Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Bringing Out My Inner Martha - Edible Sukkahs

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Nope, not even close to wordless this week...
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It's Sukkot, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, this week. (Follow the link for a full explanation of this week-long holiday.)
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The word sukkot means "booths" - temporary huts that Jews build outside for the holiday in remembrance of the time our ancestors spent wandering for forty years in the desert before reaching the promised land. Technically, Jews are commanded to "dwell" in these huts, but in practice most people just eat their meals in them. People build their sukkot in their backyards, on their balconies, or outside communal apartment buildings. While our family doesn't build a sukkah of our own we do visit our neighbors' sukkah most years (and would have this year too except they decided to go on a three-week tour of China, leaving the evening the holiday began).
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We do however bring a bit of the holiday into our lives (besides enjoying the kids' week-long vacation from school) by doing a fun craft - we make miniature sukkahs which can do double-duty as a healthy holiday snack or a holiday decoration.
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Maya's sukkah
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Itai's sukkah (must give equal billing to both kids)
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To make a sukkah you need:
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Square rice cakes (or graham crackers) for the walls
Peanut butter for the "glue"
Pretzel sticks, for the sekhakh (roofing)
Miniature fruit-shaped candies for the decorations


Each one takes just a few minutes to build, and even very young children can join in with a little bit of help.

As a bonus shot to make up for my being not even close to wordless this week, here's my daughter pretending to be "inside" her sukkah (before it was moved from her "workshop" to a clean more photogenic plate).

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Chag sameach, happy holidays, to all celebrating and drop by Rocks in my Dryer to see what's working for everyone else this week.

23 comments:

Phyllis Sommer said...

love these. our sunday school kids made them too -- i think i have to wait a year or two to try them out with all my littles at home but i do love the look of an edible sukkah!!

one of the things i lvoed about living in israel was being able to eat in restaurant sukkot. i just thought that was so darn cool.

not to mention that here the weather always sucks during sukkot. it's like a law or something. one year we even got snow!

anymommy said...

Impressive! And, she looks like she's having so much fun...

Lainie said...

We built a sukkah this year and I LOVE these edible ones! We are so doing this tomorrow.

Thank you! :)

SandyCarlson said...

What a great idea. Your inner Martha served you well!

Anonymous said...

Wow! I think she's enjoyin' making one!


Here's Mine! Hope you'd like it. Happy WW!

Always Been Different said...

yummy!
Happy WW!

Grammy said...

That is so cute. I will have to try that with my grand kids

John and Lisa said...

Very cute. When I read your title I wasn't sure if I should expect something more like Hansel and Gretel! I like the tabletop scale much better.
Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Hootin Anni said...

That is amazing. I learned a lot today also with your W W. Thanks for all the info!

My wordless is a linked image this week...all for fun. Just click on it.
HAPPY WORDLESS WEDNESDAY.

Janet said...

lol I don't know, that last sentence just cracked me up :-)

Anonymous said...

That is such a good idea. And it looks like Maya had a lot of fun making hers!

mimi11460 said...

Lovely girl and she had fun on your own sukkah.

Fairion said...

What a great craft. I am adding the supplies to my grocery list right now. And I am adding you to my blog list.

Genny said...

This is so neat, Robin. And what a cute picture. :) I participated in WFMF for the first time today...I love all the great ideas shared.

Daisy said...

Happy Sukkot, or whatever the proper expression is!

Your daughter is adorable! :)

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign

Preethi said...

Awesome!!

Indrani said...

I will try making one.
Happy festival times!

Scary Mommy said...

I love this idea!!! Much cooler than gingerbread houses!!

Claremont First Ward said...

I really love your posts about holidays in Israel.....I've learned so much from you. Such great pictures, too!

Melissa said...

I love these edible sukkahs. How cute is that.

Mara ~ Kosher on a Budget said...

Hopped over from a mother in Israel. I like this one -- much healthier than the graham cracker and icing one I linked to in the post. I'm thinking we could also try almond butter or even humus to stick the walls together! Are those fruits made from marzipan?

Robin said...

I'm sure almond butter would work. Hummus it might depend on how thick it is, but it would probably work reasonably well.

The fruits are whatever the candy store happens to have in stock that year, anything from hard candy to marzipan to jelly beans, but they're most often sour candies. That seems to be what's most popular for fruit shapes around here. My kids find them too sour anyway so they don't eat them, they're just for decoration.

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Shira said...

Wow, this is very cool! And healthier than gingerbread or graham crackers :) I added this post to my Sukkot link round-up for Jewish homeschoolers on my Jewish Homeschooling Blog .