Cathing Up Updates

Eeek!  It has been a really long time since I've written an update.  Here is a really quick rundown of whats on our plate here.

1.  Christmas in the Holy Land:  We hosted a really fun Christmas cocktail party again this year!  Because new people are always coming here for work and everyone (our friends) stays for only 2-3 years there is a lot of turnover at work and in your friends.  A bunch of our friends who were at the part last year have moved on or were on vacation this time around; but we also have a bunch of friends who weren't even here last year.  It was great.  Although we were sad not to be in the States on Christmas we weren't bored or lonely.  In fact, we had so much going on we were juggling invitations and schedules. 

The two highlights of Christmas were Bethlehem and our tree.  Yes - we were in Bethlehem at the site of the crime.  We were at the Church of the Nativity on Christmas eve.  It was packed!  And there was a parade of the local boy scout groups (imagine Arab boy scouts dressed in kilts, playing American Christmas carols on bag pipes.  That could be an entire post on its own...but I'll have to let this suffice.)  The other highlight was opening our gifts.  We had a lot of gifts from each other, from friends here and from family - and we enjoyed every last minute (hour) of that time.

2. Visitors!!  Yeah!  By far the highlight of the year is Jill and Mitch's visit!  I cannot believe how much we walked and how much we did and saw.  In one day (I kid you not) we were at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, and the Treasury at Petra!!!  The Dome is almost never open to tourists and it is quite a journey to get from the Old City in Jerusalem to the Treasury at Petra in one day.  We all had our first Turkish baths too!  I'm not sure if you could find them in the States, but it is based on the concept of an old public bath house where you come out cleaner than you've ever been in your life!  Scrubbed down and massaged!  I think it was well deserved after hiking 17 kilometers up and down mountains in Petra all day....yes, mountains - these were much bigger than hills.  Next week Paul's parents will be here and shortly thereafter Paul's brother and our sister-in-law.  We can hardly wait!  We're making lists of all of the things we want to show them (and mostly all of the places we want to take them to eat!).  We also had two other visitors this week - friends who happened to be in Israel for some other reason and we were lucky enough to make their busy itineraries.  It was great to see that with both of them we were so excited to talk and listen that there was barely a moment to take a breathe or get a word in.

3.  Friends  One of my best friends here is pregnant!! I'm so excited for her!  Hopefully I'll get to throw a baby shower for her in a few months.  I hosted my first baby shower in December for a colleague who is due any day now.  She said I can come to the hospital to see the baby which will make her son the youngest baby we've ever seen (can I say held?  Will she let me hold him?!).

4. The Departure So we have a tour year assignment here which ends Feb. 26th.  We were all set to pack our things and fly out the first week in March....we were.....but now we're looking forward to more time with our Tel Aviv friends, camping and hiking in the warm spring, having the freshest produce of the year, a bonfire holiday party, and a very-well planned out and organized departure in May.  While we are really looking forward to some down time in the States (especially with those adorable babies!), it is the nicest time of year here, we have great friends here who are excited we're staying, and Katie's having a baby - so I'll be around to do the shower!!

I think that is all for now.

Pfeffernusse

Every year for Christmas we got a package in the mail from my grandma.  I didn't really know her as a chef or a baker, but every year she sent us a bag of homemade pfeffernuss.  Pfeffernusse (pepper nuts) are small hard anise-flavored cookies.  I know - anise.  I always loved them.  Probably because they were from my grandma and because of the emotional connection to the food.  Anyway, they are these little bite-sized cookies about the size of a marble.  They have a distinct flavor and don't need frosting or sugar on top.  Just plain and simple.

There were two ways we could enjoy our pfeffernusse.  First, we could dunk them in dad's coffee (not mom's usually, she didn't like them).  Pfeffernusse are firm and the coffee loosens them up just enough.  Or we could eat them out of our pockets.  Yes, our pockets.  That was my favorite.  Ohio winters are cold, especially when you are waiting for the bus or pushing the woods. (Pushing the woods means walking through the woods from one end to the other in a strategic manner so as to kick-up the deer and sending them running in the direction of the hunters.)

