#sfenj

[bobemajses]

Jewish vendor baking and selling sfenj in Marrakech, Morocco, 1969.

[zonatcannibalism]

This is a certified (slightly cursed) sfenj post

[patinjail]

My beloved sprouts (neither of them can read a map...)

This set helped me realize I can manually focus the camera in GPose, which would've been really helpful earlier :/

[hanukkahwolfstarweek]

To celebrate the love for Jewish Sirius and/or Remus we are hosting a Wolfstar mini-fest for the week of Hanukkah ✨

Prompts and posting will run from December 18th - 26th

Super super simple to participate. Each of the eight days will have a Hanukkah-themed prompt. You can submit fic or art each day for the prompt, for as many or few days as you want. We’ll have an AO3 collection for you to post to, and we’ll reblog everything here too!

You can find our FAQ/Rules here

EVERYONE is welcome to participate, Jewish or non-Jewish

We highly encourage sensitivity readers for anyone not familiar with Judaism or Jewishness. Slide into our DMs or message @soloorganaas or @narcissa-black-supermacy and we can help you find someone

Tag your work @hanukkahwolfstarweek or #hanukkahwolfstarweek and we’ll reblog it here

If you post to AO3, you can add your work to our collection

Prompts

(Main prompt + optional additional word prompt)

🕎 First night: Menorah lighting

Light, eyes, candle

🕎 Second night: Hanukkah food (sufganyiot, latkes, gelt, sfenj, zalabia, sour cream & applesauce, gelt, Hanukkah cookies, keftes or croquettes, buñelos etc)

Sweet, oil, hands

🕎 Third night: Hanukkah games

Dreidel, flour, smile

🕎 Fourth night: Presents

Laughter, surprise, love

🕎 Fifth night: Parties (Family/friend parties, Chabad parties, Christmukkah parties, mimounas etc)

Fireworks, warmth, memories

🕎 Sixth night: Family traditions

Touch, old, pride

🕎 Seventh night: Hanukkah story or message (the Macabees, Jewish resistance and persistence etc)

Story, struggle, history

🕎 Eight night: Open prompt

Chag hanukkah sameach ✨

[mariacallous]

Some years ago, while celebrating Hanukkah at the home of Moroccan Jewish friends, I got my first taste of sfenj. I knew (and loved) the Israeli jelly donuts called sufganiyot, but sfenj, while also donuts, were something different. The yeasted dough was familiarly puffy, but instead of being shaped into a plump round, it was formed into rings. And instead of sufganiyot’s jam filling and snowy cap of powdered sugar, my friends served sfenj two ways: dipped into granulated sugar or generously drizzled with an orange-blossom-scented syrup. Naturally, I was smitten with this new-to-me expression of Hanukkah frying.

A few years after tasting sfenj, I learned about sfingi — another doughy fritter, which hails from Southern Italy and can be found in many Italian American bakeries. The term “sfingi” refers to a couple of different pastries, including simple, free-form donut holes rolled in sugar, and a more elaborate fried round that gets topped or filled with sweetened ricotta (think: cannoli filling) and sweet Amarena cherries. In Naples, the fritters are sometimes called zeppole, but in Sicily and other parts of Southern Italy, they usually go by sfingi or, to further confuse matters, sfinci. 

Some Italian families make sfingi to celebrate Christmas, but they really shine on March 19th, or Saint Joseph’s Day, which honors the Virgin Mary’s husband. On that day, many Italians — particularly Sicilians who consider St. Joseph to be their patron saint — pull out all the stops to throw a feast that often ends with sfingi and other decadent sweets. 

Sfenj. Sfingi. Two donuts with remarkably similar names. There had to be a connection, right? As it turns out, the North African Hanukkah treat and Southern Italy’s feast-day fritter likely do share a common ancestor. The name for both pastries comes from the Arabic word “isfenj,” which translates to“sponge,” and refers to the way dough soaks up oil while it fries, and also to its bouncy texture. (Interestingly, sufganiyot also means sponge in Hebrew, suggesting a linguistic connection between all three donuts.)

This connection also hints to the influence that Arabic cuisine had across both North Africa and Southern Italy. According to some historical accounts, sfenj originated in Moorish Spain in the Middle Ages. (The era and region similarly gave rise to the traditional Sephardic Hanukkah dish, bimuelos — small, sweet fritters that are often round in shape.) From there, the dish spread to places where Moorish traders traveled, including the Maghreb – North African countries that border the Mediterranean Sea.

