weekend stuff

i started working on a poncho:



the colors in this image aren't exactly right. they are more similar to the colors of this hat .
i hope to finish it soon, so i can wear it at the office and keep warm! it's gonna get real cold in chicago soon. right now i'm happy if the temperature outside is freezing and not below :S

other plans for the weekend, is to make a pot of chicken soup for us to take to work next week. it's perfect soup weather, and the choice of soups at the cafeterias isn't that great (their chicken noodle soup is actually good, but they don't usually have it).
another experiment is going to be cinnamon rolls. ever since i made that chala for dinner in canada, i'm not as afraid of yeast as i used to be.

oh, and ben got a starwars game for the wii. i think he likes it.

Kreplach

every time i come back from Israel, safta (my grandma) sends with me a batch of frozen Kreplach. they mostly make it all the way, depends on the weather. we go through it faster than me going back to Israel... so it's about time i learned how to make them myself.

last june, for safta's 80th birthday, my mom (with the help of the family) produced a documentary film of safta's life. safta was the lead star of course, as she was followed around with the camera, doing her stuff.
a part of the movie, as she called it -- for the next generations, was a cooking lesson in how to make her Kreplach. it was very informative, going through the process step by step, but as to the tradition of jewish (or maybe polish?) mommas when handing out recipes, somethng was missing: the quantities!

it starts with "i use this full of flour (holding up a container) , and this cup full of eggs..."

so i called her on Friday night to ask for more specific recipe, but she claimed that she doesn't remember (no way, the woman is as sharp as my best $100 knife!). after a little bit of pressure she admitted to just having finished two and a half glasses of red wine. i got her to promise me to send the quantities by email :)

so today, armed with her email with the correct measures, i got down to business.

mmmmmm! success!

Panna cotta

ingredients:
------------
500 ml whipping cream
1+1/3 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
7gr gelatin powder + 3 table spoons boiling water
1+1/2 tbs vanilla extract (or 2-3 tbs imitation vanilla extract)
6-10 oven safe cups (see * for what to do if you don't have them!)
5-6 tbs sugar (can mix 1/2 brown or sugar on the raw) for caramel

instructions:
-------------
boil cream+milk+sugar.
add vanilla extract, cook for 3 minutes while stirring (otherwise there will be crust)

in a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in boiling water. mix well until there are no lumps. add to the cream while stirring. stir well. let cool for about 30 mins.

make caramel:
put 5-6 tbs sugar in a non-stick pan, on high heat, and let melt. stir all the time until it completely melts and gets a nice caramel color. be careful not to overcook! you don't want it to burn.

pour 1 tsp of caramel in each cup and let cool.
[* if you don't have heat-safe cups, here's what to do: place a sheet of aluminum foil on a cutting board. pour a tsp of caramel on the foil, to create a caramel "coin" about the size of the bottom of your cups. repeat with the rest of the caramel (make 6-10 "coins") let cool completely, peel off the foil, and place one at the bottom of each cup. ]

after the cream cooled, strain with a fine strainer - to make sure there are no lumps.

pour about 1/3 cups of the cream in each cup, over the caramel. cover cups with foil or serene wrap, and refrigerate for 12-24 hours before serving. the caramel will liquify and become syrup.

to serve, turn over on a plate. yumm!!!


some extra caramel syrup: if you're like me, and like some more syrup, here are instructions!

p.s. - it's OK to lick the plate :)

Football!

and i don't mean REAL football, which people here call "soccer". i mean American football.
(did you know, that the word "soccer" is an alteration of assoc., abbreviation of "association football" ?!?!? i bet you didn't!!)

anyway, it's a big american pass-time activity. not playing, no, just any form of activity that involves being in some interaction of a football game. it can be sitting at home drinking beer and watching it on tv; or meeting your friends at a sports bar, to watch THE game; or just owning a jersey with the number of your favorite player (or just some random number that was used by a guy that nobody remembers and was cheap); and at the top, there's the tailgating.

"Tailgating is the practice of driving on a road too closely behind another vehicle"

alternatively,

"Tailgating is a social event held on and around the open tailgate of a vehicle. Tailgating often involves alcoholic beverages and barbecuing. Tailgate parties usually occur in the parking lots at stadiums and arenas before, and occasionally after or during, sporting events & rock concerts. People attending such a party are said to be tailgating. Many people participate even if their vehicles do not have tailgates."

(thanks, wikipedia)

being new to american culture, i often find myself confused when things aren't exactly what i imagine them to be after years and years of watching american television and movies. like football. the players aren't the cutest guys in the class (most of them are as big as a refrigerator, and it's not a pleasant sight to see them bend over, when looking from behind. they often look like this guy (just a random picture from the internet...)


and i didn't even start talking about the band. there's a band.


anyway, last weekend i got to do all that for the first time.
Ben and his collage friends Pat and Karin (pronounced exactly like my name!) took me to my first ever tailgate followed by a Michigan vs. Purdue game. tailgating was fun (esp since i didn't have to do anything.. just sit there and drink my (nonalcoholic) beer. the game was also fun, though i found it hard to understand most of the time, at least at the beginning. towards the end i was screaming and shouting with the rest of them. there were some parts that were confusing (the game doesn't stop when the seconds on the clock run out, for instance!), and eventually we lost. (we=Michigan).


and here are some pictures that Karin took :)

Colorado

Ben and i had to go to a collaboration meeting in Colorado. It wasn't at all what i expected. well, the meeting part was just what i expected, but the accommodations were, umm, rustic.
the entire group was staying at the YMCA of the Rockies, in two large lodges. Ben and I were lucky to get a double bedroom, but many people (pretty much everybody except for the organizers!) had to share a room with bunk beds, and EVERYBODY shared the showers. it's one thing to do something like that with your friends or family, but when it's people you work with, it's one step too far from just getting drunk together in the sake of bonding.
Anyhow, besides having to be with all those people 24h/day, the surrounding area was pretty nice. the place is just on the outside of the Rocky Mountains National Park, and this time of year there's a lot of wildlife around. mainly elk and deer. they just hang out around town, by the roads, posing for amazed tourists.
Since Ron was still in the US, we arranged for him to come with us (he stayed in the bunk-bedroom), and i drove him into the park every morning. i'm happy at least he had fun!

here are some pictures from the afternoon we spent driving through the park. it was a very nice drive and a very little hike to a peak, which was admittedly hard due to the high altitude.
as you can imagine, i took lots of pictures of elk. i included the less blurry ones. they like to be out there after sunset, and move a lot, so it's hard to take a sharp image without a tripod.




...and here's a link to Ron's pictures.