More New Year Fun!

More New Year Fun!

I mean the New Year of Trees. This year, Tu B’Shevat begins
at sundown on Friday, Jan. 17 and ends Saturday, Jan. 18.

Drink to Tu B’Shevat

What do you get when you mix red and white wine? If you have
a Tu B’Shevat seder, you will discover that the answer is a rose-colored wine.
For your seder, you will need red and white grape juice. You will need four
cups. You will also need 15 different kinds of fruit. Figure out a way to
divide the fruits into three categories:

Those with an outside shell that must be discarded and an
inside that can be eaten, like a coconut.

Fruits that have neither pits on the
inside nor shells on the outside, like a blueberry.

3. Fruits that have pits on the inside but whose outside
can be eaten, like a cherry.

Say this blessing over them: Baruch ata hashem elokeinu melech
ha’olam boreh pri ha’etz. (Blessed are you, oh Lord our God, King of the
universe, who created the fruit of the tree.)

Then fill your four cups. One cup should be all white juice
— that’s for winter. After more blessing and eating, fill the second cup with
2¼3 white juice and 1¼3 red juice — that’s for spring. The third cup should
have 2¼3 red and 1¼3 white in honor of summer. And the last cup should be
totally red, which represents fall.

Date and Nut Pudding

This is a Russian recipe with a Middle Eastern flavor.

You need:

1 2¼3 cup dates, pitted and diced

1¼2 cup walnut halves

1¼3 cup flour

1 1¼2 teaspoons baking powder

1¼2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 tablespoon sugar

For dairy version: whipped cream

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease a 9-by-9-inch

square baking dish.

2. In a bowl, combine dates, walnuts, flour, baking

powder and salt.

3. Beat the eggs with the sugar in a small bowl. Add

to the date mixture and mix well.

4. Pour the mixture into the baking dish

and bake for 40 minutes.

5. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Serves 6-8 people

Sorting Out the Seder

What does the word SEDER mean?

Clue: Remove the SE and replace it with OR.

Now that you know what seder means, see if you can answer
this question: Why it is important to think about seder on Tu B’Shevat, a
holiday that celebrates nature? If you answer this question, you could win a
prize. E-mail your answers to abbygilad@yahoo.com

.