Walkabout

When a parasha is called "Get going", you assume there will be lots of moving around. And there certainly is plenty of walking in this week's parasha. 

Avraham has ants in his pants. The man cannot sit still for a second. From the moment we meet him for the first time he is already on the move. And he keeps moving all through the parasha. It's almost as if G-d finally came up with circumcision as a strategy to keep Avraham in one place for more than a few days, so He can come visit (next parasha, spoiler alert) with an important message. 

Where is the man going? Everywhere. The original wandering Jew. And everywhere he goes, he has a profound effect on the people he meets and even on the lands he passes through. 

What does Avraham bring along with him? A new idea. A new religion. A new philosophy. 

We don't really hear about the people he had influenced except in a roundabout way. We know he is gaining fame as a rich person, a warrior (when did that happen? he usually avoids conflict like the plague), a fair person, a righteous person. 

The people of the Levant has never seen such a thing. They are used to hardy nomads. And desert dwellers certainly have their own code of honor; but Avraham had a higher authority to back up his code.

We know he was a great host. So we can imagine he usually had guests for dinner. And after everyone ate their fill, you know they all sat around the fire (leaving it to the women to do the dishes, as usual) and shmoozed. Even if the word shmooze was not invented yet, they did shmooze. People told stories, asked questions, gossiped, exchanged information. And surely some of them asked the following question: "Reb Avaraham, we have heard about you. Your reputation spreads far and wide. They say you are against child sacrifice. Can you explain why that is so? I mean, without child sacrifice, the crops will surely fail, no? Do you wish for people to starve?" (BTW, I used child sacrifice as an example; you can insert any pagan rite you prefer instead.)

And Avraham would explain, talking in a quiet, measured voice, long into the night. About the one and only G-d, about the sacredness of life, about inner contemplation and striving to be closer to the creator. And people listened. Not everyone and not everywhere. But little by little Avraham and Sarah "made souls" - talked people into being better and doing better and living a better, more moral life.


Among the dishes served around the fire, all through their wanderings around the Levant, the following dish would have been a staple. It requires no cooking, it uses ingredients that are widespread in the area (even if not here in the USA), it's quick to put together, it doesn't require refrigeration and it's extremely refreshing in the desert heat.

It's called tabbouleh and this is one version of it:


Tabbouleh

1 cup medium grind bulghur (see note)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Juice from 2 large lemons (do not use bottled juice)
Salt to taste
6-7 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup mint leaves, thinly sliced
1 large tomato, cubed (1/2 inch cubes)
3 cups parsley leaves, thinly sliced (see note)


Rinse bulghur in plenty of fresh water, changing water a few times.
Cover with fresh water and let rest 30 minutes.
Drain well and squeeze out (using your hands, over a strainer) most of the water
Mix garlic, lemon juice and a bit of salt. Add oil and mix.
Add tomato.
Add bulghur and mix.
Add mint and parsley. Mix well. 
Serve cold or at room temperature. The salad keeps well in the fridge but will taste best the day it is made.

Makes 8 servings

Note: Bulghur (or bulgur) is a sort of cracked wheat product. Do not substitute cracked wheat, though, as it is different. Look for bulghur and try to find "Medium grind" or "medium". Some supermarkets have it and Middle eastern stores have it for sure (and there you will also find different levels of grind.)

Note: Slicing the parsley (and the mint) should be done in back and forth motions as opposed to up and down, to prevent the leaves from releasing too much juice, which will make the dish a little bitter. Don't sweat it, just do the best you can.




And start walking. It's good exercise and you meet all kinds of people and adventures. Look where it got Avraham.

The importance if planning ahead

My brother in law Eddie is a very spontaneous sort of a fellow. He is fully capable of getting up one morning; deciding, over breakfast, to go to Israel; leaving on the 11:30PM flight that night and staying there for 3 years. I kid you not.

Apparently it is a family trait. If ever (G-d forbid) hubby will be in charge of our Thanksgiving meal and (G-d forbid) we will have people coming over that day, here is what would happen: About half an hour before the guests were scheduled to arrive, hubby will stumble downstairs, half asleep, and order the girls to clear the living room and load up the dishwasher. He would then retreat to the pantry and emerge with 3 cans of tuna and a box of stale crackers. This will make the main course since a turkey needs to be bought, prepped, and cooked. Which takes planning. Which is not spontaneous and therefore not cool enough.

