not Thanksgiving delight

I don't do Thanksgiving here in Israel - not that I have anything against it. The idea of appreciating and giving thanks is quite Jewish (ok, New Age is catching up also), in fact religious Jews begin each morning by giving thanks to our Creator, and actually give thanks all day long (depending on how much you eat and how much you, umm, how do I say it, the bodily functions after you eat :>) ).

But Thanksgiving sort of fades into the background here. There are enclaves of people celebrating, holding on to the Old Country ways.

But tonight I have the privilege of celebrating someone's 70th birthday, and for that occasion I made a very special dish (would go well in any Thanksgiving feast) called Enchanted Broccoli Forest with Pumpkin Creme. It comes from Ilanit Tof's book, Seasonal Variation: Wholesummer Meals (ok, not summer now, but still works). The special feature of her book is to show the inexperienced cook how he/she can play and exchange ingredients for unlimited variations. She gives the basics and then shows the different variations to start and hopes the new cook will go on and take it from there.

So this dish isn't as hard as it looks, but has different parts. The first is a bed of grains, she suggests polenta (coarse cornmeal), cooked with onions and fresh corn (off the cob), and after it's cooked, mixed with chopped parsley and spread in a baking dish. I used millet instead, it's a whole grain and therefore more appealing to me. The next step is to simply blanch small heads of broccoli. And when done to one's liking, to stick them into the grain bed (that's the forest - the next time I do this I'll reverse it and put the creme (cream?) on first and then stick in the little trees). Next comes pumpkin and onions steamed, then blended with a little tehina and fresh ginger juice. That gets poured on.

It's such an attractive dish - and so so so delicious.

As this blogging is still new for me, I'm not sure how to give references - I'm afraid if I post the address it won't go thru - so I'll put spaces in between - and you can close them up - on this site is a shop where you can find Ilanit's book and lots of other great books. www cybermacro .com - will that work??

Happy feasting everyone - doesn't have to be unhealthy for it to be a feast.

go tripping

another question - is there some unwritten rule that each blog entry must fit only one topic - do people sometimes just meander whole bunches of thoughts?

if only one topic: then it's this - it's not that I want to quit before I started, but looks like I'll be joining my husband in the States soon which means my heart's beating faster thinking what must I get done before I leave - so that's a good way to put up priorities - and apologies, but blogging isn't yet a high priority -

so to remind myself for thoughts I'd like to blog on:

1) why blog? (ego? connection? show off????)

2) new calendar (Jewish!!!!!)

3) procrastination and decluttering - big issues - even if I haven't written anything yet on it, I'd love hearing great wisdoms on it from anyone

so unless I suddenly change and become greatly organized and on top of it all, I may not come back for a while

but that's the nice thing about (most of) life, you can always come back and try again.

mothering

It's cute - this blogging bit- it's like creating a team and having your own cheerleaders out there.

So I'll be daring here and start - I had thoughts today to share with my kids, but it didn't happen. So maybe this is a good place to share them. I have five kids, from 28 y.o. to 17 y.o. Before kids, I was very afraid to be a mother, not wanting to be like my mother was, very critical. But as soon as the babies came, I loved it. Loved the early years, it came easily (not easy as in not hard work, but easy as it felt so right).

I'm married to a man quite the opposite me in many ways. I often feel I have no talents (in the traditional sense of the word) and he has many; I don't like authority, and he loves to boss. What started my thoughts was from this week's and last week's parsha - when the three guests come to Avraham's tent and ask where is Sarah and they are told she is in the back. I used to have great problems with that. Why was it a good thing to be in the back, why did she have to do all the work and he seems to get the credit? In this week's parsha, I read that after Sarah died, Avraham no longer had prophecy - that truly the prophecy was through Sarah.

I certainly don't claim to have prophecy - nor do I do all the work, my husband does quite a bit in the house. But I was feeling it was he who had relationships with my kids because of all his talents - he taught this one stained glass work and photography, he spoke with the other one for hours on art, he built a desk together with my son and made beer together, with each of the kids he brought them into the kitchen to cook with him. Then when rereading the parsha I felt differently - I was in the back, but I was important. I'm the support person, and perhaps do have strengths in ways I don't realize. Because of my dream to be in Israel, we're now in Israel. Which means alot in what the kids have been exposed to (and not exposed to) , which G-d willing means alot for hopefully future generations coming from my kids.

There's probably much more, but it's not the point - it's just the point it's alright now to be in the back of the tent, it too is meaningful. I don't have to be in the spotlight to count.

lovely surprizes

I have NO idea how I got here - just kept pushing keys - the trick will be to find it again!!!

so my loyal reader, Leora, here I made it public that I would get off the computer in order to cook - I did cook - made myself miso soup for breakfast (at noon) and warmed up my rice and veggies from yesterday - had an enjoyable lunch - then put up some beans and barley to soak for cholent (or like those with authentic accents say, chulent), peeled carrots for soup my daughter chose (1 kilo carrots, 2 onions, potato (I'm using sweet potato, only one), one green apple and that which makes this very special, a handful of cashews!!! - saute everything but nuts, add water to cover, and 1 TABLESPOON (that's what makes it not my kind of soup, so much, I never ever use so much, but she insisted - I'll let you know how it comes out - actually she said recipe calls for TWO TABLESPOONS), after all is soft, blend - I suppose cashews go in at the blended stage, I'll ask her.

so still having questions, how to personalize the blog, how to add photos, no idea about labels, etc etc

but never mind - at least I've entered it twice - three times will make it obligatory :>)

now have to deal with son, who just surprized me coming home

experimenting

here's the start of something new - for right now it's just so I can join the blog world easier - where it will go, who knows

feels funny without an audience - it's out there, yet not

like alot of the cyber world, doesn't feel quite real