Hello Gourmet Kosher Cooking readers, I’m Sara Rivka the creator of www.creativejewishmom.com, and it’s so great to be here sharing a fun Purim craft for the whole family!  This year I’m thinking about castles — castles made out of recycled cardboard tubes and a shoebox, of course! I’ve always wanted to make a castle, and realized that a colorful castle crafted by the parents or the kids or both, could be a fantastic centerpiece for the Purim sueda! There’s so many ways to go with this idea as far as materials and size. And if you don’t need a centerpiece so how about a castle mishloach manot? Just build your castle on the lid of  the shoe box and voila! 

When you’re building your castle do take in to consideration how it will look from all sides so that it truly will be an amazing centerpiece! Here’s a view of mine from the back:

You’ll Need:

• cardboard tubes of all kinds, also mailing tubes which tend to be much wider!
• round cans or just about anything thick and round, how about a piece of pvc pipe?
• a shoe box
• wrapping paper
• colored paper
• sheer patterned disposable table runner fabric, it’s stiff and easy to work with
• glittered craft foam
• hot glue and/or high tack craft glue like Alene’s
• mod podge
• wooden skewers

How To:

Follow my directions, but since your castle won’t be exactly like mine, don’t be afraid to re-invent this project a bit!

1. Cover the bottom of your shoe box with some fun patterned wrapping paper. If you’ll be making a castle gift box, so cover the bottom of the shoe box and the lid separately, and continue to build your castle on the lid. 
2. Cover the bottom of the shoebox (namely the base for your castle) with a solid piece of paper, using mod podge or diluted white glue, as the patterned wrapping paper might be a bit too distracting.
3. Cover toilet paper tubes, some cut down to half their size and some stacked two together (or more) with the sheer sparkled (gold in my case) table runner material.
4. Cover your largest tube, (mine is actually a box that held a bottle of scotch, so glad to finally use it!) with a bright piece of solid colored paper and make some window or castle-like details of some kind by applying pieces of colored paper with mod podge.
5. Make some window and door details for the shoe box portion of your castle and affix with mod podge.
6. Now it’s time to make roofs and details using the sparkled craft foam! Roofs are basically circles with one slit cut in them, from the edge to the center, and then you overlap the pieces on either side of the slit to form a little cone shape, and adhere with hot glue. Attach the roofs with hot glue or high tack glue. Attach look-out tower details (forgot what those are called!) to the tallest tubes, as well as some peep holes and tiny windows, using hot glue or high tack glue.
7. Glue everything together, both to the base and to each other where possible, make a few flags and you’re done!
8. Sit back and enjoy gazing at your wonderful castle and give yourself a pat on the back, you really are royalty if you managed to make this palace with everything else that’s going on before Purim!

Purim Sameach and please do stop by and visit me at www.creativejewishmom.com for lots more fun projects for Purim, and year round! Hope to see you there.

Hi! My name is Marlene Mamiye from The Jewish Hostess and I would like to share with you a little about my Purim table setting preparations from last year’s holiday to save you from being a last minute hostess like me!

It was Thursday morning when I realized that I was so busy blogging about how everyone ELSE should be inspired for Purim, I couldn’t believe that I had no table setting,or menu plan of my own .

Here’s when a kid with a driver’s licence will come in handy.

I always say that secret to a pretty table setting is to LAYER, LAYER, LAYER!

So, one of my kids waited in the car while I ran in to Lana’s fabric on Kings Highway to buy Zebra polyester fabric -$5.99 a yard cut into 54 inch squares- cost about $25.

I placed the 2 squares as diamonds side by side on top of my white cotton hemstitch tablecloth.

While on her way to Starbucks another of of my kids ran and bought me a pack of white paper napkins that look just like linen. $10.99.

She also bought grey luncheon napkins that we decided to fold over the white large paper napkins $4.99.

I also bought a silver chain trim from the fabric store to use as napkin rings. $3.99 a yard. Pretty- no? cost about $15.

(You can also use this napkin idea for your Passover seder.)

(Send me pics if you come up with any cool ideas!!!!)

This is how the back of the napkin should tie:

These sterling ice coffee glasses were given to us a wedding gift by Aunt Sydelle and Uncle Mosie in the 80’s. About 15 years later I realized that they were still sitting in the closet needing a good polish, so I decided to turn them into vases, and I haven’t stopped using them since! My daughter ran out and bought me the dendrobium orchids from the corner flower kiosk up the block, and I stuck these exotic masks that I ordered from from AnytimeCostumes for about $10 each into the “vases”.

