Happy Purim!

A selection from the Shiputzim family gragger (i.e. ra’ashan – רעשן – for the Hebraically-oriented amongst you) collection:

As always, click on the picture for a closer view.

פורים שמח

!לכל עם ישראל

The end is nigh

Nothing says, “the fast is almost over,” like blogging about food.

And so, here goes.

Lately, it seems as if the whole world is cooking Beef Bourguignon. And, really, who can blame them? (If you’ve seen Julie & Julia, you’ll know what I mean.)

So for a recent family get-together, I decided to come up with my own version, and since this is Israel, I used turkey rather than beef.

If you haven’t planned your Purim seudah menu yet, you might want to consider this dish – although I should note that here in TRLEOOB*, we’re IY”H having pineapple chicken instead.

Turkey Stew

Ingredients

• 3 – 3.5 kilos of basar adom (literally, “red meat” – i.e. dark turkey meat), cubed
• Olive oil
• Onions, chopped
• Several cloves of garlic, minced
• Carrots, sliced thin
• 2-3 TBSP flour
• 2-3 cups semi dry red wine
• Parsley
• Thyme
• Brown sugar
• 2 TBSP tomato paste
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions

Brown meat and set aside. Sauté onions in oil until golden. Add garlic and carrots, and let cook for several minutes, stirring frequently. Add flour and mix through, and then immediately add wine. Return meat to pot, and then add remaining ingredients to taste. Cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

Serve over a bed of egg noodles.

בתאבון!

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*TRLEOOB=the real life equivalent of our blog

An endless loop

One of the true-to-life comic strips included in Shifra Gluck’s charming Shikufitzky 3 opens with the mother glancing at an invitation.

Loosely translated (we only have the Hebrew edition), the thought bubble over her head reads:

“I’m surprised that Mrs. Levy invited me. After all, we hardly know each other. But of course I’ll go anyway, because I don’t want to insult her…”

And then in the final panel, the mother arrives at the simchah and wishes mazal tov to the hostess, who’s thinking:

“I’m surprised that Mrs. Shikufitzky showed up. After all, we hardly know each other. I only sent her an invitation, because I didn’t want to insult her…”

I’m sure I’m not the only one who can relate to both characters.

It all starts out innocently enough.

Picture this:

You’re compiling the guest list for your upcoming simchah, and you wonder what to do about the X’s.

They’re very nice and all, but to be perfectly honest, you don’t have much to do with them. Yet, you feel you should invite them anyway.

Maybe they’re new to the neighborhood, and this is a great way to welcome them. Maybe you move in the same circles, and you’re inviting everyone else in the group.

Or maybe, they invited you to their recent simchah, and now you have to invite them back.

And there’s the rub.

Because once you invite them, they’re definitely going to feel obligated to return the favor.

And, then, before you know it, you’re both trapped in {shudder} the dreaded Cycle of Invitations…

{cue: wild, maniacal laughter}

How do you handle this delicate situation*? Do you have a way to extricate yourself from this never-ending cycle? Or does it just keep going and going and going…

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* Yes, I’m well aware that this falls squarely in the category of  high-class problems… :-)

The CTO’s Day Off

As I’m sure you’ll all agree, hearing about a specific cultural phenomenon from others just isn’t the same as experiencing and witnessing it first hand.

Thus, while on an intellectual level, I knew ahead of time that Rosh Chodesh Adar basically marks the end of the school year for Israeli high school seniors – hey, I even blogged about it! – I’m still surprised that the CTO has had so few classes over the past week and a half.

Today was a case in point.

After moseying on over to his yeshiva for an hour or two of shiur, he was back home by late morning and – in what can only be described as a classic example of life imitating art –watched “Ferris Bueller's Day Off”.

His reaction?

He enjoyed the movie* but was amused by the fact that American schools – in stark contrast to their Israeli counterparts - are strict about attendance…

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* Who doesn’t? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? ;-)

HH 257

The latest Haveil Havalim is available here.

Special thanks to Ruti Mizrachi for including my Adar Lexicon. (Watch this space for an update to that post with some more lexicon entries…)

A small taste of summer

As keen observers of Israeli life are aware, no self-respecting Israeli eats ice cream in the winter.

