Chapter 24, Keitana

Just before the summer vacation we moved to a new house on the “Se’ora” Street – Barley Street. This neighborhood was called Ein HaTchelet – the blue fountain. It had streets named after the seven important agricultural species of Israel. Like Date, Fig, Pomegranate, Wheat, Barley, Grapes, and Olives. They were mostly short streets. I had friends in almost every street who went to school with me. That summer Mom had to continue work for half a day to be able to pay the rent and to be able to save for a house of our own. So, she had a plan for us kids. Avi stayed with his friend Moshiko the Turkish boy from the end of our street with his mom who watched over them. I assigned to a morning “Keitana” - Day Camp. The town of Netanya like other towns, sponsored a public day camp so people could send their kids cheaply for some activities. Of course, there were other private day camps, but they were too expensive for us.

   To tell you the truth, I hated it. First, I had to take a special bus to the camp which was in the southern outskirts of our town in an old British Army camp called Toubrook from the days before Israel’s independence. The bus was overcrowded, even at the station there where so many kids they stepped on my feet as we went on the bus. I was wearing flipflops, so every day I would get more blacks and blues all over my body. The only thing I liked was the arts and crafts, sort of. We made very simple projects. Using a mix of flour, water and paper we made all kind of statues and masks. I didn’t like the soccer games or basketball. In short, I didn’t like any of the activities. We were all spread in tents around the campground, each grade group in a tent. We had worst bathrooms than the one we had in the old shack. They reminded me the one I saw at the army camp with uncle Rone, just worse. They were stinky narrow cabins with a big hole on the floor. Deep in the bottom they poured limestone powder daily. I was always afraid to fall in. But the worse part was the food. Everything was dairy. Bread with cheese, bread with butter, a container of yogurt or heavy cream. You know, I don’t eat milk products. I hated eating it anyway but having to smell that was too much for me. The first day I went home hungry, so mom prepared a tuna sandwich for me for the next day.

    The next day wasn’t much better. Except for the attraction of the small airplanes who were flying low over us for some reason. 

    “Auch!” I heard Just before lunch time. And then a girl was screaming and crying. Five minute later we heard an ambulance siren. 

“What Happened?” I asked.

“Scorpion,” was the answer, “a yellow scorpion.”

The girl was stung by a dangerous yellow scorpion and was rushed to the hospital.

“I don’t care how much you paid for that camp, Mom,” I said when I got home. I was full of tears. “I hate it there!” And today we had a bad scorpion stinging one girl. She went to the hospital; she could have died. They told us scorpions are hiding under the rocks from the heat. I don’t want to die. I am not going back.”

“OK” said Mom. “Your brother doesn’t get along with Moshiko anyway so you two will have to stay home together. But no more acting up with crazy things like you did at the Okevs’. You are a big boy now!”

The rest of the summer we spent playing with the neighbor’s kids. An old lady at the front of our street came to check on us every so often and made sure we ate lunch before Mom came back from work. The best part was when Dad came back from work. We would collect big white snails on the way to the shore and use them for bait for fishing. We didn’t have time to look for worms, we did that on Shabat.

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Non-Dairy Spanakopita

Being allergic to milk products forces me to find creative options to create dishes that call for cheese without using cheese yet keeping the good flavor. This Greek dish became a very popular dish among my friends even without the cheese.

Ingredients:

2 Sheets Filo Dough #10

1 Lb. Frozen Spinach

½ Lb. Hard Tofu 

½ Lb. Mushrooms

1 tsp Salt

1 Onion 

2 Garlic Cloves

1 tsp Crushed Ginger 

½ Cup Olive Oil

2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Warm Water

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 Egg

 

Mix the flour with the warm water, oil, salt, and baking powder to create dough. 

Fry onion, garlic, and ginger until lightly brown. Mix in the mushrooms, tofu, and spinach and simmer until all of it dries. 

Flatten the dough and spread it in a baking tray. Pour the mixture on top.

Cover with 1 sheet of filo dough and brush oil on top. Add second sheet of filo dough. Beat the egg and bush on top, cut rectangle shapes and bake for 20 minutes at 375f. 

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