I remember standing outside in the cold on several occasions, it was so cold so I'd put my hands in my pockets and....you guessed it...pfeffernusse!  I would pop the little delight in my mouth and just kind of let it melt down.  (I have to tell you that once...maybe a few times...I'd put on my coat for the first time of the year and find a pfeffernusse in the pocket.  When they are a year old they are a bit too hard, and sadly, you have to toss them.)

When grandma died two years ago I scoured her recipe books for the pfeffernusse recipe.  To the envy of my cousins and aunts, I found it.  It wasn't until this year that I tried to make them, and I really wish I could have called grandma for some clarification.  You see, not only was the recipe written in the time of lard, but there are no instructions.  Only ingredients.  And even that isn't a complete list.  "Enough flour to roll."  Hmmm..."enough"....I seem to have lost my "enough" measuring cup.  It was a bit of guessing, but I think I figured out something at least close to what grandma used to make. If only it were cold...

A Morsel of St. Patty's Day

First off, Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Or...as Paul says..Happy St. Paddy's Day.  I tried to tell him it is Patty like Patrick - but he assured me it is Paddy as is Pádraig.  Touché!

I don't remember if we wrote about it on here or not, but last year we tried to go authentic Irish with soda bread and brisket.  The soda bread (recipe compliments of Mary Vaca!) was great.  The brisket was pretty good - but probably still the most expensive piece of meat we've ever bought.

So this year we are taking a slightly different angle.  We're saving the soda bread for the weekend when we'll be home.  And we're skipping the brisket, hoping that the Irish pub we're going to tonight has good Irish food.  If not, we'll go to a different butcher and have brisket with our soda bread this weekend.

Instead - I made a few Irish-esque treats for work.  First, to be culturally sensitive to our Muslim colleagues who don't drink, I made shamrock sugar cookies with green frosting.  They were delicious!  Although, like other attempts to be culturally sensitive, I found that many (not all) of the Muslim colleagues preferred the second treat:  mini-chocolate Guinness (stout) cupcakes with Bailey's Irish cream frosting.  Delicious little bite-size treats! 

Finally - the best of all...a Chocolate Guinness Stout Cupcake (full-sized) with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting and....drum roll.....a Chocolate Whiskey Ganache filling!  Hmm!  I think there are enough calories in this to count for a weekend's worth of treats!  The top picture was sent from my phone to let my friend know to come grab one.  And then I forgot to take a picture until I was half-way done with mine.  Oops.

I used to wonder why my roommate made treats to give away at work and now I know....first, if you keep them at home (which we've done with 2 cakes now) you start to notice that your stomach doesn't feel so flat in the morning.  :(  But more importantly - you should see the looks on people's faces when they try them!  The big surprise in these treats (to me) was the reaction to the cookies.  Three or four colleagues said they were only going to break off a small piece...and then came back for the rest of their cookie.  Another three colleagues asked for the recipe!  Another said I should be selling these cookies!  Another said it was the best cookie they'd had..."when is the next holiday!?!" 

Maybe 25% of what they said is just them trying to make me feel good...but I can tell when you are just trying to make me feel good and when you really do like my food. 

If I may pat myself on the back for a moment - I made the cookie cutter from scratch!  And I didn't even slice open any fingers in the process.  Also - the cookies really did taste like those ones you buy at the store that have the powder on the bottom and are super super soft and thick.  And...do you see the swirls in the frosting on the cupcakes?  Finally got that right!  But...so you know that I don't think I'm all that and a box chocolates...it took me three tries to get the right shape for the cookie cutter...and one batch of frosting just slithered its way off the cupcake...and the cookies probably should have been thicker.  (Ha!  No one even touched the box of thin mints on my desk - do you think that means I can have them all!?)

The answer to when the next holiday is?  Tomorrow!  It's Purim!

Cold Discoveries and the last drop of Christmas!

