The story of Gizela - Afik Shiraz. Abinun Shmuel

Other foods were partly Hungarian (almond marzipan cookies) under the influence of Austro-Hungarian rule, and partly Spanish - cookies made of nuts or peanuts, chopped leek or pie made of matzah pie with salty cheese and spinach and more. It was customary to make jams from various fruits - strawberry, cherries, apricots, zucchini, watermelon peels, tomatoes and also mixed jams.

The Annual Summer Vacation

Every year on June 28, the last day of the school year and the receipt of certificates, we would get on a horse-drawn wagon and go for a summer family vacation in the woods. We rented a house in the Lijeska village for two months, called after the hazel trees - Lijeshnik in Serbian - which grew around it. Mum used to stay at home while the wife of Rabbi Maestro hosted her company, and while we the children have spent time with my father in the woods, teaching us to identify and distinguish the various plants. With Dad's guidance and thanks to his love of agronomy I learned to recognize the Cantria, a pink flower that helped treat my belly pain, Schleiz, used to treat cough and three spearmint species that differ in shape and taste. We picked carefully nettle leaves, which became similar to spinach after my mother's cooking. Bukvica was a low bush with male and female leaves used to treat wounds - the male leaves of the plant were narrow and with a long closed flower, while the females were wider and flower-shaped that opens. We harvested different grass for brewing and collected strawberry, red raspberry, blackberries, blueberries, and of course lots of hazelnuts that surrounded the whole area. The forest was like a huge theme park for us. My father prepared for us a wooden doll, that turned when the rods that held it were pressed. He perforated the hollow Zova tree and made from it a kind of a flute and played it. He even tried to teach me to ride a horse, but I didn't like the feeling and asked to go down. Cila actually enjoyed the experience and wanted to repeat it. Not just everyone used to say about her "She should have to be born a son".

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