Blog/January 2009/Jan 23rd
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January 23rd (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!
In a stroke of true idiocy , our feckless leaders unilaterally declared a cease-fire. Of course, the immediate response was all too predictable. Hizbullah's bizarre rantings about war casualties make me wonder how much hashish they've been smoking.
For some reason, we seem to misunderstand our enemies' concepts of mercy. It is incredible to me that we could possibly misunderstand them, when they make it explicitly clear what they think. Are we really so stupid? Given that the Israeli courts are allowing the Arab parties (banned last week by the Central Election Committee) to run after all, I think the answer is "yes"...
Since the Arab media thinks "human shield" is something humorous, it's good to see an eye for an eye has literal meaning. As does divine justice! Doubtless they'll blame the Mossad.
- A cowboy, an Indian, and an Ay-rab were sitting in a bar.
- The Indian said: "Once upon a time, my people were very many; today we are very few".
- The Ay-rab said: "Walla, once my beoble were very few, today we are very many".
- The cowboy said: "Yup, that's 'cos we ain't played cowboys and Ay-rabs yet".
The USA got a new president this week, but I didn't see any miracles from Saint Obama just yet. Maybe I'm naive, but I find it difficult to understand how he intends to fund his programs. Oh, and if you were working for the evil Microsoft (which despite many years of record-breaking profits, just let 5,000 employees go) you might consider the pink-slip special. "Boo, hiss!" to Microsoft.
In job-search news: I had an interview in Tel Aviv this week, which was ok... but I don't really want to drive to T"A every day (it would be about an hour and a half commute from Maaleh Adummim each way, by car -- more, by bus). What was interesting was just how different T"A is from Jerusalem. I don't get out much ... and I never did like Tel Aviv much, but seeing it "up close" is an eye-opener. It's almost as if it's a different country altogether (which I suppose it is, in a way). However, most of the jobs in "high tech" are in the coastal-plain, where T"A is (or north of there). Our CEO is still struggling to find investors who are willing to sign on the dotted-line, before the end of February. However, I think most of us "line personnel" are not holding out great hopes of success. Sad but true.
True story: going to check out at the supermarket. I look for the "express line", which has a sign posted over it: "Fast lane - 10 or fewer items only". I see there are only two people in line there, so I get in line. Ask the lady in front of me if the lane actually is fast, and she replies, yes, if you have ten or less items. She had a lot more than 10 items ... I assume she was being a smart-ass. So I went to the next lane over, which was a "normal" one, and got out before her.
I love hummus, I really do. I use it instead of mayonnaise or other spreads. Paired with zchug, it's a real meal. In the US I used to make my own, but when we made aliyah, I preferred to be lazy and buy it. Nevertheless, it's not hard to make, and my family actually likes my recipe... so without further ado, here's the hummus I made today lichvod shabbat:
Put "some" uncooked (dry) chickpeas in a pot (enough to cover the bottom of the pot, or more if you want more -- quantities are not too important). Rinse them, and cover with water so there is at least as much water above them as there are chickpeas. That is, if you have a 1cm layer of chickpeas, put in 2cm of water. Bring to a boil and cover the pot, turn off the heat and let them sit an hour, covered.
Get your food-processor out, and put the chickpeas in (do not get rid of the cooking water). Add a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of cumin, juice of half a lemon, and enough of the cooking water so that when you turn on the food-processor, you end up with a moist coarse paste (not a soup, and not dry). Add a couple cloves of garlic, and some raw tehina (to taste), as well as a few tablespoons of olive oil. Let the processor grind 'em up for a couple minutes, stopping every so often to push escaping chickpeas back into the soon-to-be-yummy mixture.
Now is the critical step: correcting the flavor. Mix the mixture around with your spatula, and take a taste. Add: salt, garlic, lemon juice or tehina as you think the mixture needs. Is the mixture too thick? Add more cooking water. Too loose? Well, not much you can do about that! Why did you put so much water in, didn't I tell you to be careful?!? Anyway, now you have got the taste the way you want it, continue processing until the texture is how you want it. Remember, the mixture will thicken a bit as it sits; so better to be a little bit looser than you ultimately want it.
Your homemade hummus will be coarser-grained than the commercial kind, but you won't have any unknown or unpronounceable ingredients in it. Enjoy!
Until next week,
Shabbat shalom!
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