Today happens to be one of the coldest days yet in Tel Aviv.  I don't know this for sure, but it seems like it may be true, so I'll go with it.  Today is also the day that I made a great discovery in my car...well, Paul did:  There is a button that says "Info" and when you turn it the dashboard tells you what the temperature is outside.  15*.....Celcius that is.  ~60*.  Brrrrr!

The Christmas decorations are all put away, the laundary is almost done, and the cookies are gone.  The only part of Christmas that remains are the online gifts bought with gift cards and the thank you notes.  Yesterday the mail room at work was flooded with packages!  I think everyone did the same thing:  shopping after Christmas to hit the sales or spend gift cards. 

Baking Project #1: Orange Sponge Cake
with a Cointreau Butter Cream Frosting - Delicious!



(Or their families didn't send Christmas gifts on time and they are just now arriving.)  Whatever the case, we got 3 packages yesterday!  :) 

The best part about being back is having our kitchen!  It was great before, but now!  Now I have a Kitchenaid Mixer, spring-form cake pans, a tart pan, new flour towels, and a butter crock!  I'm running out of room to put the kitchen toys.  All of these new toys lead me to baking, but I should really be running. Maybe I'll become that person who bakes for everyone else's birthdays and parties!

Christmas Cocktail in the Holy Land

I must apologize to all of you who checked back on Sunday to see if our Christmas Cocktail Party was a flop...and shame on you for thinking I would let a party flop!  It was awesome!  People were SO happy to have a Christmas event to mark the season and a reason to dress up and time to hang out with friends!  As surprising at it is...there is no Christmas in the Holy Land. At least not as we know it and not in the place where we can go.  Throughout Palestine there are Christmas tree lightings and peace choirs singing - but not here in Israel.  Anyway... enough of that sad story - on to the spectacular Christmas Cocktail!

The duty free alcohol for the party showed up, as predicted, the day after the party.  We ran to a local store and picked up the necessities to make our creative cocktails with festive names like "Father Christmas" (Bourbon, orange, bitters and powdered sugar) and "Holiday Cheer" (A fruity martini). And wow did our friends ever take the cocktail part seriously!  I set out little red and green notecards for everyone to write their cocktail recipe on...and the bar was littered with these cards!  The drinks were delicious, all but 4 of my cookies were eaten, the appetizers brought by friends were devoured! And most of all, people LOVED the Christmas decorations in our house which actually felt (and smelled) like Christmas!

My Christmas piano books were out but I'm too much of a chicken to play for everyone.  Lucky for me, one of the guests is a "trained in classic piano."  She happy browsed through the books and played the favorites while everyone stood around sipping cocktails and singing from the caroling books I'd saved from a Christmas cruise.  The surprising and touching and magical part of this is that my Jewish friends (some of whom have never heard these carols) were singing along! 

Another surprising thing here is the "Happy Holiday" versus "Merry Christmas."  Take the trend towards "Holiday" vs. "Christmas" and add in the complex cultural dynamic of Christians, Muslims and Jews, pair that with the fact that most people don't celebrate Christmas here, and the fact that we work for a politically correct government entity...and you get lots of Happy Holidays.  But not at our party.  All of our friends said Merry Christmas and it really meant a lot to us. 

Our tree and the many ornaments from my childhood were the highlight of the party.  And the make-shift advent wreath and the beautiful stockings I made. (Not really but I was proud of them and I want to put the picture on top!)

In short, it was a fabulous time!  Now that we have done Christmas here, it's time to go back to the States!!!  I probably won't post for the next three weeks (sorry), but we'll be on whirlwind tour of the States (at least the Midwest and the East Coast) and we'll be so busy seeing friends and doing everyday things we probably won't have time to write. (You can't possibly understand how excited I am to drive go grocery shopping.  Driving there without traffic, parking in a free parking lot with large spaces, paying in US dollars!!) 

How the Grinch Stole My Christmas Cocktail Party...

Twas the night before the night before the Vaca Christmas Cocktail party...(I think that is the wrong story...but we're going to go with it)....and all the Young Dips down in tel aviv were preparing for the Christmas party of the year.  "Cocktail Attire, no children please." The cookies were made, decorations on the trees.  The only thing missing for the Cocktail Party was alcohol purchased at duty free.

