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Enjoying A Date With Good Health

Every generation thinks it’s found the secret of eternal health and youth.

Thus it was last week when I heard a young nutritionist advising western immigrants how to keep cool in the intense Israeli summer heat.

None of us is ever too old to learn but I was tickled when she repeated what my late mother used to say during the so-called British summer when I heard the Corona salesman’s van trundling along Rotton Park Road in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

“Don’t ask me for lemonade”, she’d warn. “The Indians believe it’s better to drink tea in hot weather – it makes you sweat and then cools you down.” 

Mum’s word was law even if she had a peculiarly personal view of what was then called ‘nature cure’. She considered it important – but not so important that it stopped her smoking - or making what is now considered to be very rich food. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, vegetarianism was dismissed as ‘cranky’ and ‘whole food’ meant ‘eat it all - or else!’

At Passover we ate the traditional dried fruit compote while the winter festive period saw everyone noshing tangerines and dried ‘Eat Me’ dates – and it was dates that the youthful expert suggested that her audience ate as a sweetener in lieu of sugar.

Now I’m a lacto-veggie cook of more than twenty-five years’ experience but I was totally bemused by fresh dates when I came to Israel. At the Dohan Market in Karmiel they are sold in bunches on a stick for a couple of months from August.

At first I tried serving them raw but they were tasteless and tough to eat. It was an English vegan friend who told me how best to prepare them. I felt most stupid when she said they should be cooked first!

Furthermore, I asked a vegan friend here in Karmiel how he replaced bees’ honey in order to observe the practice of dipping honey in apple at Rosh Hashana – Jewish New Year. He explained that he used date honey, which biblical historians now insist was the real delicacy discovered by Joshua and Caleb in the land ‘flowing with milk and honey’.

Below I’m posting two date recipes – one using fresh dates and the other dried. But be warned: Both recipes also use large quantities of cane sugar along with the dates. It seems that westerners can’t get through life without it. Enjoy!

Candied Dates with Cardamom

(The recipe is from Tastespotting) (http://www.tastespotting.com/features/fresh-dates)

Ingredients

1½ pounds of fresh yellow or red dates
2½ cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
Green cardamom seeds, crushed with a knife or mallet (traditionally, cloves are used)
½ cup peeled pistachios or almonds (almonds or candied orange rinds are used traditionally)

Method

Peel the dates with a peeler; one option is to boil them first and then peel them when they have cooled.

Place the dates in a saucepan and cover with water. Simmer gently until they are soft when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes or more. Cool a bit.

Remove the dates from the saucepan and with the tip of a knife or a vegetable corer, dislodge the seed from the dates and any strings from the inside of the fruit. Insert an almond inside or some pistachios.

Place the dates back in the pot and add 2½ cups of sugar. Leave overnight or 12 hours or so.

The next day, measure the syrup and add enough water to equal four cups. Add the cardamom or cloves and boil the syrup down, adding some lemon juice until it is syrupy. Place the dates back in the syrup and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Cool. Place in sterilized jars. Serve or store in the fridge.

---------------

Sticky Date Pudding with Toffee Sauce

(The recipe is from Epicurious)

(http://www.epicurious.com/recip es/food/views/Sticky-Date-Pudding-with-Toffee-Sauce-15100)Ingredients

For the pudding

1 3/4 cups packed pitted dates (about 10 ounces)

2 cups water

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

For the sauce

1 3/4 sticks (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Method

Preheat oven to 375°F and butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan (2 inches deep), knocking out excess flour.

Coarsely chop dates and in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan simmer dates in water, uncovered, five  minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in baking soda. (Mixture will foam.) Let mixture stand 20 minutes.

While mixture is standing, into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, ginger, and salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture in three batches, beating after each addition until just combined. Add date mixture and with a wooden spoon stir batter until just combined well.

Pour batter into baking pan and set pan in a larger baking pan. Add enough hot water to larger pan to reach halfway up sides of smaller pan and bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove smaller pan from water bath and cool pudding to warm on a rack.

Make sauce while pudding is cooling:

xxIn a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan melt butter over moderate heat and add brown sugar. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally, and stir in cream and vanilla. Simmer sauce, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. Cool sauce to warm.

Cut warm pudding into squares. Serve pudding with ice cream and warm sauce.

Technorati Tags: Israel,Dates,Fresh Dates,Dried Dates,'Eat Me' Dates,Tea,Summer

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How Israelis Spice Up Their Tea!

As petrol hits eight shekels a litre and a 100 gram packet of Passover ground almonds sells at 8.40 NIS, it’s small wonder that Israelim are debating whether to fill their car tanks with gas or nuts!

Never mind! As the weather gets warmer and temperatures rise to match, we can always take solace in a ‘nice cup of tea’.

