Issue 139

ORLY ZIV’S FRESH MEDITERRANEAN DISHES WITH A TWIST!

ISSUE 139 OCTOBER 16, 2013 12 CHESHVAN 5774

It’s Grape Season

Israeli Foods: Are They Jewish or Arab in Origin?

pir ing f ood s a n a u o y e r A rget t o o f ’t n o D ? t c o lumnis sample c o lumns send in your mimagazine.org t o w hisk@a mont h. t his

There are a couple of food-related things that I’m excited about these days. One healthful, one not.

I’m a little sad that my melons are beginning to lose their sweetness, but I’m consoled by the appearance of delicata squash in supermarkets. Sure, we have butternut squash or even spaghetti squash all year long. But when the fall season begins, the bin with winter squashes gets much bigger, with a much larger variety. Acorn squash doesn’t get me excited, but delicata does. Why? It is so very easy to cut, even with my dull knives. So it’s the only winter squash side dish that doesn’t entail a workout. It also doesn’t need to be peeled. Just deseed and chop it up.

Toss with a teensy bit of oil and the spices of your choice and roast in the oven (In my oven, it takes 50 minutes at 375ºF or 400ºF). The skin will get soft enough to eat. I also like the taste of delicata squash better than butternut.

I think it’s more unique, while butternut squash is getting a little trite.

Now for something not as healthful. Do you remember Chew-Chew Squares? They were one of my favorite candies when I was a kid.

A couple months ago, during a photo shoot at Leah’s house, we realized that we needed some gumballs for one of the photos. A neighbor offered to run to the local grocery to pick some up. The grocery didn’t have gumballs that day, so she brought back a variety of candy instead.

One of those candies was a bag that said “Tangy Taffy” on the outside. Since we didn’t need Tangy Taffy for the photo, I opened the bag and took a taste.

“These look familiar...they taste familiar…Chew-Chew Squares!” I said.

“I remember those,” Renee Muller said.

“They had Chew-Chew Squares in Switzerland?” I asked.

“No, but relatives used to visit and bring us candy from the US. And I remember they were hard from sitting in

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the kosher grocery for so long,” she said.

“Exactly! I liked that they were hard because you could suck on them for a long time.”

The Tangy Taffies available now are much softer than those Chew-Chew Squares. They are also double the size. Close enough.

I went to get my own bag from the grocery that day to share with my family.

For the next couple of months, I didn’t spot those Tangy Taffies when I looked for them again. Then, one day, there they were. Tons and tons of them were lining the entrance of one supermarket, both in bags of 16 and in individual packs of four. I bought lots to enjoy for Shabbat treats.

One caveat. They were gooey this time. They were very hard to unwrap and half of the candy stayed stuck to the wrapper. That will not do. But I had an idea. I put the candy in the freezer. It worked perfectly!

The freezer is also a good place to hide the stash from the kids.

B

If you’re also missing sweet melons and juicy peaches (and squash doesn’t quite console you), you can at least enjoy the best of grapes this time of year. Cook with them in "Cook the Seasons" on page 10. Or enjoy the best of apples this time of year in the Raw Beet and Apple Salad on page 9.

Yes, the treasures of the last season are leaving. But there are new gifts to appreciate in the season ahead.

Enjoy, Victoria Dwek victoria@amimagazine.org

plan • analyze • create

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Okra with Yogurt Sauce

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Eating Middle East

Reading about the inspiration for some of the dishes in Orly Ziv’s new book, Cook in Israel: Home Cooking Inspiration, intrigued me to find out more about the origins of Israeli foods.

I spoke to historian Gil Marks to delve deeper into the history of Israel’s quintessential dishes.

So, let’s go learn about Middle Eastern foods, and prepare them too.

W

By Victoria Dwek • Recipes by Orly Ziv • Photography by Katherine Martinelli

hen President Obama visited Israel this past March, Israeli chefs planned a menu for the state dinner that featured “local Israeli cuisine,” including falafel balls and hummus.

