Pumpkin Muffins

Hello again. Thanks for not losing hope in me. So many things have happened since we last spoke. There has been Rosh Hashana, yom kipper, and succos; Esther and Noach started gan; I found a very part time job as a therapist in an alternative girl’s high school; and currently terror attacks are happening rampantly throughout Israel.

I would rather not speak about the terror attacks. I’m the type of person that likes to avoid the serious talks. The types of talks that change the atmosphere of the room from happy to depressed. The thing is that these attacks are like the elephant in the room. They simply can’t be avoided. By living here and having a front row seat to how terror impacts the residents of this country, I feel like it would be a sin to just tip-toe past the subject.

This past Tuesday was the scariest day yet with the most deadly attacks spread out across the country. Although Ramat Beit Shemesh did not have any attacks (thank G-d), the residents were afraid and terribly sad. I bumped into a friend who told me that she can’t cope with what’s happening. She just wants to cry for all the victims and their families. But on the other hand she admitted she can’t just spend her day crying. It’s too draining, and so she must continue on, despite her pain.

My husband told me that he can’t imagine anyone posting anything on facebook not related to the incidents that happened that day. “Today is not the day for jokes or cartoons”, he said. Meanwhile I noticed that a friend of mine had posted some random pictures of her children and wrote, “I can’t stand that everything on my news feed involves terror, so I’m posting these pictures”. People are grappling with the balance of mourning for these terrible events and resuming normal live. They are trying to balance their personal terror and fear with their daily routine.

Something that gives me strength is remembering my previous life in Baltimore, Maryland. I worked in the Baltimore city public schools, situated in downtown Baltimore, a location that has one of the highest crime rates. Downtown Baltimore is more recently known for the riots that took place last year, but they are also known for drug gangs, homicides, robberies, you name it. Anyways, I would go to downtown Baltimore, the heart of crime, each day for work. Every time I would leave my car to walk to the school building I would be afraid. And the same thing would happen when I would leave the building to my car. Every time I would pass someone who looked tough, my heart would skip a beat.

Now I live here, in Israel. ISRAEL!! How many people wish they could live here, in this holy land, among all these holy people? I tell myself that living here is not that much more dangerous than traveling to my job in downtown Baltimore each day. Hashem is in charge and just like he protected me when I went to work, he will protect me here.

That is my speech.

Now back to the pumpkin muffins. Don’t worry this will be short! These are so so so easy to make and tasty too! I especially like that this batch makes approximately 25 muffins, because they usually last me for 3-4 meals. And they freeze fabulously!

Thank you to Aviva my sister in-law for sharing this recipe with me.

Pumpkin Muffins:

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Yields: approximately 25

Bake time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 cup oil

1 16 oz can of pumpkin puree

Instructions:

1.      Mix dry ingredients together.

2.      Add wet ingredients. Mix until smooth.

3.      Place batter in muffin tins, lined with muffin cups.

4.      Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.