Shana Tova

To those of you who have already contributed to my sponsorship for the Alyn ride, thank you in the name of the children of Alyn. If you haven't yet contributed, it isn't too late.

Shana Tova from the Abramovitz family, wishing all of you a sweet, peaceful and successful year.

From Summer 09

על גבי ערימת ספגטי

and now in hebrew

על גבי ערמת ספגטי והרבה גבינה

ישבה לה קציצה כשמישהי התעטשה

היא התגלגלה על השולחן ואל הרצפה

ואז הקציצה התגלגלה לעבר הגינה

בתוך הגינה היא התגלגלה אל תוך שיח

ואז מהקציצה נשאר כמעט רק הריח

השארית היה טעים, אוי כל כך טעים

וכשהגיע הקיץ, הוא פרח על העצים

כן על העץ צמחו להם, בצרוף ירוקת יפהפיה

קציצות גדולות גדולות, ורוטב עגבניה

אז אם תאכלו ספגטי, מכוסה בגבינה כולו

החזיקו היטב בקציצה וזהירות אל תתעטשו

On Top of Spaghetti

On Top Of Spaghetti

On top of spaghetti all covered with cheese.

There sat my poor meatball when somebody sneezed.

It rolled off the table, and onto the floor,

And then my poor meatball rolled out of the door.

It rolled in the garden and under a bush,

And then my poor meatball was nothing but mush.

The mush was as tasty as tasty could be,

And early next summer it grew to a tree.

The tree was all covered with beautiful moss.

It grew great big meatballs and tomato sauce.

So if you eat spaghetti all covered with cheese,

Hold on to your meatball and don't ever sneeze.

The New Authority

Haim Omer's "The New Authority: Family, School and Community" was both inspiring and somewhat disturbing at the same time. Published in Hebrew in 2008, I understand that it repeats many themes of his older books, so non-hebrew speakers will have to make do with books such as "Non-Violent Resistance: A new approach to violent and self destructive children".

I would sum up Omer's main thesis as this: The old Authority consisted of a zero-sum game of honor -- if a subordinate impinged on the honor of an authority figure, all the weight of the system would be immediately and automatically brought to bear on the miscreant in order to bring back the 'balance'. Though some may be nostalgic and wish to return to this simplicity, the wheel cannot be turned back. The way forward is the New Authority.

The New Authority is non-monolithic but has several typical features:

1. Parental / Authority figure supervision: in any case that problematic behaviour is suspected, closer supervision should be implemented. Public areas such as school yards, hallways, and bathrooms need to be patrolled by authority figures to show that control has not been ceded to bullies.
2. 'Strike when the iron is cold' -- authority should avoid head-on conflict, but should only notify the offender that the unacceptable behaviour has been taken note of, and the response will come after due consideration.
3. Gather support and allies -- authority gains its moral force from social consensus. So when there is a conflict, the authority figure needs to prepare by gathering allies; other teachers, parents, neighbors. Then the offender is invited to a meeting where instead of a head-on confrontation between two parties, there is a circle meeting.
4. Responsibility and Restitution: After the offended party presents her version of the event, the offender is given an opportunity take responsibility and to suggest how to 'fix' what had been done. If after a 15 minute period of silence no suggestions are forthcoming, the circle may suggest remedial measures that the offender can adopt. Support for the offender in implementing the restitutive actions is also important.
5. Transparency: in direct contrast with the old Authority which owed explanations to no-one (a Man's home is his castle, a Teacher's classroom is his territory), the actions of new authority figures gain power via their communal support. Secretly spying on children's activities puts the authority figure in a bind, since she can't admit to the source of her knowledge of the negative activities, whereas open supervision, while it may overstep accepted boundaries of privacy, is above-board and eventually accepted as a manifestation of caring.

