Celebrating the Holidays

Chanukah Market at JCC

photo - Chanukah treats will be plentiful at the JCC Chanukah Market

Chanukah treats will be plentiful at the JCC Chanukah Market. (photo from JCCGV) Come celebrate the Festival of Lights on Nov. 28 at the first-ever Chanukah Market. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day, the parking lot at the Jewish…

JQT’s 2021 Hanukkah Hotties

image - This year's Hanukkah Hotties

(image from JQT) JQT Vancouver has a sizzling lineup of Hanukkah Hotties this year. Tune in to daily livestreams on Facebook with each Hanukkah Hottie, as they light their chanukiyah or share another tradition, and chitchat with JQT about their…

Brisket – a Jewish  tradition!

Brisket is the boneless meat on the lower chest of beef or veal. In traditional Jewish cooking, it is most often braised as a pot roast, especially as a holiday main course. For reasons of economics and kashrut, it was historically one of the more…

Pumpkin, but not pies

photo - Pumpkin spice snickerdoodles

Pumpkin spice snickerdoodles (photo by Greg Dupree, food styling Torie Cox, prop styling Christine Keel / Food & Wine) November arrives and I think pumpkin. Here in Israel, the d’la’at is amazing. Whole, they are huge in size and weight,…

Making holiday doughnuts

photo - Syrian doughnuts can be made with a hole, or not. And they are topped with lemon or another type of glaze or syrup, rather than having a jelly filling

Syrian doughnuts can be made with a hole, or not. And they are topped with lemon or another type of glaze or syrup, rather than having a jelly filling. (photo from vegankinda.wordpress.com) One of the things I have enjoyed the…

The lights of allyship

photo - This Chanukah, kindle the light of liberation, not just for you and your loved ones, but for all people whose freedom of expression is threatened

This Chanukah, kindle the light of liberation, not just for you and your loved ones, but for all people whose freedom of expression is threatened. (photo by Robert Couse-Baker / flickr.com) In a time of identity searching, introspection and anticipation,…

Heroes throughout the ages

image - Judah Maccabee purifies the Temple, etching by Julius von Carolsfeld, 1860

Judah Maccabee purifies the Temple, etching by Julius von Carolsfeld, 1860. Every year, we look forward to Chanukah, even though it is not even mentioned in the Torah. Its name means “Dedication” and it starts on erev the 25th of…

A happy family holiday

image - Hanukkah, Here I Come! book cover

Mini poems that rhyme and colourful  illustrations combine for a family-filled, fun-filled and food-filled holiday book for younger revelers. Hanukkah, Here I Come! (Grosset & Dunlap) by writer D.J. Steinberg and illustrator Sara Palacios is an energetic account that touches…