For Palestinian chefs, it was time to protest. They caused a huge stir in the media, complaining that falafel balls and hummus are not Israeli foods—and that serving them at an Israeli state dinner is an affront and “flagrant attack on our culture.”

Israeli chefs smartly changed the menu rather than incite a riot. Ironically, the new appetizer was a ravioli filled with Jerusalem artichoke—which is neither from Jerusalem nor an artichoke. The root vegetable is grown in North America and Canada.

Falafel balls are not Palestinian nor are they Syrian, as Palestinian chefs claim. But are our favorite Middle Eastern foods Jewish in origin? Or did they actually originate in Arab cuisine?

“Jews lived in Arab lands long before the Arabs showed up,” says Gil Marks, Jewish food historian and the author of The Encyclopedia of Jewish Foods. “Jews were in Iraq 1,000 years before the Arabs arrived there. They were in France before the Franks and in Spain before the Visigoths. Some of the dishes we eat date back to these times.”

Let’s quickly clear up this falafel ball controversy. The falafel ball, originally made from fava beans, showed up in Egypt as a Coptic food. The Copts lived in Egypt before the Arabs. There are some days on the Coptic calendar when they are not permitted to eat meat, so they ate falafel instead.

Yemenite Jews actually invented the falafel as a sandwich.

Before that, it was just a side dish. Towards the end of the 19th century, when the first Yemenite Jews arrived in Eretz Yisrael, they looked for a means of livelihood. It didn’t cost anything to open a falafel stand. All they needed was a gas burner. They put the chickpea fritters into the pita with

Although Jews and Arabs were both living in the Middle East when the eggplant first showed up, there’s no way to know who first added the tahini to the mix to make babaganoush.

Yemenite Jews brought zhug (aka harissa) to Israel and served it up inside their falafels. It’s a hot sauce made from hot green peppers. Orly blends in garlic, seasoning, and lemon juice.

salad, harissa, and tahini. For more on the history of the falafel, see my first interview with Gil Marks, all the way back in Whisk Issue 3.

Last Thursday night, I was reading my Shabbat menu to my family to make sure I had included all their favorites.

When I got up to “babaganoush,” my kids burst out laughing. They thought I was making a joke. I suppose I haven’t made it in a while if they don’t ever remember hearing the word. (I need to do a better job of exposing them to Syrian foods.)

“What about babaganoush?” I ask Gil. “Jewish or Arabic?”

“Eggplants didn’t come from India until the Middle Ages. First there was eggplant salad. Who made the first babaganoush and mixed in the tahini? We don’t know the answers. Arabs get upset whenever we claim Jews first made a particular food, although Jews in Middle Eastern countries have been eating babaganoush for just as long.”

Although pita bread dates back thousands of years, Gil tells me that the name “pita” comes from the Hebrew word “pat,” and it’s likely Spanish Jews who named it. Spanish Jews were introduced to this bread after the Spanish Inquisition, when they made their way to Middle Eastern countries. In Spain, they were accustomed to eating loaves of bread, lechem. They called these small flatbreads pita, to

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differentiate between them.

“Is Israeli salad at least an Israeli creation?” I ask.

Gil tells me about the travels of cucumbers and tomatoes, and how they met in the Middle East. “Tomatoes came from South America and were considered poisonous. Cucumbers came from India and showed up in Europe in the Middle Ages. It took a couple hundred years until an edible version was cultivated. After coming from two different ends of the world, tomatoes and cucumbers came together in Near Eastern lands, as there were favorable growing conditions there.”

Gil suggests that the tomato and cucumber combination is known as Israeli salad because it’s the Israelis who popularized it outside the region. Hummus is thought to be an Israeli food for the same reason; it became mainstream because of Jewish marketing of the product.

Now for something that many think is quintessentially Israeli: shakshuka. Is it?

“Shakshuka is a Turkish word,” Gil says. “For the Turks, it was a meat stew. The Turkish Ottomans, though, also

controlled North Africa. So Ottoman foods were adopted there.

