Saturday, January 27, 2007

Mahtzoh balls and gefilte fish

It's been a lovely couple of days. Meeting up with S after a month of not seeing each other, involved some lovely can't-wait-long-enough-to-take-off-your-clothes sex. As SS is ill, S wanted to make her some mahtzoh ball soup. This is pretty traditionally eaten at Passover, but is basically just a soup with dumplings made of mahtzoh meal.

Of course, with S things seem to intensify, and he decided that he wanted to make chicken soup from scratch with mahtzoh balls. So we went and bought a chicken, threw it in the pot with some veggies (no celery, though, as the freeze had done away with the celery crop and there wasn't any in Safeway to be had). Then when the chicken was sufficiently done (falling of the bone) we made the mahtzoh dough and went to town. It was fun to make and nummy, if I may say so myself.

While we were in the kosher section of Safeway, I saw the jars of gefilte fish and mentioned to S that I'd never had it before. So, although they didn't stock the brand that he prefered, he bought a jar. I should mention that I'm not the biggest fan of fish, and, as S explained, gefilte fish is essentially a fish meatball. It's cooked/stored in a sweetish tasting brine. It has a powerful flavor that I can only imagine is an acquired taste (HippyChick assured me this is true). Although I've never eaten it, I had the same feelings watching S relish his gefilte fish as I used to have watching my mother with her pickled herring...I suppose every culture has it's food mysteries.

We both had various errands the next morning, then in the afternoon, we headed over to SS' apartment with our offerings of soup and cranberry juice cocktail. She was on strict orders not to speak, as her voice had been so damaged by her coughing that she had lost it. So she was writing little notes that I would read aloud. Apparently, she'd spent the day watching the Travel Channel and all about haunted cities.

She lives right near the ocean, so after leaving her, we headed to Fort Funston, a decommissioned missle base less than a mile from her apartment. We couldn't find the "official" trail down to the beach, but S really wanted to get down there. So what do we do? We started climbing down these huge dunes on some "unoffical" trails. I did think, at one point, that I would be falling off this cliff - sorry! - dune and dying. But eventually, with a ton of sand in my shoes, I got the hang of it. It was really fun.

Once on the beach, we played a game of chase with the waves. You follow a wave as it recedes back into the water, then run just as the next wave is advancing up the sand. S said I didn't wait long enough. But I didn't want to get my feet wet. We did find the official trail back up to the parking lot, but we'd come down a long way and it was a long grueling way back up. I'm definitely glad that I've been exercising. But even so, we went really slow.

That night, I showed S the current draft of my article. He really enjoyed reading it and was very encouraging. He's challenging me to do a workshop with therapists to help fill out the article. It makes me incredibly nervous, but it also is exciting to think about. I know that I don't have the same clinical experience out there as some folks, but I doubt few of my peers in the area have done the research on singles as I have. I need to remember that to boost my courage.

I slept really well last night. We snuggled a lot during the night, which felt really wonderful. Lot's of sex is very relaxing. Lot's of snuggling is very nourishing.

Today, I must have been glowing. I wore a sweater that I've worn before (and gotten compliments on before at work, so I do know it's flattering) and I had two of my clients comment on it being a good color on me, and being soothing. Then, as I was leaving the office, some stranger walking down the street beamed at me and said, "You look really pretty in the color!" It felt wonderful and affirming.

Tonight I'm at home doing things I need to do, and just have some downtime. Then, I'll be spending tomorrow with S again.

The downside to all of this is that I know that S is pretty preoccupied with his sister-in-law's health and how his brother and niece are doing. She continues to be rather fragile, and it doesn't sound like she'll live for much longer. I keep them all in my prayers.

I hope that everyone's weekend is shaping up as well as mine!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay I'm so glad you have had such a nice few days Spincita :)

Aravis said...

What a wonderful reunion! I'm so happy for you. :0)

red one said...

Kneidlach is the word you're looking for :-)

Anonymous said...

what color is the sweater?

Anonymous said...

As someone who has 50% or so Jewish co-workers, I have come to the conclusion that Gefilte fish is one of the largest causes of antisemitism, especially on trays around the high holidays. Glad to hear that he's back, and post a picture of the sweater please.

HistoryGeek said...

Hammer - the sweater is red.

Anonymous said...

I am off to England tomorrow to visit my Father for a week. After a few days with him I start to become a little anti-Semitic.
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