Today, sfenj are popular across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. In Morocco, they were traditionally prepared by sufnajeen — bakers dedicated to the craft of making sfenj. They were (and are) considered an everyday breakfast pastry or street food snack, and are served alongside coffee or mint tea. 

Jewish Moroccans, meanwhile, adopted the fritter for Hanukkah, when Jews traditionally eat foods fried in oil. They introduced sfenj to Israel when they immigrated there in the mid-20th century. In Israel, however, sfenj never caught on in quite the same way as sufganiyot. Moroccan Jewish families still make them, and they’re available in food markets nationwide, but you are not likely to see piles of sfenj in bakery windows across Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, they way you will sufganiyot.

Sfingi, meanwhile, hail from Palermo, Sicily’s capital. The recipe for the ricotta-cream-filled version was invented by nuns, who adapted the dessert from Arabic cuisine and dedicated it to St. Joseph. In the weeks leading up to St. Joseph’s Day, you will find sfingi di San Giuseppe – in all of its fried, cream-filled glory — in bakeries across Southern Italy, and in communities across the world that are home to Southern Italian communities.

I like to joke that the reason Hanukkah lasts for eight nights is so home cooks can dedicate each night to a different fried treat. From potato latkes and sufganiyot to bimuelos and sfenj, there is no shortage of Hanukkah dishes to celebrate. But this year, if my patience for frying (and my appetite for fried foods!) hold, I might just add sfingi to my Hanukkah menu.

[narcissa-black-supermacy]

Part 2 out of 8 for @hanukkahwolfstarweek (part 1 here) Second night: Hanukkah food Word prompts: sweet, oil, hands Also on: AO3

“I’m telling you, this is a bad idea,” Peter whines from behind in a high-pitched squeak.

“Oh, come on,” James exclaims in a loud whisper from under the cloak, “what are they going to give us detention for? Midnight cooking?”

James always makes any challenge sound like easy play. It’s “let’s just become Animagi” and “let’s just put hair colouring in the Slytherins’ drinks” and “let’s just sneak away to the kitchen in the middle of the night to make those things Moony’s mum cooks for Hanukkah”, mind and tongue connected by a very brief canal, mouth blurting out every other thought that crosses his mind on the go.

When he says it, everything always sounds easy and so inviting, and Sirius sometimes wishes he had a third of the casual simplicity that James possesses.

Hogwarts does not care much for diversity beyond stubbornly pairing together Slytherin and Gryffindor students who very clearly do not get along (and don’t want to) for classes, so on the earlier nights of the holiday they usually sneak away to the kitchen in the middle of the night to make some sweets.

It’s been James’ idea, unsurprisingly so, not of either of them - after one of the holidays had fallen almost on the same week as Christmas and they all ended up being home for the week. Remus had tentatively invited them over to see his place for the first time before they all head to their respective homes to celebrate New Years, and James had picked up on the offer before it was even fully formed, tugging them all along with him. Not that Sirius needed to be convinced.

The elves have been reluctant about their presence in the Hogwarts kitchen at first, threatening them with knives and hot oil, but it turns out that even they were desperate for some sort of change in their monotone routine of potato casseroles and chicken legs. They watched curiously while Remus worked the dough with his hands slowly, explaining something about punching the air out of the batter like his mother taught him while the oil sizzled loudly in a large pan on the stove.

“Aren’t these just doughnuts with no holes?” James inquires, holding the sweet ball of dough between his fingers with a curious frown on his face.

Remus shrugs in reply. “You could say that about anything round and fried in oil,” he says, hand coming up to brush a strand of hair out of his face, which leaves a line of flour across his forehead.

“Fair point,” James mumbles and directs his wand at the floating sufganiya, directing it into the pan of sizzling oil.

“The shape does not really matter much as long as it’s fried in deep oil, that’s sort of the whole point,” Remus elaborates patiently. He pushes the bowl aside when the elves take over, curious hands reaching out to try and make one on their own, and he hops onto the counter behind him. “I know that in many families they make sfenj or youyous instead.”

Sirius averts his gaze when he feels both James’ and Remus’ eyes on him.

“Is that what your folks do?” James asks, head tilted to the side with genuine curiosity with his feet dangling over the counter. “We should try that - if the elves get bored, they’ll kick us out.”

“I told you,” Sirius huffs under his breath, looking away. “I don’t really like talking about it. There isn’t much to tell.”

His hand reaches out distractedly for the jar of jam on the counter. He pulls one of the fried balls out of the pan with a flicker of his wand and places it on the table, poking a small hole at the side to add the jam in.

He can feel James watching him closely. His head is still tilted to the side, glasses resting low on his nose, but now there is something softer in his eyes, affectionate but watchful.