So many of my goblets have broken over the years that I had to alternate clear goblets from Target with my pretty new blue goblets given to me as a Rosh Hashanah gift from my new “consuegra”- (Syrian word for my daughter’s mother-in-law.)

Lunch was not bad if I don’t say so myself.

Since the Purim Seuda is traditionally a meat one,

We had grilled chicken with kalamata olives and tomatoes on salad,

grilled minute steak roast,

wild rice with spinach and sauteed red peppers, plain white rice (for the kids),home made za’atar challah rolls filled with sliced turkey,

(let me know if you want any recipes……)

mini lahamageen,

mini kibbe, tehine, mini baked sweet potatoes,

pareve kibbe neye,

whole wheat mazor’s dough with meat hammentashen filling,

fried chicken (for the kids), and my sister Jeanette brought chicken tacos that got wiped out.

I hope that I have given you some Purim table and menu inspiration!

Trust me it will keep them coming back for more!

Please check out my site The Jewish Hostess for more table decor ideas and great kosher recipes!

by Creative Jewish Mom

Love these? Me too! I’m sure someone else in the world has come up with the same thing, but I was not looking at their idea when I made these. They’re another fun result of sitting down at the dining room table with paper circles! And the good news is you really don’t need any special supplies! As I mentioned with yesterday’s paper ornaments, don’t be afraid to try these in contrasting neutral colors for a more sophisticated look. They could be great wedding decorations too!

You’ll Need:
– colored paper
– a soup bowl to trace
– a glue stick
– a hot glue gun
– fishing line

read complete instructions here

Gorgeous right? These carnation look-alikes made from cupcake liners
are fantastic, even more so in person! And you can whip up a bunch of
bouquets in very little time (and for very little cost!) once you get the hang of it. They’re
delicate and romantic with a tongue in cheek craftyness. And they would
make great centerpieces anytime, but especially for a DIY wedding, a
bridal or baby shower, and of course Shavuos! 

And I just love the idea of using these floral stamens for the little all white flowers, so sweet…..can’t quite believe I made these. Mind you the idea itself is not mine, but I played around with a variety of techniques before coming up with what I think results in the nicest flowers.

You’ll Need:

• cupcake liners in three graduating sizes (small, medium, large) You could certainly try using colored and patterned liners for this project, but there’s something really nice about creating with just the basic creme liners! (And my local store only had creme and blue striped ones……)
• floral wire, around 22 gauge (you can use pipe cleaners for a kid’s project, but not for yours!)
• red craft paint
• floral stamens (even available in Israel at basic craft stores!)

How To:

1. The large flowers are made from 9 total liners, 3 large, 3 medium and 3 small. the small flowers are made from 8 liners, all size small.
2. Stack the liners according to size, one inside the next.
3. With a very large needle, or something else sharp, like possibly a toothpick, poke a hole at the edge of the small liner, such that the hole goes all the way through all the layers. Make sure to keep holding your liners together after you poke the hole!
4. Thread a piece of floral wire through the first hole, and poke a second hole ….

for complete instructions go to www.creativejewishmom.com.

When the story of Purim occurred, it was as if the world was upside-down. Nothing was the way it seemed. We live in a world today that still seems like that – venachafoch hu, upside down. Israel is reviled and the murderers of its citizens applauded. The big picture is hidden from us. Nevertheless we celebrate because we know that just as Hashem’s hidden hand was ultimately revealed and the Jews of Shushan saved, so too will it happen again and we will eventually see the redemption. We will have that clear recognition that everything is from Hashem. The curtains will be pulled back. To help get into the Purim spirit (no pun intended), we offer this Purim meal for you, your family and friends. We hope it will excite your palate and increase your Simcha! No Purim seudah would be complete without some (but not too much) alcohol. This year we’re serving Long Island Iced Tea (no slur on the Five Towns intended)

Pumpkin Challah
Baby Lamb Chops with Chianti Vinaigrette
“Shrimp” Cocktail
Tomatoes with Tequila-Lime Vinaigrette
Green Salad with Champagne Dressing
Jewel Toned Orzo
Macadamia Nut Tarts
Chocolate Bread Pudding with Warm Caramel and Chocolate Sauces
Long Island Iced Tea

Your family is going on an outing. You really want to go with (You really want to get out of the kitchen!) But you know that everyone will be very hungry when they return – especially since you can’t really eat anything substantial outside the Succah. What should you do? This is the time to recognize that crock pots are not just for Shabbos. You can put all the ingredients in at the beginning of the day, turn the crock pot on high, and come home after a day bickering with, I mean enjoying your family, to a nice hot dinner. Here are some suggestions:

White Bean Soup

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Weekday “Cholent”