Cleaner Day

By: Hagit Galatzer

פתיתים

Israeli Couscous, food you eat before cleaner day

Although Passover is the ultimate spring cleaning opportunity, there is a more obscure cleaning holiday, celebrated by many around the world. In our household this holiday is celebrated a few times a month with ceremonies and praise to the cleaning ladies.

Like any holiday, cleaner day requires much preparation and cooking. My kitchen is usually tidy, how messy can you get making a salad and eggs for dinner? But every now and then my motherly conscious demands homemade meals for the children. My kids take one look in my culinary creations, a sensational symphony of vegetables, and ask for eggs. In any case, it is best to time these creative bursts to the day before the cleaner ladies arrive.

In fact, the three days before cleaner day are when the house is at its peak messiness. These are also known as the “I-don’t-care” days, also the perfect time to initiate bonding family activities such as cookie baking, homemade pizza night and daddy’s Schnitzels. Schnitzels are the famous fried chicken delicatessen and daddy’s Schnitzels are by far the best. Perhaps the secret for the exquisite taste is the fact that daddy utilizes the entire kitchen to make them, including special gadgets I didn’t even know we owned.

On cleaner day eve we celebrate by eating Israeli couscous. These tiny pasta pearls are a natural phenomenon, they can be found in the strangest places around the house, even in rooms we didn’t visit. They also get stuck to peculiar body parts that have nothing to do with eating like eyebrows and ears.

But don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I leave all the mess for the cleaners. On the contrary, I spend hours getting ready for their arrival all, in fear of not being considered a “balabuste”. In Yiddish, a balabuste is someone who maintains a spotless household while baking and cooking from scratch. In grandmother jargon “she is not a balabuste” is a top insult, uttered in a low, disappointed whisper.

On the holiday itself, we all dress up and go out to eat. When we return to the shiny, immaculate house, the kids place their shoes in the designated spot (!) and tippy-toe quietly to their rooms. They know very well, he who makes a mess will suffer my wrath… The holiday ends after about an hour with the ceremonial spilling of juice. After that, nothing really matters, Israeli couscous anyone?

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Seatelon

סיאטלון, המקומון הישראלי של סיאטל והסביבה. במה ליוצרים מקומיים ובעלי עסקים בקהילה וכל המידע על הופעות מעניינות ואירועים קהילתיים בסיאטל והאיזור. צרו קשר והצטרפו לרשימת התפוצה שלנו, זה משתלם.
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