More 29

Josh watching over Sacha as he eats a lamb kebab.















The D and I.

My lady friends.

29

I turned 29 on the 7th of this month. We celebrated by going back to the Kan Zaman.

I wanted to go someplace special. A place that would feel like Jerusalem, not just some place to chow down. It had to feel authentic (whatever that means) to my time here-- a complicated, exciting, difficult, and joyous time. Like the 4th year of the MFA program that I never got to have.

Anyway, the night was bubbles and sparkles. The lights went out in the start of dinner, so we ate our food by candlelight while the musicians played on. Jessica made the decadent cupcakes pictured below. They were superb.

superb!

judging by the plates, this is the end of dinner & the lights are back on

growing older is fun so far

I tried to pop Josh's head off

beans, the appetizer.

Thanksgiving '09

This year Thanksgiving was a six course meal. Nothing like being outside of your comfort zone (in comfy USA) to break the traditions and do something different. Our meal pays an homage to the twenty (TWENTY!!) course meal put on by Brian B. and Ari F. Great friends and great eaters who hosted that legendary meal.

The T-Giv. meal was held at our good friends' Samantha and Sacha's house. There were 12 of us there and each person was responsible for an part of the meal. We even had a sommelier in attendance who magically paired each course with a wine. Fan-say!

And, in a very unexpected and super cool turn of events, our meal was written up here. Abbey is a cool lady and I'm super happy to know that she had an amazing time. We all did! It was one of the best (surely in the top 5) nights I've had in Jerusalem so far :)

Course 1: Veggie Chopped Liver / Veggie Antipasto.

~No photo available because I was busy eating.~

Course 2: Sage cornbread! That's a piece of sage sauteed in butter on that corn bread!

Course 3: Mac n' Cheese / Broccoli. This is an 'after' shot.

Course 4: Carrot Souffle / Stuffing

Course 5: Salmon / Mashed Potatoes / Cranberry Sauce

Course 6: Dessert! Pumpkin Pie / Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars / Truffles / Other Yummy Things

Samantha decorated the table like freakin' pro.

We even had name tags!

Leaves!


In case you are wondering, we did not have a turkey b/c some of the guests observe Kashrut Laws. A basic aspect of the KL is not mixing milk and meat--this meant that we could either have turkey and not use butter in anything or use butter in everything and not have turkey. Butter wins. Always.

Next year it's back to Reston :) I can't wait!!