Tel Aviv, Israel

For a long time I’ve been planning to write about Tel-Aviv. Traveling to Israel, my heart fills with joy every time I return to Tel Aviv, the bustling city in the center of Israel. All five senses blend together and work over-time in the 100+ years old city. In 1950 Jaffa, one of the oldest cities in the world, became part of Tel Aviv, thus adding an even more unique taste to the general aroma one gets while visiting.

A must place to visit, is Shuk HaCarmel, a main market in Tel Aviv, and to my opinion – one of the liveliest in the world. Everything from shoe laces, to food, to pictures and clothes.

Pomegranate, or Rimon, makes a tasty refreshing juice

Challa heap, for Shabat dinner

loofa- make you skin squeaky clean- click for more info

cheese from all over the world

rainbow of spices

candy, always a favorite

After strolling in the market, we usually head to Neve Tzedek, a tres chic neighborhood, where you’d find art, jewelery and fashionable dashing clothing from small designers to top of the line. Look around at the small houses to find hints for the beginning of urban Tel-Aviv.

stylish display window with stylish jewels

surprises in Neve Tzedek, a house covered with sea shells

a few miles south, we walk on the sea-line from Tel-Aviv and arrive at Jaffa. Jews, Muslims and Christians live together (not without tensions) but with the same interest in mind- live peacefully, eat well and sell. Jaffa’s flea market is one of the best for antiques as well as for its small eateries, coffee houses, pastries and pita breads and Sahlab.  There’s nothing like a warm Jaffa Sahlab on a cool night. White thick starchy sweet drink, topped with rose-water, chopped nuts, cinnamon and raisins.

graffiti on the way to Jaffa

leaving Tel-Aviv beach behind

arriving to Jaffa

Jaffa's famous pastries, pita, bagels, baklava, cakes

Sahlab, ho Sahlab

Jaffans playing SHesh Besh. click

typical Jaffa street

But Tel-Aviv does not end with that. Lots and lots of shops, Rothschild Boulevard, world-renowned buildings of the Bauhaus 1930′s trend (acknowledged by UNESCO as a world heritage site), museums, galleries, great food,  endless night life, and the latest fashion modes and craze.

White City of Tel-Aviv - the Modern Movement. see more by clicking

Rothschild Boulevard - see a fun YouTube about it. click

For more photos, see more Tel Aviv photos page.

slam dunk

Our back yard buzzes with life. We are fortunate to live so very close to nature, that we hardly need any pictures on our walls. Our windows bring into our home greens and pinks, and during the Fall, it brings those magnificent hues of red and oranges.

We learned to stop. listen. look. cherish the moment.

A few days ago, the very early morning hour summoned a turkey vulture to our yard. It sat on the old basketball post. It sat, and sat. All of the sudden, it drooped it’s scat, and flew away. “Slam, dunk”, shouted my little one. He understands.

Little birdie, little birdie, Come and sing me your song/ sung by Pete Seeger

greens greens, collard greens

collard greens

Temperatures are slightly up, but still kind of cold and gray. Especially today. It feels like London. misty, rainy. I can’t but help myself to a nice, heartwarming dish. Also, a great opportunity to use the pressure cooker.

So my dear friend Meenakshi, who is a talented cook, has at least three pressure cookers and she produces the most tasty food in no time. Along with the argument that it is much more friendlier to our environment, I was convinced to finally invest in a pressure cooker.

According to my faint memory, my family used to have one of those, many years ago (aka- grandma). I’ve heard horror stories about cooking that went beyond the pressure point, and a lid that went beyond the ceiling. Naturally, after purchasing that eco-friendly product, it was well kept and tucked away for a few months.

I guess it took me a while to mature into acceptance of the pressure cooker. I sat myself down and read ALL of the words in the little booklet that came with my shiny cooker. I also read ALL the warnings. long sigh.. It was time. That day I manged to make chicken pulao and a chickpeas with wheat berries dish for dinner. Ta Da. Mission accomplished.