Phyllo dough was adopted in Morocco and Tunisia, and when shakshuka showed up there as well, a vegetarian version was made with tomatoes and peppers instead of meat—both tomatoes and peppers were South American produce that crossed the Atlantic to North Africa.”

“So it was hot peppers, not bell peppers, and it was a very spicy dish?”

“Right. The first peppers used in shakshuka were chili peppers.

Bell peppers came later, in the 19th century from Hungary.”

“What about the eggs? When were those added?”

“When the dish became vegetarian—the eggs made it a heartier breakfast meal.” Jews from Maghreb (Northwestern Africa, including Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya) brought shakshuka to Israel.

During the first aliyah in the late 1800s, the first Jews to immigrate to Israel came from Romania, Germany, and Eastern Europe. “They were used to Ashkenazi foods, but the produce they ate there didn’t grow there. The Israeli climate gave them different plants. So the Jews had to learn. The first Jewish cookbook ever published in Israel talks about adopting local foods,” Gil says.

To make preserved lemons, Orly salts the lemon slices and packs them into a jar with lemon juice and olive oil. After 1 week at room temperature, they are wonderfully tart and tangy.

Now we know that falafel isn't a Palestinian food at all. And the next time Israeli chefs are making a menu for a state dinner, they can be rest assured: There are no Jewish or Israeli foods with Palestinian roots (even if they might prepare some of the same foods).

Gil Marks explains, “Few ‘Palestinians’ lived in Israel during the Turkish empire. You can tell by their last names [that they come from all different countries].

Many Arabs came to Israel during the end of the 19th century because there was economic opportunity in Israel, due to the fact that the Jews were there. During the later British period, the British encouraged Arabs to come to Israel. This was when they weren’t letting Jews enter. That’s when most Palestinians showed up: in the early 1940s.”

Jews, though, have always had a presence in the Middle East and have been eating these foods for generations. My ancestors have probably been eating pita with hummus for a thousand years.

Malabi is a sweet pudding or drink made from milk, cream, sugar, and cornstarch. Middle Eastern flavor comes from rose water.

Consider it the Middle Eastern version of panna cotta.

Raw Beet and Apple Salad

Cook in Israel

Recipes by Orly Ziv, from Cook in Israel—Home Cooking Inspiration Photography by Katherine Martinelli

Readers, Why these three recipes? When I saw that Orly makes a sweeter version of babaganoush, adding silan (a new pantry staple!), I was very tempted to try it. Then comes the okra. I have never eaten okra, even though it is frequently made in many Syrian households. But so many people (Ashkenazim) have told me lately that they tried it and were surprised to find that they loved it. (I suppose it’s popping up on restaurant menus.) My response was that I could never feature it in the magazine because it’s too ethnic and not so accessible. But in a feature exploring Israeli foods, it works!

I included the raw beet salad because, like Orly, I also love raw beets in salad. And it’s fun to use familiar ingredients in new ways. Enjoy. —Victoria

RAW BEET AND APPLE SALAD

I tasted a salad with beets and apples and loved it so much that I started making my own. I added celery and walnuts for added flavor and crunch. I want to inspire people to use fresh, raw beets. You don’t need to cook them or anything!

For the Salad: 1–2 beets, peeled and grated 2 green apples, grated 1–2 stalks celery, chopped Chopped walnuts (optional) For the Dressing: 2 teaspoons silan (date honey) Lemon juice 1–2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar Sea salt 1. Put all the salad ingredients in a large bowl, and toss to combine.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the silan, lemon juice to taste, balsamic vinegar, and salt. Pour over the salad and toss again.

Yield: serves 4 to 6

OKRA WITH YOGURT SAUCE

Okra, called “bamia” in Hebrew, is a very popular vegetable in Sephardic and Arabic kitchens. My mother used to make it in tomato sauce, but this version with yogurt was inspired by Arabic cuisine, which uses a lot of yogurt in cooking. If possible, use small okra, which are more flavorful.

