Pottery classes / סדנאות קרמיקה

Shlomit Beer opened her ceramic studio in the Offer village six month ago. Her studio is located at the far end of the village, oven looking  fields of wild flowers, a beautiful scenery most inspiring.  She entirely restored by her self part of an old Chicken Barn, the inside is a spacious open space, white and calm with long windows giving you the felling you are working in the fields. A nice breeze comes flowing in. On the outside she covered the walls with a thin layer of mud and straw, giving the barn a warm and welcoming feeling and blending in with the natural environment.

I attended there a three-day ceramic course, taught by Shlomit Beer and Ephrat Fargun. It was a very fulfilling experience. I myself had no previous knowledge in ceramic work, but Shlomit and Ephrat leaded the class in a very professional and creative manner. We both learned technical knowledge and were invited to flow into personal creative work. The atmosphere was studious and pleasant, the “students” happily concentrated in their work. We worked with the potter’s wheel, wheel throwing with shlomit and we hand build with Ephrat.

I most recommend taking pottery classes with Shlomit and Ephrat, they nurture ones creative process.

Shlomit Beer, Moshav Offer

Tel : 04.6760434 /052.8754064

shlomitbe@yahoo.com

Shlomit teaches yearly adult pottery wheel Classes

Ephrat Faragun, Kibbutz Amiad

Tel : 04.6909571 / 052.6124761

Ephrat teaches Children Classes and adult courses with Shlomit

Chocolate Chip Muffins

At my son’s Hillel’s school we organised a surprise breakfast party for the Shavuot feast. I volunteered to bake 50 Chocolate Chip muffins, woke up early that morning and started preparing. Everything was calm in the neighbourhood, the sun was not yet hot and the morning was slightly foggy, the atmosphere was calm and pleasant. I felt like a baker the prepares the morning pastries will the town is still sleeping. It was a nice experience. These Chocolate Chip Muffins are a perfect choice for children, easy to make and tasty.

2 Cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 Cup white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 Cup milk

1/2 cup (100 gr) butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven 200 C

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugars, baking powder and salt.

In an other bowl, stir together the milk, eggs, butter and vanilla until blended.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the milk mixture and stir. Add the Chocolate Chips and stir.

Spoon batter in the muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes until ready. Cool for 5 minutes and remove from tin.

Serve warm or cool.

Honey and Balsamic vinegar Chicken

I am the mother of three great children that come home for lunch most days. Then comes the daily question, what will I cook today ??? Some days I am inspired, somedays without. Today was one of those inspired days and it all came together with so much ease. And above all, all the children liked the dish ! Which is a great acheivement because every one of us has his own tastes and food habits. A success and easy to make.

The recipy comes from a new French cooking book : “Sud&CO, la nouvelle cuisine mediterraneenne” de Virginie Besancon, Ed. Stella Prima.

Poulet au vinaigre balsamique et miel / Honey and Balsami vinegar Chicken

1 chicken cut in 8 pieces

200 gr small grey shallots

70 gr Thym Honey (fluidified in a double boilerif necessary)

70 gr balsamic vinegar

4 cloves of garlic ( I added 8-10)

2 or three thyme branches, preferably fresh

Olive Oil

salt, ground pepper

Preheat the oven 225 C

Peal the shallots, and leave the whole.

Salt and pepper the chicken pieces and lay them in an oven dish. Scatter the thyme, pour the 20gr of honey and 20gr of vinegar on the chicken. Place the shallots and the cloves around the chicken. Cook for 15 mn in the over at 225 C. Then lower the heat to 180 C and cook for an other 25 mn.

In the meantime, prepare the sauce. Reduce the rest of honey and vinegar with a small tsp of salt and gound pepper. Simmer until the sauce thickens, about 15 mn.  When the chicken is cooked, pour the sauce on the chicken and place it under the oven grill for about 5mn for it to brown.

Bon Appetit

Bulgur majadra . מג’דרה עם בורגול

I always loved this easy middle eastern dish. There are quite a few variations of majadra and it would be interesting to try a few . Here is a tasty and simple version a friend gave me this week.

Bulgur majadra

1 cup black lentils

4 large onions

1 cup of bulgur

3 tsp of cumin

Salt and pepper

Soak the lentils for three hours.

Cook them during half hour in three cups of water.

Remove from the gas and let it rest 10 mn.

In the mean time, soak the bulgur for half an hour.

Chop the onions and fry them until tender and brown.

Add the drained bulgur, the onions, cumin, salt and pepper to the lentils. Cook until all the water is absorbed.

מג’דרה עם בורגול

1 כוס עדשים שחורים

4 בצלים גדולים

1 כוס בורגול

3 כפיות כמון

מלח ופלפל

 

להשרות את העדשים במשך 3 שעות

לבשל במשך חצי שעה בשלוש כוסות מים

להוריד מהכיריים ולהמתין 10 דקות.

במקביל, להשרות את הבורגול למשך כחצי שעה.

לקצוץ את הבצל ולטגן עד שהוא משחים ומתרכך.

להוסיף את הבורגול המסונן, הבצלים, הכמון, המלח והפלפל לתוך העדשים.

לבשל עד שהמים נספגים.

 

About food

Food and cooking is a family passion that I grew up with in France. As a child, then an adolescent we used to spend hours creating and reinventing dishes in the kitchen, my mother, two sisters, brother and I. The kitchen was the most social room at home, hours would go by were we would talk, share our personal stories, moods, excitements all the while we were cooking or drinking coffee. It was our family emotional language. And as of today, when we meet (we all live in different countries) we meet in the kitchen and continue to interact in the same way, with the same love of the kitchen, food and cooking.

This relationship between me and my food has grown into a passion that I feel today worth sharing beyond the family unit.

Eating is a daily activity that has an essential impact on our day. Every decision, every movement, every behavior about food can change the way our day is coming along, influence our moods, our level of energy and our capacity of being present. It’s an intimate relationship, me and my food, that accompanies us through our life. Most of the time this relationship is neglected to the profit of a love relationship, family life and professional life.
Let’s stand still for a moment and feel to what extent everyone of our meal has an impact on our love, family and professional relationship as well as our personal well being.
Let’s make room for this special relationship between me and my food and consider her a close friend.

Let us explore it together …