Chapter 8, "The Young Carpenter"

"So, you see," Meme Milli said when both Avi and I were seating next to her, "you're named after my husband - your grandpa Nani."

We stayed at Meme's house while Mom was at the doctor's office’
"Tell me more, Meme," I asked. "What happened to him?"
"It all started many years ago," Meme continued. "I was very young when my parents died. My mother was a maid for a rich family, and after she died, my oldest sister Beya took her place and raised me until I was old enough to work. Her employers brought me up to be their maid. My other sisters were already married and moved out of town. I washed floors and dishes, I dusted, I did the laundry, I did everything around the house. One day a young gentleman came and asked my keepers to let me go so he could marry me, and so he did. This gentleman was your grandfather. He was a divorced man who had a daughter from his previous marriage. His daughter stayed with her mother. Your grandpa was a merchant and had a big store downtown, Every morning I prepared his lunch, and he'd go to his store and return late in the evening. It was nice not to work as a maid anymore. Not long after, your father was born, and then his sister, Rosete, then his other sister, Fortune, his brother, Rone, and last, but not least, his youngest brother Claude. I'll tell you more about them later.

It was in a nice summer day. We were vacationing in the Beach town Nabbel. We were there for the whole summer. Your Grandpa stayed in Tunis for the week and every Friday he would come to join us on the beach. “One Friday afternoon my husband came back from work and said, I don't feel well, dear. He looked very pale and weak. I put him to bed and went to get the doctor. The doctor checked his temperature, gave him something to lower it, and left. The next morning my husband was dead. 

I was lost, I didn't know what to do, my oldest son, your dad, was only 11, and my youngest was two years old. I didn't know how to read or to write, and I didn't have a job to support my family. All I knew was how to be a maid. That wasn't enough to support five children. Your father had to help to support the family. The town's rabbi advised me to have him Bar mitzvah at an early age because he would have to take a lot of responsibilities for a young boy. The following week we went to the synagogue and your father read the Torah at the age of 11.

“The first trade he tried to learn was carpentry. The old carpenter gave your father a sheet of sandpaper, a tabletop, and told him to smooth it up. Your dad took the sandpaper and started to work. After an hour or so he called his boss and showed him his progress.
'No good, the boss replied, it's not smooth enough yet'.
“Again your dad rubbed and rubbed for another hour. But the boss wasn't satisfied.
“'How long should I do this?' asked your dad, eager to finish this boring job.
“'Until you smell onion!” Answered his boss jokingly'.
“At lunch time your father ran home, took a big onion, and ran back to work. Fifteen minutes later he called his boss.
“'Look', he said, 'it's ready, I can smell the onion.'
“The boss was in shock. He didn't know what to say. The fine wood was ruined. It was all covered with onion juice.

Of course, your father had to look for another job. He tried the tailor, the cook, the blacksmith and so on. He was just too young for anything. At last, after a long time he found a job that he liked. This job had artistic challenges. He became a jeweler's apprentice. At that same time my oldest sister Beya who just lost her entire family for a horrible sickness, moved in to live with us. We both found jobs with the same rich family who raised me. Life was difficult, but we managed well and nine years later we started our travel to Israel.”

“Now it's time for your lunch and a nap. Next time maybe I'll tell you about your Uncles Rone and Claude."

***

 

Stuffed Grilled Tomatoes

A pretty and light starter for any dinner. I like to serve this on Passover instead of the traditional egg.

Ingredients:
4 Tomatoes (round and pretty) Cut the top and scoop the inside. Save the top for a cover later.
Mix in a bowl:
2 Crushed Poached Eggs (or soft boiled)
1 tsp Mustard
1 tsp Minced Sweet Onion
1 Small Crushed Garlic Clove
1 tsp Crushed Ginger
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Black Pepper
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

Directions:
 Mix all together and stuff the mixture into the scooped tomato and cover with the tomato top. Broil for 2 minutes.
Toast slices of bread and cut a round circle in the middle for the tomato to sit in.

Dice a Cucumber, tsp of sweet onion, the inside of the tomato. mix in a bowl with juice of 1/4 Lemon, a pinch of Salt, TBSP of Olive oil. Pour on top of grilled tomato and serve cold or room temperature.

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