I have two main practical problems with these ideas:

1. The book deals mostly with extreme situations in the Home, School and Community. I am missing the link to what happens before the extreme situation. My general impression is that the answer would be 'modulate your level of [Parental] Supervision', but it is not that clear to me. As Omer shows in the first section, boundaries are a pre-requisite for a healthy psyche, yet his book deals mostly with how to deal with escalated conflicts, not how to go about setting boundaries in such a way that conflict is (hopefully) avoided altogether, or how it can be dealt with at early stages without calling relatives and friends to play 'good cop' to your 'bad cop'.
2. Statistically the amount of time spent in the home by parents is, as far as I know, continually getting smaller. This approach requires both more time in general, and concerted effort (social networking) to implement the actions required in the extreme situations. Without an economic revolution that will free parents to work less and be home more, I don't think this approach will ever take off in more than a middle class niche. Even the middle class niche is doubtful when you take into consideration the level of social cohesion the approach requires.

On the disturbing side, I felt an undercurrent of 'social tyranny'. It is true that physical violence is avoided, but social pressure can also be violence, even if not physical. This was especially true for the scripted responses, such as the advice that if the offender objects, tries to make excuses, blame others, etc', the circle is to stand firm and not argue, but just restate the 'facts'. I can't help but imagine a scenario where someone has been unjustly accused, and the accuser has gathered supporters and allies who then back them up, and the accused finds herself 'stonewalled' into accepting guilt. It reminds me of this scene from Cory Doctorow's "Eastern Standard Tribe" where the protoganist has been committed for observation and tries to explain the situation to the doctor:

...I was doing Tribal work in London, serving the Eastern Standard Agenda, working with a couple of Tribesmen, well, one Tribesman and my girlfriend, who I thought was unaffiliated. Turns out, though, that they’re both double agents. They sold out to the Pacific Daylight Tribe, lameass phonies out in LA, slick Silicon Valley bizdev sharks, pseudo hipsters in San Franscarcity. Once I threatened to expose them, they set me up, had me thrown in here.”...

The doctor acted as if he hadn’t heard me. “That’s just fascinating, Art. Thank you for sharing that. Now, here’s a question I’d like you to think about, and maybe you can tell us the answer tomorrow: What are the ways that your friends—the ones you say betrayed you—used to show you how much they respected you and liked you? Think hard about this. I think you’ll be surprised by the conclusions you come to.”

Though implementing the new authority seems more moral than the old one, in fact it could support any Ethic that a group of people decide to socially pressure for. For instance, the Ultra-O could use it to force their children to conform to the norms of their society. Imagine a young ultra-O gay person coming out of the closet slowly, going to the local 'Open House', being trailed and observed by a group of his Father's friends. They could be completely non-violent, yet still have a completely chilling effect on both his freedom and the freedom of other youngsters.

Cruzin' with Alyn

On Nov 1 2009 I will be riding my cruzbike for five days, nearly 400 km of distance and 6910 meters (over 22000 feet!) of ascent (and presumably around the same amount of descent). Some say it can't be done... .

I have also committed to raising $2000 in sponsorship donations for my ride.

The former I will take care of, the latter I need your help for!

ALYN Hospital is one of the world’s leading specialists in the active and intensive rehabilitation of children, regardless of their religion or ethnic origin, who are afflicted with a broad range of physical disabilities. The ultimate aim of ALYN is to rehabilitate the youngsters in its care and to return them to their families and to the community as quickly as possible having provided them with the skills to function as independently as possible, each child according to their limitations. Go see more details about the wonderful work they do.

To sponsor me, please go to the Alyn Ride website making sure to specify my name (spelled Aryeh Abramovitz).

Only In Israel: Floor Rag (smartut)

or at least not in the U.S.

Yes, that's right, I asked what I could bring from Israel to the U.S. and the request was: Floor Rags.

While on the subject of what to bring from IL to the US, anyone else have bright ideas?

Seder Plate Props

Inspired by this, I placed an earring, a flower, and an assorted bunch of miniature plastic fruit and veggies on and around the seder plate.

I also armed myself with whole walnuts, marbles, and sets of 'five stones'; the walnuts were for good questions (such as "what's a flower doing on the seder plate"), the marbles for interesting answers, and the 'five stones' for the answer I was looking for.

My eldest figured out the earring fairly quickly -- it was a reminder of the subject of slavery, where a Jewish slave chooses not to be manumitted at the end of seven years. 