Then there was my grandmother, of blessed memory, who would finish washing the dishes after the Purim se'uda and go out in the yard with a huge glass jar, a sack of beets and her Pesach meat knife and start peeling and slicing. She would preserve the beets in water to be used on Pesach. Apparently the beets needed to be soaked for weeks before they could move to the next phase (beef and beet cutlets cooked in borscht.) 

Is it better to plan ahead or to be spontaneous? 

This week's parasha seems to side with grandma (wise choice, as she was a much better cook than Eddie is.) The Torah doesn't dwell on it too much but just think how long it must have taken Noah to built the ark. With no Home Depot, no electric tools and no help from anyone. Never mind no help. Think of how much ridicule the man had to put up with. "Hey Noah, what'cha building out there?", "Hey Noah, you planning to go around the world in that tub?" "Hey Noah, you think it's gonna rain any time soon?"

We planners, who start working on the Seder menu sometime around Tu BiShvat, are used to being laughed at, criticized and sabotaged at every turn. Naturally, when the rain starts, everyone is suddenly our best friend. Well, guess what? There is only room in the ark for those I planned for. Which does not include you. So there. Let's see how spontaneous it is to drown. Huh.



Anyway, I soaked some dried rosemary in honey about 3 weeks ago because I was planning to cook the following:

Butternut squash baked in honey

3 cups butternut squash, cubed (cubes no bigger than one inch)
2 Tbs vegetable oil
2 Tbs rosemary infused honey
3/4 tsp kosher salt


Mix all ingredients and bake for 35-40 minutes at 385F until soft and starting to brown a little. Stir occasionally.


Note: I used my brand new "Chamba" dish, which is awesome, but you can bake it in any clay dish, ceramic dish, glass dish or even aluminum. Just spray it first and stir occasionally and watch that it doesn't get too brown. Cooking time may differ.

I'm not sure how many servings this makes. We were 4 and finished it up as a side dish, but it was really very very good because I used hubby's home grown squash which is sweeter and creamier than the stuff you buy at the store. Let's call it 4-6 servings.


Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah started building an ark in the back yard, attracting attention and driving his wife crazy with the mess. But she was sure happy about it when the rain came.

Back to Eden?

"Garden of Eden" is usually used as a metaphor for somewhere you wish you could live in or to describe an excellent, beautiful place. People wish they could "return to Eden".

I don't. And I believe many of us, if we think about it, will decline the invitation as well.

Hubby would hate it because the time in Eden was before man toiled the earth. And if hubby cannot garden, he ain't happy. My oldest child would really hate the place since there were no books there. None. Not even Harry Potter. My youngest would hate it because there were no iPods, no internet and no emails. What's a girl to do? My friend Lisa would hate it because there were no clothes. At all. My friend Mara would probably love the fact that walking was the main mode of transportation but then she would realize there were hardly any people to talk to and not enough things to organize and then she would hate it too. My friend Gail would not like the fact that the only 'apple' around was the forbidden fruit. My friend Elyse would have a problem dancing since there was no music. Every one of my in laws would hate the fact that (in all probability) there was no meat to eat. My brother would hate it because there was no chocolate. My sister would hate it because there were no babies. My mother would hate it because there was nothing to complain about (I mean, hey, it's the garden of Eden, right?)

And I would hate the fact that the only other person there is a.... man. Bad enough we have to put up with the beasts occasionally, but to never have anyone intelligent to talk to? Someone who communicates in more than grunts?


I totally understand Chava. He may have been a snake but at least he spoke to her about interesting stuff. About things that mattered to her (and if not, he convinced her that they mattered to her and that he cared about her well being. How many men would bother to do that if they were the only man in the world?) And he never left the toilet seat up or his shoes in the middle of the living room.

The part that puzzles me is why Adam ate the fruit. I find it is almost impossible to talk hubby into anything he is not interested in doing. I may succeed in making him do something but he will never do it properly. How did Chava convince Adam to not only agree to try the fruit but to actually do it? And when the highest authority he knew forbade it, too? If hubby's highest authority will not want him to do something, I could threaten suicide and he will not be moved. What was Chava's secret? I bet it was because there were no other men around to talk Adam out of listening to her.

And they never repeated that mistake. Notice how all men throughout history have taken Adam's example to heart and decided to never again do anything a woman asks them to do. And how they keep each other in line about it.

Sigh.

Apples baked in honey and pecans

(I found this in an Israeli cooking site. It's really good and all the ingredients could be found in Gan Eden)


6 granny smith apples
4-5 oz pecans (halved)
6 Tbs honey


Core each apple but not all the way to the bottom.

