Another week of rain (our ceilings are not holding); another week of rejoicing; of resistance; of rumors and lies; and hopefully…. Of recipes!!! So hold on-

Earlier this week Blinken left Israel with the words of Biden leaving a sore taste in the mouths of Israelis: cut it out and just let these people form a state. Stop the war. Don’t go into Rafah in the southwest corner of Gaza.

For a short recap: the IDF went into Northern Gaza after trying to clear most innocent civilians out and give them protected passage from their own Hamas. They were led into the South. Ja Alia and parts (not all), but large swaths of Gaza City were cleared of terrorist activity. And yes. Any Hamas centered building was destroyed.

Weapons (big weapons like missiles and rocket launchers, RPGs, machine guns, grenades….were found in schools, hospitals, centers for journalism/communication and private homes. Underground tunnels were located, and inspected. Evidence of hostages were found. Three were accidentally killed by Israeli forces while trying to escape. Tunnels were filled with sea water or demolished by explosives. Terrorists were captured. This took a little more than a month.

Most child hostages and many older women were released for a 40:1 swap. 40 convicted terrorists in Israeli prisons were set free in exchange for each hostage. There are still very small children in addition to women and men still held captive.

Israel presented to the world absolute evidence of rapes and mutilation of women. The world has remained silent or said that it was all a fabrication. Feminist and women’s rights groups, the Me Too movement, the UN, the International Court of Law and Justice, celebrities have remained silent despite being shown actual videos as well as photos and eyewitness statements- irrefutable evidence. We here call it the Silent Scream. Some even went as far as saying that it was just and deserved as an act of resistance to occupation and oppression.

In the past month the IDF made their way south to the Gazan city of Khan Younis after the civilians were moved to Rafah. In KY they uncovered more terror tunnels. Lots more extensive than previously thought. They uncovered holding cages for hostages. Loads of cash… mostly those Benjamins – oh Omar!!! We found your Benjamins!!!! Bags of $100 bills. US dollars. Cold, hard cash. Over $87 million have been found so far… the main Hamas terrorists fled as they were being pursued leaving behind so much evidence.

They found cash receipt books to Yayha Sinwar direct from Iran. US tax dollars. Inside UNRWA bags, not only weapons, but cash was discovered. More US tax dollars. All those passed in Congress, but unread bills. As if this was not damning enough, the IDF found the main servers and communications ops of Hamas: it was down a shaft in a huge tunnel warehouse directly under the UNRWA headquarters. But the world is silent.

Well not exactly silent- we have a far left rag of a newspaper here in Israel. It’s aim is to twist stories and divide Israel. One of their goals is to topple Netanyahu and the current government. It feeds the world stories of ‘occupation,’ ‘apartheid,’ ‘genocide,’ etc. The name of this paper is HaAretz. And it is picked up and quoted widely as Gospel Truth throughout the world. Just this week Rashida Tlaib held it up in Congress as evidence that the IDF sexually abused children and has sexually abused terrorists by taking pictures of them lined up in their underwear. They say this is dehumanization. That’s what the world says.

In rays of hope, 2 beautiful 20- something’s :

Also, in a daring middle of the night operation, the stories movies are made of, intelligence got wind of two hostages being held in an upstairs apartment in Rafiah/Rafah. Special elite units entered the city and at 1 am blasted down the door to the apartment. There was an exchange of heavy gunfire and the 3 Hamas guards were killed. An Israeli soldier was wounded. Fernando Murman,60 and Luis Har, 70, both Argentinian Israelis were rescued, having been in captivity for 128 days.

Both men were pale and gaunt, but in otherwise good health and good spirits. The reunions with their families were tearjerkers. It was reported that both men never received the medications that were twice sent over in deals brokered by the US and France, respectively with the Red Crescent.

One would think the rescue of two hostages would be celebrated throughout the world. The New York Times was the first to publish the news.

If you read the article, you’ll go on to find that the IDF disturbed the peace in this Gaza neighborhood when they made their rescue. Buildings were damaged. It was horrible for those in Rafah.

I find it interesting that none of the news sources could agree on the number of people killed by Israeli forces that night. Some reported dozens, others 67, 74, hundreds. Most rely on Gazan ministry of health reports. The IDF stated that during that particular operation, 36 were killed in heated gunfire including 2 senior Hamas operatives and the 3 guards. Honestly, it’s hard for the general public to know what to believe.