On Tuesday they called "I'll send it tomorrow," replied the warehouse man who had to approve.  "You'll have it by Friday! Don't you worry, my friend." on Wednesday...and Thursday brought even worse news.


Invitation by Jen: Can I get this published as an eSilver Card?

 The Grinch in the customs dept. surely knew that this holiday request was for more than two.  More than a request for alcohol and food, this order meant an evening of home, holiday and good moods.  It wasn't just the event of the season, it was the event that created the season!  Closer than ever to the true Christmas of ole, the kids in Tel Aviv didn't know that the countdown to Christmas was coming to a close!  Though just a few miles away from Bethlehems manger, no lights and no carols - it couldn't have been stranger.  Now the only event to mark the Christmas miracle, is a Christmas cocktail party - and they aren't going to get us the "Cocktails" in time!!!

Now I watched the Grinch just a few days ago, and I know that Christmas isn't about the ribbons and bows.  So surely it isn't about cocktail drinking, but is there a way to keep my party from sinking?!? I have to save Christmas, not just for me, but for all of my friends who are hoping to see - decorations and lights and holiday cheer,  cookies and candies and hope for the new year..... (Check back on Sunday....)

Turkey Day!!

Sorry we didn't post about this sooner.  I know many of you heard our woes of trying to find cranberries in Isreal or buying the organic, free range, kosher, home-delivery bird killed only hours before going on the grill. In the end...HUGE Success!!!

The star of Thanksgiving was the turkey and the cranberry sauce (ehh..both made by the most attravtive chef in I've ever seen!).  We'll save them for the end.

Lets start with us bringing our big plastic picnic table inside and borrowing a full set of dishes from our friends, moving the bookshelf and the couches to make room for an ambitious 16 guests! 

Then, only a few days before, the pot luck thing seemed to be going down the drain when 2 guests replied that they would bring cake.  So we bought massive amounts of mushrooms, potatoes and onions, and pre-made buscuits.  In the end, they all brought more food than we thought and we had TONS!

While I would have loved to have sent my friends home with armloads of turkey and cranberry sauce and stuffing - I couldn't.  The stuffing was pretty much gone (and it is one of my favorites). And the turkey and cranberries...well that was my food budget for a month.  So today, like yesterday and almost every day since then, we've had potatoes and turkey for dinner. (Sweet and sour turkey, turkey pot pie, turkey sandwhiches - I'm not complaining, they are delicious).

We ordered 11 kilos of turkey (a safe bet according to the turkey experts online)(we ended up with a 25lb bird!).  Well, they don't really eat turkeys here so the market (demand and supply) is pretty small.  We couldn't really be picky.  Then on the cranberries.  You know those oceanspray commercials where they are standing in a pond with berries floating around them.  Well this is the desert and we're in a dry spell.  We bought frozen cranberries from Russia by the ounce! 

Paul cut the legs off of the turkey and pushed him down to make him fit on the grill.  After seven hours we had a delicious and juicy bird with a slight grilled flavor!  The cranberries...what can I say...it was almost like being at Aunt Patsy's! 

The whole event was a huge success and everyone very much appreciated us hosting.  Lessons learned:  1. Order less turkey.  2.  Confirm that guests are bringing sides. 3.  The pilgrims and indians ate those foods because they were local - so maybe next year we'll do a "local Thanksgiving" keeping with the spirit of the holiday.  4. Invite lots of friends and eat turkey for a month - it is worth it!

Celebration of Oil

What I knew about Hanukkah before today: "Hanukkah is...the festival of lights;" it is around Christmas; there is a game with a dreidel; they only had enough oil for one day but the candle stayed lit for 8 days.
Today is the second day of Hanukkah and I am in Jerusalem for work. What this means is: I know now infinitely more about Hanukkah than I did three days ago. You see, I am here for work (sans Paul). My two Canadian/Israeli co-workers are here with me and spending all day with them...eating every meal with them for 4 days...you learn a lot!
Tonight we happened to be sitting at an outdoor cafe between the Old City and Zion Square (in a young, popular, Jewish part of town). Just before sunset a couple hundred people can down the street with music and lights on a stick. Apparently they had walked around the Old City and were on their way to the Square to light the manora at sunset. About half of this group was new soldiers (in uniform, with guns). There was a stage and lots of happy Hebrew music which I didn't understand, but my co-worker sang along and said it was all traditional holiday music.

