Team. I’m editing this post from The Rape Treatment Center of Santa Monica’s conference, The Roads to Respect. Headliner for this conference: The original bad b*tch, Jane Fonda. Goal of the conference: Learning how to help kids thrive as they transition into adulthood. Topics to be covered:
Child/adolescent development through a gendered lens – how it’s different for girls and for boys.
Instagram, Vine, YouTube, Ask.fm, Tinder, and more – how the pervasive role of social media in adolescents’ lives is impacting their relationships, communication skills, and self-esteem.
Why it’s important to talk with kids about Internet pornography, and how to have age-appropriate conversations.
I mean, exciting stuff, right!? And adding to the excitement is the fact that I was THIS close to getting a selfie with Jane Fonda but then her handler was all, “She’s gonna take a break now. Come back at lunch.” It will happen folks. IT. WILL. HAPPEN. (Update: It did not happen. We chatted, but I was too chicken to ask for a pic).
But in all seriousness, this conference is what I live for. It’s what I do and what I want to keep doing for as long as I can. As much as I love food blogging, my heart is in this work. I am inspired to be an advocate for young people. I was inspired before I became a mother but was exceedingly inspired when I became a mother; especially a mother of a daughter. It’s hard enough to get through the worries and angst of adolescence in a safe environment but if recent increases in hate speech and crimes tells usanything, it’s that empathy education and individuals who are willing to teach it are in need much more now than ever. This work is frustrating and sad, uplifting and motivating. It’s exhausting. It can be just as soul-crushing as much as it can be soul-enduring. My commitment to this work is why I rarely post on this blog. It’s absolutely why, when someone asks me where I want to see my blog go in 5 years, I think to myself, “I don’t know. It is what it is”. There are times when I wish I had more time to learn the art of monetizing my blog or creating those fun overhead videos showing how to cook something. But I just don’t have the time. Speaking of time, I gotta jet. Jane Fonda is talking about the role of patriarchy and it’s effect on developmental grown in adolescents.
For this full recipe of this easy but DELICIOUS tahini and vanilla ice box cake, head on over to Interfaithfamily.com.
P.S. I think I’ve lost count on just how many recipes of mine include tahini! I LOVE the stuff. Also? If you can believe it, there was a time when I didn’t actually like tahini. I didn’t even like halva! I remember visiting the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem and being offered free samples of the stuff, left and right, and saying ‘no’ to all of it! I said ‘No’ to free tahini and halva!! What the hell?! Who was that girl!? I don’t know but, needless to say, I’ve grown up a lot since then.
I created this post in February (obviously). I edited and uploaded all the pictures on February 1. All I had to do was actually write something and write out the directions/ingredients. And then BAM! It hit . . . morning sickness. Or rather, all-damn-day-long sickness. I have spent the last 8 weeks becoming incredibly intimidate with my toilet (sorry y’all. Reality can be gross) because I am pregnant. Holy Toledo, we’re having another baby. This wasn’t so much planned, to be honest. The husband still doesn’t permanently live with us so getting pregnant wasn’t like, on the top of my list at this juncture of my life. And, since we’re in the trust tree here, I’m gonna go out on a limb and be honest and say that this has been the hardest 3 months of my life. I was excited for roughly 2 days and then the reality of being pregnant, by myself, working full-time and taking care of a toddler hit me and I got scared. And then the nausea and extreme exhaustion hit and I got a little depressed. When food is a major part of your creative life and then you can’t even bear to look at it, well, things can get rough. Below are some highlights of the last 3 months that I hope will help paint a picture as to why I’m been so m.i.a.:
1. My #1 and #2 food aversions were (and I’m only JUST not getting over it) coffee and pasta sauce. If you know me, then you know how much that one hurt. It’s like being allergic to my two best friends in the whole world.
2. At one point during the early weeks, I dreamt that I gave birth to a frog. Ultrasounds have since shown that I will, in fact, be giving birth to a human. Huzzah!
3. Siona and I have become incredibly intimidate with matzah ball soup as that was the only thing I would/could eat for roughly a week or so. Thank Gd, my mom visited and made us jars full of it.
4. I started showing early so for the past several weeks I’ve been walking around in my normal pants/jeans only now they’re being held together by a rubber band. Keeping it classy, y’all.
