& Dessert Always Comes First
Since writing this post many Israeli soldiers lost their lives in one day, so I will pause and pray, and then read and do my best to keep moving forward and keep dreaming, please read on…
As a child, I daydreamed of so many things—nothing wild, yet it was varied. There was so much I wanted to do, so much to see, and so much to accomplish. When was the last time I checked in? I am so caught up in the day-to-day, in completing one task before starting the next, often not completing the task at all before jumping into the middle of the next. I go from crisis to crisis, I fight fires so often that I seem to miss everyday. I tick things off a list without noticing.
On Monday, I got up early to prepare my reflections that I would be delivering at City Hall in front of the Mayor of London for the London Assembly’s Holocaust Memorial Day Ceremony (to watch us follow this link we are on from 1:27:58). It was my task, together with Daniel, for the third year in a row to represent the Jewish community at the Mayor of London’s Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration. As soon as we were done, we rushed out to have lunch with the Conservative Friends of Israel where we heard the Prime Minister speak. His words of friendship were appreciated by the room. The journey between City Hall and the West End hotel was an hour long. During that hour, my husband Daniel helped me put multiple events in our shared calendar. The events were varied, from speaking to the British military to guiding a Jewish tour of the Victoria and Albert Museum. As we busily checked in dates with each other, the most iconic sites sailed by the window of our cab: Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Horse Guards Parade, and Buckingham Palace just outside my window.
Had I ever dreamt this big? Had I ever considered what my life would be like? No, I didn’t think it would look anything like this. I took for granted, though I shouldn’t have, that at the end of the day, whatever that day looked like, I would have a warm home and a family to come back to and to look after while they, in turn, looked after me. That part of the dream, though not fully formed, was expected. The rest is extra and extraordinary. I haven’t, though, taken a moment to notice it, to be aware that this is life, and its dreams are a blessing.
At lunch, we sat at a table with a young woman. Her boyfriend of seven years is being held hostage in Gaza. She knows nothing about his situation. The last time she saw him, they were at the Nova music Festival. They arrived at 4:30 in the morning, danced for two hours with the rest of the festival, and then their world was shattered beyond recognition. The young woman, Ziv, held her nephew in her arms as he died from the more than nine grenades that were thrown into the shelter that did not shelter them. When the dust settled, she was alive, covered by the body of her dead nephew, and her boyfriend was gone.
She said thank you to us for listening to her story, for the British Parliament members who had invited her to speak to them, who promised her that they would use all of their influence to help bring Eliya home (read article here). How is it that this girl who has suffered unimaginable tragedy knows the value of what she has, and I often forget?
And that is why I say to myself, check in with your dreams and the dreams of your nation. Herzl famously said, “If you will it, it is not a dream.” I think he was wrong. Dream it, want it, but recognize that in its fulfillment, it is a dream.
For generations, we dreamt, we prayed, we begged and beseeched for a return to Zion. The thing that is beyond the dream is that we didn’t just get Zion; we built a modern Western society, a Jewish oasis in a desert rife with opposition and hate. But we tend to forget that we are living the dream. We often see all the ways our dreams have let us down. Guess what? The fulfillment of a national dream will always be messy. How can it not be? The same way as families are messy—it’s because there is more than one person involved in your dream. It is their dream too, and even in dreams, we need to make space for others.
Tonight, Ziv will once again dream of holding Eliya in her arms, and he, I pray to God, is well and dreaming the very same thing. And we are dreaming with them. We need to, otherwise how can we expect to help them?
I need to recognize that most of my dreams have come true. No, they have not been fulfilled perfectly. Dreams tend to leave out messy details. We dreamt of Israel; we left out the messy details that today seem to encompass the whole. Yet, it does not mean that the dream hasn’t been fulfilled. It is now our job to hold onto that hard-won dream and dream bigger, dream better. Make our dreams a reality, and share those dreams with others, dream together because that is the only way we will usher in a better time for us, for our children, and for our people.
Once again, never forgetting that this is a blog about food and Shabbat! The best advice I can give you when trying to get ahead of Shabbat prep is this:
Start with dessert.
I like to serve a variety at dessert time. I have written about this in the past, but I will share once more. Our table is big, and we rarely have fewer than twelve people for a Shabbat or holiday meal. I have found that I get self-conscious when I have a big round cake in front of me, and I’m cutting it at the table serving people. And the last thing I want is to feel uncomfortable at my own table.
In recent years, I have switched it up. It is rare for me to serve anything from my seat during dessert; rather, I create ‘trays of treats.’ Each tray will have a selection of homemade and store-bought cakes, cookies, and one or more mini dessert cups. I will place three of these trays along the length of the table, interspersed with plates of cut-up fruit, bowls of nuts, and boxes of chocolates.
My Ikea trays are no longer available, but if I were to restock any time soon these are the ones I would run out and buy! Jamida of Sweden Word collection trays
Over the years, I have bought long narrow trays from Ikea for cakes, small shot glasses for mini dessert cups, miniature spoons for those cups, small bowls for things like candy, nuts, and chocolates, and though the dessert looks the same every week, the cakes and cookies change.
Here is a selection of the serving ware I use for dessert: shot glasses sorbet bowls mini ramekins
Dessert is rarely something that needs to be made last minute. Cakes and cookies can be made ahead of time and frozen. Mousses, ice creams, and jellies need refrigeration, and if you are going to buy dessert, then you can already plan for that at the beginning of the week.
Once you have dessert out of the way (or at least once I have dessert out of the way), I find it easier to get on with what I, in my mind, call the ‘real cooking.’ More on ‘real cooking’ next week. For this week, though, I have one last tip about dessert, especially baking.
Baking and cooking are two different things, and they require some of the same tools and happen in the same space, and there is some cooking involved in baking and vice versa, but essentially, they are two different skill sets. For cooking, blast some music, watch a movie, taste as you go, add another potato to the pot, and don’t forget an extra twist of the pepper mill!
Yet, with baking, and perhaps this is another good reason to get it out of the way early, concentration is required, and an extra teaspoon of salt will ruin the cookies. Forget to add the baking powder, and your cake won’t rise. Yet, if you follow the recipe exactly, more often than not, you can expect near-perfect results, but focus is key.
Though I love to bake, I never do so at night because I know that my focus at the end of the day is gone, and anything I bake after dark will end up in the garbage.
Tip number one: make dessert early in the week.
Tip number two: baking and cooking are two different things; try not to lump them together into one activity.
Here is my latest cake recipe: Orange cake with Chocolate Glaze
