Rolled Baklava Video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc2ltUXYB0Y[/youtube]

Last Friday I was lucky enough to be invited by my friend of many years to come and watch and visit with the old guard Sephardi people who gathered to cook for an upcoming Rhodosli luncheon. People whose families lived on the Greek Isle of Rhodes for many generations, refer to themselves as Rhodosli.  It is a thing of honor to have that appelation assigned to you.  I am Rhodosli since my father’s parents emigrated from Rhodes to the US.

I realized it was a unique opportunity to shoot a video and take some pictures.  Kay Israel is the mother of one of my oldest and dearest friends. She is a community treasure.  My friend also writes a blog and you can find Kay’s recipe for rolled baklava on the Bendicios Manos blog.  One is said to have ‘bendichas manos’, blessed hands, when you have a talent for cooking and forming little Sephardic things to eat.

This is the highway leading out of the old city.

I hope I can continue to archive and codify the many old recipes of the Sephardic community in Los Angeles and other cities.  In addition to the Rhodosli’s, I am half Turkina (grandparents from the mainland of Turkey) and I have many other ethnic friends who cook from the traditions of Lebanon, Morocco, Syria and Iraq.  I will be working on more videos in the near future.