5. My clock has changed entirely. 8pm is my new midnight. 5am is my new 8am and 8am is my new 11am (which means, now that food and I are starting to do the long road of relationship repair, I want to eat lunch foods at 8am. It also means I’m asleep every night at 8pm and I recently starting waking up at 5am).
So now you know why I’m posting a Valentine’s Day post in March, when I should be posting about Passover. I can’t say this post signals a return to blogging (see aforementioned bed time of 8pm). I wish I could say it does. I miss it a lot. I miss the outlet and the creativity and having something that’s truly just mine but I can’t imagine how in the world I can find the time and energy to do it. That isn’t to say that there won’t be guest posts coming up on Jewhungry as I have some amazing blogger friends who have agreed to help keep Jewhungry alive during this hiatus and for that, I am so eternally grateful. I don’t know what the future holds, all I know is Siona and I are taking things one day at a time. I can’t believe it’s almost April, which means we’ve already got 8 months down without our beloved Yonz with us full-time (seriously, military spouses, how in the WORLD do you do this!?) and we have only 5 months to go. If the past 8 months have shown us anything, it’s that there are good days, there are bad days and if I want to get through this then I’m going to have to open myself up and ask for help . . . and keep going to bed at 8pm . . . and start drinking coffee again. I do hope that you continue to check back now and again and thanks for sticking with me.
Now for the cookies! Way back in February, I thought I’d glam up the usual cut-out sugar cookie by adding a light Match tea glaze and some rainbow sprinkles. According to my co-workers, who actually ate all the cookies, they were moist, delicious and just the right amount of sweet. The cookie dough itself is not overly sweet, lending itself to be the perfect canvas for the fancy glaze and party sprinkles. And don’t let the heart-shape full you. You can eat these bad boys ALL year round.
Ingredients for Cookies:
1. 3/4 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened to room temperature
2. 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
3. 1 large egg
4. 2 tsp vanilla extract
5. 2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
6. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions for Cookies:
1. In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamed and smooth – about 1 minute.
2. Add the sugar and beat on high-speed until light and fluffy, about 3 or 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
3. Add the egg, and vanilla and beat on high until fully combine, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
4. Whisk the flour and baking powder together in a medium bowl. Turn the mixer down to low and add about half of the flour mixture, beating until just barely combined.
5. Add the rest of the flour and continue mixing until just combined. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Roll each portion out onto a piece of parchment to about 1/4″ thickness. Stack the pieces (with paper) onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. You must chill. If chilling for more than a couple hours, cover the top dough piece with a single piece of parchment paper.
6. Once chilled, preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Transfer the cut cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used. If using sprinkles, apply them onto one half of the cookie.
7. Bake for 9 minutes, until very lightly colored on top and around the edges. Make sure you rotate the baking sheet halfway through bake time. I’m not kidding with the 9 minutes. Mine baked perfectly at 9 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
Ingredients for Decorations/Glaze:
1. Assorted sprinkles
2. 1 1/2 tbsp matcha tea powder
3. 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
4. 1/4 cup hot milk
Directions for Glaze
1. Whisk sugar, powder, and ¼ cup boiling water in a bowl until smooth.
Welcome to my new website! Do you like? (I really hope you like). I like it a lot though there’s a lot of computer mumbo jumbo that I have to figure out but honestly, it’s very intimidating and though I’m loathe to admit it, I don’t really know what I’m doing. Designing a new site was really exciting and really important for expanding Jewhungry and getting it out there in the world but it’s come with a great responsibility (read: Make sure I learn how to really work this site so I don’t throw all my hard-earned cash and my designer’s hard work down the toilet).
The relaunching of this website or rather, the decision to move forward in hiring a real designer and committing to making this thing real was not an easy one. After launching it last Thursday, I felt very really excited for like 5 minutes and then I started feeling dread. I couldn’t believe it. I had waited for what felt like forever to see the final product and then boom! I felt terrible. I’m generally a happy person but sometimes, I let the weight of things get to me. So I sat with this weird ‘doom and gloom’ feeling for a day or two until I realized why I wasn’t feeling all ‘happy-go-lucky’ about this. It’s the first step to change.