500 g (1 pound) fresh or frozen small okra 2 tablespoons olive oil 1–2 cloves garlic Juice of 1 lemon Salt Yogurt Mint leaves

EGGPLANT BALADI

I learned this recipe in a cooking class and it turned out to be a very successful dish with a surprising flavor combination. It is a wonderful use for date honey (called silan in Hebrew), which is very popular in the Israeli kitchen.

2 medium eggplants 2–3 cloves garlic, chopped Juice of 1 lemon, or more to taste 3 tablespoons tahini 3 teaspoons silan Chopped parsley Sea salt Chopped parsley leaves Pine nuts, toasted Pomegranate seeds (in season)

1. Trim the stems of the okra, but not all the way to the end.

2. Heat oil in a large pan and fry the garlic.

3. Add the okra to the pan and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often. (Frying the okra keeps it dry and prevents it from becoming slimy.)

4. Add lemon juice to the pan and simmer for a few more minutes, until okra softens.

Season with salt and remove from the heat.

5. To serve, fill a small serving bowl with yogurt and pile the cooked okra on top.

Drizzle lightly with olive oil and garnish with mint leaves.

1. Grill the eggplants over a flame, turning with tongs until soft and evenly charred.

Alternately, roast the eggplants under a broiler.

2. Cut a slit at the bottom of the eggplant and place in a sieve. Leave to drain.

3. Remove peel and stem from eggplant and place on a plate or small serving platter.

4. Sprinkle the chopped garlic over the eggplant, then drizzle with lemon juice, tahini, and silan.

5. Garnish with parsley, salt, pine nuts, and pomegranate seeds, and serve.

Yield: serves 4

Yield: serves 4

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9

Grape Season Cook the Seasons

Styling and Photos

by Miriam Pascal

WITH SHAINDY AUSCH

How to Cooking with Grapes: Not Just for Fruit Salad TOSS

SLICE

SERVE

Toss grapes into a savory salad.

Make a dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Combine lettuce, nuts, chopped peppers and halved grapes, and toss with dressing.

Slice them up and add them to your morning cereal for a fresh and juicy element.

Serve them with dinner. Stewed grapes are delicious in a sauce over chicken or meat.

Freeze them! Then snack on them as-is for a healthy alternative to FREEZE ices, or serve with fresh chopped fruit and simple syrup for an icy fruit dessert.

BAKE

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Bake with grapes for an effortless and beautiful dessert. Simply toss grapes with sugar, and use as a tart filling in a puff pastry crust.

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Although they are available year round, grapes peak during the fall season, from September until the first frost appears. Concord grapes also make a short appearance during the season (the edible form of grape juice!). Stay on the lookout for them.

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PICK

STORE

SERVE

Pick Them: Choose grapes that are plump, full-colored, smooth and firmly attached to the stem. There should be a dusty bloom on the skin itself, much like blueberries. This coating is a natural substance that protects the fruit and is a good indication of its freshness. How do you know if a grape is ripe? White or green grapes should have a slightly golden hue. Red grapes should be rich in color with no sign of green.

Store Them: Since grapes do not ripen off the vine, unlike other fruits, what you buy is what you get. Refrigerate them dry in a plastic bag, away from moisture. If properly stored, grapes will last for one week.

Serve Them: Prior to eating, wash and dry the grapes in cold water to remove any pesticide residues and dust. Although the seeds are rich in nutrients, seedless grapes are more pleasant to eat.

The

Grapes

GOOD

STUFF

1 Cup

62

0

0g 0g 0g

0mg 2mg 16g 0.8g

15g 0.6g

Grapes contain a high level of vitamin C, which assists your body in ridding itself of free radicals. These radicals can attack your cells, weakening your immune system. They are also rich in minerals like potassium, which boosts energy and lowers blood pressure, and manganese, which builds strong bones and aids in calcium absorption.