Krembo? Definitely.

Glidah chamah (literally, “warm ice cream” – basically, Krembo in an ice cream cone)? Absolutely.

But real ice cream? The kind that actually tastes good? The dairy kind which you keep in your freezer?

Not so much.

In fact, in the olden days, one couldn’t even buy ice cream in Israel during the winter.

But in light of the current unseasonably hot spell we’ve been experiencing here in Israel, Jameel’s post on the unique Israeli phrase, “pa’am shlishit glidah” (literally, “third time, ice cream” – loosely, “third time’s a charm”) couldn’t be more timely. Be sure to check out his post.*

And on a related note, you may recall that Our Shiputzim guest blogger Malke shared an amusing Heblish story about this expression in the comment section of the Heblish VI post:

…A TV sports broadcaster [was] interviewing a (non-Israeli) Maccabi Tel Aviv player [in English], after they lost (once again) in the Final Four (or Fay-nell Forr, for our Israeli children).

“So, this is the second time Maccabi has made it to the finals and lost. Do you think the third time will be ice cream?” [the interviewer asked.]

The tall, black basketball player looked at him as if he were from another planet. The broadcaster was, of course, translating the Hebrew phrase, pa'am shlishit glidah…

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*And I’m not just saying that because he wrote some kind things about this blog in his post… :-)

The Official Our Shiputzim Adar Lexicon

.משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה

When Adar enters, our joy increases.

And nowhere is this truer than in Israel’s schools – especially the yeshiva high schools and ulpanot – where Rosh Chodesh Adar effectively (and in the case of the 12th graders, almost literally*) signifies the end of the school year.

After all, Adar is devoted to, well, Adar and Purim, which are immediately followed by Nissan and Pesach. And then – in rapid succession – come Yom HaAtzma’ut, Lag BaOmer, Yom Yerushalayim, Shavuot, and everything else affiliated with the Omer period. Which, of course, brings us to the official last day of school…

But this post is about Adar itself.

Anglo parents like myself may be unfamiliar with much of the Israeli school system’s Adar-related jargon, and so, the Our Shiputzim Editorial Board is proud to present:

The Official Adar Lexicon

Hachtarah (הכתרה) - Literally, coronation or inauguration. Basically an elaborate Purim shpiel, but also the event at which the Rav or Rabbanit Purim is crowned.  In most schools, this is considered to be the highlight of the senior year.

Shuk Purim (שוק פורים) - Purim carnival. Often serves as a fundraiser – either for charity or for the following year’s hachtarah.

Yerid Purim (יריד פורים) - Purim fair or “boutique” - i.e. a shuk Purim minus the rides and games.

Ulpizmon (אולפיזמון) [aka ”karaoke” (קריוקי), even though no karaoke machines are involved] - A song and dance competition.

Mivtza (מבצע) - Literally, campaign or project. In many ulpanot, each grade level works on a specific mivtza during Adar. The hachtarah, the shuk Purim, and the ulpizmon are all examples of mivtza’im.

Yom HaTalmid (יום התלמיד) - Literally, Student Day. This one applies more to elementary schools, where the 6th graders replace the principal and teachers for a few hours. Most youth groups adopt a similar idea, and the eighth graders (i.e. Shevet HaRo’eh) serve as the madrichim and the kommonarit (the head counselor/chapter director) during Adar.

Shnorrer (שנורר) – From the Yiddish for beggar. The organizers of the shuk Purim (or the yerid Purim) get time off from school to beg to solicit prizes and goods from various vendors.

Can you think of any other Adar terms?

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*In many (most? all?) Israeli high schools, the seniors have few – if any – classes after Pesach, so they have plenty of time to drive their parents crazy to study for the bagruyot… :-)

J-Blogosphere News

1) A very warm and heartfelt mazal tov to once and [hopefully] future blogger Einshem on this evening’s beautiful siyum on the entire Shas.

May you continue to go מחיל אל חיל!

Mazal tov also to RCT, the kids (including, of course, YAT), and the entire family.

2) The latest Haveil Havalim is available here and also here.