Chocolate night

Have you ever been to a chocolate workshop?
I have.



We received a bonus from the boss for best sales. An evening out at the venue of our choice. So we decided that our life was not sweet enough and booked an evening at a small chocolate shop in the city of Yehud, owned by Neta, a young woman who passionately loves all things chocolate. Her tiny shop is filled with truffles, pralines, chocolate flavored liqueurs and lots of other things that drive you crazy as soon as you walk through the door.

(photos courtesy of http://www.chocolata.co.il/)


Neta locked the doors and led us upstairs. She gave us each an apron and the fun began. First we tasted different kinds of chocolate. Some of us preferred bitter chocolate, but milk chocolate was the clear winner. Neta said that just by looking at the people entering the shop, she could tell by their demeanor what kind of chocolate they liked.


But we did not come there just to eat and talk! We got down to business.

Headless shot with dirty hands. One of the girls brought along her 4 y.o. daughter, she had a great time.

We made some chocolate truffles and after that mixed and poured some petit fours into tiny paper cups. And decorated them. Here is one of our ladies hard at work.

First you have to squeeze the chocolate mix into the cup. Then you take whatever sprinkles you have and go crazy. We drew flowers, anchors, letters, hearts, whatever you want.

And this is the final result. One tray was not enough. Doesn't it make you dizzy?

This is what I brought home. A box of petit fours, a baggie of truffles (chocolate balls, as my Kid calls them) and a bottle of chocolate orange liqueur (it's lovely on ice-cream and perfect for baking, but I'm hopeless at baking so I think I'll just drink it).

A fun evening with nice people - we definitely should do it more often.

I'm a cowboy baby!

Well, my car is officially fixed. I went back to install the door handle that was missing before. It took approximately 15 minutes to walk in, say hello - and it was done! Ladies, all our visits to the car shops should be this short! I'll drink to that later tonight!

They called me from the garage just as I finished my shower, so I quickly dressed and went there with my hair absolutely wet. By the way, this is totally acceptable in Israel. You see women with wet hair in the morning, running to work all the time. So I didn't feel too bad.

I'm wearing brown leggings and a beige top with woven detailing on the bodice and pockets. On the label it says "Booba" which means "doll" in Hebrew. Added some gladiators and that was it. I'm very careful with leggings, wearing them with tunics down to my knees or almost there. Normally I'd put on some heels but didn't feel like it today.

Last night was my Kid's horseriding class. I had two very nice surprises waiting for me at the ranch. First - he did so well! Trot and canter, handling of the horse - pleasure to watch. The other children in his group had their spurs on but Kid didn't and the horse listened to him and did what he told it to do.

And here's the second surprise:

I've ordered them sometime ago and they are here! Durango RD 3122 in sage. With a spur ledge. By the way, for those who don't like spurs. I couldn't hurt a horse even if I tried to. I'm wearing the boots around the house today, trying to break them in. These are my "powerful boots". And the spurs finally started to make that clicking noise when I walk. I feel so cool that I forget about the silly helmet we're supposed to wear.

God, I'm so shallow!

Vest week

Well, not exactly a week because I own only three vests and the third one is faux-fur and it'll have to wait. I seldom wear vests but this week it just felt right.

Vest: Niba

Studded top: Crazy Line

Trousers: Golbary

Pointy-toed flat mules: Bata

Bag: Nine West

Silver cuff and a Swatch watch that you can't really see because the picture is fuzzy

That strange thingie hanging off my side is a small decorative belt, it's meant to be there.

Here is a close-up of the top with the studs. The material is a bit clingy so you have to stand up straight to avoid showing any muffin top or other possible rolls that exist in the midriff area. Good motivation.

But that was yesterday. I fell asleep on the couch watching CSI with a small white cat wrapped around my neck. So I had absolutely no energy to blog. Today I wore this (another fuzzy picture):

Olive top with bronze beads on the collar: Zara

Black cropped pants: Golf (not quite clamdiggers but definitely not capris)

Peep-toe flats: Sako Or

This was my garage outfit. Arrived there at about 9:30 in the morning and left after 12:00. Good thing I took my laptop with me so I could get some work done. They said that the plan to swap back door handle with the front wouldn't have worked anyway because they are not the same! And I'll have to go back there in a couple of days because they didn't have any back door handles in stock and had to order it and... grrr! Had to pay just over 100 bucks for this! But at least I can get in and out of the car like a human being and not like a giraffe trying to climb through a foxhole!

Khamsin wind

Oh, the days of khamsin! For the lucky ones who do not know what it is, here is a quote from Wikipedia:

"a dry, hot and dusty local wind blowing in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula". Very dry description (no pun intended). They're not telling you about your eyes burning like they're full of sand, your nose getting so dry that it bleeds... Hey, I'm exaggerating. We're not dying over here, but we're definitely not comfortable. Normal humidity for us in this area is 70. Today it was 40. Big difference.