So today, as I was examining the veggies at the store, this young collard green winked at me. I had to take a whole bunch. This is the result of Collard Greens + Orange Lentils + one pressure cooker:

indian collard greens and dal

I basically took the recipe from here, but adjusted it to my pressure cooker as follows.

you’ll need:

• 1 cup orange lentil (“masoor dal” from the indian store)
• 1 bunch of collard greens (about 7-8 large leaves)
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 7 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 cup of water
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• lemon

how-to:

• Small preparations: To make things easier for me, I chop the onion and garlic together in my mini food processor. (mu ha ha). The collard greens are quickly rinsed, roll-folded together to be cut into strips. The lentils are washed under cold water.
• Heat the oil in the pressure cooker, and add the onions and garlic. Saute a few minutes. Lower the  heat and add the lentils. Toss around for 2 minutes.
• Add all other ingredients (but not the lemon). Close the lid tightly over the pressure cooker.
• Increase heat and wait there to hear how the pressure builds up. Every pressure cooker is different, so read the manual. Once pressure has built, lower heat to somewhere between low and medium for 7 minutes.
• Turn off the heat completely, and wait for the pressure cooker to cool down. I’m still learning this thing, so I waited 20 minutes.
• Open the lid, carefully. Squeeze some fresh lemon on your tasty dish.

green and orange

fold- roll -cut

pressure cooker- a whole new world

My next pressure cooker project is

about to become tomato chutney

sound as a bell

I am so happy to have been exposed to Asaf Avidan and the mojos. It was by a mere chance that I crossed an article about them, and listened to this piece- Devil’s Dance-  where Asaf sings and plays the guitar and Hadas Kleinman plays the cello, and was blown away by his voice.

Luckily, I found out they will be performing in NYC’s City Winery on March 3rd.

choco-butter cookies

Weather is certainly cool enough to make me long for a sweet smell in the house, the smell that goes with… cookies of course (and coffee).

choco-butter cookies

they are easy to make (ahem.. if you have a food processor), and kids love helping. notice that we don’t like the cookies to taste too sweet, but sugar can always be added as desired.

you’ll need:

• 2 cups flour
• 3 TS sugar
• 2 TS powdered sugar
• 1 TS ground flax seeds
• 2 TS unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 and 3/4 sticks of unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

put all dry ingredients in the food processor and … process on high-speed, until all powders have unified nicely. all the processing stages need to be quick, only a few seconds.

dry ingredients for choco-butter cookies

add chunks of butter and process until the mixture looks somewhat like crumbs. don’t over do it-  the butter has to remain cool.

added butter to choco-butter cookies

add eggs and vanilla extract and process until the mixture builds up into a dough-ball.

choco-butter dough

separate dough into two balls. plastic wrap them. into the fridge they go to rest for 1 hour.

two nice choco-butter paper weights

warm the oven to 410F. when you’re ready for some fun, and the dough has been cold in the fridge for at least an hour, take it out, spread/flatten on your best kitchen table – use some flour so it doesn’t stick to the rolling-pin, and cut out circles or any other cool shape.

cut out choco-butter cookies

as you can see, I use parchment baking paper instead of greasing the pan. once the oven is 410F, put the baking pan in the oven, set your timer to 13 minutes, and start working on your next batch of cookies – different baking sheet. of course, each oven is different, so you’ll have to watch the first batch, so not to burn the cookies. after 13 minutes, take out the pan and let it rest and cool down a bit (5-7 minutes). sprinkle some powdered sugar on top and transfer to a cookie dish.

having fun with dough

these are the same kind of cookies- only without cocoa and without the ground flax seeds. instead, add 3 more TS of flour.

just butter cookies

bon appetit !

