Winter DIY - How to Make a Winter Bouquet

My kids are growing up differently then I did.

 

My childhood took place in two different continents. We went back and forth between Israel and the USA until I was twelve. We never spent more then two years in one place - moving around many neighborhoods and schools.  The years  in America were spent in a classic suburban setting - a front and back yard, plenty of open spaces but very little independence, mainly due to my parents feeling it wasn't secure enough for us to walk around on our own. The years in Israel were spent in Jerusalem, a busy city full of people, traffic, cafes and the regular hustle and bustle of a busy city. We were free to take the bus and walk around the city as we pleased.

 

Sometimes I look at my kids and I realize they haven't been out of our community in a month (!) No stores, no traffic - just the quiet Israeli countryside. I find myself feeling bad for them, even though I'm pretty sure they could care less. They seem perfectly content.

This week we went out for a walk in the woods surrounding our house. I took pictures while my kids ran around, climbing, shouting, having fun.

 

We gathered branches we found lying about to make a winter bouquet. When we came home I made a couple of different bouquets. Fist, I took some Holiday Ornaments from my shop and hung them on the branches set in a vase. This would look equally pretty on a branch hanging from the ceiling.

 

You can purchase the ornament here

For a more colorful bouquet (but still super simple to put together) you can stick Washi Tape on the branches (I chose neon pink and a minty green color for the tape).

Washi Tape makes everything better

A little while ago it occurred to me the longest I've ever lived in the same house has been the Caravan we're living in now while we're waiting for our house to be built - eight long years - and that kind of freaked me out. I don't like to settle down - I love moving around and discovering new places. But this week with my kids in the forest, I felt content being exactly where I am, no matter where we'll be tomorrow.

Have a lovely winter,

Elisheva

P.S. The ornaments are for a limited time - until January or when they run out - whichever comes first, if you like them you'd better hurry:)

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Retail Therapy

I have some big news to share with you.
I bought a camera.
That might not sound like a big deal to you - but believe me, it is. I have been making due with my small and pink (!) pocket camera for way too long. In fact, all of the pictures on the blog, on Facebook and even some of the photos on the Shop are with that dinky camera. I learned how to use the manual settings, and honestly tried my hardest, but I felt it just wasn't working out anymore, and if I want to take everything to the next level, I cannot put off buying a camera any more.
So I bought a new camera. And it was expensive.
I came out of the store a little shaky. Mostly b/c I was excited, but also b/c I was kind of shocked at how much I had just spent on myself. And then I thought about all of these other times I had treated myself to something expensive, or asked for a crazy gift. Something I could do without. That I didn't REALLY need.

My Kitchen Aid. Honestly, the person who said diamonds are a girls best friend obviously didn't own a Kitchen Aid. Every time I walk by it, I give it a little pat, it's just that beautiful.

 

Sandals I bought in London. I was so pregnant at the time, and so sad I couldn't try anything on, and then I saw these shoes and tried them on and they made me feel so much better about myself.

 

My leather bag from Forestbound. When I turned 30 I decided it was time for a big girl bag, as opposed to all of the cheap-o ones I had had up till then.

 

And then there was that one time where I decided I needed a silver sequined pillow for our living room. As I went looking for the right kind of fabric and everything was so expensive, I felt kind of bad that I was spending that  much on a pillow that, honestly, was not going to be very comfortable. And now that I've sewn it and it's on display, I'm so happy I did. Sometimes I look at it all sparkly and shiny, and I smile. It always sparkles back.

 

Once in a while I take part in craft fairs, and I often hear people saying - 

Oh I love that! but I don't have any gifts to buy right now...

As if some things you can only buy as a gift - and not for yourself.

For some reason many of us are unwilling to treat ourselves, just because.

But spending money on ourselves - and it doesn't have to be a lot, it can be something small that we hadn't planned - does wonders for our self worth. Basically we're telling ourselves - you are good enough, you deserve this!

What can I say, I'm still on a high from my new camera. And I strongly urge you - go treat yourself! Buy yourself that necklace, something pretty for your home, go out for dinner tonight - you are worth it!

Have a lovely week,

Elisheva

House Visit

So where did you say your from????
This is what people normally ask when I tell them I'm from Shekef.
The next question is always - What?!
The truth is, I never know what to answer when people ask me where I'm from. In Israel, is my usual answer. But going into detail is always a bit more difficult. You see, I live in a teeny tiny village (it's not even that much of a village) with only 80 families in Southern Israel. The closest city is called Kiryat Gat, and it's about a 15 minute drive on a winding road filled with cows and vineyards.  So windy, in fact, that every time my mother comes to visit from Jerusalem she calls from the road to say she thinks she got lost. No Mother, you're not lost. Keep going. A bit more. In the end you'll make it.

 

How did we end up living here? Well about 7 years ago my husband and I moved here from Jerusalem to join a small community of super nice people named Eliav. We are supposed to build our house here, and are living along with all of our neighbors in small trailer in a community named Shekef in the meantime. Hopefully we will start building our home in August on a nearby hilltop.

 

This area is beautiful all year round. But it is especially lovely during February, when the Anemones start to bloom. Red carpets suddenly spread out along the hills and valleys, and the road that is usually completely empty is suddenly filled with traffic. OK maybe not traffic, but they're are definitely a lot more people.

