Hevel Heveilim 122

My post on working moms in Israel is in the 122nd Hevel Heveilim. HH is a carnival of all things Jewish and Israeli. There is a wide assortment. Check it out, there is something for everyone HH #122.

Adjusting to Israeli Cooking

When I made aliya it took a while before I adjusted to Israeli cooking. The zucchinis looked different and there were so many dairy products I had never seen before. What exactly is gvina levana? Where is my cheddar? I've assimilated some Israeli cooking (I've even made Kubeh soup - just the soup not the Kubeh -that is for another post) and I like some of the changes. Here is my first recipe that I've created that really shows Israeli influence. Not an American recipe I've adapted but an Israeli one I've made using Israeli ingredients. It is for pashtida - somewhere in between a quiche and a kugel. It's crustless but often dairy and more egg based than a kugel. It's a hit for a weekday supper or a seuda shlishit.

Tuna Pashtida
250 grams cottage
250 grams gvina levana
2 cans tuna
1 can corn
¾ cup bread crumbs
2 eggs

optional spices:
2 teaspoons onion soup mix
a pinch of type
seasoned salt

grated yellow cheese (keter, edam)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients except cheese. Pour into a baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake an additional 10 minutes.

The Blessing of a Skinned Knee

I read an interesting parenting book not long ago called "The Blessing of a Skinned Knee" by Dr. Wendy Mogel. I found it to be delightfully common sense. She speaks about certain concepts in childrearing which she calls blessings. For example on the chapter on the blessing of uniqueness she speaks about the fact that although we want our child to be good at everything because then they will have the best chances of succeeding in an unpredictable world, that is unrealistic. It seems only in childhood do we expect people to be good at everything. She notes you wouldn't ask your car mechanic a history question or your pediatrician an Art History question (those weren't her exact examples). But children are expected to get 100% in every subject. She also speaks about how we cannot protect our children from everything and if we do one day it will come crashing down because when they are faced with their first challenge they will fall. That comforted me when my daughter came home from Maon with a bite mark on her arm. When I write these things, they seem common sense, obvious. Maybe they are to seasoned parents, or maybe I've intuited them myself to a certain degree already. It was a smooth, easy, feel good read.

A Working Mother in Israel

Is it hard to be a working mother in Israel? I think it is hard to be a working Ima anywhere. Honestly, I haven't been an Ima anywhere else so I don't know if I can objectively answer the question. Yet, prompted by a comment on a previous post I'm willing to explore the theme.

The Israeli workforce is relatively family friendly (especially compared to the US). As a graduate student in Biology I work from 8:30 AM till 3 PM so I can get home on time to pick my daughter up from Maon (daycare). I remember doing a summer internship in Sloan Kettering where a newly married post doc admitted to aiming for 12 hour work days. A social worker I know (whose daughter in law is a biologist) claimed that biology is a greedy profession (along with the rabbinate and medicine). There is always more to do, an article to read, a PCR to run, some DNA cloning to work on, buffers to make . . . And still in Israel many women work in the field and are home to pick up their children, especially religious ones. Often they have understanding husbands, but 95% of the time they are home with the kids by 4 PM when most Maons or Tzaharons (after school programs) end. From what I hear from friends in the states you can't do that in most professions except teaching. Furthermore, its wholly acceptable to stay home for any of the holidays that your kids get off for: Lag Baomer, Erev Chag etc. In America I always remember my parents using precious few vacation days for actual Yom Tov, taking off Chol Hamoed was rarely an option. Taking off for sick kids is also well accepted. So jobs in Israel are often sensitive to Imas.

In terms of surviving on low salaries, it is hard for some to make the adjustment, but you have two choices. Either you can try and import your previous lifestyle here, or you can create a new one. If you forever try and live in Israel on Chutz L'Aretz standards then it will be hard. There is a certain culture of materialism that I'm happy to have left behind. I enjoy new clothes and fun kitchen gadgets, but in the US I find myself shopping (not for food) three or four times a week. Here I buy something when I need it. Salaries might be low, but that means that there are less expectations to have lots of stuff and I don't think people suffer as a result of it.

Of course being a working Ima is hard. You wake up early to get ready and your kid(s) ready. You get to work and feel like you need to make the most of your time because you're there less time than the men and single women. You rush home and try and have quality time with your family and prepare a healthy supper. Bath, bed, stuff around the house, maybe a few minutes to yourself and then sleep. The next morning it starts all over again. It is difficult, but I don't see why it's different than anywhere else in the world.

My First Carnival

I came across a carnival today that I couldn't resist. (For those of you who would like more info on what a carnival is see wikipedia on the topic. It is a kosher food carnival hosted by muse .

Since I was young I've had a love of cooking, as a biologist I'm always trying to understand how it all works. I recently got a great cookbook by Shirley Corriher which explains a lot of food science. Like how gluten works. Gluten is a protein in bread. When it joins with water it makes chains which form into sheets. The yeast makes gases which make bubbles between these sheets and make your bread rise. If there are no sheets of gluten to hold the gasses they just evaporate. With this new understanding I began a quest to lighten my challah which ideally is 100% whole wheat. Before I read her book it often came out rather dense. Now it is light and springy.


Here it is:

1 package yeast (Here in Israel I use the fresh powdered variety but in the US I used Fleishmans)
1 ½ cups leukwarm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup oil
2 eggs
6-7 cups flour

Mix the yeast, water and two cups flour at low speed for five minutes (with fresh yeast no need for proofing if its dried yeast proof it first). Let this mixture sit from a half hour to an hour to improve flavor.

Stir in sugar, eggs, salt and oil. Add in the flour one cup at a time until the dough forms a soft ball that holds together. It will be soft, it is better to add less flour than more, if you add too much it will be heavy. How much flour can depend on the humidity and temperature of the day. It takes time to know how much to add.

Knead at medium speed (number 4 on a kitchenaid) for five minutes. This might seem excessive. When I make Challah now my kitchenaid dances across the counter so I stand nearby and restrain it every so often. This extended kneading is essential to develop the gluten and makes for a light bread. Let rise until doubled in size.

Turn out and devide into challot (It can make 4 small or 2 big). Take Challah. Let rise again. Brush with egg and sprinkle on seeds. Boil a few cups of water. Preheat oven to 325 F. Put the boiling water in an empty pan on the bottom of your oven (or bottom shelf if oven is electric). This creates steam to help the challah rise high in the oven before the top crust forms. Once the crust forms the challah can't rise any higher, so if you add the steam the challah rises for a longer period of time in the oven. Put in the challah on cookie sheets. Raise the oven temp to 350 F. Bake until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped and the top is golden (usually about a half hour).

If I don't need all the challot for Shabbat I braid them and freeze them. Then I just thaw them, let them rise and bake them!

Shabbat Shalom!

Who am I?

You might have seen the title of my blog and think that I don't know how to type. Not so, in fact I type much better than I write. The title is meant to convey a certain ambivalence because obviously one person cannot sum themselves up in a word or two.

I'm an Ima (mother in Hebrew) which means I am a Jewish Mom (who happens to live in Israel). Along those lines I'm also a wife.

I'm also a biologist, a PHD student working towards her doctorate.

I haven't quite decided what I will write about on this blog. Some topics will include parenting, food and food science, Judaism, being a PHD student, being a working mom, life in Israel. This is not a definititive list.

I've been a lurker on other people's blogs for over a year now (more on that another time), I've enjoyed seeing interesting things that other people wrote and some have even inspired me to think. I thought it was time for me to add my own two cents. Hope those who visit enjoy, think and comment!