And what better place to find the right concoction for our favourite brew than at the Herb and Spice Farm in Bethlehem Haglilit, near Nazareth. My husband and some of our friends are featured in the above clip as they visit the farm shop.

Now, let’s put the kettle on!

Technorati Tags: Israel,Petrol,Almonds,Tea,Bethlehem H aglilit,Herb and Spice Farm,Israel 21C

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How Israeli Cats Cop It!

 

A new meaning for the term “cat litter”!

Some time last year a middle-aged woman in Coventry. U.K was caught on CCTV chucking  a cat into a wheelie bin -  and then walking away.

Lola, a tabby,  was trapped in the bin for 15 hours before her owners  found her.

Darryl and Stephanie Andrews-Mann thought she may have fallen in  or had been thrown there by louts, but were shocked to discover that a  mature woman was responsible.

The CCTV footage shows the grey-haired, middle-aged woman  walking past a house on Brays Lane, Coventry and Lola jumping onto a garden wall.

The woman stops to stroke her. But moments later, she is seen glancing around to see if anyone is watching. She then picks her up and  drops her into the bin - before slamming the lid shut and walking away!

Darryl said: "I'd like to know how she would feel if she was stuck in a bin for 15 hours without food or drink.

"It was a really hot day outside. I searched nearby alleyways and then heard a tiny mewl  coming from the bin. I looked inside and I found her in the bin. She was terrified and covered in her own mess."

The couple had installed CCTV outside their home two years ago after their car was repeatedly knocked by careless drivers.

The RSPCA and West Midlands Police investigated the incident.

The story above may sound like a case of “revenge of the disgruntled car owner” but I’m ashamed to say that in Israel - which is plagued by a huge population of stray cats - the use and abuse of them is almost universal and even sanctioned at municipal level.

Note the latest posting on ‘The Galilee Noticeboard’ from a resident of Katzrin in the Golan, Northern Israel:

“You need to know that people and the city are poisoning cats, dogs, and possibly people in Katzrin this week. They are putting out rat poison on the streets, in the yards and it is killing many animals. If a child were to put a pellet in its mouth, they too could be killed by this.

“We had three cats that were getting ready for adoption (we found someone interested) and two are confirmed dead in our yard and one more has been missing for five days and presumed dead since she never goes away from us.

“We paid for them to be fixed and vaccinated, but now they are dead. So why are they killing off the cats when there is a very active spay/neuter programme going on right now in the same streets and lanes?

“Loving animals need your help. We will not stand for this inhuman conduct. Please spread the word to all humane and caring people.”

In Karmiel, strays and their – umm, err, left-overs - despoil our otherwise lovely city. A group my husband dubs “The Kitty-Kat Club” has long-term residence of the bin shelter outside our apartment block and we’ve marked one of them as the local ‘Boss Cat’ – right down to his irrepressible, cheeky grin.

But life’s not good for most. They are piteously thin and mangy and possibly too disease-ridden to handle without extreme care.

Some are taken off the streets and given good homes. The families of several students I’ve met at local schools have done this – but they are the exception.

I don’t apologise for posting the accompanying image by way of concluding illustration. The plight of this poor creature   was first highlighted during the summer of 2010 (by the-then named Israel Animal Rescue). It had been attacked with acid by a kitchen worker  when it sought shelter in a large commercial kitchen somewhere in Haifa.

Technorati Tags: Cat in Wheelie Bin Video Clip,Coventry,Lola,Police,RSPCA.Israel,Katzrin,Israel Animal Rescue,Strays

msniw

Alwayswriteagain: Hope Springs Eternal In Israel – and London!

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Little Saplings Get Plum Job for Israeli Trees Day!

Israel celebrates a wonderful environmental festival known in English as ”the New Year for Trees” and children learn the customs associated with it from a very young age.

This year Tu B’Shevat occurred on Wednesday and here  children from  Gan Sheizaf, Karmiel (the Sheizaf Nursery) are seen planting saplings in an adjacent park with the help of Rabbi Mijael Even-David from the Kehilat Hakerem Masorti Congregation.

The nursery and the congregation are on Sheizaf Street – a most appropriate name for the occasion as sheizaf is the Hebrew word for ‘plum’!

Pictures by Brian Fink

Tu B'Shevat.Karmiel.February.2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Technorati Tags: Tu B'Shervat,New Year for Trees,Israel,Karmiel,Kehilat HaKerem Masorti Congregation,Gan Sheizaf

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One Hundred Ways To Tie Yourself In Knots!

 

It’s cold – right?

You still want to look fetching – right?

Watch this snazzy video clip with loads of ideas about how to snuggle up under a scarf – or if you prefer – tie yourself in knots.

Now, keep warm!

Technorati Tags: Scarf,Fashion Ideas,Warm,YouTube

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