The need for Privacy

I am getting married in a month from tomorrow (holy cow) and we are still planning the wedding. When I say planning I mean we are both shrugging our shoulders at our wedding planner (and parents) and I bet making everyone a bit nuts. The location is booked but there are a bunch of open ended items on the list that have yet to be completed.

You see, we are having a very small and intimate wedding with just our families and our closestclosest friends we consider family. I can’t speak for Eitan, but I dont give two scoops of hummus about the wedding. All I care about is standing under the huppah with Eitan and walking away as Mrs. Burcat.

If it was permissable by Orthodox jewish law, we would have eloped. But alas, that plan was foiled when we found out you need to have ten men present for the “Sheva Brachot” section of the wedding ceremony.

Meh.

So now we are planning a wedding and people are excited for us and for some strange reason, maybe because I dont care about the wedding at all, I feel very shy talking about it. I have not been volunteering any information unless other friends start talk about their wedding plans or ask me questions.

Our engagement is very very short- 2.5 months (and no I am not pregnant) . We have family moving abroad and friends who have family weddings abroad and in order to have all of those we love at the wedding, we had to do it by the second week of July. I always said I didn’t believe in long engagements and now that I am living through it, I believe it even more.  Same stress just in a shorter amount of time. Our parents have been incredibly wonderful thus far in our wedding planning and I have to say, most parents should take notes from Mr and Mrs Burcat and Mr and Mrs Berger.

And it is important for me to state that I dont want to give off the impression that I am indifferent about marrying Eitan. On the contrary, I want to shout it from the rooftops that I am marrying this incredibly wonderful man.  But I do not want the lack of enthusiasm for the wedding “party” to tarnish how I feel about making this man my husband and life partner.

One more month to go …. and the countdown begins until we are BergerBurcat.

Tags: ceremony, dinner, elopement, israel, love-of-my-life, short-engagement, wedding, wedding-planner, wonderful-parents

The most ridiculous tumblrs

1. That’s  Tel Aviv, Bitch 

2. What Should We Call Social Media 

3. When Obama Endorsed Gay Marriage 

Tags: favorite-GIFS, favorite-tumblrs, gay, hysterical-tel-aviv-GIFS, LOL, obama-marriage, obama-tumblr, social-media-GIFS, social-media-tumblr, truth, tumblr

All Hail the Kale

For years I have been hearing about this delicious yummy green leafy vegetable called “Kale”. According to one friend, kale is the one veggie she misses the most now living in Israel.

Well last week I ordered kale (!!!!) from an organic farm – I have been eating organic veggies for the past month and can select which veggies to include in my “box”.

I didn’t order enough kale. at all. 

I made kale and it was scrumptious. 

I washed (no really scrubbed) the kale clean, removed the entire stem/backbone from each leaf and then I let it dry.

I chopped up a bunch of garlic and a little bit of fresh ginger and added it to a large frying pot and with a bit of olive oil. I fried up the oil for a few minutes with the garlic and ginger and then added the kale. a pinch of  chili flakes, salt, pepper and a nice squeeze of lemon (about a teaspoon) and let the greens wilt for about 3 minutes and the closed the flame. 

At the same time, I boiled up some short grain brown rice with just some salt and olive oil in the water.

Once the rice was done, I mixed the greens into the rice and Voila! Dinner was served.

I need to order more kale this week.  

Tags: food, haorgani, healthy-food, kale, kale-in-israel, lemon, organic-farm, organic-vegetables, organic-veggies, short-brown-rice

Luck be a lady tonight

Last night Eitan and I went to Jerusalem to meet with someone I consider a sister. Actually, she is the sister of the brother from a different mother.

Both of us needed an ATM for cash. I had NIS7 on me and he had about NIS3 and that would not get us to Jerusalem.

So off we went to the closest ATM but there was no money in it. Then we tried another ATM and again no luck. Then we went back to the first ATM and tried taking out the smallest amount possible and guess what, nada. The machine was sucked dry. So we decided to walk t0 Dizengoff Center and (fingers crossed)  withdraw cash. We passed by another ATM and cash machine at AM:PM and both of them were void of cash.

Eitan then suggests the “Tal Muscal” method. Which is.. you take your chances with the lottery. At this point, what else is there to lose and its the closest “cash machine” around. So we walked up to the lottery stand and asked for the NIS5 scratch’n'play. Remember, this is now half of the money we have on us.  The nice older lady hands Eitan the ticket and he starts to scratch. And 3 doves appear under the scratched out part.

WINNER!!!!!

We won NIS100 (a profit of NIS95) and were merrily on our way to Jerusalem. No more ATM hunting in TLV

(PS – We had no problem finding a working ATM in Jerusalem)

Tags: atm, jerusalem, no-money, tal-muscal, tel-aviv, tlv. lottery. lotto. scratch'n'play, winning-the-lottery, winning-the-lotto

Where we stand today as friends

Last night I had a long overdue conversation with my oldest friend. We grew up together and I consider him my brother from another mother. There are pictures of us getting toilet trained together, at birthday parties, block BBQ’s, and many more childhood milestones. Our parents are close friends and our siblings are close in age.

Years ago I moved abroad and we lost touch. I was busy exploring my new country and making new friends, focusing on my career and I didn’t make an effort to stay in contact. He didnt make an effort to stay in contact and so.. we stopped being in touch. Our lives, or so I thought, couldnt have been more different.

But last night’s conversation was as if no time had passed at all. It was amazing that the two of us come from the same world and we share a lof of the same values. He is my oldest friend and even though he is married and a father to a precious little girl, we have a lot in common. Our politics are similar (and vastly different than our parents), our religious views are similar (in regards to our beliefs, not necessarily how each of us practices the religion). It is a bit amazing how both of us have turned out so similar and yet so different than our siblings and how our parents raised us.

I love the man my brother from another mother turned out to be. And I am beyond blessed to have him a part of my life.

Tags: ahoova, ahuva, ahuva-berger, ahuvah-berger, brother-from-another-mother, childhood-friends, evolution-of-friendships, Friends, oceanside

We Are Engaged!

Eitan asked and I said YES!

Tags: ahoova, ahuvah, ahuvah-berger, eburcat, eitan-burcat

Homemade Banana Bread (Vegan Style)

Delicious Banana Cake:  Serves 8

2 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of apple sauce
1/3 cup oil
4 ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup of chopped dark chocolate
Preheat oven to 350° F.

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

In a large bowl, beat sugar and oil together, then add the bananas and mash them. Stir in the water and vanilla, and mix thoroughly. Add the flour mixture along with the chopped nuts and chocolate, and stir to mix.

Spread in a non-stick or lightly oil-sprayed 9-inch square baking pan. Bake for 45 minutes

Image courtesy of Annalibera 

Tags: ahoova, ahuvah, ahuvah-berger, baking, banana-bread, dark-chocolate, easy, pecans, vegan-banana-bread