the countryside
At the moment, there is vegetable soup on the stove, there are cucumbers turning themselves into cucumber salad, the tehina is marrying the coriander, and the children are sleeping peacefully. Thank goodness, Shabbat is almost here and good times will be had by all.
I'll finish off tonight's post with a December bloom from up North
