do
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so
as a wife a mom and having a full-time job as a doctor with small kiddos makes preparing for
shabbat quite a challenge but thank god with this friday shabbat routine i went from being stressed
and exhausted before shabbat to being able to greet the shabbat queen calmly and fully prepared
every week so i wanted to take you with me on my typical friday shabbat prep pre and after work
routine as i hope it will help you too to have a more peaceful shabbat the sun is barely showing
its face when i wake up and after i wash my hands and dress i will do my Tefillah or prayer and it
will take me about 15 minutes this is my essential first step to my friday routine and it charges my
spiritual batteries for the day i feel i'm never alone to face all the challenges of the day
after my prayer once it's done i start the physical side of my friday shabbat prep routine
i start with setting up the candles for shabbat it's the ultimate signal to everyone that shabbat
is coming in our family we set up five lights when i take out the candlesticks i always look if they
are nice and shiny if they are not like today i will polish them with these magical gloves
i place the candlesticks on a tray for us we have five candles two that are mandatory that
are called Shamor V'Zachor which means to keep and remember the shabbat for us it's like mommy
and daddy's candles and three other candles one per child i add one container to receive the match
after lining a 24-hour candle (for the people that are not with us anymore)and a matchbox
once that it's done i head to the kitchen and start the cooking for me making challah on friday
is way too stressful so i do it earlier in the week but i still want for my children to create
beautiful memories of shabbat so on friday they wake up to the smell of a sweet treat
today i'm making a cake and yes it's a cake mix but i add a lot of love in it an extra chocolate
chip too to make the taste unforgettable i am a true believer that the love you put
in your food is the special ingredient that makes everything delicious and also for me
it's better to have a cake mix cake with a happy mommy than the perfect cake but an exhausted mommy
for the savory cooking i start by verifying the wheat kernels to make sure there are no insects
as bugs are not kosher for a more detailed video
on the process i will leave you the link in the description box below
i will repeat the same steps for the rice but i will simply add them to a cooking bag
once verified instead of the crock pot
at this point my baby is up and she keeps me company i start my dafina or cholent and the
secret for the best dafina is to layer the ingredients i start with the potatoes at the
bottom for them to be nice and golden then i add a sweet potato and also sometimes add some
dates for extra sweetness i put everything in the crock pot and i add the eggs about one per
person for the meat today i'm using veal shank but our favorite is veal or beef cheek it's the best
then i add the spices some cumin some salt garlic paprika and then i'm going to prepare the rice
paprika salt garlic and water the rule of thumb is a cup per cup of rice i will knot the bag and
put it on top of the meat that will keep the meat moist and avoid for it to be dry i will add some
chickpeas and i will spice them again with garlic paprika and salt i will cover the dafina
completely with water cover it and put it on low until we're ready to eat it on shabbat lunch
i prepared the wheat kernels or blade that we eat on shabbat lunch by adding
chicken soup powder garlic paprika salt hot pepper
and ketchup then i add the water and put it in a small crock pot on low until we're ready to
eat it the next day i do very little cooking on friday because i prepare almost everything on
thursday night and if you want to see my thursday routine please let me know in the comments below
by this time my bigger little people are starting to wake up i have prepared their breakfast so
they will dress take their breakfast while i change the beds and continue my shabbat prep
i change our bedding in honor of shabbat every week making beds for me is therapeutic as i
love the sound of crisp linen on the bed in our bedroom we have two beds as when i am niddah we
sleep in separate beds it gives us a little time apart and keeps the flame alive when we find each
other again after a few days i must be the last one aware of that but did you know that if you
look inside of your contour sheet there is a tag and if you place that tag on the bottom right
lower corner of your bed it will fit every time hopefully it helps you as much as it helped me
i am always short on time so i have to maximize it we keep our bedding simple no decoration pillow
for us two pillows one body pillow for me and to be honest i became addicted to sleeping with a
body pillow when i was pregnant and i was never able to divorce it my husband is a minimalist
with one large pillow and one small pillow our beds do not match but are catered to our needs
two beds done three to go
i put the linens right away in the laundry and when the measuring cup is dirty like now
i add it directly to the washing machine it's like magic you'll see
