Toby, along with her husband David, is one of the founding members of the Israelfood group.  This group was originally created to help those of us here in Israel find that elusive can of Dr Pepper, understand the confusing cuts of meat and to discuss which restaurant is the best one to go to when your rich uncle comes to visit and wants to treat you to a meal.  Along the way the members of the group have gotten to know each other.  Toby is one member with a quirky sense of humor.  She has a blog called A Time of the Signs which always manages to give me a good giggle at the various typos found all over the world.  Toby claims this is her funny photoblog, as opposed to her serious photoblog, I Wish I Were A Photographer.  Either (blog)way, Toby is highly entertaining.

Toby was generous enough to take a few minutes out of her pre-Bar Mitzvah planning schedule to meet up with me one Friday afternoon for a few minutes.  We were at the Bloggers’ Day Out in Gush Etzion and Toby didn’t have time to get to the day’s events, but she and David (and her mom) drove up to the restaurant where we were having lunch for a quick hello.  Hopefully, one day we’ll actually have time to meet over a cup of coffee, or a meal, and actually have a proper face-to-face conversation.

So come and meet Toby… and make sure you read through to the end, because Toby has a recipe that has become a legend on Israelfood, so check it out!

Introduce yourself.  Who are you, what are you, why are you?

My name is Toby, and I’m still trying to figure out who I am. I grew up in Chicago, spent a few years on various one-year programs in Israel, then a few years in Boston, and finally moved to Israel in the summer of 1996. Currently I’m trying to be a good mother, wife, mechanical engineer, volunteer, blogger, photographer and human. I’m always open to new suggestions!

Where do you live, and why?

I live in Efrat, in the Gush Etsion region of Israel, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else! When we first moved to Israel, we lived for four years on Kibbutz Yavne, where things were flat, very tidily landscaped, hot and *extremely* humid. When we first considered moving to Gush Etsion, I remember driving up, opening the car door, and suddenly feeling like: oh! I can breathe! I hadn’t noticed not breathing for the years before that, but the air here is so breezy and cool, even in the summertime – I just love it, and would have a very hard time leaving. And don’t get me started on the breathtaking views in every direction. My only fear is that my kids will take living here for granted!

What is your family like?

I have a brilliant, funny husband (the Balashon) and three fantastic kids, aged almost-11 to almost-15. Almost 15! I don’t feel that much older than 15 myself, hmm, wonder how that works out…

What is your relationship with food?  Do you like to cook?

Yes, I very much enjoy cooking, and wish I had more time to patchkie around in the kitchen. As it is, I don’t have a lot of time (see first question, above), and end up making pretty basic food. I think I’m pretty open minded about it, though – I don’t mind having breakfast food for dinner or the other way around. And I do sometimes find myself spontaneously leaping into some complicated food project when I really should be working hard at something else – shhh, don’t tell

What is your first food-related memory?

That’s a funny question, I mean, we’ve all been eating since we were born, right? Well, I remember my Zaidy (my mother’s grandfather) letting me feed his dog – he gave her cottage cheese! – and I thought it was just the funniest thing ever. And I recall that as a very young girl, my mother and Bubby (my mom’s mother) always put me in charge of making sure the cheese and crackers were arranged beautifully…

How would you describe yourself in the kitchen?  As a host/hostess?

I banished margarine from our kitchen a few years ago, and after reading a bunch of Michael Pollan’s stuff, I’ve been trying hard to keep our kitchen mostly free of processed foods. I say “mostly” since my kids are not entirely pleased with this new setup, and so I still buy them Cheerios and Telma Cornflakes, and sometimes pretzels for munching on the weekend. But overall, I think we’re in pretty good shape. As a hostess, I try to make everyone to feel relaxed and at home. Oh, and I tend to make too much food! I mean, what if everyone really really likes the quinoa, and wants seconds? We’d better have enough. But what if everyone also really likes the stir fry? We’d better have enough…

What is your favorite comfort food and why?

Wow, that’s a hard one. I guess my very favorite food is one most of you haven’t heard of, my family calls it Lukshen and Milk. My Bubby used to make it for us, way back when, and so when I eat it I feel like I’m five years old again It’s just poor-man’s food: skinny skinny noodles with butter and salt, in a broth of hot milk. Yum!! Come on over, I’ll happily make you a pot.