Next she bugged me about the flower, which she couldn't figure out. I gave her a hint that it was connected to something in the haggada, so she combed the haggada until, after narrowing it down, she correctly guessed it had to do with פרך -- the Egyptians forced the Jews to work at 'hard' labor, which is almost homonymous with פרח a flower. A classic midrash explains that the Egyptians enticed the Jews into slavery with פה רך -- first they asked them to help out as a favour, and then they said "now keep doing it, or else!".

There were about 40 people and several seder leaders in this extended family seder, and I eventually requested comments and guesses about the remaining group of items. Notable guesses were: "remember the fruit and veggies we got for free in egypt" (one of the complaints during the sojourn in the desert),  and "other vegetables" (from the four questions -- contrasting the bitter herbs with other veggies).

Putting the props back in the order I intended, the flower was to prompt discussion on how people get entangled in slavery (or how our ancestors in Egypt did), the earring to remind us that slavery remained an issue even after we left Egypt, and the fruit and veggies to remind us that agricultural (and other manual) workers the world over (including in Israel and the US) are often illegal immigrants who are held in virtual (and not so virtual) slavery.

WWW Chocolate

The What Where and Why of Chocolate

It is said that 10 measures of deliciousness came down to the world, 9 were taken by chocolate and the last was lost. Some say a facsimile of the last can be achieved with MSG.

Rabbi Yosei says, 10 measures of chocolatiness came down to the world, 9 were taken by dark, but most people prefer milk.

Chocolate. Ranging from aristocratic to poseur to plebeian. 

What	Where	Why
Toblerone	Globalized	Cool shape. Too thick to bite easily, the embedded almond/caramel bits will abrade the roof of your mouth.
Mars	Globalized. Local Israeli version "Egozi" (notwithstanding the name, there are no nuts to be found in the Egozi).	Sweet sweet sweet. Just the right thing to keep you going during your math exam.
Snickers	Globalized	This is what the Egozi should have been.
Pesek Zman	Israel	Half time.
Kit Kat / Kif Kef	Globalized / Israel	Israeli version has thicker chocolate coat, makes separating the wafer fingers a bit mushier. Together with the prior item, inspired the immortal line about Family Purity "שבועיים פסק זמן, שבועיים כיףכיף"
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups	Globalized though not easy to find in Israel	My childhood memory was better than the real thing. In my teenage years, I made my own version from memory, using bittersweet chocolate and real peanut butter; it ruined me for the original.
Merci	Globalized	Take along as a gift for your hosts. What's up with the german chocolate and the french name? The flavour selection is cool, but the waxy mouthfeel reminds me of crayons. Good luck on finding customers for the Marzipan.
After Eights	Globalized	Chocolate and Mint. Yumm. Anytime really, but may refer to the number after which you can no longer distinguish the mint.
York Peppermint Patties	USA	If after eights are an aristocratic rapier, York Peppermint Patties are a democratic cannonball. Prepare to be blasted awayyyy
Lindt Bittersweet	Globalized	It will make you live longer. But will you want to?
Ghirardelli	US West Coast and Trader Joes	European mouth feel but made in USA. Bittersweet peppermint is my favorite (without a u).
Hershey's bittersweet	USA	Somebody tell them to stick to milk. Tastes like a grainy coffee bar.
Hershey's M&Ms, Kisses	USA	Party food

Comparison Chart

Only in Israel	Also in Israel	Not Only in Israel
Israeli Humous	Toblerone	Opinionated Taxi Drivers

For the first installment of my comparison chart I will now reveal information that has the potential to move Humous from the first column to the last. But first, a word about the triangular (or actually, prism shaped) chocolate. Once on a time, toblerone meant someone had been abroad, and was bringing you a consolation prize from the duty free. Now you can pick it up in Superpharm next to the cashier. I think its cachet has dropped greatly as a result. More on chocolate in a future installment.

About Humous, I heard recently that Lebanon is gearing up to sue Israeli manufacturers that label their Humous "Lebanese Humous", so "Israeli Humous" may be a misnomer anyway.

But for all you homies who first ran into good Humous in Israel, and are now stuck in a frozen wasteland -- this recipe is for you!

Humous from scratch

The first thing to explain about making "Humous" is that without a good Tehina mixed in, Humous will never be that creamy spreadable delicacy you have gotten used to; properly this recipe should be called "Humous with Tehina".

