Sivan Kosher Cooking Carnival

Welcome to the latest Kosher Cooking Carnival which is a monthly blog carnival, a floating internet magazine which centers on kosher food, kosher cooking, the halachot Jewish Laws of kashrut and pretty much everything imaginable about kosher food. You can participate by sending your links via blog carnival. We coordinate and volunteer to host on our facebook page. And if you have any questions you can email me at shilohmuse at gmail dot com.

It's now the Jewish Month of Sivan, and in a couple of days it will be Shavuot, when many Jews serve dairy meals. You'll find lots of interesting ideas here. Click if they look interesting. I'm just listing the titles. Enjoy.

Pre-Shavuos Bake Sale in RBS
Cheese Blintzes
Cookbook Review: Dairy Made Easy & “180 Cal (or Less!) Cheesecake” Ramekins
Cooking That Gorgeous NS2 Shekel Kilo Zucchini
Healthy And Simple -Tomato and Avocado Salad
Gluten-Free Bagels
Discovered Kubeh! Restaurant Review

Golan Brewery double bock comparison: Bazelet vs Og Alon
When chummus comes a-knocking…
Challah (Yeast Dough) Baking Tips
Cold Brewed Coffee
It's משמש Mishmish Apricot Season!
Recipe: Salad in a Jar
The 5 Shekel Cup of Coffee and More

Here's a reminder read, comment and share the posts, thanks.

Next month's Kosher Cooking Carnival will be hosted by Challah Maidel.

You can participate by sending your links via blog carnival. We coordinate and volunteer to host on our facebook page. And if you have any questions you can email me at shilohmuse at gmail dot com.

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Technorati tags: kosher cooking carnival-kcc, blog carnival.

It's Nice to Know I'm Missed

Last night, the second of the three, tremps or rides, I got to take me home was with a former student from my days of teaching English mostly in the Yeshivat Tichonit Mateh Binyamin in Beit El. I taught boys, since it's a boys school. My glory days were when I had these tiny groups of boys who had only known failure before I got to them. After that it's not that they all became excellent students, but they remember our classes as fun. And many did go on to being better, at least passable English students.

I'm not a really great teacher, but my style seemed to fit these kids, and my flexibility, actually a manifestation of my own ADHD meant that I could easily stop in my tracks and take a completely different direction aka lesson plan when I realized that some or all were lacking in a basic skill or knowledge needed to do what had been planned.

That sort of flexibility is more than crucial when you're teaching, especially when the class is considered "remedial." I'd even have students who were English speakers, but they had never really learned to read and write the language. In many cases it was because they were dyslexic and in other cases it was because their English knowledge made the Elementary school English curriculum so unsuitable for them that they were told not to go to those classes.  But they had a such a sense of humor.

Even some students who had been insufferable in the classroom are now the happiest to see me when we run into each other in various places.

It's hard for them to accept that I left teaching soon after and now I'm working at a low level sales job instead of helping others the way I helped them.  Even those who staff members knew me in those days ask how I could have left teaching. And parents of those students tell me what a great influence I had on their sons.

My specialty was teaching those small groups. I couldn't cope with regular classes and standard curriculum. I needed to do my own thing with lots of independence. My ADHD made it hard to keep on track, so that the "emergency lesson plan changes" were just my speed. That works with six students and not twenty-six or more or even sixteen. At work in the store that "skill" at noticing all sorts of things means that I see a girls size skirt in the women's rack, a man's shirt stuck under the shelves or a clothes hangar on top of the scarves.

It is nice to be missed. My students have gone on with their lives, and I have, too.

Jerusalem Day Flags, Favorite Photos

Of all the gazillion photos I've ever taken some of my all-time favorites are photos of Israel flags. One of the photos was used by Sarah who used to have a blog and did my blog banners.

Here's the photo on its own. Of course it's untouched.

It was cropped for the banner and originally posted in Shiloh Musings in the article Now for the Third Time, which tells of the third annual march to Jerusalem in memory of Avihu Keinan of Shiloh who was killed by Arabs in a very poorly planned army operation.

I have another favorite flag photo from that march.

I really can't say that they are better than the photos from yesterday, Jerusalem Day, but for me the excitement of those marches can still be felt when I look at the pictures.

There's something very kinesthetic, alive you can see in flags as they wave, furl and unfurl uncontrollably in the breeze or from the movements of whomever is holding it. Here are a few photos I managed to shoot yesterday in Jerusalem on Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem Day 5774.

It's משמש Mishmish Apricot Season!

Yes, it's משמש Mishmish aka apricot season in Israel!

Apricots are only good this time of the year. The season lasts barely a month, and only for a week or so are prices almost reasonable. I bought a couple of kilo last week. I'm now keeping them in the fridge. There are hardly any lest, and they may be the last this year for me.

Apricots are extremely healthy and have a terribly short shelf-life. They only taste good in season when fresh. I rarely eat the dried ones, because they are so sweet and hard to limit. I just keep eating and eating them. In the states I've seen gorgeous ones, but they have less flavor than Styrofoam, not that I'd ever eat Styrofoam. The few times I've tried American apricots, I've been disappointed and do not plan on trying again. I believe that fruit should only be eaten in season, and this season, this week is still apricot time. Enjoy!

Dressing Dolls, Like Grandmother, Like Granddaughters

One of the things I do at work is to keep the mannequins well dressed in the latest fashions. It's an unofficial special responsibility I've taken on in Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin. I started dressing the dolls, because I really didn't like how they looked and I thought they needed clothing/fashion changes a lot more frequently then they had been getting.

I really get a thrill out of hearing customers come in wanting "just like the mannequin is wearing." And when I have to strip the poor doll of her clothes for a customer I thank the customer for telling me what a good job I did in putting together the outfit. It really does make me feel good when one of the outfits I had put together has attracted a customer into the store.

Another of my small touches to the way the store is set up is when I change the order of outfits hanging together so that the one I consider most attractive or has the best color is in front. Playing around with style, being an unofficial "stylist" makes the job lots more fun for me.

During one of my babysitting times for the grandkids I saw that the granddaughters also like to dress and accessorize dolls. I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised. they are my granddaughters...

See Dress Codes: Revealing the Jewish Wardrobe!

Last week I went to the Israel Museum. Here are a few of the pictures I took there. The big featured exhibit is "Dress Codes: Revealing the Jewish Wardrobe." Don't make do with viewing my photos; the exhibit is breathtaking.  Also Face to Face: The Oldest Masks in the World is gorgeous.

I actually have more photos in my camera, but these form the phone were easier to post.