Desert island picks, name three foods you could not live without:

I hate to say this, but I’m not sure I can get it down to three. I just like food too much! How about: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheesy green salad, and sushi? But give me a minute, and I’ll pick three more.

What is your favorite Miriyummy post and why?I like them all – they make me laugh, they make me cry! But I think that empirically speaking, I have to vote for Roughing It, where I was taught, step by step, to grill tuna in the can. That one has actually changed my life, and I’ve shared the technique with non-believers all over the globe

I just wanted to show off Ju-Boy's grandson Brave-Boy and his winter ensemble that I knit for him. He's already outgrown it. I guess I'll just have to pick up the sticks and knit a larger size.

Winter is here for most of us.  One of the most warming and comforting things for me to have in the winter is a nice, hot bowl of soup.

There are many ways to make soup.  One way NOT to make it is…

Canned soup is very rare in Israel, so there’s not much of a chance of this happening in the Miriyummy household.  In any case, we’re trying to eat as little processed food as possible.  If you don’t mind a little peeling and a quick zhuzz, try this winter warmer:

Carrot Soup with Ginger and Lemon

I have made this both in the dairy and the parve version.  For the dairy version use butter and garnish with sour cream.  For the parve version use olive oil and garnish with either just grated carrot alone or add some coriander leaves.  Whatever you do, please, please, please do NOT use non-dairy sour cream, that’s not going to win you any points with this recipe.  If you don’t use the sour cream or the butter the soup is not only vegetarian, it’s vegan as well.

Photo by day-hee on Food.com

• 2 tablespoons (1 chlop) butter (or olive oil)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped, peeled fresh ginger (I use a Microplane for this, you don’t even need to peel the ginger)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 1/4 lbs medium carrots , peeled and chopped (about 3 cups) (I don’t even peel them anymore, just scrub them really well under the faucet)
• 2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped (about 1 1/3 cups)
• 1 lemon, grate the rind (use the Microplane) and squeeze the juice (reserve the juice)
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 tablespoons sour cream (optional)
• 1 small carrot, peeled (or scrubbed) and grated

juliapvalentine.blogspot.com

Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium-high heat (or use the olive oil).
Add the onion and sauté 4 minutes until transparent.
Add the ginger and garlic, sauté another 2 minutes.  Stir often, don’t let the garlic burn.
Add the chopped carrots, tomatoes and lemon rind.  Saute one minute more.
Add the 3 cups of stock and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, cover partially and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes.
Cool slightly.
Stick your zhuzzer in there and puree the soup.  If you don’t have a zhuzzer, puree soup in batches in blender (and then return the soup to the pot).
Mix in the lemon juice.
Season with salt and pepper.
Bring the soup to a simmer, thinning with more stock, if desired.
Ladle into bowls.
Top each with sour cream and grated carrot (or coriander).

Socks for Sassy

Cozy House Socks for Ju-Boy

Socks!  I made socks!

Incidentally, those of you snow-bound there in the diaspora may laugh at our Israeli winters, but it does get cold here.  I knit my first pair of sock about two weeks ago, for the knitworthy Sassy.  I was so proud of myself, I knit up another pair for Ju-Boy.  A pair of warm socks and a bowl of warm soup, winter should be over in no time! The pattern can be found in One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant.  The pattern itself is called Cozy House Socks, by Sue Dial.

Most of the time I give you a recipe for something yummy, something nice you can do to feed yourself, your family, your friends and even your community.  I’m not going to do that today.  Today you are going to get something different, a recipe for a mitzvah, an act of human kindness, something you can do to help someone else.

I’ve never met Channah Koppel, but our paths have crossed at many angles over the years.  We’re both members of the Israelfood group on Yahoo.  We’re both members of various forums on Ravelry, the online knitting community that currently serves my knitting obsession.  We’re friends on Facebook.  Channah is a woman who cooks and knits, how could I not like her?  But Channah is different from yours truly, because she has taken her knitting up a level, to head the grassroots charity of knitting hats for Israeli soldiers.

Her website, Hats for Israeli Soldiers (no need to guess what it’s all about) provides the perfect vehicle for those of us who want to do something for our boys and girls who are giving years of their lives to protect us and serve us.  in her own written words:

As the mother of an Israeli soldier and the organizer of a local group of handcrafters called “Chicks with Sticks”, I began a small grass roots initiative to knit hats for soldiers…and it grew…and grew…and grew. This small, concrete way to send a soldier a little warmth struck a chord with knitters around the world. Thousands of their handmade hats are already in use by combat soldiers on Israel’s front lines.

