The flight to Sydney, Australia departs LAX at 10pm. You cross the Pacific Ocean and the international dateline. So while the flight is only 15 hours, you lose a whole day. You land in bright, sunny Sydney at 6am two days later. To get to my grandparents house in Rose Bay, you pass through the…
In Morocco, I grew up with North African cake-like donuts called rosquitas and sfinj. However, at various times in history, Morocco was a Spanish colony and then a French colony, so our family traditions also included bimuelos and beignets de Hanukkah. When I married Neil, his mother Becky introduced me to burmuelos, the Ladino name for Sephardic donuts….
‘Tis the season to chill with friends and family to commemorate the miracle of the little crucible of oil that lasted for eight nights in the Holy Temple. A Jewish holiday that only requires lighting some candles, eating fried foods, singing some songs and playing dreidel? We’ll take it! Who doesn’t love Hanukkah? We celebrate…
We share with you a simple and simply fantastic recipe for delicate, deliciously flavorful gravlax. Perfect to top your latkes or for any special occasion. When my mother’s sister Clara moved to Los Angeles from Paris, my uncle Menasse had the opportunity to become a partner in a very successful fish wholesale business. His new…
It was a magical night by the Aegean Sea in Bodrum. The waves rippled softly, reflecting the light from our hotel. We were mesmerized by the shimmering blue and the sparkling white and silver of the water. The water was so magical that I almost expected to see a mermaid emerge. Of course, there was…
When Danielle Renov’s cookbook “Peas Love & Carrots” was published in May 2020, it was a very big deal in the kosher food universe. You might have heard of her. She’s that Instagram blogger with 100,000 really, really devoted followers. The book is a labor of love. It has literally hundreds of recipes, stunning photographs…
It’s a Friday afternoon. I have a ruptured disc in my spine and I’ve been standing on my feet for two days straight. The G-d Squad is catering the kiddush lunch for the bar mitzvah of our dear friend’s son. (Rachel and I belong to a G-d Squad — a lifelong group of friends that…
Imagine our surprise when Shannon Sarna from The Nosher noticed our little Instagram account back in May 2020: We were so impressed that someone with such a noteworthy public profile liked our food! She generously featured some of our recipes on her Instagram account @Jewishfood (part of the 70 Faces Media Group). And we started…
The recipe for pita is super simple. The recipe is basically four ingredients and making the dough was very simple. The story of my seven-year-old mother at the airport in Baghdad has entered family legend. Before their departure, my grandmother Nana Aziza and my great aunts told her that she wouldn’t be allowed to take…
The Sephardic Film Festival is always one of the most glamorous, fun and memorable events on our calendar. The vibe starts when you drive through the tall gates onto the fabled Paramount Pictures lot. Strings of twinkling lights adorn the trees, there is a long red carpet and the flash of cameras outside the theater….
The first home I remember living in was located at 32 Bligh Street in Kirrawee, in the Sutherland Shire, south of Sydney in New South Wales. A year after emigrating from Israel to Australia, my father (a bricklayer by trade and an adventurous risk-taking entrepreneur in spirit) built us a stunning three-story house. A huge…
to your favorite ones again and again. For inspiration. For information. For entertainment. For support during challenging predicaments. Over the years, my favorite cookbooks have been given to me by my aunt Israela, my cousin Sarah Sassoon and Rachel Emquies Sheff. All three are major cookbook enthusiasts, so it makes sense. My collection is lovingly…
We’ve spent hours praying in the synagogue, we’ve eaten all the symbolic foods of Rosh Hashanah, we’ve fasted and now it’s time for some serious al fresco feasting. Sukkot is a time of joy in the Jewish calendar, an autumn festival of Thanksgiving. The Bible refers to this holiday as Chag Ha’asif (Feast of Gathering), when the…
Recently Rachel and I were invited to be on the podcast Kitchen Radio with Regine and Nathalie Basha, a talented aunt and niece duo. They are researching Middle Eastern and Mediterranean kitchens, so we had a fascinating conversation about family histories and culinary traditions. I told them the story of asking my then future husband…
Some of my most precious memories are of the days in preschool when my toddlers learnt the beautiful minhagimassociated with Rosh Hashana. They would come home with projects festooned with apples and pomegranates, bees and shofars. They would come home singing “Dip the apples in the honey, make a bracha loud and clear. L’shana tova u’metuka.Have a…
Pour your love into everything you make because your family and guests will taste it with every bite. Food memories are the most special and awaken so much emotion in our hearts. When my family moved from Morocco to America, my mother managed to keep all the old traditions alive through the years. Rosh Hashanah…
One of the hottest foodies on Instagram and Tik Tok is local talent Lindsey Baruch. Her bright and beautiful Instagram account @lindseyeats has 395,000 loyal followers. It’s filled with mouthwatering images and videos and chock full of outstanding recipes. Lindsey comes from an amazing family that continues to leave an imprint on the Los Angeles…
She leaves an incredible legacy of delicious food, tradition and Jewish ethics Last week, we lost Rachel’s beautiful mother, our original Moroccan Spice inspiration. She was gentle and kind, serene and regal. She leaves an incredible legacy of delicious food, tradition and Jewish ethics. —Sharon My mother Rica Bensabat was born in Larache, a port city…
This Sabich board couldn’t be easier to throw together When my grandmother found herself in Israel in the early 1950s, she needed to work smart to feed her young children. In Iraq, she had been the indulged and adored daughter of a very wealthy family. She wore chic European fashions and stunning jewels. Daily life…
Tunisian tuna salad may just change your tuna salad palate forever. One of my favorite memories of my childhood in Casablanca, is spending the day at Ain Diab Beach, where the coastline is covered with golden sand and turquoise water. My cousin Alia recently reminisced: “It was such a beautiful, carefree time. Your father would…
This is a beautiful, flavorful dessert that’s just perfect to serve at your next brunch or with your afternoon coffee. The magnificent city of Istanbul sits on the dazzling blue of the Bosporous Strait. A city that bridges Europe and Asia, Christianity and Islam, it was once the capital of the Roman Empire, then of…