Ingredients:

Chickpeas - sorted and soaked 8 to 24 hours, they will at least double in size

Raw Tahini (should be available in healthfood stores)

Lemons or lemon juice (or, in a pinch, citric acid)

Olive oil

Spices:

Crushed garlic (optional)

Cumin

Hot paprika

Salt, Pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook the chickpeas until very soft. Some people swear by adding a tablespoon or two of baking soda to help out. A pressure cooker can speed this up.
2. Drain the chickpeas. If you want a very smooth humous, let them cool a bit, then rub between your palms to remove the thick jacket. If you do this, you can float them off by rinsing the chickpeas in water again. Reserve some whole ones for garnish.
3. Put cooked chickpeas in a flat bottomed bowl. Add water until you start seeing it around the bottom of the upper peas. Then squeeze lemon juice to nearly cover, and add a large dollop of raw tahina (don't forget to give the raw tahina  a good stir before using it -- it has tendency to separate).
4. Add your spices, and use a stick blender until it is as smooth as you want it. If it is too thin, add some more tahina. If it tastes (tahina) bitter -- more lemon juice. A regular blender will work as well.
5. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, a few whole chickpeas, some chopped cilantro, a shake of hot paprika, Zaatar, etc'.

Eggplant with Polenta

Ok, I will stop with recipes (for now) after this one, in order to avoid committing myself to this being exclusively a cooking blog!

Eggplant with Polenta -- and Gamba!

Oven: medium (180 C)
1 Large and deep pan

Ingredients:

Sauce:

1 onion - sliced or chopped

1 Gamba (red pepper) - chopped more or less the same size as the onion

dry or semi-dry wine (red or white)

1 large can crushed or chopped tomatoes

Internals:

1 large eggplant - sliced into rounds and salted

Salty cheese (I like the 16% 'Chemed' Tzfati type, but any feta type will work).

Fresh mushrooms - sliced

Pitted Olives (black / green / greek) -- optional

Polenta topping:

1 Cup cornmeal (the coarser the better).

1 t. salt

4 Cups boiling water

Instructions:

This is a fairly quick recipe (even including the amount of time it takes to read it), so you can turn on the oven to preheat before your start, or just after you finish making the sauce.

Start with slicing and salting your eggplant, by the time you have finished making the sauce they will be ready. 

Depending on how chunky you like your tomato sauce, chop or slice your onions. Saute in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. After a bit add the pepper as well, and turn up the heat -- slightly scorching the onion and pepper gives good flavor, but keep an eye on it so it doesn't go overboard and actually burn. When the onion-pepper mixture looks nice and browned, pour in some wine, rubbing your pan well to disolve any dark sticky spots on the pan (also known as 'fond'). Let the wine reduce a bit, and then add the crushed tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, let cook until it thickens and looks like a sauce, then salt and spice. I like a dash of cinnamon, a bit of hot paprika, dry or fresh ginger, and some oregano or thyme, but anything goes.

Now take your eggplant rounds, rinse and then squeeze out liquid (eggplant is such a sponge!). Arrange the rounds either flat or overlapping in your pan, and put a small slice (or if feta - crumble) of salty cheese on each round. If you have some za'atar (hyssop spice mix) it wouldn't hurt to sprinkle some on top of this. If using olives, stick them here and there between the rounds. Throw your sliced mushrooms over this, and then dump the tomato sauce over all. Smooth down top, pushing anything sticking up under the surface of the sauce.

The polenta is easiest to make in a microwave, which is how I do it. Instructions for those without a nuking chamber will follow.

Put your cornmeal and salt in a microwaveable bowl, and pour in your boiling water. Whisk to combine, then stick in the microwave on full power for a few minutes, checking every once in a while to give another stir and see if it has come to a boil. When it comes to a boil it will also be very thick, a thick cornmeal pudding. Microwave at a boil for another 30 seconds or a minute, then give another good whisking. Pour over the eggplant/sauce, spreading carefully to (try) and seal the edges of the pan (otherwise the sauce boils up and over, which is also fine, but not as nice as a crispy polenta top). After spreading and sealing, take a fork and score the surface of the polenta, to maximise potential crispy edges.