So… for lighter matters. And a complete switch-up as Shabbat is this evening. The vegetables here have been off the charts. I have a small rooftop garden, and between thunderstorms, we harvested our remaining root veggies. Mostly yellow beets, white beets and chioggia beets. I peel them and shave them raw into salads. Healthy, gorgeous, sweet and delicious. Also after peeling and quartering, I roast them in foil with a splash of olive oil and sprigs of lavender and rosemary (also from my window boxes).

What else is for dinner? I cook on Thursday/Friday to carry us through the week. After Friday, I do no cooking on Saturday, limited reheating on Sunday and leftovers on Monday, Tuesday. Wednesday comes our fresh organic local produce delivery and boy, is it crazy amazing!!! If you’ve ever read the Biblical story of the 12 spies in the book of Numbers, you’ll remember that they came back LOADED with giant fruits and vegetables!!! And a bad report about ‘giants’ living in the promised land (they worked for AP, Reuters, NPR , BBC and AlJazeera).

Anyway, I digress: the blood oranges and Cara Cara oranges! Colored cauliflower!!! Fennel bulbs!!! Avocados! Pumpkin and snow peas!! Scallions, and cabbages! Oh my!!! So how can I use them all?

I cut up and roasted the cauliflower (yellow, purple, white and green heads!) with rosemary, a squeeze of blood orange juice, a splash of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Now, the cabbage. I saw a recipe in ‘The Nosher’ (highly recommended site) for cabbage schnitzel. Chicken schnitzel is without a doubt the #1 comfort food here. My Aunt Anne used to make my dad, her little nephew ‘Miltie,’ this cabbage schnitzel and he loved it. It brought back fond memories, so I made it, but pumping up the volume on flavor. I made a plate for dinner, but John thought they were treats, so I hope to have some left by tonight-

CABBAGE SCHNITZEL

Makes 8 large patties. Serve hot or cold. Parve.

(I bring back Old Bay and TJ’s spice blends in my suitcase from the States… and corn tortillas and vitamins and flavored coffees….)

Ingredients:

• 1 basketball sized cabbage
• 1 white onion
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• 3 scallions
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp Old Bay spice mix
• 1 tsp Trader Joe’s Umami mushroom blend
• Scant olive oil
• 1 lemon

With a food processor or knife, shred the cabbage really thin, like you are making slaw. Boil a large pot of water. Put the shredded cabbage in rapidly boiling water- it will shrink down a lot!!! Boil for 5 minutes then drain over the sink in a colander. Let the cabbage drain for about a half hour while you write your blog…or do other things. Chop the white parts and a small portion of the green into thin slices. Place in a large bowl. Grate the onion with the large end of a box grater – right into the bowl. Add the breadcrumbs and eggs- dump ‘Em right into the bowl. Now, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze the water out of that cabbage. You’ll be surprised with how little you’re left with and put it into the bowl. Mush it all up. Add the flour and the spices. Mix all together to combine thoroughly. Heat a small drizzle of olive oil in the pan. When shimmery, form cabbage into Pattie’s and place in hot pan. Cook about 5-6 minutes each side on medium-high heat.. when browned, flip and press schnitzels down with a spatula. Flip again. Keep on heat about another minute and remove to plate. Continue until all schnitzel Pattie’s are cooked. Serve with a squeeze of lemon- can be eaten hot or cold.

Citrus Salmon & Carmelized Fennel & Onions

Serves 2-4. Pareve

So I have 4 fennel bulbs. Many people eat it sliced with avocado & citrus with a vinaigrette. Except raw fennel tastes like licorice. And I hate licorice. So if you do too, don’t eat it raw- but that’s no reason to shy away from it, because when you roast fennel or sauté it, the veg Carmelized into something delicious without a hint of licorice. So have no fear! Cook with love, abandon and adventure!!!

Ingredients:

• 2 large salmon fillets
• 2 fennel bulbs (ifronds attached, save for garnish)
• 1 large white/brown onion
• 1 tsp dill seeds or rye/caraway seeds
• 1 navel or Valencia orange
• 1 blood or Cara Cara orange
• Old Bay
• Olive oil

Slice the fennel bulb into fine strips. Slice onion into strips. Cut strips in half. Hear about 1TBSP olive oil in skillet until shimmery. Add onion & fennel. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally until soft. Add in dill/caraway seeds and continue to cook until soft & brown. Squeeze oranges. Pour Valencia/navel orange juice into skillet over fennel & onions. Cover/ & remove from heat. Let sit 10 minutes, then transfer to heatproof dish. Place salmon fillets over top. Squeeze blood orange juice on top over all. Sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning. Cover loosely with aluminum foil. Bake at 350*/180* for 12-15 minutes. Enjoy!!

May we all have a restful, peaceful, uneventful weekend. Shabbat shalom-