Celebrating Shavuot

“Shavuot is the Hebrew word for “weeks” and refers to the Jewish festival marking the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, which occurs seven weeks after Passover. Shavuot, like many other Jewish holidays, began as an ancient agricultural festival that marked the end of the spring barley harvest and the beginning of the summer wheat harvest. In ancient times, Shavuot was a pilgrimage festival during which Israelites brought crop offerings to the Temple in Jerusalem. Today, it is a celebration of Torah, education, and actively choosing to participate in Jewish life.” Reform Judaism

One of the main ways to celebrate Shavuot is to have a dairy only meal (meaning no meat). This holiday works perfect for Timothy and I, since we are vegetarians! I made a mushroom and onion quiche with extra cheese! And I bought a cheese cake from a local bakery. Both were delicious.

Shavuot Dinner

Our Hebrew teacher, Shimrat VanDijk, made our class a “Traditional Israeli Cheese Cake.” It was so good! She was nice enough to share her recipe:

Traditional Israeli Cheese Cake

Ingredients

5 eggs

1½ cups of sugar

3 tablespoons of cornflour

3 white cheese 5% (750 grams) (similar to cream cheese but not as much fat)

2 tbs of vanilla sugar

1 pack of vanilla instant pudding

1 cup of milk

1 pack of cream (32% or 38%) (1 pint of cream)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 150-160º C

1. Whip 5 egg whites + 1 cup of sugar until stable.
2. Stir well: 5 egg yolks, white cheese, corn-flour, ½ cup sugar, vanilla sugar, 2½ tablespoons of instant pudding.
3. Fold gently both no. 1 + no. 2

Bake 1 hour (of more, until top of cake is light brown). Cool the cake at least 1 hour.

1. Whip 1 box of cream + 1 cup of milk + the rest of the instant pudding – cover cake.

בתיאבון!

Israeli Salad

In Israel, they really like salad. The most common salad I have seen in Israel, is what I call “Israeli Salad”. The main ingredients are as follow:

• Diced cucumber (2 or 3 medium sized)
• Diced seeded tomatoes (1 medium sized)
• Diced Onion (1 medium sized)
• Olive oil (2-4 tbs)
• Lemon juice (1-2 tbs, I eyeball it.)
• with salt/pepper to taste
• parsley to garnish

Most cafes we have been to, like to take this basic salad and make it their own. We have had it with quinoa, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), salty cheese, pickles, or cabbage to name a few. I usually make mine with a can of drained chickpeas and some Italian seasoning. I’ve also made it before with avocado, and even Bulgarian cheese!

I highly recommend this very simple, yet tasty dish.

Good Eats!!