And in her own spoken words:

So if you can click your sticks together, why not do something for someone who is doing something for you?

The trunk of Channah's car after a trip to the post office.

Simple Soldier’s Hat

• machine washable plain black worsted weight yarn
• 4mm – 5.5mm straight, double-pointed or circular needles
• tapestry needle or crochet hook for finishing

For the “recipe” of how to whip up the hat, read the instructions here.

Filed under: Israel, Knitting and Crocheting, Non-food Tagged: Craft, Facebook, Hat, Israel, knitting, Knitting and Crochet, Ravelry, soldiers, Yahoo ]]> http://miriyummy.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/hats-off-to-channah/feed/ 11 32.183333 34.866667 32.183333 34.866667 miriyummy hats for soldiers http://miriyummy.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/2011-in-review/ http://miriyummy.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/2011-in-review/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 08:12:42 +0000 Miriyummy http://miriyummy.wordpress.com/?p=2905 ]]> The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 37,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 14 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Yes, it’s that time of year again — glowing lights, fried foods and sweet little presents.  To help us get in the mood here is the latest collection of Chanuka videos going viral this year.  Who’s your favorite?  Those sweet-toned YU boys in the Maccabeats, or the cool kids in the Fountainheads ?  Or maybe you have another favorite?  Check them out and let me know.

So which one did you like best?  Let me know in the Comments section below.  And if you’ve got a favorite that I’ve missed, post the link!  Like latkes, there can never be too many!

So that’s the glowing lights taken care of (sort of), now on to sweet little presents.  For my birthday this year Ju-Boy gave me an eight session stitch and b*tch at my local pusher — The Gourmet Yarn Shop.  We’re working with the book One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant.  So… in spite of the fact that Chanuka weather in Ra’anana is not exactly frosty, I’ve been knitting fingerless mittens for my girls.

What’s left?  Fried foods!

Each time I start a diet I always like to do it on the same day (Tomorrow).  While I do plan to have some fried foods this year (I am rationing myself to one sufganiya, maybe two…), I’m going to be baking latkes for the family in an attempt to keep the calories burning in the candles, not settling on our hips (dream on, Miriyummy, dream on).

Chia’s Baked Latkes

Photo by Mikekey of Recipezaar.com

I grew up eating my mom’s latkes, either fried in butter or in shmaltz.  Needless to say, back then my metabolism was a little bit more cooperative than it is today, and I could eat a plateful with impunity, with tons of sour cream (for the dairy version) or sprinkled with salt and black pepper for the meaty version.  Pass the applesauce, pass it right by me, none for me, thanks…  These days we are all a little more diet-conscious, and Chia’s recipe, originally found here at Recipezaar, may help you believe you are not totally overdoing it this Chanuka.

• 1 kilo (2 pounds) potatoes (shredded or grated)
• 1 onion (shredded or grated)
• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup matzo meal or 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• nonstick cooking spray

Filed under: Chanuka, Holiday cooking, Jewish cooking, Potatoes, Savory Nosh, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Tagged: Chanuka, cooking, fingerless mittens, Fountainheads, Hanukkah, Jewish Cooking, knitting, kosher, latkes, Maccabeats, Matisyahu, one-skein wonders, potatoes, recipe, Recipezaar, side dishes, vegetarian ]]> http://miriyummy.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/chanuka-oh-hannukkah/feed/ 9 32.183333 34.866667 32.183333 34.866667 miriyummy il_fullxfull.274828566 Mittens baked latkes http://miriyummy.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/suspended-reality-escape-to-the-north-part-1/ http://miriyummy.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/suspended-reality-escape-to-the-north-part-1/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:16:35 +0000 Miriyummy http://miriyummy.wordpress.com/?p=2864 ]]>

Once again Ju-Boy and I packed our bags, made sure children and dog were safe and snug, made sure there was good music in the car, and escaped.  We do this often, at least twice or three times a year.  With both of us in the Chapter Two of our lives this is something that is not a treat, it is a necessity.  Ju-Boy explains this very well:  we each have baggage, and we each have packages.  The baggage is the flotsam of our previous life without each other that we are still dealing with, sometimes on a daily basis.  The packages are the jetsam that we have each brought into the marriage, children, philosophies and political beliefs.  As happy as we are with our lives, sometimes we need to escape…

The last time we took off for the north we had a wonderful time, and it gave us a taste for more.  Thanks to another one of those Groupon deals we booked a night in a tzimmer on the Golan Heights, and with nothing more than that etched in stone, we got in the car, slipped a CD into the player (Pink Floyd, in case you were interested) and put the pedal to the metal.

