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A couple of Sundays ago, my family and I were blessed to celebrate the centennial birthday of my mother-in-law, Becky. A couple of Sundays ago, my family and I were blessed to celebrate the centennial birthday of my mother-in-law, Becky. Of course, turning 100 deserves a huge celebration. But over the last six months, she…

All of the seven species play a popular part in the cuisine of Sephardic Jews. But this week, Sharon and I wanted to highlight two particular ingredients — olives and nuts. When I met Alan 24 years ago, I told him that when my father takes him to his garden and shows him his plants…

A nutritional powerhouse, farro contains protein, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. I was definitely born with a piece of marzipan in mine!  Traditional Moroccan sweets and desserts are delectable and oh so tempting. I start with one. I find it really hard to stop eating…

The wonderful thing about soups is that they are so nourishing and so comforting. Prepping the vegetables does take a little time, but once you throw everything in the pot, soup requires zero effort. As a young schoolgirl, many of my afternoons were spent at my grandparents home in Rose Bay. After school, my brother…

For Sephardic Jews, meatballs are rarely eaten with pasta. More often meatballs co-star with vegetables like potatoes, peas, zucchini, butternut squash, green beans and okra. For the extended Yaakovy family, Friday, October 6th was a joyful celebration of the festival of Simchat Torah at Kibbutz K’far Azza. At the end of the dinner, mother Sigal…

My memories of Hanukkah in Morocco revolve around the joy of family gathering together. My memories of Hanukkah in Morocco revolve around the joy of family gathering together. We lit one beautiful menorah presented to my parents by my mother’s father on the occasion of their wedding. My parents met and married in Larache, an…

One of the first, most harrowing images of the Hamas attacks of October 7th is of a wide-eyed and terrified Noa Argamani on an ATV surrounded by terrorists. It is heartbreaking to watch her cry out in fear, pleading ““Don’t kill me!” She reaches out her arms to her handsome, bearded boyfriend Avinatan Or. But…

My family and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving in Palm Springs in 1973. We had arrived in Los Angeles from Casablanca, Morocco, just after the Yom Kippur war. My family and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving in Palm Springs in 1973. We had arrived in Los Angeles from Casablanca, Morocco, just after the Yom Kippur…

Sharon and I decided we would make a batch of these very typical Israeli rolled-up cookies. When my cousin Dorit asked if her 15-year-old son Itay could fly from Israel to stay with us for the Summer of 2008, my answer was “Sure!” The more the merrier.  Over the years, during our visits to Israel,…

Adeena Sussman’s latest New York Times bestselling cookbook “Shabbat” is an intensely personal love letter. Adeena Sussman’s latest New York Times bestselling cookbook “Shabbat” is an intensely personal love letter. An ode to her grandmother Mildred, her mother Steffi and her older sister Sharon, as well as the “sacred bubble” that her parents created every…

We really wanted to do something to gather women to show unity for Israel and to raise our voices in prayer for Israel and her brave soldiers Last week, Sharon and I organized A Challah Bake for Israel. It was a leap of faith because we didn’t have a lot of time to get the word…

It’s hard to write about something as trivial as food at a time when our beloved Israel is at war and when we are anxiously watching every heartbreaking bit of news. It’s hard to write about something as trivial as food at a time when our beloved Israel is at war and when we are…

A soup that reminds us how small we are in the scheme of the Universe. A soup that reminds us that life is a cycle and that we must go on, no matter that our hearts are completely shattered. Since the savage attacks targeting our brothers and sisters in Israel, we have all cried and…

A bureka is a bundle of joy usually filled with feta cheese softened with creamy mashed potatoes. It’s a must have in the Rhodesli kitchen. Burekas are one of the most popular Jewish foods out there. When the Sephardic Jews from the lands of the Ottoman Empire — Istanbul, Izmir, the Balkans, Rhodes and Syria…

These Sephardic pastries are crispy, savory, cheesy heaven. Bourekas, boyos and bulemas are flaky, savory pastries, and just might be the crowning jewel of the Sephardic kitchen. Potato or eggplant bourekas, cheese boyos or spinach and cheese bulemas are traditionally served as part of the Sabbath desayuno(Ladino for “breakfast,” and a tradition in communities of the…

This Sukkot in my father’s memory, my mother will cook one of his favorite dishes — Fish Pilau Im’tabak — a classic dish from the Iraqi/Babylonian Jewish kitchen. Why is it that Sukkot always has a way of sneaking up on us? No matter what day the holiday falls on, Neil and I always find…

It is especially customary to eat letrea as part of the meal before the fast of Yom Kippur. As a mother of three I have boiled hundreds of pots of pasta. Spaghetti with meatballs, rigatoni with olive oil, macaroni and cheese with a crispy topping, packaged Wacky Mac, spirals with butter, bowties with marinara sauce….

Tishpishti is such a throwback to the flavors of my childhood in my grandmother’s kitchen. Sharon and I have been Instagram friends with Beth Lee from @omgyummy since 2020. In 2021, when she published “The Essential Jewish Baking Cookbook,” I immediately bought it. I loved every page. Beth really did her research. The book features…

For many of our readers and followers, food transports them to the kitchens of their mothers and grandmothers.  The holiness of Rosh Hashanah permeates the air. The candles burn brightly. We are all dressed in white. The table is covered with a white tablecloth, bedecked with flowers, apples and pomegranates and set with my mother’s…

There are only a few ladies left in Los Angeles that know how to make these treats that date back to medieval times. I decided the time had arrived for me to master the pasteliko! Rhodes is a tiny island in the middle of the Aegean Sea. Captured from Greece by the Ottoman Turks, it…