I have the coolest mom!

First in her family to graduate from a university.

First in her family to move all the way across the ocean at the tender age of 60 and start building a new life in the new world.

First in her family to learn how to drive a car at the age of 63.

First in her family to learn a new language at the age 60 and continues learning it – sometimes mixing Russian, Yiddish and English together, which makes it fun for all of us to figure out what is she talking about.

First in her family to travel to China at the age of 70. According to her 70s are new 50s.

First in her family to become a celebrity.

Detroit Free Press 1995

When I grow up I want to be just like her.

Happy Mothers Day to all the cool moms out there!!

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Our trip to IKEA last weekend deserves a separate post, but ….next time.

The only thing we needed to do there is to return an item – our plan was to return that item and leave, but IKEA is about an hour away, so we decided since we were already there, why not browse the store? We both knew we did not need anything and yet we just had to dive in.

Two hours later and $150.00 poorer we were finally done and ready to come home. I say it’s very reasonable to blow that much money in two hours, especially when you came there not to shop, but quite the opposite, to return an item and get your money back.

Anyway, like I said before, this post is not about our trip, but rather it’s about how grateful I am to have my engineering degree and to be able to use it while putting a lamp together that was purchased in IKEA!

I don’t want to sound like a spoiled American, but I was sure when you buy a lamp it’s pretty much assembled for you already with the exception of a light bulb – sure, I can do that! Boy, was I wrong. Apparently when you buy a lamp from IKEA everything in that lamp needs assembly – but not to fear – I am a civil engineer – it should be easy as A,B,C. Never mind that I got my degree 25 years ago and since then have never used it once, but in the bright side it gave me hours and hours of endless entertainment . My Saturday evening was complete!

Here is the progress:

I will skip first few steps and will jump right into

Step #3: The lamp is ready to swallow me!

Step #4:  One hour later the lamp is giving me the upside down finger!

Step #5, my final step – It looks beautiful , who cares that it’s crooked.

…. and then I had to include another member of my family, who has no engineering degree, in fact he has no degree yet, and he came up with this:

 

You say yuck – I say yum.

I don’t have to tell you how much I love food and everything and anything that
has to do with food.
This post is not about how I love to cook or how I attend cooking classes and
then share the recipes with you. No, it’s not about that; it’s about breaking my
habits and trying new food.
I try anything that looks good. I’m sure a lot of you will be grossed out if I
tell you that I love chicken feet and bone marrow, that I love fried fish head
and fish jello, that I think cow tong is delectable. Okay, you say yuck and I say yum!

Like I said, I would try anything….. I may even be a female version of Andrew Zimmerman and again maybe not.
Yesterday I went grocery shopping and took my usual route to the international
food section and, guess what? I think I found new dessert! I would like to give
it a taste, but first I need to convince my husband to try it. Do you think
he’ll go for it?

You’ve got mail or how to cure your migraine.

 I am a very loyal customer of AOL and I think I am addicted to the phrase “You’ve got mail“.   I have been with AOL from the beginning of times-or should I say email times. As soon as I open my eyes I check my inbox, just to hear the sweet words:  “You’ve got mail!”  One sunny day I woke up and I swear I heard: “You’ve got way too much mail!”  

Google Image

In the course of all these years I’ve collected over 7000 junk emails in my inbox…… not bad, right! I know some people who’ve had over 20,000. I will not name names, you know who you are! I have decided that finally the time has come to clean my inbox , but it’s so boring, so instead of cleaning it, I played with my junk.

What’s Triggering Your Migraines? The Back Room at Loehmann’s – that’s what!

or maybe: Banks Forced to Forgive Credit Card Debt! See If You Qualify for Relief! and when I checked I wasn’t qualified – migraine!

…and then I realized it’s not that, it’s this: A Power Wheelchair at little to no cost – see if you qualify - once again I wasn’t qualified – migraine!

My migraines were not going away no matter what I tried, and then I got an answer from some nice people, who sent me this:

30 lbs. Overweight? Try Sensa(R) Free! - this for sure will cure it – right? Wrong!

You know what did it for me:

 You are the Millionaire Winner We’ll Announce 5/31!

My migraine was gone in a second – I will be a millionaire soon, very, very soon!!

and I can do this: Dating News: 1 in 6 Marriages Start Online – Meet Singles Today! 

Oooops , I forgot I am already happily married……

Okay , forget dating: Blowout savings on all 2011 vehicles – great! I will buy a new car! Or even better – I will go on vacation: New Hotel Deals from $45/night! and Save $500 on 2012 Trafalgar Europe Vacations.

I got so excited fantasizing what I am going to do when I am a millionaire, that my migraine decided to come back and as soon as it did, I got this offer: 13 Ways to Relieve Chronic Pain along with this one Cindy Crawford shares her Advanced Anti-Aging Secret - hmm….how does Cindy know I am getting wrinkles – I never shared this information with her.

I am making progress-I am down to 6739 emails now.

Bring your kids to work day!

