Thanks for all of your comments concerning the last post! I shall try to answer your questions...
The decorations on the outside of the Sukkah are pictures of "the seven species" - grains and fruits that are special products of the Land of Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, pomegranates, figs, olives and dates.
The sign above the doorway says (in Hebrew) "Blessed are you as you enter." On the other side of the sign it says "Blessed are you as you depart."
The traditional greeting for almost all festivals is "Chag Sameach" (the "ch" being that deep throat-clearing sound and not "ch" as in "cheesecake") which means "happy festival". But saying "Happy Sukkot" is beautiful...thank you!!
Still not the cheesecake festival, but there is certainly no Rabbinical ruling FORBIDDING the eating of cheesecake in the sukkah....I will now always laugh whenever reading of Moses and the tablets, picturing him instead carrying a large round cheesecake. Hepsibah......she must have been the competing kosher caterer of the time...was she the one who sneaked up behind Mo and pushed him?
The very observant eat all meals and snacks in the sukkah, and actually sleep in it as well. But I am not very observant at all...so we eat in it on the first night, and then on and off during the week if the weather holds up. I should mention that it is almost invariably rainy and windy during sukkot...and, yes, it rained all day today. Naturally.
What did we eat last night? Well....chicken soup (again, of course), chopped liver (my mom's special), crispy chicken, roasted beetroot and pumpkin, green salad, chocolate mousse for dessert. You all asked for seconds, and we found Eurolush trying to hide a chocolate mousse in her handbag.....we were all terribly embarrassed for her and so looked the other way.
Thanks so much for your interest, humour and kind words.
Chag sameach!!
Showing posts with label Eat in good health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eat in good health. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Not what, but where
Sorry about this, but Chapter 3 is still on hold due to yet another Jewish festival which commences tonight - Sukkot.
But do not fret, because the lady of the ring is never very far from any of my posts. That lady...she lurks behind my words and huddles behind my comment boxes, always there in the background, always waiting for the right moment in which to reveal a little bit more of herself. Take care, dear reader, for she is watching you too.
Ahem...sorry about that....getting a bit carried away there...
So... I thought you might like to see the sukkah we built in our backyard. If you like, you can read more about this festival here. A few years ago, we bought this "modular sukkah", and putting it together is a family activity.
I meant to take photos during the process, but I had to concentrate on the task at hand...you know, ensuring the kids don't kill each other, stopping my son from disappearing into the house to play X-Box, arguing with my husband about the proper positioning of the door. This kind of thing can end in tears, so, you know, not much camera-work was going on.
All ended well, and here is the finished product. My daughter was in charge of the traditional decorations. I kept thinking of all the bloggers I know who would have loved to get their hands on this sukkah - to sew curtains for it, knit fruit for it, add colours to it, take photos of it, compose poems about it, write funny essays about the people sitting in it. Yeah, that's right, you know who you are, yes, I mean YOU. I was thinking of all of you. So then I invited you to come over and have dinner in the sukkah, and you all came over and we had so much fun. Because, you see, Sukkot is not so much about WHAT you eat, but WHERE you eat, and we all ate in the temporary shelter offered by a comment box which materialised in my back garden in the shape of four plastic walls, a metal frame and a bamboo ceiling.
But do not fret, because the lady of the ring is never very far from any of my posts. That lady...she lurks behind my words and huddles behind my comment boxes, always there in the background, always waiting for the right moment in which to reveal a little bit more of herself. Take care, dear reader, for she is watching you too.
Ahem...sorry about that....getting a bit carried away there...
So... I thought you might like to see the sukkah we built in our backyard. If you like, you can read more about this festival here. A few years ago, we bought this "modular sukkah", and putting it together is a family activity.
I meant to take photos during the process, but I had to concentrate on the task at hand...you know, ensuring the kids don't kill each other, stopping my son from disappearing into the house to play X-Box, arguing with my husband about the proper positioning of the door. This kind of thing can end in tears, so, you know, not much camera-work was going on.
