Candies from Heaven

Gil Hovav

• Publisher: Green Bean Books
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781784388836
• eBook ISBN: 9781784388843

The culinary journalist and TV personality shares colorful stories and delicious recipes from his childhood growing up in Jerusalem.
"Uncle Aron's compliments, which hadn't changed since the days of the Bible, didn't sound so great. One time, he told my mother that she was 'awesome like an army with flags.' Another time, he informed her that 'your nose is like the tower of Lebanon.'"
Meet the village it took to raise Gil Hovav—colourful aunts and uncles hailing from one of the most respected lineages in the Jewish world (Hovav is the great-grandson of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the reviver of the Hebrew language). This book includes twenty-two funny and heart-warming stories awash with love and longing for the people who raised one skinny and cross-eyed Jerusalemite boy to love poor-man's food, to love proper Hebrew and, most importantly, to love people.
The nostalgic writing is dished up with more than twenty delicious family recipes with the seal of approval from Gil Hovav, the man who has played a major role in the remaking of Israeli cuisine and the transformation of Israel from a country of basic traditional foods into a "gourmet nation." Readers get to chuckle at Hovav's amusing recollections and salivate over his family recipes for sweet sour chorba tomato soup and his Aunt Levana's eggplant and feta bourekas. If you've ever wondered how to make hilbeh or slow-cooked eggs (or if you're simply itching to expand your culinary repertoire), this book is for you.
As wholesome and warming as a homecooked meal, Candies from Heaven will appeal to anyone who treasures good food and relationships built on love. Dig in, dear readers, pleasure is served.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter 1
• Dedication
• Copyright
• Title
• Contents
• Preface
• Concerts in Zion Square
• Moroccan Chicken in Paprika and Lemon
• Broadcasting Live from the Bukharim Neighborhood
• Pickled Cucumbers
• How We Broke Up a Beitar Game
• Rose-shaped Poppy Seed Rolls
• The Missing Family Jewel
• Slow-Cooked Eggs (Huevos Haminados)
• Butterflies and Scratches
• Chorva (Butterfly Soup)
• How to Divide a Chicken into Five Quarters
• Oven-roasted Potatoes
• Tales of a Non-Amphibian Yemenite
• Hilbeh (Fenugreek)
• Jerusalem Beach
• Mejadara – A Rice and Lentil Dish
• An Owl in the Pot
• Porridge
• A Tale of Love and Darkness
• Spicy Fish
• Don’t Die Trying Not to Die
• Levana’s Carrot Salad
• Aunt Fortuna’s Underpants
• Candies from Pomelo Whites
• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (and One More Thief)
• Agvanenet
• Bathroom Rumors
• Gin and Tonic à la Uncle Max
• My Booby-Trapped Aunt
• Quince Candies
• Champion of Idleness and Champion of Zilch
• Lentil Soup
• Dad Does the Rumba
• Moustachedos
• In Empress Farah’s Salon
• Mooma’s Royal Stew
• A Morning of Laughing Bourekas
• Bourekas with Eggplant Filling
• Trouble in Paradise
• Grandma’s Pita-Pizza
• Epilogue
• Bulemas with Swiss Chard