R2BC In Isolation

The pink flowers are radishes and the yellow flowers are lettuce.
Grown from Kibbutz Alumim vegetables received at the beginning of April
Birds have eaten most of the lettuce leaves...
...I didn't have the heart to scare them away. 

There are, surprisingly, a lot of Reasons 2B Cheerful whilst stuck in quarantine, so here are some of them. Then if you fancy you can visit the linky on Becky's Lakes Single Mum for more R2BC posts.

1.10 days after DD's exposure to a covid positive pupil at school we are both still asymptomatic.

2. DD hasn't actually missed any school because although only 6 pupils from her class (but 83 pupils and 13 staff in the whole school) are in enforced quarantine, the Parents Association shut down the whole school. Well, it's open but only about four kids show up each day. I love it that when the government didn't close the schools because of the economy, the parents took matters into their own hands and closed the school for the health and safety of our children and families.

3. There's no online learning going on but DD's teacher has been holding a daily Zoom-in with the whole class, just to keep in touch and make sure everyone is doing ok. This is so important in case someone is struggling but also because not all kids have friends that they can call and chat with if it's not organised for them.

4. As soon as I let it be known that we're in isolation, loads of people sent messages asking if we needed anything. Three of my neighbours messaged me again today to say they are going shopping and please send a list if we need anything for the weekend. I know people are kind, but it's heartwarming to be on the receiving end once in a while - even though we didn't need anything. And lovely to be reminded of what lovely friends and neighbours we have.

5. I registered DD's quarantine on the Ministry of Health website on Sunday night and first thing Monday morning our healthcare provider called to give me instructions about isolation and testing. I was impressed by that.

6. I've not been able to do an online shop with my supermarket of choice for almost a year. When my credit card was renewed last year, the number was the same but the expiry date was obviously different. The online website couldn't deal with this wildly bizarre event. I called customer service a couple of times but kept being told that it was a problem with my credit card and I should call my bank. Bollocks to that because they accepted my card every week in the store. In the end I gave up trying to shop online.

This week I didn't have a choice. So I did the shop, my card was rejected because they already have the same number registered to another card (mine), and I called customer service. This time I had the inspired idea to go directly to technical support. I explained the problem, I suggested that all my card information needs to be deleted so that I can start again, and I emphasised that we are in quarantine so we need this shop or we will starve to death.

It took less than two minutes for the woman to make it all go away. She put the order through for me, gave me the order reference number, and sent confirmation to my email. Sorted. And the delivery came on time the next day. It was so easy I'm going back to online shopping big time. I think this R2BC ties for top reason with neither of us having coronavirus symptoms.

Wishing everyone a healthy and happy weekend. xxx

Cooking Up A Storm

I went a bit mad as I had a free delivery on loyalty points. 

As I wrote yesterday, on Wednesday evening I did a supermarket order online and scheduled it to arrive between 09.00 and 12.00 on Friday morning. I woke up at 07.00 to find a list of items they were out of in my phone messages. Each item came with a suggested switch which I could accept or reject. I accepted all but one item and there were two others that they didn't have but had no suggestions for. No problem, I could live without these three items.

I sat smuggly in the warmth of indoors on Friday morning while a thunder and lightning storm raged outside. It was pure luck of course. I only do an online order about once every three months when my loyalty points give me a free delivery, but only for online orders. I take this opportunity to stock up on cleaning stuff (an 8kg bag of laundry powder for example, toilet cleaner, Fairy Palmolive?, etc...). toiletries, paper goods, and non-perishable food, along with my regular weekly shop.

Pickled cucumbers, latkes, vegetable noodle soup,
and a shepherd's pie (uncooked).

I did have to pop into the small and more expensive grocery around the corner on Thursday because there are always things I forget. Right after buying them I remember that you can add to your order online. But still, I'm not going to let the supermarket packer decide which colour hair rinse I'm going to use and the grocery always has a convenient loss-leader of three 500g bags of pasta for 10 shekels instead of the 4.90 each at the supermarket.

And I popped into the health food shop for some ground flaxseed and some nutritional yeast. I came out with rather more than that and this cost a small fortune.

There are pitfalls with online ordering, not least that I'm working in Hebrew which is not my first language, but I've learnt how to avoid most of them. For example, all the pictures are the same size. So you obviously order the packet or jar that costs 7.50 shekels instead of the one costing 11.90 only to find out when it arrives that the 7.50 was for 250g and the 11.90  was for 500g. I've learnt to read the quantities carefully and they also give you the price per 100g on most things which is very helpful.

Yummy pesto

I went a bit mad this week as I've been lazy recently and eating too many meals of crisps and sandwiches. Partly because of the cold weather, partly because I'm tired when I come in from work and in no mood to cook, and partly because DD has such a small range of acceptable food that it takes all the pleasure out of preparing something nice. However, new year, new leaf, and I was determined to have healthy things that I can pull out of the freezer in the morning and heat up for supper.

