Sficha & Tulips

Okay --two totally unrelated things from this past week that fall into the category of small things that make me smile...

1. Yesterday afternoon, I succesfully made sficha for the first time (pronounced sfi-ha). These are mini-pizzas topped with ground meat, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and spices. The recipe comes from my new cookbook "Lamb, Mint and Pine Nuts". They tasted great, although next time I'll add a bit more salt...

and...

2. At my work at the headquarters of Teva Pharmaceuticals in Petah Tiqva, the tulips are just starting to come up. I'm sure in the next month, they'll continue blooming in all their glory. They're gorgeous if I might say so... take a look:

In the Beginning...My First Post

I think that "Meanderings through Life" could have been an alternate, or even better title for my new blog, but what I chose isn't bad...

What in my right mind finally convinced me to create my own blog, I can't say...maybe the overwhelming feelings I have to want to express what I can't put into words, but with the spirit that I'll try anyway since writing is an exercise of the mind as well as the soul, and one that I enjoy. Usually it finds expression in emails to friends, but now I'll be able to organize and document it all in one place.

What is the theme of my blog? You might think it's the meaning of life (according to me, of course)....but do I know the secret to the meaning of life? No. Well, at least not yet. But in the meantime while I'm trying to get there, I'll use this space to write about the daily pleasures of life; the small things that happen that make me smile inside. They aren't always significant to others, but they're enough for me.

I think that blogging is like journal-writing of yore, something I enjoyed as a teenager as an outlet for my thoughts, so now that I'm a bit older, I'll give it a try -- just bear with me...

Well - one thing of late that fits in this category is that in the past two weeks I bought three new cookbooks as a present to myself. They're all in Hebrew:

1. Aharoni Setting a Table by Israel Aharoni
2. Secrets of Sweets by Karin Goren
3. Lamb, Mint and Pine nuts - Flavors of the Arab-Israeli Kitchen by Husam Abbas & Nira Rousso

Flipping through them and finding new recipes to make and share with others is exciting to me. It makes life interesting and flavorful...after all -- where did the phrase "the spice of life" come from?

Anyway, two items in my newly created "Food for Thought" category:

1. What does it mean that sometimes I think of a word or concept in Hebrew (my adopted second language) before I can grasp the word in my mother-tongue of English?

2. Murphy's Law in practice...I believe the weekend was created to allow one to sleep in (maybe not always, but certainly today was meant for this). Well, when during the week I have to force myself to get up, why today (Friday -- the start of the Israeli weekend) did I get up an hour earlier than usual, with no effort!? Hmmmm....