A never ending picnic

May 13, 2010 - 9:06 PM by Brian Blum

Who doesn’t like a picnic? You pack up a nice basket of goodies, a red checkered tablecloth, find a patch of grass or a park bench, and enjoy the great outdoors.

All good, except that our picnic is happening in the living room and it never seems to end.

I’ve written before that we’re undergoing a renovation to fix our leaking roof. We’ve now entered the final stage where the kitchen is being re-painted. As you can see in the accompanying photo, it’s been sealed off in nylon with no access to the stove, pots and pans and, as of this morning, our refrigerator.

So we’ve been chowing down in the salon with platstic plates and cutlery and a few non-perishables: cereal, bananas and rapidly becoming stale crackers.

“It’s a perfect opportunity to spoil your wife,” our contractor assured me. “Order take out. She won’t have to cook.”

Which is what we’ve been doing. So far we’ve had the usual Israeli fast food staples – falafel, schwarma and pizza – as well as a big splurge: a Chinese feast from the River Noodle Bar.

But now as Shabbat arrives, it’s getting a bit old. I put out an all points bulletin via email begging for dinner and lunch invitations (apologizing profusely for the presumptuousness). Fortunately, our friends responded, thus eliminating the need to post about our hour of need to my Facebook Wall.

Our contractor says the work should be done today, but looking at the ceiling, I’m not optimistic. Still, we haven’t gone out for sushi or Italian yet. So, if they tarry another day or so, my taste buds will be happy even if my pocketbook is far from satisfied.

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