Bake for 40 minutes, testing with a sharp knife to make sure eggplant is done. 

After it is done, optionally you can sprinkle a bit of grated yellow cheese over the top, and put under the grill to brown.

-- Non-microwaved polenta:

Traditionally it is made in a double boiler. If you don't have the equipment or patience for this, you should be able to make it directly on a flame with assiduous whisking and stirring. To minimize time stirring over a flame, try the following:

In a heatproof bowl, mix together your cornmeal and salt. Pour over just enough of your four cups of water to cover. Mix this together, and put the rest of the water to boil in a saucepan. When it comes to a lively boil, pour half of it on top of your cornmeal mixture, whisking all the while, then pour this mixture back into the pan, whisking as well. It should thicken in a matter of seconds. Then pour over the eggplant and proceed.

Risotto with Sushi Rice

Notwithstanding our geographical closeness to Italy, Arborio rice is not sold in Israeli markets.

However, Sushi rice is widely available and works nicely.

Here are two recipes for non-dairy Risotto.

Basic Risotto 

(serves 4 to 8 depending on how big a helping they take)

4+ C stock, simmering

1 Onion, chopped

1 - 2 cloves of garlic, minced

1.5 C sushi rice (or arborio if you have it)

olive oil

Dry or semi-dry white wine

Risotto is easier than you think. Traditionally you need a wooden spoon, and lots of stirring. I find that it works nicely with a silicone spatula*  which makes it easy to make sure there is nothing stuck and burning in the corners of the pot, though it still takes quite a bit of stirring. Make sure to look at the finishing options below before starting.

Start out with a larger pot than you would usually use for 1.5 C of rice: risotto cooking produces much more volume. Give a nice large splash of olive oil, and saute the onion on medium heat until translucent. Add the garlic, give a few more seconds and then add the rice. Stir to coat the rice well with the oil, and saute for couple minutes, letting the rice go somewhat transparent.

Add some white wine; anywhere from 1/2 to 1 C.

Stir every 20 seconds or so until the rice is starting to go dry, then add a ladle of your simmering stock. Continue stirring occasionally, adding stock as the rice absorbs the liquids.

As you get towards the end of the stock, check your rice -- it should be getting soft, but still have some al dente bite. If it is too hard, you may need more stock, or you can top up with boiling water from the kettle. When it is almost finished, add one of the finishing options below (or make up your own) , another splash of olive oil for richness, and salt and spicing.

At the very end, stir in a bit more water/stock, and cover and let rest for a few minutes. If you are making this for shabbat, prepare it close to candlelighting, and keep it warm until serving, otherwise it will gell and while still tasting great, will be less appealing.

*The chef'n spatula is Also Available in Israel ™ -- I found it at Golf & Co.

Option 1: Artichoke Risotto

Artichokes are really cheap in the markets now - I saw them this morning in Mahane Yehuda for 3.5 - 5 NIS a kilo. Choose ones that look nice and fresh, as close-leaved as possible. Cook with salt and some lemon slices until a leaf pulls out and when tasted, is just a bit undercooked.  

Reserve the cooking liquid to use as stock for the Risotto. 

To give the stock something extra, saute an onion until it starts to brown, I like to add some dried hot pepper flakes to this, and then add the artichoke stock. A couple of dried shiitake will be nice added to this as well. After boiling for a few more minutes, you can remove the now reconstituted  shiitakes, remove the stem, and slice thinly to be added to the finished risotto.

Take your cooked artichokes, pull off the tough leaves leaving the ones that are edible to half their length. Trim off the bottom of the leaves, scoop out the choke with a spoon, and then slice lengthwise as thin as you can get. Marinate with some olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper until needed. If you used shiitake mushrooms, you can add them to the sliced artichoke.

Stir the sliced artichokes and mushrooms into the risotto just before it is finished.

Option 2: Smoked Salmon

This one doesn't get you stock as well, so you'll have to make or buy some. Just take a 100 gr packet of smoked salmon, slice into thin strips, and stir into the risotto just as it's done. I also added the zest of one lemon, and the juice from one half of the lemon. Make sure not to add salt before adding the salmon, so you don't end up oversalting.