Today is my father’s birthday.
(On 8/12 it’ll be a year to his death.)
It’s funny how songs with the word “Easy” remind me of him… Like this one.
It’s been a while since I’ve been thinking about this song, Take It Easy by The Eagles, we once heard together on the radio – on a classic rock station. [...]

Allow me to be brutal for a second and tell you right away what you will never read on my blog; stories about how much my parents loved each other. This is probably why I sulked for four days after I read Lorna’s post about her parents, On Food, Love, and Family.
Every time I read [...]

What are our most important roles as parents if not to teach our children the difference between right and wrong, to show them the way to happiness, and to gently push them out of the nest to become independent people?
Shish, that’s a lot of responsibility!
And Suburban Cowboy, as the good dad that he IS, sure [...]

So, how was your Mother’s Day?
My morning started with blintzes as I was sitting in the kitchen, admiring the little gifts the kids made. I was happy. I felt all sweet inside. But it could have been the result of too much jam in my blintze.
By the way, thank you teachers for helping the kids make [...]

Today’s bite, oh, such a heavy topic. But a topic that fascinates me. And a universal one, I’m sure.
Here’s something I wish I read 15 years ago. It’s from a book a good friend recommended called “My Mother, My Self” by Nancy Friday. I’m only on page 17 but there are two pieces I’d like [...]

The second day of our trip began with a continental breakfast at the hotel’s lounge. Fresh pastries, bagels, fresh orange and grape juice, good coffee… buffet style. I’m not a big fan of the “all you can eat” deal because it makes me eat more then I need, especially when fresh and made-just-right (not too [...]

That was the laziest vacation I’ve ever had.
We went to Portland, Oregon with the kiddies on a 4 days trip. It’s winter, oh sorry, it’s spring already but I haven’t noticed with all this rain and chilly temperatures… So, anyway, there’s spring break and schools are closed and we thought that a little family trip [...]

Ah, that one was fun, wasn’t it?!
So I thought I’d go another round of Mr. Suburban Cowboy’s indoors-y activities…

By the way, my 6 years old was asking me the other day, after he saw me taking photos of The tuches, “is it going to be a butt blog now?” Little Mr. Smarty Pants.
Now back to [...]

If you read blogs you probably have heard at least once about The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, a woman living on a ranch in Oklahoma with her husband and four children. They raise cattle and ride horses. She takes lots of photos of everything they do on the ranch – well, almost everything – but [...]

You know how I wonder from time to time what really goes on in people’s lives, especially those who blog and continue to post their happy posts with recipes and photos, creating an impression that they never fight, they don’t have conflicts, everyone is happy and they all love one another, and eat well, and [...]

Routines.
Just by saying this word a need to inhale deeply emerges as if an invisible cigarette was stuck in my mouth. (Yes, I used to be a smoker. I don’t miss it.)
How do you feel, what do you think, when this word, “routine”, pops up?
For me, that depends. Some days, “routine” makes me light and [...]

I find it a difficult to write about hunger when it comes to my own personal story. I remember being hungry too but no, we were not poor. So I believe… Although my father was nowhere in sight ’cause he was living on a different planet (OK, not planet, continent), my mother had a good job [...]

There was hardly any time to take photos as my husband and kids came back home and got all curious about what I was making in the kitchen.
Poffertjes.
The first time I ate poffertjes was back in 1989. I’ll help you out, that’s 21 years ago! Gosh, I sure grew up since. But in the past [...]

“smush kidney beans with sour cream makes a rely good FANCY dinner with music like in a resturant with fruit all  urawnd the table.” My son typed that.
Translation: Smooshing kidney beans with sour cream makes a really good FANCY dinner with music like in a restaurant with fruit all around the table.
The other night, our [...]

I don’t feel like posting recipes lately. Do you mind at all? I wonder… Please do tell me. Because my head seems to be more into daily family stuff, writing or photographing whatever is around me than posting new recipes that I cooked or baked. I feel more excited telling you about Saturday then the [...]

I could sum it up this way: play, cook, eat, clean, play, cook, eat, clean. But…
It started with a lazy morning
watching TV

The Wiggles…

Then, some kitchen time/putting the kid to work

and cleaning up a little

or watching the others clean up
More play time

and more play time

I knew it reminded me of something… The little mermaid versus [...]