I thought I was being so careful. I scrutinized the quantities, I read the labels to make sure I was getting real food and not processed imitations, I took into account that extremely cheap/kg produce is often heavy so one or two can cost more than you bargained for. Although most of the order was fine, I did mess up on a number of things.

* I thought I ordered 2kg of potatoes but it turned out to be 2 sacks totaling about 10kg.
* I did order 2kg of cucumbers but who knew cucumbers are so light. And for some reason, I accidently ordered the organic cucumbers that are double the price. Let's hope organic cucs last longer as I've rather a lot to get through.
* Too many bananas. You've heard the expression - the shelf life of a banana? So have I but I forgot. I see frozen bananas for smoothies in my future.
* When I choose one cabbage and one cauliflower, I buy a small one of each. I now have two vegetables in my fridge the size of bowling balls.
* I ordered 1kg of cheese off the block. DD likes grated cheese on her salad and on her pasta. I thought of asking for it to be grated but then I thought I might like to slice some of it for a sandwich, so I left it as a block of cheese - or so I thought. They only sliced the whole lot! DD went mad. I've been trying to slice it into really thin strips for her salad. It works but it's not the same.
* I thought I ordered 2kg of avocado but I got 2 avocadoes. Small ones.

The shepherd's pie ready to eat with a cheese topping. 

The first thing I did when the order came at 11.55, was to make us both salads for lunch, heavy on the cucumber. I then pickled a big jar of cucumbers whilst boiling a big pot of potatoes for mashing. Once you have mashed potatoes the world is your oyster. I didn't even have a plan. In the end they became two shepherd's pies with a vegetable bottom instead of the shepherd, and a cheesy potato pie. One shepherd's pie was for lunch today with more salad and the other two items in the freezer.

Some more potatoes became latkes. Five out of ten made it into the freezer. A pot of vegetable noodle soup for the weekend and a very big pot of pureed vegetable soup for the freezer. Two jars of pesto - one in the freezer one in the fridge. At this point I removed the ice trays from the freezer to make more room.

Thick pureed vegetable soup for the freezer. 

One of the things I rejected was dark soy sauce instead of light soy sauce. As soon as I've picked some up we'll be having stir-fry. I fancy coriander dumplings for the soup, roast cauliflower, and mushroom stuffed cabbage leaves in tomato sauce. However I've done enough cooking for one weekend so this will have to wait.

Meanwhile I've set myself a challenge of not buying anything more until the end of February - except salad ingredients and grated cheese, and the light soy sauce, and DD's Shabbat treat. I've told DD there'll be no more crisps for a couple of weeks to encourage her to help me get through the bananas.

Thanks For The Ads Facebook

The prettiest bit of my balcony is my neighbour's flowers

Yet again, I met someone yesterday who told me, with a look of utter disdain, how she would never go on facebook because it's a frivolous waste of time.

I couldn't be bothered to go into detail about the invaluable information I get via the relevant facebook groups about parenting, single parenting, the health care system, government regulations and subsidies, tax information, food recalls, places to go/things to see, where to buy, the education system, recommendations for good services, where to donate, buying and selling second hand, new services in the area, jobs available, etc....

Not to mention support groups for people who really need support in very difficult situations, and keeping up connections with friends and family flung far and wide around the world. And down the road but why pay for a babysitter when we can chat online?

So I just told her that her comment is like saying you won't go into the library because there are a group of people who often sit on the steps and giggle about inane rubbish. Even though you know that some of those gigglers are actually Ph.D. candidates who must be doing their research somewhere in the library.

Anyway, moving on.... Today I discovered a way to make a pet hate work for you. Facebook ads are hated by most people. Who needs them cluttering up your timeline? Most comments about the ads are asking how you can get rid of them. The answer is that you can de-clutter your likes and interests in your profile so that fewer related topics are available to show up as ads.

I have been looking for balcony furniture for a few months. My balcony had become a dumping ground over the past season and the plants neglected to death. (I thought I had some before photos but I can't find them.) Once I cleared it up, I wanted to make a little outside oasis. A tiny, elevated garden in which to enjoy my morning coffee or an evening drink. The plastic chairs and the low coffee table just don't do the job.

We need comfortable table and chairs

(A note about the lack of plants. I was going to make a trip to a local nursery and buy colourful plants but then I decided to take cuttings and grow my own. I've also been watching You Tube videos about growing plants from fruit pips and sprouting vegetables. Watch this space.....)