Arrange apples in a baking dish. Fill with pecans and sprinkle the rest of the pecans on the bottom of the dish.

Pour honey over apples and pecans.

Bake at 350F for an hour or until a toothpick can easily be inserted into apples.


Serves 6 (warm or cold)






And, before you all jump on me, I know. I know it wasn't necessarily an apple.  
 

Harvest time

Ahhhhhh. Sukkot.

What can be better. The weather has finally figured out it is no longer summer. The leaves are holding their yearly fashion seminar ( "Red is the new green".) The kids (Oh, praise the Lord and Halleluiah) are back in school. And hubby is busy picking the last of the tomatoes. Autumn. My favorite season.

In the olden days, this was  the time our ancestors traveled (again) to Jerusalem. Of all three pilgrimages, this one was the most beloved. The end of Harvest in an agricultural society is a very happy time. The crops are in, the work is done, it's time to rejoice and be grateful for what we have (and you know how I like this particular idea.)

Ancient Israelites harvested all kinds of things. Dates, olives, wheat, barley, grapes. You know, the good stuff. And when G-d was looking favorably upon them, they harvested plenty. What did they do with all that bounty? Some they ate. Some they took to Jerusalem as tithes and sacrifices and gifts. Some they probably traded for other household needs (I just bet there were some husbands who drove their wives nuts trading grapes for the latest meshuggas in toys-for-older-boys,) but a lot of it had to be preserved somehow so they can use it all year long until the next harvest came in (G-d willing.)

How do you save food with no refrigeration? Humans are very good at inventing what needs to be invented (see: the iPod.) So they came up with various preservation methods. Dates can be dried, olives can be crushed into oil, wheat and barley can be ground into flour, grapes can be made into wine (which can be traded for even better toys-for-older-boys.) Some produce can be stored in cool cellars, some in clay jars, some can be preserved in salt, some in honey, some in oil. Really, we humans are very creative this way.

For example, lemons. They're very good as they are, for juice and lemonade and stuff, but what to do when there are too many?

Here's what:

Pickled Lemons

Lemons - as many as you want. Very important: Do NOT use regular lemons. You must find the ones that have a very thick peel. They look a little like baby etroggim that are yellow. If you can't find them, try again another time. Best place to look for these are greengrocers.

Kosher salt.

Lemon juice from fresh lemons only. You can use regular lemons for the juice.

A little extra virgin olive oil.

Clean glass jars with tight fitting lids and rather wide mouths.


Wash the lemons well, scrubbing the outside. Dry.

Slice each lemon into quarters but not all the way through (the quarters should be attached at the bottom.)

Sprinkle a very generous amount (1 or 2 tablespoons) of kosher salt into the lemon.

Stuff lemon into the jar and push it down hard.

Repeat with as many lemons and jars as you have, making sure to press the lemons hard into the jars and try to fill each jar all the way up (it should take an effort to screw the tops on.)

Leave on the counter top for 3-4 days, tilting the jars every day. You should see juice collecting in each jar and it might even reach to the top.

After 4 days or so, add fresh lemon juice to fill up any jar that has not filled with juice naturally.

Pour a thin layer of olive oil at the top of each jar and close tightly.

Leave jars on the counter top for 4-6 weeks. If mold forms, throw the jar out and start over with a new batch, but if you used clean jars and washed the lemons well, there should be no problem. Don't leave it in the sun.

After 4 to 6 weeks the lemons should be soft (including the peel) and so they are ready to use.

Once you start using them, store jar in the fridge. They should keep for months there, though the oil might harden. That's normal.


 Imagine opening a jar like this in January. It's like a little sunshine in the kitchen.


Now, what do you do with this?


In a few weeks (when your lemons are ready), we'll see what can be done with pickled lemons. Any woman who has sons can probably guess that it will involve some sort of mischief.



P.S. In case you're wondering why I say nothing about the chag itself: What's to say, people? Build a sukkah, invite as many people on as many of the days as you can, have dinner parties, sleepover parties, hangout parties, whatever. Spend as much time as you can there. Sit back in a comfy chair, look up and watch the stars through the s'chach, count you blessings and be thankful for everything you have: A house that you can come back to at the end of Sukkot, a Sukkah you can dwell in for your soul, family and friends to share it with, plenty of food, eyes to see the stars G-d made, lungs to breath in the cool fresh air of an Autumn night, children to teach the ways of our ancestors, and plenty. So much plenty that we sometimes forget where it came from, how lucky we are to have it and who we should thank for it. Thanksgiving is in less than 2 months. Start practicing.