"Our entire diet changed when we made aliyah. We had eaten a lot of fish and meat in South Africa, and here we found both of poor quality. In fact, in order to prepare ourselves for aliyah, I had my husband eating canned tuna fish for months so he would get used to it. The produce and dairy selection were different in Israel and much of it mostly unfamiliar to us. And don't forget it wasn't like today with these huge modern supermarkets where you can find just about anything. " After their first six months in the Ra'anana Merkaz Klita, where they prepared food with a hotplate and a microwave, the Kaplans moved into their spacious apartment in Kfar Saba where Hilary finally had a kitchen. "Now I had to learn to cook, not something I ever really liked doing. What I needed were quick, uncomplicated and nutritious recipes."

A neighbor suggested starting a recipe club. " The challenge for us then was to adapt our cooking to Israel. So we took recipes that were familiar to us and adapted them to Israeli measurements and ingredients. At first it was all dairy - starters, soups, salads, fish, pastas, biscuits, breads, cakes."

As the club became more and more popular, word got out, and recipe club recipes were sought. "So we decided to compile them into a cookbook which we called Koeksusters," a play on the Afrikans word for a very sweet syrupy biscuit, or translated means "Cake Sisters". The largely South African recipe club sold out their first edition within 24 hours. "We sold it through our immigrant association, Telfed, and they received the profits." Years later and now at work on their fourth edition, the club has gone through many changes. "Nowadays the hostess or host decides on a theme and makes some dishes and asks a few other people to bring something as well. We have had a cheese theme, with borrekas, cheese pie, cheese cake, and salad; a curry evening, a soup evening, and an absolutely decadent chocolate evening." No longer looking to adapt foreign recipes to Israel, " we are Israeli now and in it just for the fun. "