There are a couple of shops in Jerusalem I could go to for furniture. I know because I asked friends on facebook. I'd need to ask a friend with a car to come with or pay for a delivery. Neither of these options is a problem but I've not got round to going there yet. I've looked at their websites and I've not seen exactly what I'm looking for.

I saw this on my downstairs neighbour's balcony. This is what I want

So I searched the web for garden furniture in Israel. I really wanted three bistro chairs like you get outside cafes but I couldn't find exactly what I wanted at the right price. So I gave up searching. And this where Facebook took over.

Facebook has been finding outdoor furniture shops for me and showing their ads on my timeline. The more I click on the ads the more they send. Today I found exactly the chairs I wanted. I was ready to order them to be delivered but they were temporarily out of stock. I'm happy that they are out of stock because they didn't have a suitable table to go with the chairs so I'm hanging on for another advert with the full set in one delivery.

And when I've bought my new balcony set, I'll delete all interest in outdoor furniture from my facebook settings and internet searches.

Online Shopping In Israel

I actually like supermarket shopping. I walk up and down every isle, viewing everything, choosing, meeting people I know and exchanging pleasantries. All in all a very satisfactory experience if you have the time and don't have a broken toe. Not having a car isn't a problem as the delivery service is cheap and advisable if you live on the third floor with no lift, especially during watermelon season. One of the reasons I've not done online shopping until now.

Another reason is that I tried the prototype of online shopping about 15 years ago - telephone orders. Hilarious to think that you sat on the phone with a clerk and went through all the product lists together. When it arrived the fresh produce was very fair, e.g. out of six tomatoes four would be perfect and two would be so-so. After a while I got fed up of buying 33% so-so fruit and veg. I wanted 100% perfect so I went back to shopping in person. Besides, I missed the social.

Recently I've heard that Mega (my local super of choice) may actually reserve the best produce for online orders. I've seen the packers and they do seem to choose carefully. Reports from friends have also been very favourable. So I gave it a go, what with wanting a large watermelon in my third floor walk up apartment and having a broken toe and all.

Here's what I learned:

1. Even though the store loyalty credit card has CAL, YOU, and MasterCard printed on it, you are still supposed to know that you have to choose Diners when you pay. I called the 1-800  number for that info.

2. The total amount at the bottom of your order is not a sum of the amounts listed in the order (my total was about 50 shekels over). Nor is it the final amount you will  pay because the exact weights of the produce, cheese off the block, etc... are not known. Another call to the 1-800 number sorted this puzzle out.

3. Very helpful to have the prices also listed as price/100g so you can compare the different brands - impressive. However, when my watermelon (which can be up to 8kg) was listed as costing 3.99 when the stated price was 3.99, I suddenly feared that I'd ordered 100g of watermelon. But no, 1 unit of watermelon on the website = 1 whole watermelon. Phew!

4. Two items I thought I ordered didn't show up. Must check more thoroughly next time before finalizing the order.

5. Choose the option to have similar items swapped in for out of stock chosen items at your peril. I chose a 6-pack of small water bottles very carefully. I wanted similar lids to a couple of water bottles we have that have leaky lids. Of course I got different bottles with different lids - we didn't even need the water (we have plenty in our taps). There's an option to comment on the order form - now I know what it's for.

6. At least they had the sense to call me anyway to find out if I wanted a burnt sugar and corn concoction with chemical flavourings similar to maple syrup instead of my 100% pure maple syrup. I didn't. They also didn't have the bag of 'oranges for juice' and nothing to substitute - did I want anything instead? No, I ordered the oranges when I couldn't find watermelon and hadn't noticed that they were 'for juice' - what does that mean anyway? Then I forgot to cancel them. Another phew!

7. When you order 1kg of hard cheese they assume you want it sliced. Another issue for the comment box - we sometimes want our cheese grated. In any case we'll do our slicing and grating ourselves as the fancy takes us. A block of cheese please next time.

8. I didn't order ice-cream as I wasn't sure what state it would arrive in.

9. I placed the order in the afternoon and still had the option of getting it between 8pm and 11pm that night. I chose that option and it actually arrived at 7.50pm - very impressive though might not happen if you order nearer the weekend - this was a Wednesday.

10. Score for online shopping 9/10 and only because I need to learn to work the system better. I probably spent less even with an inflated service/delivery charge (28 shekels as opposed to 14 shekels for deliveries under 400 and free for orders over 400 shekels in the shop).

After kindergarten DD and I are going to the more expensive shop round the corner to get bread, rice crackers, ice-cream, and a new toothbrush for DD. I'll probably end up getting a couple of packets of crisps for the weekend for her and maybe a cake and she'll get me to buy her some sweets as well - always happens. Oh, and I keep forgetting to buy a new tin opener which I need urgently..... It'll be another 150 shekels easily but I'm still on the learning curve of online shopping.