Bnot Torah Blog
Inspiring Challah Workshop in The Old City!
May 7, 2012
Yummm…freshly baked homemade delicious Challah! For this special Bayit Cham with Leah Kuntsler we traveled to the mystical enclave that is The Old City of Jerusalem. We all had a blast making our own Challah at the home of Mrs. Chernin. She showed us everything we will ever need to know about baking Challah in our own home. From how to make your challah fluffy, to the best way to knead the dough, she didn’t miss a beat!
She taught us tons of different ways to shape our Challah and even demonstrated each one of these various techniques.
Click “Read More” to read the full description and see all of the pictures!
The Year is Flying By!
May 3, 2012
Wow!! We cannot believe that this is our last month at Sharfman’s! The year has really flown by! Bayit Cham has been such a wonderful part of the year and this past one was no exception. We were, of course, greeted with a hearty delicious Italian dinner of meatballs and spaghetti…..served with fresh Italian bread and salad.
As usual, the conversation was comfortable and homey, all of us enjoying each other’s company. Going along with our Bayit Cham custom, we heard 2 wonderful and inspiring Divrei Torah, courtesy of Chavi Radinsky and Sharon Franko. After we got our fill of Torah, we moved on to get our fill of dessert- Chocolate Chip Icecream Pie! Perfect for a warm Jersualem night! We like to take our time with our meals since we are serious shmoozers in our group. But the night must move on. Anomia anyone? In case you don’t know what Anomia is (no, it’s not a sleep disorder), it’s actually fun, fast-paced, competitive game (perfect for our group!) that involves naming things in different categories. Needless to say, we all had…
Click “Read More” to read the full description & see all of the slideshow pictures!
Purim Fun at our Chonechet’s House!
February 28, 2012
This past Bayit cham we wanted to get into the adar spirit…So, what could be better than making hamantashen?!?! Each of us got our own piece of dough so we could make our very own hamantashen. There were so many different kinds to choose from…cherry, blueberry, apricot and of course chocolate!! Some of us even got-creative and decorated our hamantashen with colored and chocolate sprinkles. We all enjoyed rolling out the dough and shaping our creations!! While the hamantashen were baking, Devorah announced that we were having a beauty pageant!!
Click “Read More” to read the full description and see all of the slideshow pictures!
Make Your Own Homemade Hamentashen Night!
February 27, 2012
Nosh nosh nosh. Nosh a Hamentash! Rosh Chodesh Adar began in style with a much anticipated Bayit Cham at the home of our Chonechet! We dined on an exquisite vegetable soup and Mexican salad, garnished with taco chips. This was complimented perfectly by breadsticks and crackers. The atmosphere was completed by the funky and creative setup and design in honor of the coming of Purim…now how’s that for some true Adar spirit?
The evening was devoted to the festivities of the month, getting us in the true spirit of Purim. Our Chonechet revealed to us her secret, age-old family recipe for hamentashen, which we obviously can’t reveal outside her home. We got to work, eagerly combining the ingredients, and formed delicious, professional looking hamentashen. We chose from a variety of fillings including strawberry jelly, white and brown chocolate, and peanut butter. We meant to save them for Shabbos at the least, but we couldn’t help ourselves, as the super enticing scent wafting out of the kitchen, got the better of us. Our favorite was of course the “Reese’s” flavored hamentashen (a perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter)-they were out of this world!!!
Click “Read More” to read the full description and see all of the slideshow pictures!
Warm & Tasty Supper at our Chonechet’s House!
February 5, 2012
This past Bayit Cham, at the home of our Chonechet, Ricki Leybovich, proved to be a combination of the wacky and the serious, the calm and the crazy, the light and the deep! You see, in our group, we can plan events, but things don’t always go as planned. It all started calm and normal enough. We were greeted with the wonderful aroma of hearty tomato soup (with rice of course) and fresh, home baked bread. As we all settled down and enjoyed our “family” meal, there was light chatter, some laughter and comfortable shmooze (with consistent refilling of the bread basket). After we were all warmed up from the soup and pleasantly satiated, Ricki brought out a beautifully sculptured bundt cake– Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake (whole wheat of course!!) YUM!!! After we had worked our way through our cake and tea/coffee, we said goodbye to those who had to leave for Chumash project tutoring. So sad to see you go! Those who stayed decided that instead of playing our planned game…
Click “Read More” to read the full description and see all the slideshow pictures!!
Surprise Birthday Party at our Chonechet’s House!
January 10, 2012
At Bayit Cham Events, all of the girls really felt right at home in the local homes of our Chonchot who live literally minutes away from school! Best of all, we had surprise birthday parties for Daniella Yasinov of St. Louis and Sora Ruchel Jaffe of Queens, New York!! Happy birthday wishes to them both and may they only continue to have a year of happiness and hatzlacha!
