last july, i spent an afternoon at an israeli defense forces base, inside of a pile of halva. my birthright friends and i had the task of making enough halva bread pudding to feed an actual army. as we sat unwrapping pounds of halva and mixing it with eggs and bread, soldiers came in every so often to say hi and introduce themselves, perhaps to have a bite of halva. i remember one of them was from brooklyn... that night we ate barbecue with hundreds of our new soldier friends and talked about their world and our world. before we got to the halva bread pudding, a few of them stood up and said ok, we've got to go to gaza now.

...you know i'm not good at talking about political stuff or even any heavy stuff unless it's at home and with eggboy. but in my mind, so much energy is spent on what is happening in israel and palestine right now. while the answers to what are my exact opinions on this and what can i do about it aside from read articles are still being formed, today here i'm giving a nod to those involved and thinking of my time and friends in israel.

i guess while some express their thoughts through music and words, i'm doing it (or trying to) through dessert.

you can find the recipe for these halva popsicles here, in the latest installment of molly on the range.