“It’s not theirs, you know,” he speaks up quietly, the words meant only for him and Remus while Peter is busy scattering sugar powder all over the kitchen with the elves. “This holiday, these traditions  - the food, the language.. it’s existed for thousands of years. It’s practised by both muggles and wizards.” He pauses for a moment, waiting for Sirius to look up and meet his gaze.

“Just because they take it.. the way they do-” he says, speaking carefully around the words, and Sirius can tell just how hard he’s holding himself back to not just blurt it all out, trying to soften the edges of his harsh tone for him, “-doesn’t mean it’s right. It’s yours just as much as it’s theirs, they don’t own it, and you can do whatever you want with it.”

Sirius stays silent, pondering the words for a moment. James does not press further, letting him dwell in it while he yells out something at Peter in excitement, hopping off the counter to join the dough fight going on between him and the elves.

He understands what James means, in theory, but it’s hard applying it in practice when his family and their ways are the only thing he had grown to associate this holiday with, the light of the candle being a symbol of threat and chaos instead of hope and peace.

When he looks up, he finds Remus watching him closely.

“James is right, you know,” he says quietly. “Obviously everyone is going to relate the story of light and resistance to their own struggles. But… It’s up to you what you want to do with it.”

Despite himself, Sirius feels the corner of his mouth twitch up into a smile.

“We usually make sfenj,” he says, glancing sideways at the sizzling pan behind them. “It’s like a sufganiya, but without the jam, and it’s shaped like a ring.”

“A doughnut!” James exclaims loudly, eyes widening with enthusiasm.

Remus laughs at that, and Sirius finds himself mirroring the action, the rolling echo of the sound too infectious to resist.

On their way back to the dorm, Sirius suddenly realises that he left his jacket back at the kitchen. He promises to be right back and sneaks down the moving staircase to get back, not wanting to leave any incriminating evidence for the teaching staff to find the morning after.

He does not expect to run into Regulus on his way back to the Gryffindor tower.

“Reg,” he heaves out with a relieved sigh, hand lowering from where it instinctively shot up to his wand. “What are you doing here?”

Regulus opens his mouth to reply, but then something catches his eye and he takes a step back, taking a moment to take in Sirius’ appearance. His gaze lingers on the smears of flour, jam and sugar powder under his robes. Sirius can not help but notice how different he looks - it seems like with every year that passes at Hogwarts, Regulus gains at least three to his age.

“Having fun with your new friends, huh?” He observes with a light tilt of his head to the side. “Maybe your problem isn’t with the holidays,” he murmurs dryly under his breath, his gaze cold and indifferent as it skims over Sirius’ form with unconcealed distaste, “maybe it’s with us.”

Sirius’ fingers dig into the skin of his palm by his side.

“That’s not--”

Regulus pushes past him in the direction of the dungeons, not bothering to stay back and listen.

“Happy Hannukah, Sirius.”

[ohhnorr]

Im debating, i wanna do a new art collection

My major themes have always been the nostalgia of our memories, and some of the most prominent are those of which we are huddled together with our family, with most of the times food.

But now i want to go another direction within the nostalgic memories, as such

Ofcourse i will be a tad more modern with the wedding outfits like tackchita’s and kaftans, so ill be playing with that. But the idea of my current amazigh designs will still be at play.

[duhragonball]

🕎Kamehame-Hanukkah (4/8)🕎

Chag urim sameach!  What kind of Hanukkah food are you into? Latkes? Sufganiyot? Sfenj? I'm not well-versed in Jewish cuisine, but I did come across this recipe that sounds pretty tasty, and it only has one ingredient.

...

...

It's Kamehamehas. Like, that's the bit here. I'm setting up a thing about how a robot ate an energy blast.

So let me set the stage. Goku's trying to kill some androids before he dies again. Also, he's blonde now, so that might be a plot point in a future episode, I don't know. There's a lot of moving parts with this show. For example, he's floating in the air here, so he might have learned to fly, but I must have missed that episode. Maybe he's standing on the ground a witch turned the earth invisible. What matters is that Kamehamehas are a good way to close out a fight--OR WOULD THEY?

But instead of running away or cursing his fate, No. 19 seems pretty happy about this development, and he just holds up his hand like he's gonna catch this thing. It's a bold play, let's see how it works out for him.

And... yeah, he just sucks the whole thing up into his absorption device in his hand. And it's good for you! But don't tell the kids!

[spindrifters]

✈️🪦🙃👁

I already answered the second one but here we go

✈️if you could be transported into one of your fics which would you chose?

a history of violence, only I wouldn't be in remus' bedroom. I'd be out where the party is eating my weight in hope's sfenj and dancing to stevie nicks.