Pan-Seared Sea Bass with Grape Relish

STYLING AND PHOTOS

BY MIRIAM PASCAL

2 cups red seedless grapes, divided 4 (6-ounce) sea bass slices (Ask your fishmonger to slice the fillet in the width) Salt and pepper to taste 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 tablespoon butter 1 cup vegetable broth 1/4 cup sweet cooking wine 1 tablespoon vinegar 2 tablespoons chopped scallions 1. In a small bowl, crush one cup of grapes. Set aside 2. Preheat the oven to 350ยบF. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.

3. Wash and pat sea bass dry.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil and butter over mediumhigh heat. Cook the sea bass, skin side down, until browned and crisp, about 4 minutes.

Flip and cook until the flesh is white and cooked through, approximately 2 minutes.

Remove fish from skillet and place in prepared baking pan.

Bake for 20 minutes.

4. In the same skillet, add broth, wine, vinegar, and crushed grapes. Cook over high heat until the liquid is reduced by half.

Add remaining grapes and scallions. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Spoon over the warm sea bass and serve.

Yield: serves 4

STYLING AND PHOTOS

BY MIRIAM PASCAL

Couscous and Grape Salad 1½ cups whole wheat Israeli couscous Pinch salt Splash olive oil 11/4 cups boiling water 11/4 cups green seedless grapes, some whole and some halved 11/4 cups red seedless grapes, some whole and some halved 11/2 teaspoons brown sugar 1½ teaspoons honey diluted with ¼ teaspoon boiling water 1/2 teaspoon vinegar Pinch black pepper 1/2 tablespoon oregano 1 teaspoon dried rosemary 1 garlic clove, crushed

1. Preheat the oven to 450ºF. 2. In a medium glass or metal bowl, combine couscous with salt and olive oil. Pour boiling water over couscous. Stir and cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap.

Set aside for 15 minutes. Remove plastic wrap, separate the grains with a fork, and let cool.

3. Meanwhile, in a large baking pan, combine grapes, brown sugar, and honey mixture.

Sprinkle with vinegar and black pepper. Bake for 10 minutes.

Let cool.

4. Toss couscous with grapes and pan juices. Add herbs and garlic and very gently combine.

Taste and add salt and olive oil, if needed.

Yield: serves 6

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Grapes Around the

WORLD

 Grapes might be the world’s first fruit.  Grapes came to Europe from Asia about 3,000 years ago, first landing in Greece, where the Mediterranean climate offered favorable growing conditions.  In 1860, during The Great French Wine Blight, the phylloxera aphid devastated all the vineyards in France and spread across Europe. The pest came from America and crossed the Atlantic in the 1850s.  There are more than 60 species and 8,000 varieties of grapes all over the world. Most of them, though, are used for wine production (71 percent). Twenty seven percent are eaten fresh and 2 percent become raisins or jam.  There are actually seven grape colors: red, green, white, black, purple, blue, and golden.  Grapes have been growing in the United States for 400 years, when the first vines were planted in North Carolina. The Spaniards, though, began cultivating grapes for wine in 1700.  Concord grapes were perfected upon the British colonization of America so that they could survive the Northeast climate.  Today, 98 percent of grapes grown in the United States come from California. Grapes are also imported from other countries, mostly from Chile.

Be the Next Cooking Whiz DO YOU LOVE TO COOK AND INNOVATE IN THE KITCHEN? THINK YOUR RECIPES DESERVE TO BE RECREATED IN THE HOMES OF THOUSANDS? ENTER THE WHISK COOKING WHIZ CHALLENGE FOR A CHANCE TO BE WHISK’S NEXT FOOD COLUMNIST. Four finalists will have their recipes professionally photographed to appear in a Whisk feature. One of the finalists will be the winner.

TO ENTER, SUBMIT: 1) A 200-300-word summary of your kitchen personality. Tell us why and what you love to cook.

2) One sample food column that shows off your style.

The sample food column should include three recipes and one introduction—just like you see in Whisk’s columns.

