Chapter 33, HaSe’ora 5

Ever since we moved to this rented house it seems like our financial status was getting slowly better. This house was on a large private land with 2 large bedrooms. One was our parent’s room and the other one was Avi’s with all of our toys. My bed was set up in the foyer. Mom was working ½ a day and Dad started to bring work home. He returned to his original love as part time - Jewelry making. Dad and I collected wood that floats on the beach and with the few big pieces we found, we managed to build a jeweler’s bench and put it at the far side of the foyer where he would work every evening after he came back from the daily job he had. Working hard and many hours Mom and Dad were saving money to finally buy our own house or apartment.

The yard of our home had a nice collection of trees; a date palm tree right in the center front, a big old olive tree on the right of the hose bordering with our neighbor. On the front left side, we had a guava tree and a rare fruit called “Annona - sweet apple” it had a peal that looked like dragon scales and the inside was white, juicy, and sweet with big black seeds. Going back to the left side of the house we had a two in one tree, it was a grapefruit and sweet lemon tree. Behind the house we had a huge tree with many round uneatable fruits that looked like olives. Avi and I loved to play with them. For us they were ammunition we would shoot with a tube, or our fake fruit for our pretend packing plant, where we would pack the fruit to be sent over sea.

Behind the big tree we had a small hill with grape vine, apple tree and peach tree. They rarely had any fruit - the birds would eat them before they had a chance to ripen. At the far back bordering our other neighbor grew a Mexican cactus with small red cactus fruit. Dad was telling me not to eat them, but I did anyway. They were red and juicy with a little less thorn than the popular “Sabres”. Next to them stood two tall pine trees. We used to pick the cones and throw them in fire to open them and get the pine nuts out of them. The pine needles were thick and strong, we liked to make decorative chains with them. On top of one of them we spotted a nest. Avi immediately wanted to go grab the baby chicks. No matter what I said to prevent him from doing so he didn’t give up. 

“It is a crows’ nest” I said. “They are dangerous, don’t you remember the story about the boy who got pecked by the crow and he fell down?” I reminded him, to no avail.

Avi Climbed up to the top – he was fearless – while I was yelling at him to come back. He came back alright, lucky for him there were no crows and no chicks. The nest was empty for a while now. Except for a few eggshells nothing was in that nest. 

Every summer people in Israel get 2 weeks’ vacation, usually around the month of August. Our family from Beer Sheva love to visit us during this time and spend time with us on the beach. That time mom was very proud to show of her new refrigerator. Until then we had an ice box. It is like the refrigerator but without the actual motor or lights. Every day the Ice was delivered by the ice cart who would drive around town and sell blocks of ice. We usually bought ½ a block daily. It kept for a day. The ice would melt and drain into a container which we would dump every day. But the next day we would need to restock the ice. The problem was, the weekend. There was no delivery on Shabat. We had to make sure nothing that could go bad stay in the ice box. we had to eat all the food Mom made on Friday.

That summer we had the new “Amkor” Israeli made refrigerator. We didn’t have to buy anymore ice; we could keep the food for longer and even the meat, or the milk would last through the weekend. So, with all the guests who came to visit we could keep food for all of them and not worry. 

That summer we had a full house. I don’t know how we fit them all. We had Uncle David (Mom’s Younger brother) and his wife Rina and baby Momi. Momi fell of his bed as a baby and lost the vision of one of his eyes. He became a very disagreeable child. David and Rina brought with them also her younger sister Na’ama who was a little older than me.  Uncle Rone and his wife Rachel with their little girl Batyah. All of us went to the beach together. We carried sandwiches and cut up watermelons as well as my Dad’s fishing gear. 

When we return home, we were faced with a little problem, shower. How are we all going to shower when we had a small sun heated water tank. Mom came up with the idea of just having everyone shower with the hose outside in our yard. We were having lots of fun, especially the kids, except for Aunt Rina. 

 

She insisted on showering indoors with the hot water and on top of it she finished all the hot water and left a “mess”, according to my mom. This wasn’t fun. Mom and Aunt Rina got into an argument and a shouting match that lasted for a long time. Mom never forgave her for talking back at her when she was a guest at our house. They stopped talking to each other forever. It put us in a very odd and uncomfortable situation. Uncle David was my Moms favorite brother, and it was hard for him to take sides. Somehow, they managed to be civilized and keep the family together. Many times, later, Uncle David would come to visit without his wife, or we would go to visit him without Mom. It kept the family at peace.

  

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Ara'is

One of the newest items in the Israeli cuisine. A combination of the western burger and the 

middle eastern pita. It combines the frying and the grilling technic, and the flavor is just as 

wonderful. This recipe is for 20 to 30 guests.

 

      Ingredients:

 

35 Pitas

Olive Oil

1 Lb. Ground Beef

1 Lb. Ground Turkey

2 Celery Stalks

3 Garlic Cloves

1 TBS Crushed Ginger

½ Cup Ketchup

½ Bunch Parsley

1 tsp Salt

    Vegetarian Option, replace the meat with

            1 Lb. of Crushed Hard Tofu

            1 Lb. Chopped Mushroom

            1 TBSP Soy Sauce

 

Preparation:
 

 Fry the chopped onion to soften, add crushed garlic, ginger, and salt. Caramelize and add 

celery until it softens. Add the meat or tofu and mushrooms and cook until meat is medium. Mix 

with Catchup.

Cut pitas in ½ and stuff with mixture.

Brush Olive oil on pitas and grill or fry. Cut the ½ in two and serve.

 

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