🙃if you only had a certain amount of parachutes and couldn’t give it to one of your fics which one are you letting die?

sorry to love has teeth but you're not even 450 words and you were written before I revamped my hope lupin backstory. love ya though.

👁 have you ever accidentally foreshadowed something you fully didn’t intend to happen?

haha yes, in marginalia I had james show back up to school in the middle of term all giddy and excited after learning about phoenix. a bunch of comments were like, "oh, he totally met lily out there already," and I said, "yes. that is exactly what happened."

fic writer ask game

[thetwistedcryptid]

(art made in a picrew) [twst styled pic/sprite of him in uniform soon to come] “Were the diver to think on the jaws of the shark, he would never lay hands on the precious pearl.” School: Royal Sword Academy

[Lillehavfrue] [the dorm was founded on the curiosity of The Little Mermaid.] Full Name: Bomani Melokuhle Nicknames: Uk’otoa, Bomi, Bom-Bom

Grade/Class: year 1 (freshmen)/Class (No.1-A)

Birthday: July 14th (Cancer)

Age: 16

Height: 182 cm (6’0”) Race: Merfolk (shark)

Dominant Hand: Right

Homeland: Coral Sea

Club: Swim Club

Best Subjects: Astrology and Kinesiology (swimming) Worst Subject: Alchemy Hobbies: Weight-Lifting, and Playing guitar (ukulele)

Pet Peeves: Hot weather, Dolphins, and Math Fears: Dolphins 

Favorite Food: Sfenj (Moroccan doughnut-like fritters), tho mainly anything thats meat

Least Favorite Food: any kind of fruit/veggies

Talent: Cooking Unique magic: "False Serpent!" incantation: Keep him locked away! [The user can pull from moisture in the air or nearby water sources to create a stream of water shaped like a serpent - similar in appearance to the leviathan Uk’otoa (hence how he has that nickname) - which they can launch at their opponents for ramming or whip based attacks.] Trivia: His merfolk form resembles that of a lantern shark - making that form bioluminescent! … and also a lot smaller than his human form (4’9” - 6’0”). Which he is somewhat insecure about, but he won't admit that. Least the small size makes him very speedy, that's a plus! Though he does appreciate being bigger on land than in water, it allows him to be as strong as he always dreamed off as a merling. He is a very generous and boisterous boy, always looking out for others - and aiming to get stronger by any means necessary! ..which often gets him into trouble.  He has freckles all over his body, practically coating him, and not just on his face. ——— Character Summary: “I am a shark, the ground is my ocean, and most people can't even swim.”

He was the only child born to two (lantern shark) merfolk in the dark cold depths of the Coral sea - both of which work at a certain rather popular restaurant in the coral sea… and are indebted to the family who owns that restaurant due to them having struggled financially prior to being hired there. His family are good friends with that family because of it, often spending holidays together and having playdates with their kids or going to watch fireworks on the surface every year together.  Growing close with a certain octopus and eels… one of which he liked to roughhouse with but was also kinda scared of.

His parents always did everything they could to keep him safe - teaching him different shortcuts to avoid more dangerous predator animal merfolk, but also how to network and how to not get on those stronger peoples’ bad sides. Which had made him good at avoiding suspicions and blending in with crowds. He was always picked on for his small merform size, and wouldn’t really defend himself - usually running away or just being polite till they left him alone. But would always jump into a fight to defend someone else who was being bullied. Often ending with him badly hurt, never having won.. But it did gain him some friends and the idolization of some of his peers for his bravery on their behalf.

Due to not wanting people to suffer like he has, he aimed to get stronger every day in order to protect more people, but it escalated when he went on land for the first time,   seeing that his human form is much bigger than his merform, which excited him greatly! It allows him to be as strong and reliable as he always wanted to be! On land, people don't bully him for his small size and lack of strength. He became very fascinated with land life, wanting to explore and experience all it has to offer, something his family and friends don’t seem to understand nor encourage all that strongly.

He was eventually selected to join royal sword academy, and have a teary goodbye to his parents and went onto land, heading to the isle of sages promising to stay in contact and send souvenirs! He was excited to have the opportunity to join such a prestigious academy, and is trying his best not to let that opportunity go to waste! Sadly his three certain friends go to NRC, and thus he can’t really see them that often and doesn’t have much contact with them. but.. Perhaps he could head over and visit them every so often? Heard they have a good restaurant.. That should be a good enough excuse! ———

[antichristpilled]

The Maghrebi Among the Slums

As the smell of that harsh Rwandan coffee covers the land of my (and your) ancestors nation. Speaking in that odd tongue, at times Arabic, others Italian, I watched my mother watch Al Jazeera, and my father tsked as they spoke of the bombardment of Benghazi.

