Rehovot

Thanks for the great blog and photos, Pille; I especially love the market photos (and the ones of your bookshelves and study!).

I believe Nigella Lawson has solved this problem in her own way by investing in a pile of well-fitting cashmere sweaters... Actually, my favorite things to wear in the kitchen are old sweaters; the long sleeves keep grease from spattering on my arms but never end up dangling in any sauces. Maybe Nigella's onto something.

Don't forget to add Austria, home of many a good pastry! Good luck!

Quark = topfen = tvaroch = farmer's cheese. It's popular in Europe, but is usually hard to find in the U.S. I think of it as loose cream cheese. It's great for dumplings and cakes. And when you can't find cream cheese in Europe, it makes a decent frosting for carrot cake.

Wow, that is a pantry to behold! Thanks for blogging--what a fun week. Thanks for inspiring me to stock up on champagne.

On her blog, Dorie Greenspan offers some great advice from Michael Newburg on keeping greens fresh. All you need is a plastic bag and a puff of hot air.

Thank you for all things limoncello!

I just had some excellent vegetarian meals (penne with fresh thyme and roasted tomato sauce stood out, in particular) on Lufthansa; they were so good that I said, "This can't possibly be airline food." The bagel-in-a-bag wasn't so great, though. Based on your huckleberry posts, it sounds like summer is your favorite season for cooking. Is this true? Thanks for blogging!

Your morning glory muffins look great! I love these muffins, especially with cream cheese. Thanks for blogging again!

I never thought I'd see the day that Davy's Chuck Wagon Diner hit the eG pages, but I wish to correct the notion that it's a down-and-out kind of place. Rather, it's a polished-chrome and crispy-bacon kind of diner with decent food. Saturday-morning breakfast there isn't bad at all. I've been there totally sober (and no piercings or sideburns) and enjoyed it. But maybe it's because I grew up going there with my brother.

I live in a land without baggers, so I have no one to blame for squashed bread and strawberries but myself. Grocery stores here charge you for paper and strong plastic bags; most people bring their own. And people hoard plastic bags of all kinds. For groceries, I use a plastic bag from Ikea (though not the ubiquitous blue kind) which is indestructible. I hauled home the makings for two batches of limoncello in it, today. Death before the grocery-tote-on-wheels!

Plenty of people who didn't grow up eating hamburgers at all eat them like this. I just spent an evening staring at an entire table full of them. Once I got over the shock and stopped trying to coach them ("Just grab it in both hands!"), it was entertaining. I don't get the knife-and-fork approach with pizza, either, and people look at me like I'm a barbarian, when I pick up a slice and eat it. But, as Peter said, I don't care.

Great writing and photography, Chufi! I'm enjoying this blog as much as your previous ones. A question for when you're feeling better: one of the photos shows a package of Philadelphia cream cheese. Is it quite easy to find in Amsterdam, or do you go an imports shop for it? Get well soon. Dickens (and Jane Austen) is a good cure.

Congratulations! I think the idea of freelancing before setting up business on your own is an excellent idea. And meeting in a coffeehouse is a great way to begin the tour; I imagine that it gives you a chance to break the ice, and to find out what your guests are particularly interested in, food-wise. There are two comments on your profile with Like a Local; have you already given tours? And, if so, how was the experience? As an expat first in Israel and now in the Czech Republic, I only found markets and great hidden spots, the hard way...on my own...and by getting very lost. (Now, I know enough to ask local friends and shopkeepers for recommendations...and to enjoy getting lost.) I wish I'd had someone like you, or like the mother in the family I stayed with, studying in Paris; she took one morning, shortly after I arrived, to take me on a tour of the neighborhood's markets, bakeries, coffeehouses, and restaurants. It was a great introduction, not only to the locations, but to the merchants, who had known and loved Mme. Juy for years. Best wishes for success!

I remove the price tag from some items long before actually getting home, so as not to alarm the rest of the household on what we really spent on fresh mozzarella (or raspberries, or shrimp, etc.).

Samosas!

Homemade guacamole has yet to catch on in the Czech Republic, which explains why avocados are routinely around thirty cents apiece in the supermarkets. I've made more guacamole in the last six months than I ever did, living in the Southwest.

(I thought this was "au zinc"?) My ideal weekend morning breakfast-in-bed tray has champagne, a grapefruit half with a spoon of honey, a toasted baguette, and some soft cheese. But just champagne would be fine with me.

We must have had parallel childhoods. I grew up going to the Velvet Turtle for special occasions, too. Is it still there? Their creme de menthe cheesecake is enshrined in my kid memory. Have a great rest of your trip!

Congratulations on your kitchen! I've just seen the pics in the other thread; the kitchen has a lovely green glow, and the soapstone is beautiful. Will the first meal in your new kitchen be something symbolic, or something quick (or both)? Happy blogging!

Any more info, photos, etc. on this spoon? If it's such a great device we all must have one. ← It's just a stainless-steel dessert spoon. I don't know why, but we have about twenty of them. Not like my priceless El Al spoon.

Two quirks: First, the breakfast one. In a bowl: one layer of sliced bananas, a few spoonfuls of yogurt, one layer of thawed berries, one sprinkling of granola. No other order of layers will do. And I'll only eat yogurt with a certain kind of spoon. (In my defense, it's an extremely well-designed spoon which makes all other spoons I've encountered seem pathetic.) (I'm sure this is also considered an insanity defense...) At least I know I'm in good company!

Thanks for the gorgeous photos and the links, Ludja!

Congratulations on everything! It's quite inspiring, what you've accomplished. And that soup is pretty inspiring too--really fast and delish-looking. Blog on!

Do go on... This sounds intriguing! In what kind of desserts do you use them?