Blueberry muffin fiasco

I'm always posting recipes and some of you probably think - she can't be that great a cook - so here's the truth. You can put too many blueberries in a muffin. Who knew? When you think about it, it makes sense, they are heavier than the batter and they crowd at the bottom and stick to the pan. If I were more technically apt, I'd post a photo of the mess in the kitchen here. They still taste good. Off to clean up.

great carrot cake recipe

Sorry I've been so quiet. Right before Shabbat I wanted to make a cake and believe it or not whipped up this:

Spicy Carrot Cake by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Recipes for Success, p. 109 - this is a great book put out in 1996 by the Patriots Trail Girl Scout Council). I've changed a couple of spice measurements, nothing serious.

2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teasp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp double acting baking powder, which I did not have. Maybe you need more of the regular
1 teasp baking soda
1/2 tsp allspice which I did not have
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg

Put carrots, butter sugar and water in a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes on med. stirring occasionally. Cool (which I did not do). Sift flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, allspice and salt into a bowl. Beat the egg separately until pale yellow, which I did not do. Combine everything. Spoon into a greased loaf pan (I used a square one). Bake at 350 one hour. Cool on wire rack.

This cake was terrific. Some carrot cakes have too many ingredients but this was very do-able by grating the carrots in the food processor.

I'll try to write something thoughtful soon!

Guardian Angels

Last night I remembered a song I really like and sang it to the kids. It's a song that gave me a lot of inspiration about 20 years ago. I think I especially like it because my great grandmother was named Fanny - we recently got in touch with some relatives here in Israel from her family. It's sung by the Judds - remember how great they were? I saw them in concert around 1990 I think.

Here are the lyrics. Hear it here.

A hundred year old photograph stares out from a frame / And if you'll look real close you'll see our eyes are just the same / I've never met them face to face but I still know them well / From the stories my dear grandma would tell

Elijah was a farmer he knew how to make things grow / And Fanny vowed she's follow him wherever he would go/ As things turned out they never left their small Kentucky farm/ But he kept her fed she kept him warm

They're my guardian angels I know they can see/ Every step I take they are watching over me / I might not know where I'm going but I'm sure where I come from / They're my guardian angels and I'm their special one

Sometimes when I'm tired I feel Elijah take my arm / He says keep a goin' hard work never did a body harm / And when I'm really troubled and I don't know what to do / Fanny whispers just do your best we're awful proud of you

They're my guardian angels I know they can see/ Every step I take they are watching over me / I might not know where I'm going but I'm sure where I come from / They're my guardian angels and I'm their special one

Comes by it honestly, part 2

Now you can see for yourselves how Gabi is going to grow up to be like her moms. Here's what her 6 year old excel spread sheets look like. No, this is not a school assignment, as far as I know. It's what she does in her spare time.

Do you think we could start her on a program now to wean her of this interest in charts and lists???

Haiti & Israel

I think one reason I'm so obsessed with what's going on in Haiti is because it's probably the first time my level of interest in/connection with the Caribbean is matched by the Israeli media. People in Israel are grateful our army and teams have been able to help there and grateful that our contribution has been recognized. Good news about Israel on the international front is scarce, so this is much appreciated.

Before these past weeks events, many people in Israel did not know where Haiti is. The Caribbean is so far from here and Israelis don't have a tradition of visiting there - they do go to Central and South America - young travellers - and they do go to Colombia for medical treatment (transplants), but most Israelis have no connection with the Caribbean.

We took our book of photos of Haiti down from the shelf (a gift from Vlad) and found that the photographer, Daniel Kedar, is an Israeli who lives in Haiti. The very next morning I heard him interviewed on the radio news - an Israeli expert on Haiti - he is one of the key people communicating between Haitians and the Israeli medical and rescue teams there. You can see his work and read about his photo books at www.kedar.net (some of the pages work, some don't). Gabi now wants to meet him - she's learned a lot about the situation in Haiti and is considering making Haiti her topic when she does her "a friend teaches a friend" presentation in March.

Please donate for Haiti.

Haiti on my mind

I've been thinking all week of this calypso song written by David Rudder in 1988:
Hear it on youtube. Here's some lyrics:

When there's anguish in Port-Au-Prince
It's still Africa crying
We're outing fires in faraway places
When our neighbours are just burning.
They say the Middle Passage is gone
So how come overcrowded boats still haunt our lives?
I refuse to believe that we good people
Would forever turn our hearts and eyes
Away.

Haiti I'm sorry
We misunderstood you,
But one day we'll turn around
And look inside you.
Haiti I'm sorry
Haiti I'm so sorry...
But one day we'll turn our heads,
Restore your glory.

I'm not the only one thinking of this song. The St. Kitts newspaper also ran an editorial of this title this week.

Listen to the song, then donate!!!

Israelis On the Scene in Haiti

This was sent by a friend:

In the midst of the overwhelming death and destruction that is Haiti right now, there are Israelis who have come to save lives and offer succor.

On Friday, El Al and IDF planes came into Haiti, carrying 250 medical personnel -- doctors, nurses, lab and x-ray technicians and even a psychiatrist -- and supplies for a mobile hospital, including a pharmacy, a surgical unit, and a maternity ward. A young Haitian mother who was the first to deliver in this ward, early this morning, named her baby Israel.

You can see footage of an IDF rescue team at work in Haiti here:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/Page/VideoPlayer&cid=1194419829128&videoId=1263147905094

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Members of ZAKA, the Israeli ultra-Orthodox volunteer rescue organization, were on the scene as well. Yesterday, on Shabbat, they labored, digging in the rubble of a collapsed multi-story university building, where cries were heard. After hours of effort, they succeeded in pulling eight students from that rubble, alive.

These ZAKA members then took time, in the midst of the chaos, to wrap themselves in their tallitot (prayer shawls) and recite their Shabbat prayers. Undoubtedly most if not all of the Haitians on the scene had never seen such a sight.

When the men had finished praying, a crowd of people gathered around them and kissed their tallitot.

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According to one report, head of the ZAKA mission, Mati Goldstein said:

"With all the hell going on outside, even when things get bad Judaism says we must take a deep breath and go on to save more people.

"We did everything to save lives, despite Shabbat. People asked, 'Why are you here? There are no Jews here', but we are here because the Torah orders us to save lives…"

At one point, when things were very grim, Goldstein reported that one mission member started to sing, Heveinu Shalom Aleichem (We bring peace to you.) "I had tears in my eyes," he said.

The ZAKA mission will be staying in Haiti a couple more days, even though beyond a certain point it is highly unlikely that anyone else will be found alive under the rubble.

We have a lot to be grateful for.