Book & Cook

“Nanou, Avi” Mom called to us, “Put a pile of underwear, socks, your nice Shabat shirt and pants, and a few changing cloths. We are going on a little trip for a few days. I will pack all of it in a suitcase.” Mom and dad planed a trip for the whole family to Jerusalem. I have never been to Jerusalem. I knew people from Jerusalem. Do you remember  “Yehoshua HaParu'aa”?   We were going to visit him and his family.  The way to Jerusalem was not an easy trip. We had to take a bus to Netanya’s main bus station. On the buss we had to stand in the isle because it was full. From there we took another bus to Tel Aviv. On this bus we had to make sure we sat right behind the bus driver or Avi would get seasick and throw up all over. In Tel Aviv we took a short bus ride to the train station. The station was crowded, and it was hard to find a good spot for all of us to sit together. My little brother and I had to run along the train and look for a few empty seats for all of us. “I wan...

1959 “Mommy, Mommy! Come look who’s coming to visit.” I rushed home yelling. “Come Ima it’s Uncle Robert, he came with a big army truck.” Everyone in our family knew; Mom was a great cook. In every opportunity they have they would stop by for lunch or dinner. On the other hand, I could never figure out why. I didn’t like her food. It just didn’t taste good to me. Most of the time, it was too spicy. Anyway, Uncle Robert had an afternoon pass, and he came with his army truck for a short visit. Both Avi and I loved it when relatives serving the army came to visit. They always had something for us. Chocolate bars or chocolate covered waffles from the military cantina. Uncle Robert was a truck driver in the army. This time he came with a huge truck and he parked it in front of our shack on the sand dunes. It was Friday afternoon and Mom made her usual “Couscous” with chicken vegetable soup. Uncle Robert loved it. “So, what’s new?” He asked. “Oh, nothing much.” Said Mom. “I’m starting to wor...

"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. ...

  “It is time to move again” Mom Said. “But don't worry, we aren't moving far, just to the next street to a bigger shack.” When we moved from Be'er Sheva we took a very small shack. It was a one room wooden shack covered with black tar sheets on the outside walls and tin roof to keep the rain off. We had a small out house where my dad had to pour lime into the deep hole under the wooden seat every night and another out house where we showered. It had a small water tank placed on a tall pedestal with a special kerosene burner called “Primus”. Mom used to turn it on every afternoon, before dad would come from work so he could have a nice hot shower. I will never forget how Mom would prepare for “Passover”. She would take all the kitchen tools outside so she can clean and “kosher” them for the holiday. Dipping them in boiling hot water she had placed yet, on another “Primus”.  Even the kitchen table was left outside until she finished cleaning the room. We had to eat dinner ...

Do you remember my Uncle Rone? You know, the one that took me to Tel Aviv and gave me too much to eat, and you know what happened later. The one who took me to the beach and gave me my “white butt”. Uncle Ronny is my father's younger brother. Dad is the oldest, next in line is Aunt Rosette, Aunt Fortune, Uncle Ronny, and the youngest is Uncle Claud. Uncle Ronny was getting married. He was marrying my Aunt Claudine, or in Hebrew, Rachael, my mom's younger sister. Isn't it cool? Two brothers marring two sisters. Their kids are going to be like my brothers and sisters – more than just cousins.     Aunt Rachael is very beautiful. She is slim with big smiling eyes and long black hair that fall straight down her tall back. Aunt Rachael was a secretary for the union. Sometimes she took me to work with her. She lets me play with the paper clips, and I made long colorful necklaces, attaching the clips together, wrapping magazine paper around each one of them and gluing it together. ...

1958 “We need to go to the doctor”, Mom told me when I woke up on a cold winter day. I had a terrible night, wheezing and coughing for hours. They had to call the doctor at the middle of the night, and he gave me a shot to help me breath. It wasn’t fun. Mom helped me dress, put Avi in the carriage and we walked to the doctor’s office. It was very cold outside, but it didn’t rain. You see, it is very dry in Be’er Sheva – Israel's Desert’s Capital. It gets very cold, but it hardly rains. Instead, we have wind, very strong wind. It picks up the dusty earth and blows it around, forming little tornado like swirls and sandstorms. “Your Son is allergic to the dust here,” said the doctor. “As I told you before, you must move to the north if you don’t want your son to develop asthma.” Yes, I know,” mom answered, “my husband is in Netanya looking for a place to move. He already found a job. He is a diamond polisher, apparently they have many shops where they polish diamonds in Netanya.” “Goo...