Pictures from Florida/Cooking with Safta

Good to be back! I have returned from Florida, relatively unscathed. Jewish guilt? Check. Blotchy sunburn? Check. Family recipes from my Safta? CHECK. So excited about those. It's a shame I don't know how to spell half of them, but I'll just describe them: Foshert (my best guess as to how she spells it – Google was no help – they are baked meatballs with a ton of garlic), Cheeseballs (the only one I can spell, made with farmer cheese and farina), and Langosh (similar to zeppoles, they are Hungarian potato cakes – thanks Google for this one). There was also falafel and chopped liver and babaganouj – oh my!!

I want to try the recipes out for myself (even though I aided in the preparation and execution of all of the below) because I feel that's the best way to tell if the recipe translates from her kitchen to mine. You know how grandma's cook; they don't measure ANYTHING, so I had to take pictures of every step along the way, which was difficult because this woman moves so fast (and she's 82 – God bless her), but I think I got most of it down. I have made the Foshert before though, so I can share that one sooner rather than later. But my favorite are the cheeseballs…and they're the tricky ones of course. Below are some pics to get you salivating in the meantime…enjoy!

Falafel with homemade tahini…