Orange Cake

This week, I turned to Israeli cuisine for my inspiration for our Hebrew cooking elective recipe. Orange trees are just beginning to blossom in the Land now. One of the strongest memories I have of living in Israel, in Rehovot, was of the pervasive scent of the orange blossoms from the orchards surrounding the city. I specifically recall a first grade field trip (literally) to the orchards, where my teacher, Chava, taught us about how oranges grow and how healthy they are to eat. She then let us climb the trees and pick the fruit. We spent the rest of the field trip sitting under the trees and enjoying the sweet taste of the oranges.

The recipe for the orange cake we prepared this week is probably the simplest recipe we've prepared all year. It took us only ten minutes to prepare the batter and transfer it to the baking pans. Since we had about half of the lesson time left once we finished, I took Tuesday's class to the kitchen, to teach them vocabulary related to washing dishes. "Leerchotz et ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola" (Wash the big bowl); "L'vayesh et ha'kaf v'et ha'kos." (Dry the spoon and the cup), etc. The students took turns at the sink and drying, following my commands, and I was able to go home earlier, since most of the cleaning was already done. Since Wednesday's class was much larger, I reviewed our Hebrew cooking vocabulary with them in the classroom, using the Hebrew Through Movement commands and adding in the cooking vocabulary.

During our tefillah session in the Beit Knesset immediately following the elective, we enjoyed a sweet, orange scent in the room as the cakes baked in the ovens. The cakes turned out perfectly.

This week's vocabulary, which I used for both the preparation process and for the dish-washing and Hebrew Through Movement exercises

Reisheet kol, la'seem et ha'kemach l'toch ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola, v'az l'hoseef et ha'sookar. (First of all, put the flour into the big bowl, and then add the sugar.

L'arbev et ha'kemach, sookar, avkat afeeya, v'soda afeeya be'yachad. (Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda together.)

Achshav, le'hoseef et meetz ha'tapoozeem, ha'shemen, v'kleepat ha'tapooz l'toch ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola... (Now, add the orange juice, oil, and orange peel into the big bowl...)

...v'l'arbev et ha'kol b'yachad. (...and stir everything together.)

La'avor et ha'batzek me'ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola la'tavneet. (Transfer the batter from the big bowl to the baking dish.)

Jordan wouldn't let her broken wrist keep her from getting the job done!

The students are beginning to get the knack of using the spatula to get out all the batter!

Mission accomplished!

L'nakot et ha'shoolchan (Clean the table)

Eevreet Bee't'nua - Joel, la'seem et ha'tavneet al ha'rosh shel Lucy. (Hebrew Through Movement - Joel, put the baking sheet on Lucy's head.)

Ashley, l'hareem et ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola; Lauryn, le'hareem et ha'ke'ara ha'k'tana. (Ashley, raise the large bowl; Lauryn, raise the small bowl.)

Koolam la'koom, v'la'seem et ha'keeseh tachat la'shoolchan. (Everyone get up, and put the chair under the table.) The command right after this one was, "Koolam la'lechet le'beit ha'knesset beeshveel t'feela." (Everyone walk to the Beit Knesset for tefillah.)

The finished product