I was quite surprised to find out how long it has been since I have made a post in this blog. Not that I was not aware of my total neglecting, but still, time flies.
I’m a bundle with a baby these days, due in a bit over a month, and my energies had been going elsewhere. Mainly in doing nothing, which is definitely not my strong side. But mother nature does what she does, and I had to slow down whether I liked the idea or not. By now I have completely embraced it.
I try to go at least once a week to the beach around sunset. It is so relaxing, so bonding. The day I took this pic was especially rewarding. A lot of God power. I felt as if Aphrodite was smiling at me, Poseidon was caressing me and Zephyr was blessing me. Have not felt that fortunate for a while

Melahrini  – Passover Walnut Cake with syrup
This is the most famous passover cake – bit good not only of Passover.
There a quite a few version, some with syrup some without, but after testing a few, this is by far the best one.

It can be done in two different flavors:
1) walnuts+orange zest
2) almonds+lemon zest

Below is the recipe for one cake (6 eggs), but I usually double it (12 eggs), and make one bigger and one smaller at once. The double amount can make a nice pan cake and an english cake, or two round cakes. I use two rectangular pan trays that fit together, on the same rack in the oven. You can also use one big tray, the size of the oven and then cut half of it a give it away.
Some people make this cake also in a pan with a hole in the middle, but i like it flat. Traditionally it is cut in lozenges.

for one cake:
6 eggs, separated (room temperature!)
6 flat tablespoons white sugar
6 heap tablespoons matza meal
6 heap tablespoons grounded walnuts/almonds
zest of one orange/lemon
1 teaspoon baking powder (mix with 2-3 tablespoons of orange/lemon juice)
optional:
3 tablespoons orange/lemon liquor, or cognac
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and a few crushed carnation pieces (for the orange cake, only)

in mixer bowl 1:
beat the egg-whites till medium peaks. Add sugar little by little till high peaks.

in large bowl 2:
beat egg-yellows till smooth. add liquor and the cinnamon.
add baking powder mixed with some juice. mix well.

in bowl 3:
mix walnuts/almonds with matza meal.

In large bowl 2, add some of the beaten egg whites, and fold gently (do not beat!) so that the “clouds” will not break.
Then add a few spoons of the matza and walnut mix, and keep folding. Keep alternating with egg whites and matza meal mix, till all mixed.

Bake for about 30 mins, at 180C (360F).
As soon as top becomes golden, cover with aluminum foil, so top won’t burn.
Let cool completely on a rack.

If you want to let the cake in its pan, then you can add the syrup in that same pan. if you want to move into another tray though, then better to put a lightly oiled baking sheet inside the pan, before you pour in the mix and bake.
After thesyrup is being poured, you can not move the cake…

The syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 1/5 cups water & juice

Start making the syrup after the cake has completely cooled. The syrup will be poured on the cake hot, and this is how the two will mix well.

In a small saucepan, mix well the sugar and the water+juice.
If you make the orange cake, then 3/4 cups water and 3/4 cups juice is great.
If you make the lemon cake, use 1 cup of water with 1/5 cup lemon juice.

Bring to boil till it becomes a syrup (and evenly covers the back of a wooden spoon). Remove from the heat, and as soon as it has stopped boiling, pour it over the cake. I like to use a large serving soup spoon for that, while making sure that it is poured evenly. The cake will be swimming in a little syrup pool. Set aside for a day to mellow. All syrup will be absorbed! Can also keep in fridge-for as long as you wish, can even be made a week ahead! The only thing is that once in the fridge, it will not last that long!!!!

I have flipped mine, and this is why it does not have that golden brown top.
It is also possible to cover the cake with chocolate glazing, but I don’t see the need for that. Serve small portions, as this is a rich one!

Karydoglyko (in Greek)  – Walnut Sweets
2 cups walnuts, finely ground or chopped
4 tablespoons powdered or grated chocolate
4 tablespoons white sugar
2-4 tablespoons cognac, brandy, ouzo or rum
Powdered (granulated) sugar

This is a very simple and easy to make treat, although it is a little time consuming, as it is hands on! It has no other choice that to be a success!

Think of it as precious truffles – you are not supposed to eat the whole thing as if it were m&m’s, although it’s so good this is definitely possible! 

Mix well in a big bowl all the ingredients: walnuts, chocolate, sugar and liquor till you have a think paste. With your hands, make small balls (no larger than 3/4″). Wet hands in a bowl of water when they become too sticky. Roll each ball in powdered sugar and set aside in the fridge for a day to mellow.

This quantity makes about 20 balls. Double or triple the recipe to make larger quantities.

I have not been posting much lately. So it happens. Sometimes not because nothing happens, but because too much happens, it;s hard to keep track or chat about it…

To recover from all the “happenings” we went for a full day in the Negev – the desert: Ein-Avdat, Nahal Zin, Sde boker.
Time stops. The grains of sand tell their story. The soul gets a good break from it all, and in nurtured with precious nothingness. 

Enjoy! I did!

Talks Elizabeth Gilbert: A different way to think about creative genius

I just loved this talk by writer Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Read, Pray)  on creativity, success and tips for the creative soul. Do Spend 19:29 mins.

As seen in Wired-video: Daffodils Wander Lonely as a Cloud, in Flower

In February, thatgamecompany will release Flower, a “video game version of a poem” for PlayStation 3. Flower lets the player explore the dreams of city blooms trapped in urban decay, longing to caress the soft grasses of the countryside.

Now, this is a game, that can make me a Gamer!

Take 4 mins and check out this video!

Check out this beautifully made, art and spirit wise site: http://gaza-sderot.arte.tv/

(quoted from the site itself): This project reports on life as experienced by men, women and children in Gaza (Palestine) and Sderot (Israel): their lives and their survival on a daily basis. Under difficult living conditions and the threat of air attacks and bombings, people do keep on working, loving and dreaming. Life in spite of everything.

In order to document this will to live, short chronicles (2 minutes each) will be shot by both Israeli and Palestinian teams, day after day for two months. These short stories will follow six characters from Gaza and six from Sderot. In this way, we will have a new story of each character every week, and the viewer will be able to follow them intimately for 10 weeks. The stories will be aired via the Internet and users will have a personal, interactive and non-linear access to these contents on the site ARTE France which will include the videos, blogs, forums, links etc.

Gaza Sderot is an original project broadcast by Arte.tv, the official site of ARTE, the French-German cultural television station, in coproduction with an Israeli team – Alma Films/Trabelsi Productions in cooperation with The Sapir College in Sderot, a Palestinian team – Ramattan Studios, a French documentary production company – Bo Travail ! and an interactive production company Upian.com.

On Saturday, October 25th, “Gaza Sderot” won the “Prix Europa” which took place in Berlin.

When I was a little kid (even later on, also as a big kid), every time I was in NYC around the holidays and looked at the windows of Bergdorf Goodman, my only wish was to one day become a storefront designer. That dream was never pursued, but I did take a few photos of these windows (which still do no justice to the real thing…). These are from two years ago… I wonder what they have this year…