Halvah brings back sweet, fond memories of my childhood. On weekends, my family often took day trips, frequently visiting one of the halvah makers in Abu Gosh, an Arabic village nestled on the mountain slopes of Jerusalem. We would drive to the village center, where several modest bakeries offered baklava, Knafeh, sesame candy, and halvah, all freshly prepared in the shop's backroom. Large trays of these sweet treats were displayed on counters and shelves, and the air was ric

As a child, I was known to be a picky eater. In this photo, my mother is feeding me while I'm distracted by a toy, with help from my brother and aunt. Although many children develop poor eating habits, my behavior in the 1970s was especially criticized because I refused to eat raw tomatoes, a staple in every Israeli meal. When I was four years old at my daycare, we were served the same snack every day: a slice of crusty bread topped with Gvina Levana (an Israeli soft white ch

Breakfast is the day's first meal, breaking the previous night’s fasting period. Breakfast dishes differ across cultures and regions globally. In France, breakfast typically consists of a café au lait paired with a croissant, often accompanied by butter or jam. The American continental breakfast features pancakes, waffles, bacon, and scrambled eggs. In England, a proper breakfast must include beans, while in China, breakfast offerings include rice noodles, soup, and unsweeten

I have vivid memories of the flavor and aroma of carob since I was a kid. There was one large carob tree near the playground that I would always play in, and ripe, dried bean-shaped pods would fall from the tree onto the ground. I used to pick one up, break the pod in half, and chew on the shell like a snack. The Carob tree grows in countries across the Mediterranean Sea. It has been cultivated and used as a sweetener for 4000 years. The word carob in English was borrowed fro

You can make a delicious seed bread using tahini in place of grain flour. How is that possible? When sesame seeds are ground into tahini, they form a smooth paste. Surprisingly, when a small amount of water is added, the tahini does not become thinner - it actually becomes thick, stiff, and almost dough-like. One reason for this transformation is that tahini contains extremely fine particles of ground sesame seeds suspended in oil. In raw tahini, the oil coating these particl