Sentry21's New Writeups

Just because I say Happy Hanukkah doesn't mean I'm Jewish (idea)

2001-11-28T22:27:21Z

Here's my beef with the Christmas season (and Easter, and American Thanksgiving to a point).

Christmas is seen as one of two things. Either it's a celebration of Jesus Christ's birth, even though he wasn't actually born in modern-day December, or it's a celebration of in-your-face capitalism and marketing hype gone seriously awry.

I, however, am neither Christian, nor extremely fond of the pure, unbridled, god-forsaken examples of pure American-style capitalism demonstrated during December.

I am extremely fond of several weeks off of school, if applicable, a day off work or double-time, and Boxing Day sales, but let's put that aside for now.

Normally, I let people do whatever they want and don't mind, but when they get in my face about it, I get annoyed. As such, I tend to spend most of December replying to 'Merry Christmas' with 'Happy Hannukah', ignoring the fact that Hannukah is over by Christmastime, which few people…

quesadilla (thing)

2001-11-25T23:45:01Z

As an alternative to Cordelia's instructions, I present...

**Dan's No-Fail* Chicken Quesadilla Recipie**

*this is not guaranteed not to fail.

Ingredients

Chicken; we used two average-sized breasts to make 10 quesadillas using this method the first time, but in retrospect, I would have used four. Two is enough, but I like meat, so this is up to you. Exclude this if you are vegetarian.
Flour tortillas - one per quesadilla (we used ten rather easily, but it took three people two days to finish them)
Butter or margarine
Cheese; We bought a bag of shredded cheese that had monterey jack, peppercorn (I think), cheddar, mozzarella, and something else. Your tastes may very; use edam if you wish, I don't care.
Green peppers, red peppers, yellow peppers, etc; we use green and red
Green onions
A tomato you likely won't use it all

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Timex "water resistant" watches do not necessarily resist the Dead Sea (idea)

2001-11-22T01:41:55Z

While on vacation in Israel, I happened to go to the Ein Gedi Spa on the shores of the Dead Sea (a.k.a. the Salt Sea), the lowest depression on Earth if you don't count high school.

First, we enjoyed the mineral baths in the spa itself. I kept my generic-style Timex watch with me (I do not know what kind of watch it is, since it was packed as a turn'n'pull, which it is not) because you're only supposed to stay in for about 15 minutes, and I'm not one to screw around with potentially dangerous minerals. My watch got quite wet, and was submerged often.

We then went on to the Dead Sea mud, which we covered ourselves in, neck to toe, including my watch. After it dried, we washed it all off in the minerally-water showers, which I got in my eyes, so I rinsed off in the normal water showers too.

We then went to the pool and splashed around for a while. My watch got ever-more wet in this situation. After that, we went to the Dead Sea proper, and floated in that until some…

Zhug (thing)

2001-11-15T00:00:37Z

Zhug (pron. zoog) is a Yemenite spice, brought to Israel by the Yemenite Jews. There are many variations out there, but the basics are all the same.

Presumably this could be a great compliment to malawach or jachnun, though if you're having Jachnun and Zhug for breakfast, you may want to make sure to get the spice out of your breath before you go anywhere. Being a condiment, it is of course rather flexible in uses and composition, so feel free to go as you like with the ingredients.

This version is from Claudia Roden's New Book of Middle Eastern Food (Penguin, 1985) and is a pretty standard rendition. The recipe goes as such:

ZHUG (YEMENITE SPICE)

Required:

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp caraway seed

3-4 cardamom pods

4 strong dried hot peppers soaked in water 1 hour

1 whole head garlic (peel cloves first)

a good bunch of coriander leaves (remove stems)

salt

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Jachnun (thing)

2001-11-14T19:07:27Z

It was suggested that I do a writeup on Jachnun, after my much-loved writeup on Malawach, so I am doing so. I am including a recipe from the same source that I got the Malawach recipe from, so hopefully it will be a decent recipie. Again, after I try it, I will post the results here.

Jachnun is a Yemenite pan bread, and if you like Malawach, I'm told, you'll love Jachnun. It, too, was brought to Israel by Jewish-Yemenite immigrants (or, presumably, Arab-Yemenite immigrants, or Canadian-Yemenite immigrants, depending on who you talk to, but statistically, Jewish is more likely).

Note that, unlike Malawach, it does need to be baked overnight, so it's better as a breakfast food, since it will be fresh in the morning. Presumably, you could bake it all day too, if you started in the morning, but who wants to cook in the morning? Anyway, if you want more of a short-term fix, go with Malawach. If you have guests over and want a great and filling breakfast, go with Jachnun.

Last…

malawach (thing)

2001-11-13T20:00:29Z

Malawach is a Yemenite bread similar to a pita brought to Israel by the (Yemenite) Jews and introduced to me by the family I was staying with when I visited.

Once it is 'ready', it's cooked in a frying pan by adding a small amount of margarine or oil to the pan and then putting the pita-like malawach into the pan and frying until the bread is lightly browned (or as your preference goes).

Since I live in/around Abbotsford which is predominantly Christian, I could not find any place that sells it in packages as one can find it in Israel, and likely in areas with more Israelis (or Jews/Yemenites in general) like Montreal, Toronto, or maybe Vancouver. As such, I have found a recipe at http://www.jewish-food.org/recipes/malawach.htm, which I intend to try. It goes as such:

MALAWACH (YEMENITE BREAD)

Required:

2 1/2 cups flour (591.25 ml)
1 cup warm water (236.5 ml)
1 teaspoon salt (5 ml)
1/4 lb margarine (113 g) (usei

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