The turbulent times the world is going through have an effect on each and every one of us in many different ways. While some are scared, worried, grieving, angry even, others get creative and see these times as an opportunity. I myself have gone through different phases since March when the Dutch government announced our lockdown measurements. I felt like a captive and at the same time was disappointed about me not being ‘a very good Nelson Mandela’ (resulting in a renewed admiration for his endurance, while being in prison for so long!). But besides personal struggles with everything that was going on, I also had to deal with the consequences on my business. The global ‘lockdown’ means that my culinary plantbased trips to Tel Aviv are on hold for an unknown period of time. So, like many other entrepreneurs, I had to get back to the drawing table and re-invent myself. What are my goals in life, what do I want to achieve and why, what’s my passion? Plenty of questions but very few answers.

One of the answers was that besides my passion for Israel and for culinary plantbased cooking, I have another, more hidden passion. I would love to become more self-sufficient, to own a plot of land where I can grow my own organic veggies and herbs. At the same time I realise that growing your own produce consumes a lot of time, effort and patience. So for now my humble herb garden has to do.

But then out of the blue, (or more actually after listening to one of Rich Roll’s podcasts @rich roll ) my husband bought me this present:

Needless to say that I was pleasantly surprised🤗. We love beansprouts. I buy them all the time and add them to salads, on top of sandwiches, burgers or fried rice, you name it. Sprouts are extremely healthy and provide an easy way to supply your body with the right amount of nutrients. They are also quite easy to grow yourself and this book helps you how to. So I read the book, bought some basic sprouting equipment (see picture below)

and seeds (see picture below).

Other seeds and beans such as mungbeans and sesame seeds are always available in my pantry.

The only thing left to do was finding a suitable place to keep the jars. Circumstance has it that our fridge did not survive the heatwave we had two weeks ago. So we were forced to buy a new one. An excellent opportunity to reconfigure the kitchen to our current needs. We will need a few additional shelves for sprouting, whereas our new fridge will provide ample space for my fermenting jars. A win-win situation if you ask me. The only downside is that we will have to wait another three weeks at least until our new fridge will arrive🙁. Until then we will have to work with the very small fridge and freezer the dealer gave us to use in the meantime. The prospect of all this future luxury makes the wait bearable but endless at the same time.

In the meantime, I will start the sprouting proces and see how I go. The jars are good for sprouting regular seeds and the bowl is better suited for mucilaginous seeds (meaning seeds that produce slime, such as chia seeds).

Yesterday I started with step 1 of this new project of mine, soaking the seeds overnight and discard the water the next day.

The next thing to do is rinse the seeds twice a day and keep the jar in the right angle. I am very curious to find out how it will work out. I will definitely keep you posted!

In the meantime, I would love to hear what challenges you are facing during these strange times and what new plans you have been making.

Keep up the good spirit, stay as positive as can be and take good care!