Shall I run and hide? When they bring out the couscous, and reveal myself when the sfenj comes back? The ultimate dream achieved as I walk to the school full of brown bodies, and a disgrace caused when I come back with questions of what it means to be in God's skin.

Will our moral arc point towards righteousness, as our prayer rugs point towards Mecca? The skin of thousands of martyrs flayed across our pocket Baghdads, adorned with palm trees of hope! Hours spent as a child running my fingers across the braids of that mat as the Friday Khutbah runs on, and he speaks of a Jabal Akhdar at the end of every sidewalk.

When the Messenger of Light comes, I swear none will even realize. Rather, he will be invited onto our mats, served our tea and told stories of before this prime minister and that khalifah. Carried by the elbow, through the slums where merchants will sell anything, for any price. Should I point out to him where Madame Amelie lives, and her husband who always dreamed of European life? (He fasts when he can, and hits the wall of his kids when he remembers)

I will lead you and every other story I was taught by heart, to the alleyway where I remembered Saif ben Salah being shot and left for a week until his mother found him, threw him over her breast, and drank the blood from his wound. I will lead you towards there, and the Buraq will be waiting. Surrounded by the memories of Saif ben Salah and Madame Amelie who went to Iftar with a bruised cheek and Halima who was raped in a pool of the blood of her kin and Abdirahman who had nothing bad happen to him but stopped being a kid at the creek acting out the deaths of the Italians far too early

Where will the Buraq take you, you ask? Indeed, it will fly you over all of Tripoli, take you to Florence (though you must look away when we come across David), cry above Casablanca, and we will ask you of what you think of the far blown Maghrebi boy dreams of white thighed, blonde haired, and blue eyed girls in Paris, Cannes, Naples, Lisbon, and Amsterdam - those dreams that exploded onto the trash behind a poor Monsieur's grocery.

The mother of the boy who died in the Gulf War, (not war, rather sickness. She never found out what it was. No syntax to hold the sick; there were flies above him, and he was vomiting while the other men fought she did not get to see him in the coffin.) she will offer you some Brazilian coffee, but you have a place to be within Venice. Please, remember to pray for her.

An entire world of luxury and the finest Oriental silk will be placed in front of you, with the prostitutes of Alexandria beckoning towards you with their hands colored with grief from the last client who cried in her shoulder. This universe will be hands-up at your mercy, on the back of your Buraq we have given to you, and before you can choose where to land,

we will drop you into the slum as a child covered in cowshit in the hands of a midwife who will never be known.

[slouguia-blog]

Regardez "sfenj 100% réussi avec astuces pour ne plus les rater #sfenj #beignets" sur YouTube

[winari2]

Voici comment faire des sfenjs parfait pour le gouter en famille ✔ #sfe...

[princessg3rard]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged something from you! Get to know your mutuals and followers

1. u calling me miss princess rard

2. picking cotton in the fields near my house

3. smoking with my friends and giggling to death bc we’re also drunk as SHIT

4. my cultural foods, with special shoutout to sfenj <3

5. listening to music so loud that the bass is in my pussy and I feel like im eating the song

[hanukkahwolfstarweek]

Hanukkah Wolfstar Week starts tomorrow!!! We are so so excited and hope you are too ✨

Here are the Hanukkah-themed prompts for the week ahead:

(Main prompt + optional additional word prompt)

🕎 First night: Menorah lighting

Light, eyes, candle

🕎 Second night: Hanukkah food (sufganyiot, latkes, gelt, sfenj, zalabia, sour cream & applesauce, gelt, Hanukkah cookies, keftes or croquettes, buñelos etc)

Sweet, oil, hands

🕎 Third night: Hanukkah games

Dreidel, flour, smile

🕎 Fourth night: Presents

Laughter, surprise, love

🕎 Fifth night: Parties (Family/friend parties, Chabad parties, Christmukkah parties, mimounas etc)

Fireworks, warmth, memories

🕎 Sixth night: Family traditions

Touch, old, pride

🕎 Seventh night: Hanukkah story or message (the Maccabees, Jewish resistance and persistence etc)

Story, struggle, history

🕎 Eight night: Open prompt

We'll check back in tomorrow for first day of fics. Here are the FAQ/Rules, and feel free to DM us, @soloorganaas or @narcissa-black-supermacy if you have any questions!