YES I can

I have not been writing in my blog for quite sometime. I really want to share some nice moments, like our summer in Tuscany, etc. I will, but it’ll take time. Because…

The cold air has been gushing in, almost at once. I can’t postpone it no longer. This week it has to be done.  Revolutionize the closets: bring back those bulky winter clothes, and tuck the summer back into its corner, till next year. 3 kids, 3 wardrobes. one more for the parents. All by the end of this week, otherwise, we’ll all freeze to death. I also need to buy a new fire detector to replace the out-of-order one. And a charger to the computer. And buy a gift to a friend’s birthday party. And start thinking and preparing for Friday’s dinner with friends. We are social, after all. These are just random tasks that change every week.  I know every mom faces those tasks.

Then there’s the everyday, full-time job tasks of every week that don’t change: regular laundries, food shopping, cleaning, cooking.

And the specific jobs we received from our other boss – the school teachers:  projects, exams, homework. No, I don’t do and won’t do my kids’ homework for them. I talk about those projects that I was directly ordered by the teachers to do. You know, the ones about sitting together with our kids and collecting family memories and making a presentation. You know, the one where you receive a letter from school that starts with “Dear Parents…”. And as for exams and homework, I need to be on top of everything and remind, remind and remind, and even lend a helping hand when needed.

The automatic pilot that drives the kids around town to their sports activities, music, friends. That same pilot also stands with a virtual hammer to insist that the kids practice for their music lessons, and at times get into a vocal fight over it.

And the talking, knowing, inquiring the kids about their day in school, their friends. Listening to stories. Reacting.

And then there’s the every-once-in-a-while work to do. The “real” work, for our dear Boa.

Finally, for my own sanity and secluded bubble, there’s that English course I’m taking, where I have to produce 2 formal essays every week, based on research and backed by citations. Books, notebooks, pencils are scattered across the dining table.

I am not complaining. In fact I consider my self very lucky. I am only explaining what every mom already knows. The obvious.

carry your water diy

Water Bottle Sling from cargo pants and karate belt

My kids are off to summer camp. We got a loooong packing list, and among other things, we were told the following:

“Every child goes on tiyul (=hike, trek) for at least one overnight. For these tiyulim (hikes, treks), it is essential that your child pack a water canteen with a shoulder strap that can be easily carried while hiking.”

A quick search revealed a variety of prices for the water carrier, but I also found many tutorials for making them, and so… I finally used this great tutorial by Betz White to make the water bottle sling shown above from old cargo pants. Here are some more results:

a girly water bottle sling (pinkish)

a man's water bottle sling (no pink)

odds and ends

“Summertime,
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high..”  by DuBose Heyward.

So I gathered bits and pieces from here and there that I felt I needed to tell the world.

• Starting with food. Here’s a real quick and tasty recipe of Pattypan summer squashes. I just got them at our local farmers market. They’re not only cute and add color to your dinner table, but also, ahammm, healthy (here). Most of all- they’re yummy !

Pattypan squashes fresh from the market

All there’s to do: Cut them into halves wide-wise. Also cut a thin flat slice at each end, so the half squashes could rest steadily in the baking dish (wide side facing up). Turn oven to 400 F or 200 C. Drizzle olive oil, bit of salt, crushed or chopped garlic and coarsely chopped rosemary on the yellow shining faces of the squashes.

pattypans go into the oven

That’s all folks. Cover with aluminum foil, put in oven for 30 minutes. Take off foil and let them pattypans get some oven tan till they’re golden(ish). Out of the oven and into your plate they go. With some nice green salad on the side. Ahh ha. Oh yeah- don’t over roast them, they don’t like to dry out.

• more food: Yesterday, on our way to one of the last shows of HAIR in Broadway, a small window on 9th Ave. caught our eyes.  A pile of some fine-looking Bourekas just called us in. The owner, Gazala Halabi, was placing paper-thin rounds of dough on the taboon, which will later become Druze pitas.