while the cake and the laundry are going i move from the kitchen to the bathroom
i love this method product it smells like fresh cut grass and cleans very well
once the sink is clean i always look at the hand soap and toothpaste dispensers to
see if they need to be filled on this particular day both were running low for the soap dispenser
very easy i simply add some hand soap to the dispenser i don't mind if they
are different brands i just fill them together then shake them thoroughly and voila it's done
i repeat the same process for the toothpaste dispenser i add white toothpaste because
it gives a pretty aqua color when i mix it with our favorite green listerine mouthwash
the mouthwash is there to liquefy the toothpaste
now that everything is cleaned and refilled i am going to simply rinse the toothbrush holder
put back the comb as well as the toothbrushes the final touch to our bathroom speed cleaning
will be to place a new box of kleenex that will replace the toilet paper on shabbat
by now the cake is done and cooled i simply flip it on a serving plate and i make a quick
icing with powdered sugar and a little bit of water
i continue mixing until it forms continuous thick ribbons
today Leah chose the color pink for the cake so we added a bit of red food coloring i pour the icing
on the cake and i'm sure there's a better method to do it to make it prettier but at least there's
a lot of icing they also decided to decorate the cake with white pearls i wrap it up and leave
it at room temperature and it stays moist and delicious for shabbat our linen are now cleaned
i will simply put them directly in the dryer and as you are going to see our little experiment of
putting the measuring cup in the machine with the load really works you have a clean measuring cup
it's now around 7 40 and it's time to bring the girls to the bus stop
it is the first year that we let them go with the school bus and they love it
for them they feel like they are big girls
and i feel like they're growing up so fast good morning thank you so much
right after saying goodbye to the girls i go to work i try to make a small detour as many times
as i can through the small park next to my work seeing all the beauty around me all the colors
the trees the textures makes me feel connected grounded and puts me in a
great mood for the rest of the day hopefully helping me be a better doctor for my patients
i have very little time before finishing work and the beginning of
shabbat while i'm in the shower the girls set up the shabbat table
do once i'm out of the shower i do the last things around the house before shabbat
i close the light of the fridge and i turn off the ice maker
i turn on our warming drawer to have warm challah for shabbat i plug in my plata or warming tray
and i make sure it is working as we cannot cook food on shabbat we can only warm up food
i place on the plateau before shabbat what i have cooked on thursday
this week we are eating our favorite moroccan fish with an amazing chickpeas too
i turn on my oven and set it at 300 degrees fahrenheit i set my oven to the shabbat mode
the shabbat mode on my oven allows me to take out my main dish that i put before shabbat
and i can take it out during shabbat with no issue this week we're having sweet veals too
with couscous i put my frozen challah in the warming drawer
then i put my water urn on the shabbat mode i cover the dials with this sign to remind everyone
not to change the settings after a quick cleanup of the sinks i will cover the hot water faucet
with a glass for the meat sink as we cannot use the hot water on shabbat and i replace the
regular sponge with a special shabbat sponge and i do the same thing for the milk sink as
orthodox Jews we have two sinks as we do not mix meat and milk even in our sinks i add a special
hand towel in red for the meat sink everything red in our kitchen is meat and a special Netilat
Yadayim hand towel in blue for the milk sink as you guessed it everything milk is blue i make
sure the temperature of the house is right as we cannot change the temperature as well on shabbat
i go around the house closing the lights that are not going to be needed for shabbat
as well as taking away all objects that are muksey or not allowed on shabbat like money phones
and the like my husband prepared the shabbat lights with oil as it is our custom and we
are now about 30 minutes before lighting and everything is ready we will take out
the salads we have prepared on thursday night just before we eat so they are nice and fresh
this routine has been a game changer for me as it allows me to be ready and light on time and
not be running around finishing my shabbat prep just before candle lighting with this shabbat
routine i can come to the Shabbat table relaxed and not completely exhausted i hope you enjoyed
our friday shabbat routine and perhaps incorporate a few of our routine elements in yours i would
encourage you to watch my easy one hour shabbat prep video as a follow-up if you stayed until the
end please write shabbat shalom in the comments so i know i'm not alone thank you for being here
it means the world to me until next time stay safe stay blessed and don't forget to frum it up