What’s more, we started our Bayit Cham Supper with fresh and warm whole wheat bread from the oven. Then we had cream of butternut squash soup and a wonderful salad bar where everyone chose from any type of vegetable. Plus, girls could choose tuna, corn, croutons, grilled sweet potato, and balsamic thousand island and Italian dressing! After that we had fresh and tasty lasagna that our Chonechet brought right out of the oven!
We also heard great Divrei Torah from our fellow students! A good time was had by all as we all had a great time simply hanging out and getting to bond until finally the evening came to a close.
Click “Read More” to read the full description and see all of the slideshow pictures!
Super “Soup-er” Bowl Pre-Fast Feast Bayit Cham
January 8, 2012
A new Bayit Cham and I know what you’re thinking. Before I should continue to describe what surprises our Chonechet dreamed up for us this time, you’re thinking what on earth is a “Super Soup-er Bowl?” And I’ll tell you quite simply. It is the cutest and most adorable, yet classy way of serving soup that you have ever seen. It is quite literally soup in a bowl. But not just any bowl. It is made of freshly home-baked whole wheat bread, artistically sculpted into a perfectly round bowl. And now for your next question-what was inside the bowl? Well that we had an inkling of as soon as we smelled the tantalizing scent wafting out of the apartment….the scent of piping hot creamy potato leek soup. It was the perfect welcome from the cold Jerusalem air outside. There were even homemade croutons, garnished with garlic and onion! This was combined appropriately with an absolutely delectable zucchini-onion-mushroom quiche, and a delicious, freshly tossed salad. For dessert we submitted to the lure of steaming, ‘melt in your mouth’, super-fudgy Brownies.
Click “Read More” to read the full description and see all of the slideshow pictures!
Design Your Own Menorah at Chaya Fish’s House!
December 25, 2011
Guest Post by:
Devorah Garfinkel, graduate of Sha’arie Bina Torah Academy for Girls, North Miami Beach, Florida
We just returned from the best time at Chaya Fish’s house! One of the great things about it is that she lives literally minutes away from Sharfman’s! Anyways, when we arrived we were greeted with an overwhelming sense of Chanukah! The smell of latkes frying and the colorful decorations were more than enough to get us into the fun holiday spirit. We sat down at a table decorated with Chanukah themed napkins and plates with chocolate gelt scattered on the table. Festive Chanukah music played in the background and we played with the dreidle at the table. Then we went into the kitchen and started frying our own latkes!! Chaya also served us a tasty holiday Dinner which included: French Onion Soup, as well as latkes with applesauce. After we were all full…
Click “Read More” to read the full description and see all of the slideshow pictures!
An Oriental Themed Supper!
November 22, 2011
We glanced at our watches, walking quickly through the Jerusalem rain. It was 7:55, and we were anxiously anticipating what 8 o’clock would bring. The next Bayit Cham had finally arrived, and once again we were walking towards Rachel’s house, wondering what we would be surprised with tonight!
We entered the apartment, and peered around into the dining room…..hey, is that Chinese noodles we see?? Nori?? Chopsticks?? No way! All out Oriental Night!! The table was decorated with all the ingredients any professional Oriental chef would need……(sushi rice, wasabi, soy sauce, hot mayo, bamboo mats, an assortment of vegetables, etc.). Little Bamboo shoots stood proudly at the center of the table, welcoming us with true National flavor. We all dove in to the Jasmine tea… wow!… so refreshing! Of course the feeling wouldn’t be complete without sushi on the menu. Our Chonechet set about teaching us to make sushi, and to be honest, considering we were all amateurs at this, we were shocked to see how professional they ended up looking! It’s time to open up a new Kosher Sushi joint!
Click “Read More” to read the full description and see all of the slideshow pictures!
Gourmet Hot Chocolate Buffet Bayit Cham!
November 6, 2011
The Bayit Cham at Rachel Rose’s house was one to remember! Our Bayit Cham was better than ever! Arriving from the chilly outdoors, we were greeted with a dazzling display of every flavor of hot chocolate imaginable. Nougat/rosemary, caramel, white and brown chocolate, peanut butter, cinnamon, mocha…you name it, we had it! And to top it off (if you”ll excuse the pun), we were able to choose from the most delicious toppings known to us all 
From whipped cream, chocolate curls, marshmallows, chocolate chip cookie dough…and that’s just to name but a few! Plus, we snuggled on the couches sipping our heavenly hot chocolate combos, while happily munching on some fresh Kettle cooked popcorn. There’s nothing like good relaxation for a bunch of serious seminary girls like us.
And one second, what was that you said?? The night’s not over yet?? Our Chonechet informed us it was time for “Cinnabon” production! Yuuuuuuuum! We rolled up our sleeves
Click “Read More” to read the full description and see all of the slideshow pictures!