Other bothersome effects - frizzy hair, sneezing, dry fingertips (WTF?)

White pants: Matim Li (meaning "Fits me" or "Suits me" - it's a local chain for larger women)

Brown top: Mango

Pinstripe vest: Crazy Line

Bag: Gucci-styled something, doesn't even have a label, at least it's not a knockoff, it doesn't say "Gucci" anywhere on it.

Heels: BCBGirls, purchased from Nordstrom, and shipped to my aunt in Denver who in turn shipped them to me... (waited for them for about 3 months. It was totally worth it).

Looks like my pants shrank in the wash, they've gone short! I still wore them today with heels, but I'm not sure about my proportions... Well, I liked myself today, that's gotta count for something!

One reason for wearing pants today is my car. The door-handle on the driver's side is broken. Meaning it was broken but still functioned until my darling husband had an idea. We'll just take the good handle from the passenger door on driver's side and stick it into the driver's door... Not! Now I have to go to the shop and fix two door-handles instead of one. And they'll have to reconnect the automatic door locking system that used to work after pressing the button on the remote-control... In the meantime I "gracefully"climb into the driver's seat through the front passenger door. Don't tell me. I should have known. Trip to the mechanic is planned for Tuesday morning.

The weekend is here

Having just returned from six days in Turkey, I should be well rested and full of energy. But I welcome the weekend. All the energy I had was spent in the kitchen experimenting with different kinds of yoghurt in pursuit of a perfect tzatziki. Experiment was successful, and the proof is the empty tub of tzatziki in my dishwasher. It went perfectly with hot and spicy meatballs in tomato sauce.

My energy carried me through the fields while horseriding - I ride every Friday at four. It's my weekly psychotherapy session. I started riding in February. Here is a photo of my very first attempt not to fall from the horse. I look deceptively confident here. But lovely Brandy could tell you the truth.

Pay no attention to the date in the corner. Honestly, it was February 2009, I'm just too lazy to erase it (I confess, I'm not sure how to do it).

So now I'm beat. And what am I going to do for the rest of the weekend? The answer is in this photo taken by my cousin. Paris, Seine, sunny day, man having a siesta. Why not?

Back to work

I had to go to work the next day after we returned. Total lack of sleep, just about 4 hours. That's why I decided not to wear high heels. These powder blue and gold kitten heel beauties that I found on ebay last year seemed like a great idea. This way I could be comfortable at the office and later go to buy groceries to fill the empty fridge.

Now that I think of it, I probably shouldn't have bought all that food. I've gained some weight in Turkey sitting on my lazy butt. Even my dog-walking pants feel too tight around the waist. Guess I'll have to do more dog-walking now.

Denim-like skirt: consignment store
Top: Crazy Line
Shoes: Fratelli Rosetti
Bag: Vera Pelle

I love this bag. Sorry for the blurry picture,

but you can see the stripes on it, all the different colors. This bag goes with everything.

As you can see, we're still in summer mode. Today was a hot day, and it's mid-October already. I envy all of you out there, wearing your trench coats and boots! Every year at the end of summer I pray for the sun to go away just for a little bit. August and September are especially tough months to handle. If any of you plan a trip to Middle East, don't go at the end of summer.

How did my fashion post ended up turning into a weather-rant?

I should be happy that I don't have to crawl through snow banks to the grocery store. Do you think so?

Marmaris

We are back after spending six days in Marmaris, Turkey. We've been going there almost every year since 1998. In case you didn't know, Turkey is the favorite destination for Israeli holiday-makers looking for reasonably priced package holiday tours. Flight and hotel, almost everything included, beach and so on.

(photo from http://www.allaboutmarmaris.com/)

You get the idea. But this is not us. We go there to visit my father-in-law, a retired army officer and a yachtie who's been living there in the Marina all these years. This is where he lives:

photo from http://www.allaboutmarmaris.com/

We spent the week at his girlfriend's house, enjoying good international company, good conversations and great food. I'll share some of my pictures with you.

View from the mountain not far from the village we lived in.

Turkish breakfast at the Cinar restaurant.

This is before:

And this is after:

Turkish restaurants are usually full of well-fed cats, but here we were greeted by a flock of rather pesky chickens. And cats, but they had much better manners.

If you come to the Marina with a loaf of bread and throw bits of it in the water, this is what you'll see. My Kid had lots of fun.

Speaking about the Kid. He's always been a great traveling companion, he loves going to restaurants and ordering... well, mostly chips. And after that -

This is in 2005

And this is a week ago. The chairs keep
getting smaller.




I overpacked as usual and didn't wear most of the stuff. I "dressed up" twice. This is one of them. We went out for dinner to a waterfront restaurant "Orange". Those guys have great steaks.

I'm leaving you with this photo I took in town. Enjoy :)