Halle-lu-jah! Halva-lu-jah! One of my favourite Christmas time treats is halva!
When I was a kid, there were three flavours – vanilla, chocolate and marbled. How exciting it was to see my mother unwrap the brown paper from the halva block and slice off small chunks for us to slowly savour.
I really had no idea what it was; all I cared was that it was delicious. Until one day a boy named Laird revealed the dark secret of halva.
“It’s made of hard helmets,” he confidently declared. “They grind them up in a special machine and turn them into halva. My dad told me. He saw them do it.”
My glorious halva went from delicious to disgusting with one foul dupe. After that, I didn’t eat halva for decades. Even when I learned that halva is not really made from hard helmets, it just didn’t hold the same magical appeal.
Last week, while browsing the local health food store, I noticed something amazing. Seven layer halva!! I just had to buy it! I just had to try it! Back at home, my daughter caught me in a deliri-yum of halva.
Daughter: Mmm, what’s that?
Me: Halva. It’s made of hard helmets. Want to try some?
Daughter: That’s disgusting!
Me: Halva-lu-jah!
