How to Bake Fluffy, Delicious, Gluten-Free Challah with Blends by Orly Challah Mix
I've figured out how to bake gluten free challah using Blends by Orly Gluten Free Challah Mix. I never thought I'd be doing this as I was used to buying ready-baked challah from a kosher bakery. However, once I developed celiac and could no longer eat regular yeast dough, my husband found a bakery that specialized in kosher ready-made [...]
Book Design Tour of a Children’s Picture Book: A Peek Behind the Scenes
On her Instagram account, my wonderful book designer Melinda Martin put together this short tour of how we did the book design for Natalie and the Nazi Soldiers. This deserves a blog post, particularly here, where readers might look for a glimpse behind the scenes of this children's book. So here goes: First came the character development, particularly that [...]
Easy Recipe for a Tasty Summer Treat: Chewy Tahini Blondies
I have a weakness for chewy treats, and I love the taste of tahini. It's no wonder this recipe has become a favorite treat of mine. The sesame seeds in this recipe provide just the right amount of chewiness, and the tahini an interesting taste. To boot, these blondies keep well; I recently brought a box of them along [...]
Who Moves from the Cultural Mecca of 1920s Berlin to Fledgling Jerusalem? A Fascinating Memoir Explains.
I first learned about Gershom Scholem when I read Thomas Sparr’s excellent portrait of German Jerusalem: The Remarkable Life of a German-Jewish Neighborhood in the Holy City. (If you’re interested in how modern Jerusalem came about and the group of German intellectuals who made the neighborhood of Rehavia their home, I highly recommend that book.) Gershom Scholem was not [...]
Remembering a Chilling Naming Ceremony at a Children’s Mass Grave from the Holocaust
Today is Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), when in Israel sirens sound at 10 a.m. For two minutes, the entire country stands still to observe the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War II. An hour after the siren, the “Unto Every Person There is a Name” ceremony at the Knesset (Israeli parliament) [...]
New Children’s Book! How long did it take to create Natalie and the Nazi Soldiers?
My new (and first) children's book is out! May I present: Natalie and the Nazi Soldiers, the story of a hidden child in France during the Holocaust, based on my mother-in-law's life. How long did it take to write? Create? Publish? I know I'll be asked this question in interviews or even in ordinary conversations. [...]