Anything is Possible with a little Guesstimation and a Bottle of Vodka

Wednesday night was an important turning point in my week. Midterms were finally over الحمد لله‎, and the following day was Thanksgiving. Additonally, the weather was extremelly bad. So, there was no better use of my night than to hang out in my kitchen and prepare for Thanksgiving: in my personal family's style.

That means pie.

It's not Thanksgiving in my household without at least half a dozen pies in the house. Pie baking usually begins days before the actual Thanksgiving meal. Personally, I could survive without the turkey or the traditional side dishes, but the pies aren't food; they're tradition.

Baking in Israel comes with it's own set of challenges. The supplies in the grocery store are different, and not always labeled in English. Also, there's no such thing as a pie pan in Jerusalem. I would know, I looked. Additionally, my apartment keeps kosher, so I would have to prepare and bake everything so that it remains kosher (and so that I don't "un-kosher" any of the kitchen utensils in the process). 

But first things first, I had to gather my ingrediants. I headed to the grocery with my very American list and some Google translated notes on what words to look for to varify certain ingrediants. Despite having to shop in a foreign grocery store, the real challange didn't appear until I returned home. I had no way of measuring what I bought.

Conversions were necessary. Most things in the store are measured in grams. All of my mother's recipes are in cups and teaspoons. So, I needed to determine a cup. That's where the vodka comes in. A few days ago one of my roommates had a friend over who had brought along a small bottle of vodka. Finishing it, he left it here in our kitchen. Vodka is imported and therefore the label is in English, so, I could verify the bottle I held was 200 grams. From there it's all guesstimation and mental math. A cup is roughly 228 grams. That's just around a bottle and a quarter bottle of vodka. So, I filled the bottle with water ~1.25 times and emptied it into a regular drinking glass and suddenly I had myself a measuring tool.

The roughly 228 grams of water next to the 200 gram vodka bottle.

The first test was the most intimidating- and possibly the most crucial. I had to make the pie crust using only my vodka-guesstimated measurements, a bowl, and a fork. It would be hard to find a more "college" approach to the baking process than that. But let me tell you... I succeeded.

Bringing family traditions to Israel: homemade pie crust. 

The pie crusts rolled out into my make-shift pie pans (aka cake pans I bought at the shuk).

The most exciting moment of my baking was during the pecan pie. After I poured out the Karo into my "measuring glass" I noticed the bottle came with an easy measure feature. Although a waste of having to repour the corn syrup, it was insanely validating learning that my makeshift vodka-bottle-derived measurement system was actually rather accurate.

Proof that I'm a domestic goddess.

And of course, the night ended with pie (or rather, pies plural; plus cookies and cookie dip). Afterall, tomorrow's Thanksgiving and there's no reason to skimp on the options for caloric intake.

My pecan pie.

The finished pies. The pecans on the left and the apple pie with a crumble topping is on the right.