The world is completely upside now. And according to the Hebrew (Jewish) calendar, it’s leap year. Which means there is an extra month tacked on to the end. So this is Adar 1. After Adar 1 comes Adar 2. It’s kinda like Groundhog Day (movie). Adar is the month of joy. The month where we celebrate the festival of Purim. The month before Passover…. So we get two months of joy and two months to clean out all the leaven/carb/gluten crap from our homes. Yay!

Adar is also the month of victory over enemies. The month Queen Esther saved the Jewish people from total annihilation by the hands of the evil Haman. Haman was the vizier to the king of Persia. Persia today is Iran. Haman. Hamas. We need a brave and beautiful queen-

Blinken. Evil vizier to the king of the States. Just left Israel and boy was he mad. He said we are dehumanizing the Gazans. He really wanted to end the war so that his king could stay king for another four years. It was pretty important. He said the king would cut off our arms (supply) if we didn’t agree to ceasefire. And let the Gazans back into their land. He said the king would stop the flow of money which we would have to spend buying their arms. No matter. Our soldiers found $48 MILLION in US hundred dollar bills in safes and in bags inside tunnels and homes. Most were in envelopes and boxes. From Persia/Iran. Happy Purim!!!

The world is crazy. And so was I when I tried to give numbers for real estate prices here. It was a huge mistake and I jumped the gun. I didn’t do my proper research. As in most places, much of the pricing is LOCATION, LOCATION, Location. In Central Israel (Tel Aviv-Jerusalem) prices to own or rent are over the moon sky high. The closer you get to a periphery or border, the cheaper the prices. We’re joking that they’ll be paying people to live on borders after this war is all over. Count me in for the Golan (just kidding).

Another reason we live in the North: we pay less per month in rent for a 4 bedroom villa than our daughter who has a one bedroom efficiency in Los Angeles. May she move here soon. We have room for the “kids” and it’s great for visitors. But wait!!! COVID. war. There ARE no visitors. But I digress.

Yesterday I gave a shocking figure of $900,000 to buy a 4 bedroom home. That was a brand new, built for the owner, top of the line, stand alone, single family with some property in a residential village with mountaintop views.

Do you want a single family? Duplex cottage? Apartment? Brand new? Older? To buy or to rent? The typical AVERAGE cost to rent a 2-3 bedroom apartment (2 bedroom with safe room that doubles as office/3rd bedroom) in the suburbs of Haifa run from about $600/month to $1100/month. This includes the property tax. It’s a very wide range depending upon age of building and location. But it is very affordable to rent and To buy – from $225,000 – $275,000. Thereabouts. This is in the cities north of Haifa.

So much for real estate. We’ll be looking at other places in the weeks to come and I’ll have actual prices. It’s coming on Shabbat. Early Friday afternoon. This week I’m doing an impressive Asian salmon…. But last week. All I can say is, “ Oh my goodness.״

I’m harvesting the last of my garden. Yellow beets and chioggia beets. And the very last of my tomatoes and broccoli raab. And I’m getting weekly organic produce deliveries that by far too anything I’ve grown or gotten in California. The prices here are very good and we love local and sustainable.

It’s citrus season. We’re getting the largest juiciest oranges and clementines I’ve ever seen. And blood oranges!!!! (Drinks!!!) And cara cara oranges. And the olives… there must be 100 or more different varieties. So-

OMG Delicious Orange Chicken!

Serves 4.

I used what I had on hand. And the results!!!! Wowza!!! That pop of flavors!!! So easy to do. And good enough for company. Gorgeous to look at. Smells amazing. Let’s get cooking!

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 red onion
• 1 large navel or Valencia orange
• 1 blood or cara Cara orange
• 1/4 cup green olives with juice
• 1/4 cup Kalimantan olives, keep juice
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Fresh Rosemary stalks

Rinse and pat dry chicken breasts. Sprinkle some salt & pepper and the garlic powder into the flour in large dish or pan. Dredge chicken breasts in flour mixture. Heat oil in skillet until shimmery. Place chicken breasts in pan and sear for about 3-4 minutes on each side. Reserve to wire rack to drain. In large baking dish squeeze juice of 1/2 large Valencia orange. Slice other half in rounds. Slice blood and or Cara Cara orange. Slice onion in thick pieces. Lay larger orange slices and half the onions on bottom of dish. Scatter half of the olives on the orange slices. Place chicken on top. On top of that lay pink/red orange slices. Scatter onions and olives around and on top of chicken. Place several rosemary sprigs around and on chicken. Cover with foil. Bake at 350*/170* for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Enjoy!!! And may we be blessed with a peaceful weekend and only good news. May the remaining hostages be found alive and returned this weekend-