All ended well, and here is the finished product. My daughter was in charge of the traditional decorations. I kept thinking of all the bloggers I know who would have loved to get their hands on this sukkah - to sew curtains for it, knit fruit for it, add colours to it, take photos of it, compose poems about it, write funny essays about the people sitting in it. Yeah, that's right, you know who you are, yes, I mean YOU. I was thinking of all of you. So then I invited you to come over and have dinner in the sukkah, and you all came over and we had so much fun. Because, you see, Sukkot is not so much about WHAT you eat, but WHERE you eat, and we all ate in the temporary shelter offered by a comment box which materialised in my back garden in the shape of four plastic walls, a metal frame and a bamboo ceiling.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Rosh Hashanah
My fab friend Sarah lived with us for many months a while back, and she enjoyed the Jewish festivals a great deal. Not being Jewish herself, everything that I completely took for granted instantly transformed into something strange and exotic when viewed through her eyes.
The look on her face when I explained to her "So..this is the milky cutlery, this is the meaty cutlery, these are the meaty dishes, these are the milky dishes" was priceless. The way she deliberately stopped and stared at the handles of the kitchen drawers before she chose one to open in the search for a spoon for her yogurt was a portrait of true true friendship.
In the words of the fabulous Sarah - "So what do we eat on THIS holiday? Is this the one with the cheesecake? Is this the one with the matzah? Is this the one with the fried potato pancakes? Is this the one with the triangular poppy biscuits?" Well..this is the one with the very sweet foods. Sarah liked the fried potato pancake holiday best.
But I digress.
So you all came over to my parent's apartment for Rosh Hashanah dinner, and boy was it crowded. But that's just fine, because my mother always cooks enough food "for an entire army troop" (my father's words). I have been living in a different country from my parents since I was 18, and they only moved to Australia a couple of years ago, therefore my mother and I are making up for lost time. She cooks and I eat. It's a great system.
To bring in the new year, the women of the household light the candles. Two each for me and mum, one for my daughter. Can you see the pomegranates? They are a traditional new year food (lots of sweet little seeds to symbolise a fruitful new year) which my mum is using here for decoration. See the sweetpeas? My mum is unstoppable when it comes to symbolic decorations, just wait and see....
Here is the magnificent table ready for the traditional blessing of the wine and bread (challah). In the centre are the two challahs, but you can't see them because they are covered by a challah-cover. The cover is especially made for Rosh Hashanah and has a decoration of apples on it, apple dipped in honey being a traditional new year food. My mum found a couple of apple candles too!
On Friday nights and Saturdays (Shabbat) we usually have two challahs which are long and plaited, but for the High Holy Days we have round challahs with raisins. My mother even bought one (the one on the left) with sweet streusel topping, mmmmmm......
My mother has a special plate for the apple and honey, can you see the decorative fish motif? Fish is another symbol, fertility I think.
Mr. Commentbox was happy to demonstrate. Oh, by the way, the silverware was my great-grandma's, and it has her initials engraved on it. Yes, this is the meaty set, we're having turkey.
Usually, gefilte fish is made into boiled balls. But that's so last year. My mother made gefilte fish fish molds, with pickle scales and a bed of lettuce "seaweed".
Chicken soup with matzah balls. Mmmmm.....
Potato kugel (pudding) is usually made in a rectangular pan, but again, that's so boring, so my mum made little round kugels. So, so cute.
Spot the apple mosaic! My mother actually made it herself a few years ago. The orange dish on the left is carrot tsimmes (great-grandma's recipe). It has a dumpling-type base (much like the matzah balls) which is sweetened, and then a layer of sweetened, boiled carrots is placed on top, and crisped in the oven. Step away from the tsimmes ladies, it's MINE, ALL MINE.
I took a picture of the HUGE turkey, but it looked kind of....obscene. So here is a very polite picture of my plate with a slice of turkey. After I took the photo I doubled all of the portions, but you can all believe this is the actual amount I ate, because we are virtual friends, so as far as you know I eat like a bird and have a sylph-like figure. I'd like to maintain that virtual image for as long as I can.
I grew up with this china pattern - it was our "meaty set" for as long as I can remember. My mother always insisted that when I set the table the "basket" had to be facing up. My one major rebellion during my teenage years was having the basket facing sideways or even, GASP, down. I was a wild child.
Most honey cakes are square or rectangular, but that's BORING, so my mother's is in the shape of a flower. Of course.
So thanks for joining us, I'm glad you had such a good time, and I hope each and every one of you enjoyed the little "goodie bag" my mother gave you, you know, for your trip back home, so you wouldn't, god forbid, get hungry.
Bake slowly – 320 degrees (160 celsius) – for 1 hour approx.