I love this photo. As it happens, it very much reflects what I want to share with you today. Darkness behind the little girl and a glow of light in front of her, it symbolizes the way I see myself. (I took this photo a few months ago and it was a spontaneous one.)
I was [...]

Before we start discussing anything, I’d like to tell you right away what not to do when you make Shakshuka. Do not burn it!
OK, now let’s take a few steps back and start from the beginning.
When I saw this photo in Sunset magazine (09/09 issue) for Paprika Tomatoes with Poached Eggs (Shakshouka), it has struck [...]

I have a sister.
The first time we met I was 18 years old, she was 9, our brother 7. After that, another 10 years passed by until we met again. We grew up in two different continents, in two separate families, and we have no shared childhood experiences.
Since I moved to the US, about 8 [...]

Oh, what a summer it has been. Quite stormy, I’d say. If you have been following my family stories, you know what I’m talking about…
My father passed away 3 weeks ago after months of being very sick. I can’t still digest this fact and the only time I have to think about it is late [...]

My father passed away about 10 days ago.
I’ll be back later with a post.
In the meantime, enjoy your life all of you people out there in the world, OK?
Tell your loved ones that you love them.
and give someone a hug…
 

Things I love about summer…
Dedicated to my friend Keren, the Frantic Foodie who is trying to do it all (she is getting SO much done! Amazing.) and all the mothers out there. I love you, Moms!

taking a nap…

curly hair… (OK, it has nothing to do with summer)

water and everything in it (well, most of it, [...]

Funny hairdos… 
It’s my father’s birthday today. He’s 62. Still in the hospital, his days are numbered. 5% chances of going back home.
I want to share a song that he and I once sang together. My one and only karaoke incident. This was when I was a 20 something and single and came to visit him, [...]

Every time I manage to create something delicious using leftovers, I think about my grandmas. Such resourceful women. They lived, worked, raised a family during such hard times, wars, depression, very little rights for women… and A LOT of hard work each and every day. I don’t think they ever went on a vacation. You [...]

Walking by this plant that I have put in the ground only a few weeks ago I noticed that although I provided him with the best care I could, looked all dry and dying. Then, a few days later, surprise… new flowers.
It made me think about my father. Still fighting for his life after a [...]

“Where is the photo of the banana bread?”, you might ask. And who is this person in the photo? (Photo was taken by my cousin).
I told you in my recent “a happy place” post that my father gave me an envelope with letters from my childhood years. I read them but will need to re-read [...]

I want to write about my father. Posting recipes and acting as if nothing is happening is just unperceivable.
But it is so hard.
I think it might be easier to write about one’s father when the relationships are/were close and loving than when it was mostly full of disappointments.

This blog will soon turn 1 years old! I always tried to keep it a happy place. Write only about cooking, baking, kids, parties, birthdays, farms, vacations… the good stuff, you know… Well, this might change and I’d like to know what you think about it.
You see, sometimes I visit blogs where everything looks so [...]

I had my eye on this cake for a few weeks now. I first saw it when Diana posted it on her blog in April. I knew then that I was going to make it as a surprise for my son on his birthday. I still looked around for other ideas and asked my Twitter [...]

So what else happened during days 3-5?
My husband, L., is sure a happy camper this week… taking home-made food to work. I rarely cook lunch or breakfast. Our breakfasts are simple, mainly some bread, cheese, yogurt, fruit. If we have leftovers from last night’s dinner whoever wants them can have them for lunch.
On Wednesday night, [...]

 
Today was the first day of the Hunger Action Week. I made a plan ahead of time (see here) – I had to – and a grocery list, I calculated the estimated costs, and went grocery shopping today. More about that in a minute.
We take this challenge as a family so I tried to find [...]

Cake is a symbol of family, home, and togetherness to me. A place so happy that it has a cake. I think it all started when I was a kid and my mom sent me to stay with her sister’s family for a few days (or was is weeks?) during summer break.
My life with my [...]

Oh, how I love date nights.
If you have kids you probably know that date night means one or more of the following:
a chance to have a quiet meal, relax and eat slowly
a little break from the nightly routine of dinner, baths, story time, bottle, pacifier, and cute little jammies. Cute little jammies are my favorite [...]

 Are you a foodie? Are you a foodie and a parent? Do your kids share your passion for food? Or do they give you a hard time? Watch the video:

I am a foodie and a picky eater in a choosy finicky, or conscious eating way. Since we got married, I got my husband all excited [...]

Or, how I have surprised my husband for his birthday.
Coming up next…