Change is hard. It’s really, really hard. People stick in jobs they don’t like because they’d rather deal with the pain of day-to-day unhappiness rather than deal with the short-term ugliness of change. Same thing for folks who stay in relationships or friendships with people who don’t make them happy. Change is that intimidating. People go their whole lives avoiding the feelings that change can bring up thereby avoiding taking-risks or finding true happiness. And yes, as a middle class 30-something white lady, I’m one of those people who is generally always in search of ‘happiness’. I don’t think I deserve ‘happiness’ but I do work hard to achieve it, whatever ‘it’ is. And since my pursuit of happiness is always on (Amazing husband? Check. Sweet baby? Check. Fulfilling job and creative outlet? Hmmm . . . still searching.), I’m willing to risk the uneasiness of change. Lately, however, I’ve been having a boat-load of second thoughts regarding our upcoming move to LA and more specifically, spending a year without my husband. And see, what I realized was that this new Jewhungry represented the start of all that change. It’s one step toward that LA move becoming real, which is scaring the heck outta me. On the top of the list of “things to do before I move to LA” was the design and launch of this new site. So, that’s done. What’s next? Get the kid signed up for school, find an apartment, hire a mover, etc., etc. Though the list is long, the fact that I’ve crossed something off of it is kind of freaking me out. Usually, I have a little party every time I can cross something off a ‘to do’ list but this time, not so much.
But, regardless of how I feel about it, the days and weeks will go by and then June will be here and everything will get real. So, I must continue to keep my anxiety in check and not forget to attempt to live in the moment and enjoy things like this beautiful new blog I worked really hard for. Oh, and tofu hearts because seriously? How cute are tofu hearts?
Quinoa Bowl + Marinated Tofu
Ingredients:
1 cup of uncooked quinoa
1/2 cup cooked black beans
1/4 cup diced green onion
1/2 cup roasted broccoli
1 red pepper, sliced and roasted or sautéed (cook’s choice)
Cubed feta cheese
Kosher salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Cumin
Tofu:
1 package of tofu
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
Sriracha
1 tbsp ground ginger (fresh is always best, so use it if you got it)
How:
For tofu – can do ahead and refrigerate for 3 -4 days:
Wrap tofu in a decent amount of paper towel and place on a plate. Place something heavy (i.e. a book) on top of the wrapped tofu and let it sit for at least 15 minutes so as to drain as much moisture out as possible.
While the tofu is draining, combine all the marinade ingredients in a Tupperware bowl that is able to be closed and stir to combine. Set aside.
Once it is drained of the majority of the excess moisture, cut tofu in half (meaning, reduce the thickness by half – you want to maintain the exact same square shape for both ends, you just want to make the square thinner). Press your heart-shaped cookie cutter into the center of each tofu square. Gently remove the outer ring of tofu from around the cookie cutter leaving the tofu in the middle. Finally, press the heart tofu out from the inside of the cookie cutter. Place tofu hearts into the bowl/Tupperware of the marinade and close tightly. Gently shake the closed Tupperware so that the marinade is evenly dispersed onto the tofu hearts. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (if you can swing it, let sit longer making sure to shake the bowl occasionally).
After the tofu has marinated for at least 30 minutes, pre-heat oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place tofu on the parchment paper and place in a pre-heated oven for roughly 15 – 20 minutes, making sure to flip halfway through baking.
Meanwhile . . . in quinoa land . . .
Cook quinoa according to package (usually 1 cup of quinoa is added to 2 cups of water or broth and cooked. It is then brought to a boil and turned down to a simmer. It is then left to simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes). While quinoa is cooking, heat your black beans in a small pot on medium high heat. Add a dash of cumin, kosher salt, garlic powder and pepper and let it come to a boil. Again, once it comes to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer and let it sit for 5 minutes or so.
For roasting of broccoli + red peppers:
Preheat oven to 400. Toss sliced red peppers and broccoli in olive oil or coconut oil. Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Roast for 25 – 30 minutes, making sure to toss occasionally so that there is even roasting.
Once all components are finished cooking, place quinoa in a bowl and top with black beans, broccoli, peppers, green onions and cubed feta cheese. Place heart on top for classy touch. Enjoy!
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