The look on her face when I explained to her "So..this is the milky cutlery, this is the meaty cutlery, these are the meaty dishes, these are the milky dishes" was priceless. The way she deliberately stopped and stared at the handles of the kitchen drawers before she chose one to open in the search for a spoon for her yogurt was a portrait of true true friendship.
In the words of the fabulous Sarah - "So what do we eat on THIS holiday? Is this the one with the cheesecake? Is this the one with the matzah? Is this the one with the fried potato pancakes? Is this the one with the triangular poppy biscuits?" Well..this is the one with the very sweet foods. Sarah liked the fried potato pancake holiday best.
But I digress.
So you all came over to my parent's apartment for Rosh Hashanah dinner, and boy was it crowded. But that's just fine, because my mother always cooks enough food "for an entire army troop" (my father's words). I have been living in a different country from my parents since I was 18, and they only moved to Australia a couple of years ago, therefore my mother and I are making up for lost time. She cooks and I eat. It's a great system.
To bring in the new year, the women of the household light the candles. Two each for me and mum, one for my daughter. Can you see the pomegranates? They are a traditional new year food (lots of sweet little seeds to symbolise a fruitful new year) which my mum is using here for decoration. See the sweetpeas? My mum is unstoppable when it comes to symbolic decorations, just wait and see....
Here is the magnificent table ready for the traditional blessing of the wine and bread (challah). In the centre are the two challahs, but you can't see them because they are covered by a challah-cover. The cover is especially made for Rosh Hashanah and has a decoration of apples on it, apple dipped in honey being a traditional new year food. My mum found a couple of apple candles too!
On Friday nights and Saturdays (Shabbat) we usually have two challahs which are long and plaited, but for the High Holy Days we have round challahs with raisins. My mother even bought one (the one on the left) with sweet streusel topping, mmmmmm......
My mother has a special plate for the apple and honey, can you see the decorative fish motif? Fish is another symbol, fertility I think.
Mr. Commentbox was happy to demonstrate. Oh, by the way, the silverware was my great-grandma's, and it has her initials engraved on it. Yes, this is the meaty set, we're having turkey.
Usually, gefilte fish is made into boiled balls. But that's so last year. My mother made gefilte fish fish molds, with pickle scales and a bed of lettuce "seaweed".Chicken soup with matzah balls. Mmmmm.....
Potato kugel (pudding) is usually made in a rectangular pan, but again, that's so boring, so my mum made little round kugels. So, so cute.
Spot the apple mosaic! My mother actually made it herself a few years ago. The orange dish on the left is carrot tsimmes (great-grandma's recipe). It has a dumpling-type base (much like the matzah balls) which is sweetened, and then a layer of sweetened, boiled carrots is placed on top, and crisped in the oven. Step away from the tsimmes ladies, it's MINE, ALL MINE.
I took a picture of the HUGE turkey, but it looked kind of....obscene. So here is a very polite picture of my plate with a slice of turkey. After I took the photo I doubled all of the portions, but you can all believe this is the actual amount I ate, because we are virtual friends, so as far as you know I eat like a bird and have a sylph-like figure. I'd like to maintain that virtual image for as long as I can.
I grew up with this china pattern - it was our "meaty set" for as long as I can remember. My mother always insisted that when I set the table the "basket" had to be facing up. My one major rebellion during my teenage years was having the basket facing sideways or even, GASP, down. I was a wild child.
Most honey cakes are square or rectangular, but that's BORING, so my mother's is in the shape of a flower. Of course.
So thanks for joining us, I'm glad you had such a good time, and I hope each and every one of you enjoyed the little "goodie bag" my mother gave you, you know, for your trip back home, so you wouldn't, god forbid, get hungry.
Oh, and a recipe, as promised! This cake freezes very well and, in fact, tastes even better after being frozen and then defrosted. Really!
ELEANOR’S FAMILY HONEY CAKE [rectangular pan 9” x 13”]
4 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinammon
1 teaspoon instant coffee
2 rounded tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon brandy
½ cup oil (canola/sunflower)
[ 3 cups self-raising flour]
Cream all well **EXCEPT FLOUR** using large bowl of mixmaster.
Then add flour – beat until mixed through.
Last: While beating on lowest speed add: 1 ½ cups boiling water.
Beat till mixed through.
The batter will be very thin. Don’t worry!
Bake slowly – 320 degrees (160 celsius) – for 1 hour approx.
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