We didn’t get very far…

In fact, Ju-Boy went off first thing in the morning to shul for morning prayers and his Daf Yomi shiur.  I futzed around the house a bit and did a little knitting.  Around 9 AM he came home and told me to grab a few eggs, we were having breakfast at Sheer Pretzel and Serene Shar’s house.  So off we went.  We came, we saw, we cooked, we ate.  And then we continued on our way.  If our first stop was only 10 minutes down the road, our next stop was three hours later.

Ju-Boy had intended to take me to this Indian restaurant he visited with Shy-Boy about two years ago on one of their camping trips up north.  It turns out that Shy-Boy, who eats just about everything and anything, doesn’t like Indian food, so I got the doggy bag.  When we went up north with the kids last winter we stopped off there so I could have a treat, but the place was closed.  Ju-Boy planned for us to have lunch there, but again, it was closed.  So he thought we would go to this great little cafe where he had eaten with Shy -Boy on another one of those camping trips, and that was closed too.  Miriyummy to the rescue!  I suggested that we head for Dag al HaDan, a unique little restaurant on the banks of the Dan River.  This time the restaurant gods were on our side and we found a table outside, near some fearless roosters.

Shay, our waitress, gave us each a menu and told us what she thought we might like. She was right. It was a great meal...

Drinks first! Mmmmm, cold, delicious beer -- Ju-Boy ordered an English Pride, slightly bitter, and I ordered a dark and rich Belgian beer, reminiscent of a Guinness.

Next came the ubiquitous Israeli starter -- salads, salads and more salads. I was very impressed with the smoked trout mousse and with the pickled trout (like pickled herring, but much more delicate tasting). If we wanted more, Shay got us more. Yes, we did want more, and more we got. The only complaint I had about this course was that we were charged extra for a small piece of focaccia. Ju-Boy and I tried to be kind to each other, but we did fight over that last piece.

I had the barramundi. I'm not a fan of fish on the bone. When Ju-Boy and I were dating I actually ordered fish on the bone once, because I didn't want him to think I was such a high-maintenance princess. You would think that after more than six years of marriage I wouldn't wuss out and actually order something I wanted. But nooooooo, I ordered fish on the bone because I didn't want him to make fun of me. The only other main course on the menu other than some kind of fish on the bone staring at you from the plate was on the kids' menu, veggie schnitzel with spaghetti. So I ordered the fish and had a staring contest with it. The fish won.

Ju-Boy had the grilled trout. He likes trout. He has no qualms about staring fish, or splaying them open to eat them.

Throughout the meal this cat waited patiently for us to throw him a tidbit. We didn't. Poor cat, he didn't know what fressers we are.

While discussing the restaurant the work pastoral came up often. So did bucolic, rustic, verdant and sylvan. The two of us were a veritable thesaurus. And yes, these swans actually swam by while we ate our fish.

We didn't just eat the fish, we massacred them.

Dessert was called Switzerland. I assume those two mountains of whipped cream are meant to be the Alps. A light delicate crust covered with a nutty chocolate and sweet mascarpone cheese. My brother-in-law took one look at the picture I uploaded to Facebook and declared this obscene. I declared it obscenely delicious!

Smoked Trout Mousse/Spread

I was most impressed with this dish, and I think we actually requested thirds.  Shay the waitress was happy to get the recipe for me.  Wait for it… this is really complicated… are you ready?

• 1 part smoked trout
• 4 parts mayonnaise

1. Zhuzz together in the food processor.

I’m a little skeptical over so much mayo in relation to the smoked trout, but unless the chef is trying to mess me over so I don’t make this myself and constantly have to make the trip to get my fix of the stuff, this is the recipe.  As they say in Israel, c’est tout (yes, that’s what they say in Israel, in France they probably say וזה הכל).

We then tootled up to our tzimmer several hundred feet above sea level and at least 100 degrees (both Fahrenheit and Celsius) colder than where it was in the Upper Galilee.  But that’s the part of the story that is — to be continued…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a quick aside:  Dag al HaDan does not have any kosher certification because the restaurant is open on Shabbat.  All the ingredients are kosher and they do have a mashgiach (kosher supervision).  When we asked about it they said they would be happy to give us the phone number of the rabbi and he could answer all our questions.