Hubby: Do you think I should take Max to work with me next Thursday?
Me: Sure, he would love it and plus if you ask him he would rather go with you than go to school, but let’s ask him.
Us: Max, would you like to go with Dad to his work place?
Max: To do what?
US: Whatever…. you will miss school.
Max: Sure

This was the conversation we had last week. Then, this morning came.
Conversation  at 6:00 a.m. today.
Hubby: You know,  I I have so much work to do I am not sure I could take Max today, I think you should take him since we already promised him.
Me: We don’t have “Bring your kids to work day”, plus there is nothing for him to do there, unless you want him to learn Russian and American Slang all day long.
Hubby: Let’s ask him, maybe he would want to go to school
I could not stop laughing for a few minutes.
Us: Max do you what to go to school or to dad’s work?
Max: I don’t want to go to school, and I don’t want to get up so early to go to dad’s work can I stay home?
Us: NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! You are going to school then.
Max: No, I want to go to mom’s work.
Us: No you are going to school.
Max: Fine….(he is doing us a huge favor).  I am going with Dad.

At this point I am already exhausted and it’s not even 7:00 o’clock in the morning…
Hubby: Max give me your phone, I have to cover your camera, so you wont be able to take pictures of all the secret stuff.
Max: Dad do you work for GM or for the KGB?
Hubby: That is it! You are going to school.

 

Crêpe, crêpe and more crêpe.

Traveling and cooking are my two greatest passions.
My work, my kids and my budget are really interfering with my traveling plans right now, so that leaves me with my other passion – cooking! Even now I am writing this post and watching/listening to Chopped. This is probably a bad idea, because I am not paying my full attention to the show or my post.

Anyway….
Let’s talk about cooking better-forget talking, let’s start cooking – today on the breakfast menu for my spoiled family – savory crepes filled with smoked fish and crème fresh, dusted with morels powder and topped with caviar.
I hate to admit, I have never made crepes until this morning – my mom has been spoiling us with her version of them, which are kind of sweet and filled with her homemade cheese, I know, right – who can compete with her?
Last week my girlfriend and I attended a cooking class at the wonderful Chateau Chantal, which is located in our Michigan’s Napa Valley and to our pleasant surprise making crepes were on the menu.

Thanks Chef Terry for guiding me through the process and I know you and my mom will both be so proud of me.

Chef Terry's crêpe class.

Finished product - savory crêpe with wild mushroom sauce.

crepe by yours truly - topped with smoke fish, creme fresh and caviar - mmm....

Now since I have mastered the art of making the crepes I should concentrate on traveling.

Bar Mitzvah – part three – Max.

Max’s Torah portion was Vayikra – about sacrifices Jewish people had to make. We were able to connect all the dots in his speech.

Here is part of his speech:

 I would like to share a personal story of transition that my family has had to struggle through. It all begins with my grandparents: at an age when most people consider retirement, my grandparents were planning an exodus of their own. The goal was to reach America and start a better life. I cannot imagine the sacrifices my family had to endure in order to make a better life for us in America, but everyday I try to show them that their struggles were not in vain. My Grandparents and Parents sacrificed their health, their status, and their friendships all for their children’s future. They came to America with their past still haunting them. They were running from the anti-Semitic culture and abuse that they had grown up around, wanting a life for my brother and me that is free from discrimination, allowing us opportunities that would have never been possible back in Russia. Without their help and guidance, I would never be where I am today; for that I am forever grateful and eternally indebted to them.

Great, right?! Well, while Alex – older son – was working on Max’s speech, Max was complaining about the use of “big” words. Keep in mind he had to read from the Torah in Hebrew (which required 8 months of tutoring) and then read his speech, so I can’t blame him for being a little concerned. By the way he did an amazing job at the Bimah reading his part. I am saying this not because I am a proud mama, but because he was really, really good. In preparation for becoming a man, he studied, he volunteered his time, he really showed us that he could be a responsible young man.

In the mean time Max was pushing for the party – of’ course my darling you will have a party. …. and the madness began.

 Me: Max we are inviting all our relatives from NY, NJ, CT and Canada – it’s a family event and they have to be a part of it.

Max: Of course Mom, I want all my cousins with me, but I also want all my friends and there are about 70 of them.

Me: ……………………………………………………..

About half and hour later when I finally was able to speak again, I said to him that he is only allowed to have 30 kids.

Max: If we are having 70 adults – I am having 70 kids, it’s my party and I worked hard for it.

Three weeks into it we finally agreed on 60 adults and 60 kids….. and just like that I wasn’t planning a Bar Mitzvah party anymore, I was planning a “wedding”.

Invites – check,

Decorator – check,

DJ- check.

Don’t forget we are Russians, so we needed to have a Russian DJ too and Russian food.

I had the sense to tell Max that this is not a competition and we will not be throwing the most expensive party, that would be forgotten the day/week later. It’s so easy to lose track of what the Bar Mitzvah is all about, but we were determined to make this about family no matter what.

I guess at the age of 13 you want to be the same as everyone else, but we convinced Max to be different and not to be afraid to show his Russian roots, even if he thinks his Russian roots a bit embarrassing.

The best part about this whole event is to be able to share it with our immediate and extended family and with our friends, who, just like us left the USSR to practice or not to practice whatever religion they chose – Catholic, Orthodox Christian or Jewish.

Here is the slide show of Max’s big day.