To submit your entry, email whisk@amimagazine.org

DEADLINE: OCTOBER 31, 2013

2

Gir

Basya

on a

T he

BACK TO SCHOOL As I’ve mentioned, I would love to become a nutritionist, so I am taking a couple of the course requirements this semester. The last time I took a chemistry course was years ago when I was in high school, and my memory is more than just fuzzy. No matter, though. I will get through it. Like my diet, there is an end goal in sight.

The first day of school always feels like a fresh new start. It is filled with possibility and optimism, but often, by the end of the first week, when the workload starts piling up and you realize there is no end in sight, it can become daunting. Now, with the yamim tovim behind us, and only one day off from school for Chanukah in two months’ time, I don’t know how I will manage.

On the first day of class, I noticed a young woman about my age. Why did I notice her in particular? It’s true, she has fabulous taste in clothing and is always smiling. But no, I noticed her because she is very much overweight, even more so than I was just few months ago. I am ashamed to say that I did not want to sit next to her because I feared people would

Basya’s Menu I was unable to keep track of everything I ate over Sukkos, but the following is what the typical meal looked like for me: Whole wheat challah, guacamole, egg salad, coleslaw, low-fat Caesar salad, sweet baked chicken (or veal), couscous, string beans, cauliflower, healthful zucchini or carrot kugel, fruit. (On two occasions I tasted the dessert, but only had a small sliver.

I walked a lot over Yom Tov, visiting friends and family.)

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look at us and group us together as “the fat girls.” Ugh, that awful word, “fat.” How can anyone deduce an individual down to one word? Any word! But that word in particular seems to carry so much weight (no pun intended).

For the first few days of school I kind of avoided her, not obviously, and one could even argue subconsciously, but I avoided her nonetheless. One day I came late to class and was forced to sit right next to her. I don’t know why it made me so uncomfortable. Maybe it's because I am battling my own weight issues, and I just want to steer clear of anyone who reminds me of what I once was.

Well it was obviously hashgachah pratis, because Mindy turned out to be one of the nicest ladies I have met so far. She is one of those charismatic people who make everyone around them happy and upbeat. She is always sharing a humorous anecdote or comment. From the moment I sat down and smiled to say, “Hi, I’m Basya,” I knew I’d made a friend.

One day I brought a small salad to class.

Mindy reached into her bag and pulled out a delicious-looking cheese Danish. “I feel so sorry for you,” she said jokingly, as she eyed my bitter green mixture.

Mindy started noticing my snacks and lunches. I could tell she wanted to ask…

“Hey, are you on a diet?” she said one day.

“No, I don’t know what the problem is; I’ve been eating like this for 20 years and have always looked this way. I guess it must be genetic,” I laughed. “Of course I’m on a diet! Who eats stuffed red peppers for fun?”

“Oh, I was once on a diet. It didn’t work for me,” she quipped.

And that was the end of our diet conversation, until…

One day she asked if I could e-mail her what I planned on bringing for lunch the

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D

Chal le

Basya

STARTING WEIGHT

200

CURRENT WEIGHT

169.5

GOAL WEIGHT

150

POUNDS LOST THIS WEEK

2

TOTAL POUNDS LOST SO FAR

30.5

following day. She said she was inspired by me and was going to try my diet.

I am so looking forward to sharing lunches together. It makes it much easier to have a diet buddy who is not skinnier than me, for once! I love my superhealthy neighbor, but juice fasts and being vegan for a week are just not where I’m holding right now.

So, im yirtze Hashem, Mindy and I will be sharing a lunch menu. I am hoping that the two of us can inspire and encourage one another. Now, sitting next to her every day, I hope people will look at us and not think of us as the two “fat girls,” but rather, the two “girls on a diet.”

Best, Basya

2

rls D

THE CONTEST

iet

Basya and Devoiry each want to lose 50 pounds. The first one to reach her goal wins a trip to Florida or $500. Follow them weekly as they share their diet journeys with us.

