So today, we went to my grandparent's house for breakfast. I mean, we (Adi, Sima, Shkori and I) were going to go to Max Brenner for breakfast to celebrate Sima's birthday, but we weren't leaving till around 11. We (Adi, Sima, my aunt Giti, and I) got there around 9, and sat down and said we weren't going to eat however we ended up eating a bit, cause really, no one can resist an Israeli breakfast in front of them. So we eventually left for Max Brenner and picked up Shkori on the way.
So let me tell you about Max Brenner. The closest ones to LA are in Vegas/NY/Philly... then there's ones that are international in the Philippines, Singapore, and Israel (random, right?) So Max Brenner (to be called Max for the sake of not typing the name a lot more) is a restaurant whose popularity revolves around their chocolate. They're like the modern-day Willy Wonka restaurant with dishes including chocolate dessert pizza, fondu (of course), waffles, crepes... you get the point. So we ordered the Israeli breakfast special. It was quite the feast. Typical Israeli breakfast: eggs, tahini, a sort of cream cheese, salad, break, etc. It was so good. They had this dip that was like nutella, but not as thick (like the consistency of fondu chocolate) and was so good. Oh! So when you order your drinks, they come in these cute glasses that have a spot specifically for the straw (yes, I know. I will post pictures because I do a poor job at describing it). It was really cute. So after we finished with our feast, we got hot chocolate (it was part of the meal thing we ordered.) I got the milk hot chocolate. Definitely one of the best hot chocolates I've ever had. It came in a HUGMUG. I won't even try to describe it, just google it until I post a picture.
So after breakfast we went to CinemaCity and walked around the mall there for a bit. I bought a cute bracelet. Then we went to Shinsky, which is a street with stores and walked around there for a bit.
After we headed back to my grandparent's house to get ready for the big dinner that was that night. We had about and hour or two before we needed to start getting ready, so I spent time with my cousin's daughters, playing games with them on iphones/ipads. It was nice. Then we started to get ready for the big night. So now comes the lesson about Jewish traditions.
So during the week of mourning, on the last night there's supposed to be a large feast where first we do the prayers (the same ones done throughout the week) and then we have a large dinner in honor of those who have passed away. So since my grandparent's apartment is so small, we had it at the betknesset (temple) next door.
Throughout the day, we set up the room and prepared everything as much as we can. Around 6:15, slowly people started coming over...around 6:25, we walked next door to the temple. I headed downstairs to help prepare the food, however the men went and sat inside the pews in the temple while most of the women went and sat in a separate area upstairs, overlooking the pews.
Downstairs we relaxed for a bit then started preparing all the food in the kitchen for the tables. The catering got there and we dished it out so every table had at least one portion of the food (if not more than one.) Everyone in the family was helping out, even my cousin's 3 year old daughter. It was nice to see how much a family comes together to help out. So we had dinner (which was great) and then everyone helped clean up again and then the family headed back to my grandparent's apt. We hung out there for a while then came home around midnight.
Anyway, it's been a long day.
Night!
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