As the sun set a soldier said two prayers (I understood only the word Adoni, Lord) and they lit their second candle. More interesting than this was the 2nd floor balcony of someone's apartment in a very old beautiful building where a young man came out a sunset and lit a two small candles. He went back inside and sat at the dinner table. The dark night made his lit up dining room look like a stage. He sat down to dinner with his family and in the background fireworks began to go off. "One of the rules of Hanukkah is that you have to show your lights." This made infinitely more sense as we walked back to the hotel and saw manora lightings and singing on the sidewalks and balconies.
Apparently, Hanukkah also has a slightly political undertone to it. You see, the rest of the story of the candle that stayed lit for 8 days is this. Jerusalem was occupied by the Greeks and was a secular (like Tel Aviv today). The Macabees (either a rebel group that wanted to restore the right to practice Judaism or a conservative sect that wanted to restore strict Jewish law, depending on your interpretation of it) after a series of battles retook Jerusalem and went about cleaning out all of the pagan symbols and altars - some of which were in the Second Temple. They wanted to work through the night to restore the purity of the temple but only had.....(enter the story you know)...enough oil for one day of work. The oil lasted 8 days.
This is interesting to me because it happened here in Jerusalem. I am here. Though I didn't bring my camera, I hope to go to the Western Wall tomorrow, ie. to the only remaining part of the Second Temple. While I'd love to see them light the third candle - I think work will get in the way of that.
More than the festival of lights, I'm told it is a festival of oil. Most of the foods associated with Hanukkah include lots of oil. And I saw several altar-like manoras on the streets where the candles were actually oil! It was pretty cool.

"Holiday Celebrations"

One of the best things about being posted in Israel is that we get to celebrate all of the American holidays (for us), the Israeli/Jewish holidays (for the host country) and the Palestinian/Islamic holidays (for our colleagues). While this usually works to our benefit - like for example in September when the clash of Labor Day, Ramadan, Yom Kippur and Rosh HaShanah collide giving us a grand total of 7 1/2 work days off. That is almost half the month!!!

But the down side of this is the "Holiday Celebrations." Part of my job is to make sure the office follows protocol. Now I am no expert, but I'm reading about the actual protocol and trying to take into account my coursework on culture and religion, etc. I LOVE to plan parties and social events so I was very excited to plan the welcome picnic for the new director and collect money for champagne for a toast for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year). And then....

Rosh Hashanah is Sept 9th - so we have half a day of work on the 8th. The plan was a toast on the 8th...but some people get really offended at the idea of ANY alcohol at work, even a toast. Fine - sparkling grape juice in desserts. No...that is during Ramadan so the Muslims celebrating Ramadan (one month of fasting - no eating or drinking ANYTHING from sunrise to sunset) would be offended. Okay, so Ramadan ends the 11th of Sept, we'll do it the following Monday - nope, they take off the 3 days after Ramadan ends - so we're looking at the 15th. But the director will be out of the office that day and the next - so the 17th. Ooh, that is Yom Kippur. 

So maybe instead of a toast for Rosh Hashanah on the 8th we'll have a holiday celebration at the end of the month....

Similar complications arise with planning the picnic as some of the staff lives in Ramallah (almost 3 hours away with traffic), some in Jerusalem (1.5 hours away) and some live in Jaffa (15 minutes). Where do you have a picnic? And since they have to get home after work, when do you have it? During work? Okay - then you are back to Ramadan and days off...and the end of the fiscal year.

So it looks as if our new mission director will arrive in mid-August, and we'll have a very neutral inclusive welcome picnic on October. :(  Is it better to be neutral and not offend ANYONE - or have many small celebrations and make the director feel welcomed and the staff more relaxed?  Hmm...

