Foto Friday – Hanukkah in Jerusalem

December 11, 2009 - 5:41 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, Travel 

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, starts tonight with the lighting of the first candle on the hannukiya – the seven-branched menorah. Jerusalemites have a tradition of lighting oil based hannukiyot encased in glass boxes against the wind. It is a beautiful sight.


© pmos_nmos

Of course, it is more dramatic when lit up at night!


© RomKri


© RomKri

Hanukkah this year fell on a chilly Friday but despite the foreboding clouds it felt like the city was settling into a holiday mood, with young couples taking their babies out for a stroll at the new Mamilla Mall and overwhelming demand for sufganiyot at the Roladin bakery-cafe.

roladin_sufganiyot_box_menuBoth Nicky and David have blogged about the caloric and nutritional disaster that is our local holiday fare, so I will only add that Roladin has, for several years now, taken up the mantle of master sufganiya baker. They’ve created a whole series of so-called gourmet doughnut delights – the “Hanukkah Collection 2009″ – ranging from pistachio and banana to dulce de leche as well as the traditional red mystery jam. They’ve also devised a gaily decorated long square box for easy transport.

This week’s photos of Hanukkah in Jerusalem are courtesy of the wonderful Jerusalem Shots site. I should note that, as I do each time before sitting down to write the holiday column, I tried to figure out the current spelling of the Festival of Lights’ name, this time putting Google on the case with the following results: Hanukkah – 1,920,000 hits; Chanuka – 222,000; Hanuka – 219,000; Hannukah – 141,000 ; Channukah – 129,000; Chanukka – 71,800; Hannuka – 66,100. So, (although it’s not spelled as it was when I was a girl) — Hanukkah wins.

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Fancy shmancy donuts from Roladin

December 18, 2008 - 11:30 AM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: Food 

Traditional SufganyaChanuka. Time for presents, lighting candles and of course the ubiquitous sufganiya – Israel’s answer to the jelly donut. For years the only sufganiyot available were disgustingly delicious with their oil soaked dough and semi-vile jelly filling. Granted there is a novelty to eating this traditional classic donut and starting about a month a half before Chanuka they are available everywhere. So if the urge hits, satiation is immediate.

Roladin, Israel’s chain of “upscale” bakeries take the donut to a totally new level. They pride themselves on offering lower calorie (though not low calorie, and they are still fried but are about 1/3 smaller than the average donut) sufganiyot with unique and high quality fillings.

Delicious.This year is no different. Their offerings include a sufganya filled with a halva white chocolate ganache with white chocolate frosting and candied pecans. Ate it. Was amazing. And the other really unique one is clearly marketed at adults. It’s filled with white chocolate ganache that is mixed with arak with white Belgium chocolate frosting. They of course offer the standard jelly-filled as well but with a high quality fruit filling that has no additional sugar.

Photo of classic sufganya courtesy of SavtaDotty from Flickr under a Creative Commons license. Photo of fancy donut courtesy of Roladin

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