A rustic Purim and the missing chocolate case is SOLVED!

Purim is a National fesitial in israel and pretty much everyone with kids gets into the dressing-up thing. Park Hamishpacha had a purim party [or an Ad Lo Yada as they call it here, if you get the reference] with a show, people dressed up and walking on stilts, they opened up the undercover gymyboree for the little ones and as it was unbelivably hot [it hit 30 degrees according to our car thermometer] they even turned on the little fountains. We missed most of it as we were off brunching with friends in the beautiful Carmel mountains [I recommend, it seems like israeli equivalent of Miami – where anglo jews with savings go to retire] and the party was in full swing by the time we arrived. Unfortunately the loud music meant we had to navigate carefully. We thought it was just a “olim” thing but my israeli friend also found it incredibly loud and asked them to turn it down. They just laughed at her. So much for the party being for kids! Still Jojo had a great time running around and apart from the loud-music issue, the country can truly be said to be “kid-friendly”.

Friends of ours organised a local megillah reading, complete with pre-performance for kiddies and the rest. Unfortunately the Israeli love-affair with Very Loud Boomy Music made it difficult to hear what was going on and I think it scared the little ones. Yaron, being only 6 months, barely made it past perek alef before screaming loudly at the Hamans. So that was the end of my megilla reading! I spent the next half hour circling the building singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star whilst Israelis with little children who seem to think staying up tilo 10 at night is no big deal stared at me from behind their costumes.  Jojo was asking to go home after only a few lines, but he sat it out. I later found out about a few megilla readings for women with small children but of course it takes a while to acquire local knowledge. Oh well. The next morning I was informed of a local family who were reading it at their home, so I took Jojo along who spent the entire 22 minutes pointing at the bearded father saying “Rabbi Rabbi” [as it turns out he was right about that one] and playing with his raashan [noise-maker] but of course only in the quiet bits. Eek. Anyway the family were very kind and pressed mishloach manot [food parcels] into our hands as we left. So Jojo was introduced to the world of Israeli chocolate and would you believe, he actually liked it? Have I taught him nothing???

We then had just enough time to rustle together our offering for the communal purim seudah which took place in a cute forest in Givat Ram [the next neighbourhood form us]. We picnicked between the trees, everyone had bought yummy foods and The Men disappeared to barbq. I had a circle of people sitting at arms length round me [nobody wanted to get too close to Yaron, who is just learning to eat] and my friends baby was toddling around eating everyone’s leftovers and by the end of the afternoon I was thrilled that nature would be the one clearing up that day.

The following day [or Shushan Purim, as its technically called here, basically another day off school if you don’t live in Jerusalem] I introduced Jojo to the joys of scoffing Mishloach Manot. He took to it like a pro. And of course there is that best thing about the experience where you get to try Other People’s Baking. Yum. I love trying other people’s stuff, always tastes better than your own I find especially around Purim time. I also love that feeling of skimming along the selection of plates, picking something that looks yummy and then finding an excuse to walk past 5 minutes later and choose something else…  My do I sound like Nigella??? Anyway Jojo was given the freedom to pick whatever he wanted that wasnt a sugar bomb, and Yaron happily scoffed all the dried fruit. We were misinformed that Israelis give “less extravagant” mishloach manot than what we might be used to but I didn’t find that at all. One friend of ours had even put in a quiche [as in Mordechai of the family of… for all those tenach enthusiasts out there – quite funny actually] which was a welcome dinner after a tiring Purim. We went with a chocolate baking theme on ours… and it went down rather well. One friend of mine said she hadn’t received mishloach manot in about 20 years and was thrilled to return home from the shops to find the box of treats and like me she immediately sat down with her toddler and had a sugar fest. [In case you think this is really irresponsible, I have since found out that there are charedi families with children who sit on the streets in this country DRINKING AND SMOKING …. so beat that.]

I had all but given up hope on the 2 bars of cadburys that went missing over a month ago, until after Purim when I finally got round to hand-cleaning a dress I had worn at a wedding where the missing chocolate was presented to me. There they were, lying innocently at the bottom of the plastic bag. It felt like a Purim gag but was most likely just a random coincidence. Typical it would turn up now, when the cravings have finally been annswered!  With this and all the chocolate we were given in our mishloach manot, we are positively drowning in the stuff.

But what a way to go 😉