Easter...?

Let me start talking about Easter by saying that today is the second day of Passover and we live in Israel.

I was browsing through the New York Time’s Style Section (which is one of my favorites, after world news) and came across the abundance of Easter Recipes and it hit me – this is EASTER! We have been so focused on Passover – it’s odd days off of work and lack of bread - that I’d forgotten it was Easter! (Last night we even made a Jewish, “Passover kosher” dinner from our Israeli cookbook that was delicious and oh so rich!..but that is beside the point.)

So thinking about my memories of Easter dinner I started looking for “honey baked ham recipes! I’ll pair that with cheesy potatoes, oven-hot rolls and maybe we’ll try the NYT’s hot crossed buns for dessert. Oh! And Easter Eggs! We’ll do those tonight. Whewww, we’ll still have Easter!!”

And then it hits me: today is the second day of Passover and we live in Israel. What does this mean?
a.) Not only will I not find honey baked ham…I won’t find any ham..or bacon (which I dreamt about last night)..or any other pig products. So cross that one off the list.
b.) It is Passover…so as I said before – no bread. The grocery store isles really are covered with tarps. No Bread, no pasta, no cereal, no baby food or dog food – and no Easter rolls.
c.) Cheesy potatoes may be possible, but modified since I won’t find the exact ingredients we used at home.
d.) Easter Eggs – this one is sad. First, there are no "Easter Egg Dying Kits" in the stores here. Second, the NYTs mentions a dozen eggs are about $1.20 (and that is NYC!) – try $3 - $7.50 for a dozen eggs here. And Third, don’t tell anyone, but I’ve never boiled an egg before. This sounds like a relatively expensive experiment in natural egg coloring that will surely make us sick.

So we are back to the second day of Passover in Israel – trying to think of ways to make it more like Easter. Don’t tell Paul but I’ve already staked out a candy store and I’m working on the basket and lack of Easter grass, but he may still get an Easter basket!

You say Passover, I say Semana Santa

It is happening...At about 3 or 4pm tomorrow people will start saying "Shabot Shalom!", the stores will close, and that is the end of bread and milk for a week!!!

So the Israeli day starts at sunset the night before. The work week is Sunday through Thursday. Passover starts on Tuesday and lasts a week. This (in A-merrr-i-ken) means that at 3 or 4pm tomorrow businesses will close so everyone can be home from work by sunset. (No work on the Sabbath!) Businesses usually stay closed until Saturday at sunset. But with the holiday around the corner we've heard that most people take off Sunday and Monday while they're at it. (Monday would be a half-day anyway because you would have to leave work by 3pm to be home for sunset and the first day of Passover - remember, "Tuesday" starts Monday at sunset..~5pm). Are you following me? So then businesses are closed for Passover until Tuesday the 6th, but even that is a Moroccan holiday that is now celebrated here - so what the heck, lets throw in an extra day of vacation. This means at 3pm on Friday (the 26th) businesses will close and not open again until Tuesday the 6th.

Now, most of the Americans and Palestinians aren't Jewish so they (and hence our work community) continues to work through this whole shindig (with the exception of the first and last day). Not so bad - except the places we shop, for say groceries, are closed. AND...if that isn't enough, Passover means no wheat (I think, correct me someone!) so you have matza and NO BREAD!! (We stocked up today)

At breakfast this morning we made another not-so-fun but important discovery about Passover. Our milk is kosher (that isn't the sad part). It says (in English) that is kosher, but not "Passover Kosher".....? Oh!! okay...? The grocery stores supposedly put sheets over the non-kosher items during passover so we can't buy them....are they going to not sell us milk too? A whole week without bread and milk?!?! I'm excited to see how this works. Hopefully I'll get some pictures and post them later. Pictures of Passover, not us without bread and milk.

On another note - our first guest is coming!!! All the way from Spain! They have Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Spain so he too has a long vacation and gets to spend it with us! Yeahhh!!! Who is next? The guest room is ready!