Gazala makes pitas on the taboon

We had wonderful bourekas: one filled with sun dry tomatoes and goat cheese, and the other was with spinach and feta cheese. The kids had a Druze pita wrap (“laffa”) with salad and falafel. The plate was wiped clean off the lamb kabab that was there merely 20 minutes before.

We’ll be there again.  Gazala’s Place

Druze cuisine @ Gazala Place

• Staying in the city: restaurants will now need to display the cleanliness rating of their facility according to new letter-grading rules. Now, when deciding upon your next dinner in the City, look on the restaurant’s window. Does it have an “A”, “B” or “C”? Under the new plan, a restaurant receiving an A grade will post it at the end of the inspection. If the grade is lower than an A, the restaurant will not have to post a grade until it has a chance to improve its sanitary conditions. The Health Department will return within a month to conduct a second inspection. The ultimate goal is to improve sanitary conditions and reduce the risk of food-borne illness.

• Going west: San Francisco is requiring stores to post cellphone radiation levels.  Those rates are the levels at which radio frequencies penetrate body tissue. whether or not there is a connection between cellphones (and their radiation) to cancer, it sure brings the question to the table again, to deserve a serious awareness.

Any thoughts to share?

Fun and healthy summer to us all  

stunning crochet and more

You may recall an earlier post, where I wrote with astonishment about Agata Olek’s art. Well, she did it again. She does not stop. This time we visited the open studios @ the AAI- down at the Lower East Side.

It started off at the corridor, where my kids discovered 2 crocheted figures, standing and offering toasted cheese sandwiches.

crocheted people serving stringed toast

with the artist, Agata Olek

The cheese seemed to be part of the display, being melted into a long, continued piece of (cheese)yarn. Thus, my very own little guy became part of the display by accepting (more like grabbing) that toasted sandwich, curiously gazing at the crocheted people, and munching, only to find out the sandwich is connected by (cheese)yarn to the very next sandwich, and so on. After three (!) such sandwiches, I stepped in to stop it. The reports from the battle field state that the sandwiches were yummy! Also, a passerby dog was caught eating the string (cheese).

dog enjoying the crochet display

We later stepped into Olek’s studio to find more crocheted gems.

shorthand crochet

crocheted balloons !

crocheted slide

Our magical journey continued with a musical setting, crocheted of course.

crocheted drummer

Our final surprise came as we left the building. The kids just loved the bicycle. You guessed it. It was crocheted.

crocheted bicycle

For a balanced justice, I must also bring your attention to some other talented artists that I especially liked:

Elaine Carl at her studio

Linda Byrne's recycled plastics

Tutte, oil on linen, from the Self Deceit series by Jennifer Mazza

Check out Linda Griggs interesting use of Walnut Ink she produces herself:

paintings with walnut ink- Linda Griggs

Finally, a little word about the Lower East Side. Walking the streets at that part of town is fun, lots of little stores, cafes and even galleries. A very nice place to have either lunch or dinner, with the kids, was the Noodle Bar at Stanton & Orchard. Decent sized dishes at a decent price. Kids and noodles- you can’t go wrong.

spinning a plarn*, crochet

*PLARN= plastic yarn

So, I’ve never really crochet(ed) before, but being a plastic-bag collector as I am, and following the beautiful bags and baskets that one talented Israeli artist, Arbel Eger, is creating, made me try to crochet my very own little basket. I looked online for some simple instructions, and they are out there, in cyberspace.

Here’s the first result:

first plarn crochet

I was very happy and excited with what seemed to look like an actual basket, and even gave it as a gift. My friend looked pleased (she either liked it, or she was really kind to me), and she’ll be using it to collect her own plastic bags from now on.

Encouraged, I have decided to ride again on the waves of success, and created yet another basket to be given as a gift. This time I used more colors, and here it is:

another crocheted basket

I am now hooked . be prepared for some more photos.

For instructions on how to make PLARN, here a link to Arbel’s blog. It’s in Hebrew, but the great photo tutorial explains it all, loud and clear.

Any questions? remarks? I’d be happy to address them.