So please join me for an inspiring hike down the road leading to my little house. You can bring anyone you want - my kids will join us too. And because a hike is always connected to food (well, in my mind everything connects to food:), I'll give you a little culinary local secret - Deweys (pronounced Doo-ee) Hummus.

 

Dewey is a well kept secret in our area. He lives in Shekef (where I do) and almost every day he ties his little house shaped trailer to his pickup truck and drives it about 10 minutes closer to the main road. In a little clearing in the woods there are a couple of plastic chairs, some tables, and the best Hummus I've ever had. And I'm from Jerusalem - I know my Hummus!

 

He makes his own olives,  Olive Oil, and Hummus of course. You can also order a Shakshuka (an Israeli dish made of eggs and tomato sauce - it's amazing) or Sabih (a sandwich made with a hard boiled egg, eggplant, and a potato in a pita) and sit under the trees enjoying the cool breeze. On any normal day you can find a handful of farmers, some truck drivers and a bike rider or two, but during February there are a lot more tourists coming to see the flowers bloom. 

 

Working from home is often a lonely thing. Sitting in front of my computer for hours on edge, I sometimes forget to enjoy where I live. It's important for me to remember to seek inspiration outside of the computer. That way I can give my designs a more local touch. A lot of the inspiration for my collection comes from hiking around our house with my family.

 

So if you have a couple of hours off, I highly recommend stopping by. And next week, I will be showing you all of my new designs, right in time for Spring!

See you soon,

Elisheva

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Nostalgia, Beutiful Views, and Recipes

Maybe it's that wintery smell, or the rain that won't stop - something is making me nostalgic. With the holidays coming soon, I'm especially nostalgic for Holiday customs. And you know when I say customs - I mean food:)
So this post will bring you a family recipe with a shot of the view from my house, along with a recipe by my amazing and talented friend Tamar who just moved up North, and the views from her house.
In my house, lighting Hanukkah candles is always done with a burnt aroma lingering in the background. The smell is not from the candles, but from the Potatoe Latkes my Mother makes.

I've tasted many a Latke - and I always feel so bad for those poor souls still eating plump fluffy wet Latkes. If there is one thing I learned from my mother, it's that you can never really burn a potato. My Mothers Latkes are juicy on the inside, and crispy on the outside. Our favorite part of her Latkes are  those little crispy fringes surrounding them. Poor other peoples fringless Latkes, they do not know what they're missing.
For this recipe, you'll need about 8 large peeled potatoes, a medium-small sized onion. Grade them finely together in your food processor, then comes the most important part. Take a clean bowl, pick up a handful of potato-onion mush and squeeze out all of the water over the food processor. Then transfer the waterless mush into the clean bowl. Repeat for all of the mixture, so you're left with a bowl full of the dry-ish potato-onion. This part is what makes the Latkes crispy on the outside.
Add two heaped tablespoons of flour, two eggs, some salt and pepper. Mix it all up - I admit I use my hands. And it's squishy.
Heat some oil (Olive or Canola is fine) in a frying pan. It should not completely cover the Latke, but rather reach halfway. Take small handful off the mixture, squeeze it again to get rid of liquids and make it flat. You can pull out a couple of potato strings, for the crispy fringe part. Put the Latke in the oil, flip when one side is brown, the take it out as soon as the other side is brown - and transfer to a plate. (I put some paper towels under the Latkes for the oil to drip out)
You can now enjoy them!

 

Until next time,

Elisheva

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An Early Holiday Gift From Me

So, Hanukkah is in the air - and you can definitely feel it all over Israel. When I was growing up in the US the holidays were really hard for me. I was so jealous of kids who got to celebrate Christmas! The lights! The decorations! Santa! If you have ever felt this way about Jewish Holidays, you would definitely appreciate this piece by John Stuart.
Celebrating Hanukkah is very different in Israel, b/c there really is no one to be jealous of. I guess it makes it easier, but I still miss those lights on our Street in Maryland...
Hanukkah is loooong - a whole eight days to celebrate our miracle. Every night we light another candle in the Hanukia - also called a Menorah. It's customary to invite friends and light candles together. This way you find yourself at a different friend each evening, and with all of your brothers and sisters on the last night - probably at your house. There are lots of gifts to give, and Sufganiot (I think Jelly Doughnut is doing a disservice as a translation) to serve.

So here are a couple of Printables to dress up that ordinary wine bottle you thought you'd bring, and  add a little something to add to that mound of Sufganiot on your table to really make you stand out as the most stylish host and guest:)

 

So what can you find on this file? Wine tags (just print on card stock and fold on the dotted line), little signs for those Sufganiot and Potato Latkes everyone loves so much (they say "guilt free" b/c they aint fat free, for those of you who aren't yet fluent Hebrew speakers) and pretty cards for gifts you might be giving.  

For the little signs - cut out the circles and glue them back to back with a toothpick in the center.

If you want to get fancy with the gift cards (and you know you do) you can make two slits in the gift card and insert two colors of ribbon through them, like in the picture (cause you know I love getting fancy!)

You can get the tags here.

Happy Hanukkah!

Elisheva

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