On the 2nd yahrzeit of my mom’s death, just a few remembrances of what I’ve written here before…

I Am Not Everybody — written on the first Mother’s Day without my mother.

Rapunzel – how the traditions of mourning one’s parent varies.

You Say It’s Your Birthday — my mother hated the summer, especially the Israeli summer!

Knit One, “Pearl” Two — memories of spending the summer knitting together with my mother, and a refreshing bowl of hot soup.

Who Inspires Me? — my interview by Rivki on her blog, Life in the Married Lane.

Shmaltz, The Sequel — Probably the one recipe I most identify with my mother.

The girls and I really miss you, Ma!

My most heartfelt thanks to Ju-Boy, for saying kaddish last night and today.

October has been a busy month.  Between family reunions, the High Holidays and a multitude of family celebrations which have not yet come to an end, I’ve been insanely busy.  Sometime in August, anticipating this busy time, I voiced a request to fall into a coma and to be woken up in November.  No such luck…

I’ve still been cooking, oh boy have I been cooking, but I haven’t found a moment to write about it.  Eventually a blog post will be written about this insane month.  In the meantime, there have been a few new family updates which contributed to my silence:

Sassy and her Sabraman have return home from London, for good!

Optimus Prime and his Rani have added another ankle-biter to the family, born last night, actually.

Scarlet has opened up a new internet business, called Musikay, where musicians can find each other with harmonic ease.

Shy-Boy has become Bar Mitzvah, joining the quorum and amassing an insane amount of X-Box games.

To mark all these events I’ve updated the Guide to the Perplexed.

I’ve also been knitting up a storm, we’ll catch up on that later…

Meet Ileana.

Ileana and her cinnamon twists.... they were supposed to be long and cutesy braided, but I am a disobedient pastry student, and do as I please. I decided to twist the dough and then wrap it around itself to form something that resembled a cow pattie, flavour extraordinaire.

This amazing woman is a legend.  The Toolbelt Diva of Recipezaar, she is just as handy with a hammer as she is with a whisk.  There are so many ways you could describe this woman, proud Canadian, survivor, author, Dragonlady of the dragon boats of Toronto, daughter, sister, friend… and yet, she is also entirely indescribable.  Don’t even try it, you wouldn’t be able to get it all in during your lifetime.

Mamaliga lover, vintner, the list goes on.  I have gotten to know Ileana through her recipes, her emails, her poetry and her jokes.  But don’t take my word for it.  Come and meet her, in her own words.

Ileana at her Cinny Buns and Twist class

Ileana's Romanian Cozonac or Colac (a Christmas bread) -- see the recipe by clicking on the photo

Romanian sarmale

We were frequently 19 for Christmas Dinner. Helping my mother with Christmas Dinner one year… She cooked a humungous turkey…an equally huge ham, (apologies to my kosher friends) a ton of potatoes, several tons green vegetables…a cauldron of sarmale (cabbage rolls) about a dozen fruit pies, never mince pie… I cannot think of anything more hideous than mince pies…. The smell of mince pie baking hurts my brain.  There were several pies with meringue.  She did that “in case someone else comes over”. I learned from the best.

Thank you Mirj for sharing your family with the world and thank you for allowing the world to come into your home to share a little of themselves.

Rosh Hashana this year starts on a Wednesday night, and ends at sundown Friday night, which is when Shabbat begins.  Observant Jews all over the globe will be closing down their connection with the outside world and turning inwards to family, community and God.

Tonight my cookfest begins.  I’m not posting a recipe today, but I am posting a promise.  In one of my many back-and-forths with Abby the Muse I suggested a dessert that I haven’t tried before.  Both Abby and I will be making this for one of the Rosh Hashana meals.  Once the holiday and Shabbat are over, the drops of honey scraped off the table, the last of the pomegranate seeds brushed off the counter, I’ll let you know if there’s a new Miriyummy creation to try.  I promise apples and honey, crunchy pecans and chocolate!  Bli neder!

Wishing you all a sweet year to come of health, happiness and wonderful meals shared with family, friends and loved ones.

May you all be inscribed in the Book of Good Life!

PS — my year is starting out on a very sweet note:  Sassy and her Sabraman are coming back home!