Lior

you shoulda come to my house! What a pity! You could have made us dinner! When were you here? Did you enjoy it at least? Did you eat there? I hope that any egulleter who comes to my neck of the woods will now let me know! Darienne, sometime we wish it were Ontario-believe me!!! At least some cold weather!

If you are talking about solid chocolate- you can just mix in pieces-big or small of almonds into the tempered choc and then into a mold. If you mean something softer, then a 1:1 combo of milk chocolate to almond butter is nice-kind of like reeses pb cups but with almonds. You can do this in many ways. \if you are interested let me know!

A cute video of the open market during last year's August open market festival at Mahneh Yehuda:

Here is the interview with Eli Uzi. His English accent is heavy... medicine man

ALl year round there is a famous open market in Jerusalem called "Mahneh Yehuda". There are at least 250 stalls and countless kiosks. The market consists of two main streets running parallel and small, narrow streets connecting between them. Most of the street names are names of fruits and nuts. There is, for example, Apple St, