creative jewish mom

May the new year bring blessings of joy and good health to you and your loved ones, your neighbors, and your friends near and far, and virtual as well!

Looking forward to another amazing year sharing our love for creativity.

 

Chocolate Bark With Fish Crackers For A Perfect Rosh HaShana Treat!

Here's a last minute treat for Rosh HaShana that is just about perfect — chocolate bark with little fish crackers! The apple dipped in honey is a universal sign for Rosh HaShana, but fish are also an important symbol, and a fish head is one of the traditional foods placed on the Rosh HaShana table as we make a blessing to be counted as those who are at the head, not at the tail during the coming year, and of course Rosh HaShana is also the "head" of the year. Additionally, on the afternoon of the first day of Rosh HaShana there is a custom of saying a prayer called tashlich, which is ideally done looking at a living body of water which contains fish.

Ingredients:

• fish crackers
• dark chocolate
• dried cranberries
• cornflakes (instead of nuts, as we don't traditionally eat nuts on Rosh HaShana)

Preparation: Follow the directions for my chocolate cranberry bark, just replace the nuts with cornflakes or something else crunchy (like really branflakes or cherrios would be better!) and instead of sprinkling coconut on top, carefully place fish onto the melted chocolate, gently pressing down so they'll stick. Once hardened, it is preferable to cut with a knife as the fish are easily broken.

If you'd like to send sweet gifts to the neighbors, this is perfect, just place in little cupcake cups and wrap in cellophane, and don't forget a little note wishing them all the best in the new year!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome back to Craft Schooling Sunday, and so happy to be back after a technical problem postponed last week's get together. Tday's party is the Rosh HaShana event, as the Jewish new year starts Sunday night. So wishing you all a sweet new year, whether or not you celebrate the holiday. Don't worry, I'll be celebrating for all of us! And now for some amazing inspiration from around the world via the features from the last party:

Love this flip flop foot print craft from lifes little treasures (India) and crazy about these floral numbers from my home is my castle (Sweden.)

Adorable `"miffy mail" water color stamps from the gingerbread house (United Kingdom) and an adorable and simple crocheted puppet for charity from Ginx crafts (United Kingdom.)

Crocheted apple coasters from jenny and teddy (New Zealand) a crocheted chunky cowl from homemade at my place (Mozambique.)

A gorgeous retro granny picni blanket from Chris in de haak (The Netherlands.)

 Love this crocheted market bag from homemade at my place (Mozambique.)

A wonderful crocheted Japanese flower scarf in progress from colour crochet love (Belgium) and cozy crocheted socks from Anna simple crochet (Portugal.)

A fun vintage card garland with crochet from estrea chikitu (The Netherlands.) and a granny rows scarf from homemade at my place (Mozambique.)

An embroidered pencil holder from the crafty blog stalker (US) and a wonderful knit sea urchin from Ginx crafts (United Kingdom.

Quilled paper frame from life's little treasures (India) and a rustic DIY leaf pendant from jewelry making journal (USA)

That is it for the features, what have you been up to?

Mini Kugel Platter Is Perfect For Receiving Guests!

Last week a neighbor's son got engaged, so I had to send a little congratulatory something over to her house on Friday.....but what? At first I was going to send a challah, but then I realized that with all the excitement going on, it is better to send food that can actually be eaten by hungry family members on the spot. And so this mini kugel platter was born. The salads and egg were actually an after thought, but really pulled the whole thing together and I felt like quite the balabusta! And to make the story even better, it turns out that my friend has some guests in her home and she was wondering around the kitchen trying to figure out what she could serve them when my platter arrived!

The other great thing about this platter is that you can put it together ahead of time and have it ready to serve when guests arrive!

 

You'll Need:

• mini kugels made in a muffin tin using my vegetable kugel recipe
• hard boiled eggs
• chopped olive salad, or the salad of your choice, recipe coming soon
• jullianed kohlrabi/carrot/red pepper salad, dressed with vinegar salt and pepper
  
  

Will fill in more details on Sunday, gotta run the last shabbat of the year is coming!

A Severe Sand Storm In Northern Israel, Yuck

When a huge sand storm comes to town, one really has no choice but to close all the windows, forget about washing the floor for a few days, and dry your laundry in the dryer. And of course when one gazes out at a very forlorn looking container garden covered in a thick layer of grit, well the best thing to do is to make the best of it and use your ficus as a canvas for writing a new year's message!

In all seriousness though, though we do get storms like these now and again, I personally have never witnessed one that was so intense and lasted for days on end. And we're not the only ones, a large part of the middle east has also been greatly affected by the storm, and certainly those living in refugee camps in Syria, are even more uncomfortable than usual.

What can we learn from a sand storm like this that occurs during this time of introspection just before the Jewish holidays? A friend of mine said that because our whole country (small country that it is) is covered in dust, it reminds us that we are all in this together, a truly comforting thought in this crazy world!

Wishing you all a wonderful and sweet new year, and the patience to deal with things like bucket fulls of dust and sand blown your way, even when you'd like everything to be spic and span, sigh.

A Daughter's Sweet Birthday Decorations For Mom!

 My darling 13 year old daughter, who very fortunately takes after mom just a bit in the crafting department, whipped up these sweet little decorations as a surprise for my birthday last week, and I have to say, sometimes when the apple doesn't fall so far from the tree it can truly be a pleasure!

Reflections On A Week Plus Without A Computer

As you may know, computers while created to be perfect, can in fact be far from perfect over time, especially when there are influences from the outside world, and can suffer from illnesses both mild and severe. As it turns out, last Sunday my trusty iMac suffered a total and complete breakdown, meaning that when I turned it on nothing came up on the screen, double triple quadruple YIKES. So rather than freak out entirely, I went to go lie down in my bed to fight all the thoughts of what if, mainly because while I do have a back-up service on a cloud, just my photos alone had already exceeded the amount of space I'd paid too much for, so I wasn't entirely sure what was backed up and what was not. ( As it turns out, my cloud program wasn't exactly working on account of my computer not working properly, and I could have been more aware of what actually was backed up, so you can certainly have a cloud back up and just back up your precious photos.)

Rather than drag this post on, I did want to share with you all some things that happened during my unplanned week of computer abstinence:

1. I found that my thoughts were more independent as opposed to being driven by something I'd seen or read online

2. I had some ideas that I wanted to record, so I found a little journal to write them in, yes, you know like the old fashioned way of planning with pen and paper!

3. I did a lot of crafting that I might not have done, but that I need to do with the Jewish holidays and especially succot quickly approaching.

4. The kitchen was generally so much neater, and there weren't piles of dishes in the sink, whaddayaknow.

5. I actually took down an old cookbook from a high up shelf and enjoyed looking at all the recipes, and discovered a bunch of ideas to implement in my kitchen. What a concept, you mean actually open up a cookbook instead of searching for a recipe online?

6. I went to bed or at least retired to my room at the same time as my kids (who now go to bed starting at around 9:30pm) and revisited the lovely idea of sort of winding down before actually going to sleep.

7. When I finally did get my computer back home safe and sound from a reliable Mac repair center an hour plus away from my home I didn't run to plug it in, as I still wanted to savor the simpler unplugged life, ahhhhh.

8. Now that I am back, I am resolved to spend less time on the computer, especially during the evening hours, and to try and limit computer use that may have in the past taken place in the very late night hours, unless it is for a job that can't wait.

9. Since nothing happens by chance, I do believe that this computer malfunction was perfectly timed to occur just before the Jewish New Year, when we take stock of our actions during the past year and resolve to infuse the new year with choices that are better for ourselves and our families.

Wishing you all a Shanah Tovah (a good year) and a new year filled with sweet moments, good health and really truly being present in the moment.  I will be back with more crafting shortly, but right now I must run to pack suitcases for my husband and two youngest sons who are traveling to the Ukraine for Rosh HaShana, where as spiritual warriors (together with about 50,000 others from around the world) they will strengthen themselves and gather tools to make thjs coming new year a truly good year for themselves, for our family and for the entire world.

Craft Schooling Sunday Is Postponed

Dear readers, due to serious computer problems and in fact no functioning computer at this time, the linky party is postponed until next week, same time. Looking forward to reconnecting then!

Quick No-Sew Apple Craft Using Upcycled Materials!

 

I have no computer at the moment and am typing on an iPad, but wanted to share this recycled materials Apple craft with you. fortunately I had uploaded the photos to my blog before my computer got very sick and had to be sent to the hospital an hour and a half drive from home, yikes. so please excuse this very basic description which I,will surely fix once my computer is back home next week. This craft is truly a quick one,and uses only scraps that you will hopefully find hanging around waiting to be used!

I am using these apples as fun decorations for Rosh HaShana, and have also made some tiny ones as well. And of course in addition to being symbols of fall, they can also be great succah decorations. So let's get crafting!

 

You'll Need: red or green fabric scraps (in my case a faded pillowcase) A cardboard tube, like those from aluminum foil some rags for padding Hot glue gun A piece of recycled cardboard for the leaf a stick for the stem How To: cut tube the height you'd like apple to be wrap rags around tube to create width of Apple Glue tube to piece of fabric Carefully bring fabric up and tuck into top of tube. Pleat fabric where needed for a neat finish. Tuck all fabric in to tube, and arrange it so it is symmetrical. glue stick into center and add leaf. that is it, now make a bushel!