WEEK THIRTY-TWO

enge

Devoiry

STARTING WEIGHT

203

CURRENT WEIGHT

159

GOAL WEIGHT

153

POUNDS LOST THIS WEEK

2.5

TOTAL POUNDS LOST SO FAR

44

FINDING THE RIGHT FIT Help! Does anyone know where I can get DNA testing done? I think my boys were switched at birth! Okay, so I am joking, but I am totally out of my element here! On Shabbos I went to a friend’s Shabbos Kallah. The kallah always marched to the beat of her own drummer and decided that she wanted to make her party as a fancy brunch instead of having a formal one after the meal Shabbos afternoon. She set up a milchig buffet worthy of Whisk’s Shavuos edition!

My mouth watered when I walked into the house and saw the spread. The minicheese delicacies had me staring. No! I will not mess up! I had my boys with me, and I offered them some of the delicacies.

Yossi looked at them and said he preferred

Devoiry

a drink, as he was really thirsty and not hungry! Bentzi asked for strawberries instead! I am telling you, something is fishy here! Okay, so maybe not fishy, but if I tell you that I am so grateful that my boys don’t have my eating habits, I am sure there are not enough ways to express my sentiments! Bentzi passed on dessert because he was full, and Yossi told me something was too sweet. Baruch Hashem!

Back to the Shabbos Kallah. I still marvel at the incredible lack of knowledge about my program out there. The hostesses were so welcoming; that’s just the way they were raised. The sister of the kallah asked me if I was interested in enjoying some iced coffee. I asked her what was in it. I started with the simplest part. I am not eating a meal now; I can’t have any milk. It seemed like all around me people started questioning. “Not even a bit of milk? But why? Milk is healthful!

You mean you can’t even have a coffee between meals? Is there really no leeway?”

One minute, people compliment me on how I look, and the next minute they are trying to feed me things that I choose to keep away from. I know it comes from a good place, but it frustrates me, regardless. I mean, really, do I want to give up the past eight months of work in favor of some iced coffee that is not on my program?

A few weeks back I wrote about a dress of mine that I grew out of in six short weeks. I wore it over Yom Tov as a robe in my house, and decided that I needed to give it away. I was sad about it, as I never really got to enjoy it. I was doing laundry and I decided that I would wash this dry-clean-only dress. What is the worst that could happen? There was no lining on the bottom to ruin, so I figured if it shrank a bit, maybe it would be a good thing! By the same token, I have been agonizing about the wedding this week, as

I really have nothing to wear, and you all know my attitude. I am not shopping for clothing now. What’s the point? If I didn’t have validation to my shopping attitude beforehand, this dress is most definitely proof of the fact that I have no business buying clothing that will be big on me in a few weeks. In fact I am thinking about starting a gemach for people losing weight.

Into the washing machine on the gentle cycle went the dress, with a quick prayer for a good outcome. I hung it to dry, and could see immediately that the dress had shrunk about two sizes! I was so excited! I tried it on, and it looks like the shoulders were custom tailored to fit me! I have to run to the seamstress to hem it up a bit, but I will be wearing it to the wedding!

I am so excited that I have something to wear! Mazal tov, Chanie and Chaim!

Devoiry

Devoiry’s Menu My applesauce consists of ginger gold and Macintosh apples, peeled, cored, and sliced small. I take a few tablespoons of lemon juice, and toss the apples to coat them. Place the apples in a pot, and turn the fire on low for about 25 minutes. Stir it once after 15 minutes, and then again every so often. The apples will mush up by themselves, and they do not need sugar. They are so sweet and delicious.

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15

It’s Here!

Joy of Kosher

Fast, Fresh Family recipes by Jamie was “the bride who knew nothing”

Joy oF Kosher has more than 100 of Jamie’s absolute best recipes, each a creative twist: Dress it Up - ready for a party table, or Dress it Down and lure your picky eaters to meals they’ll beg for again and again.

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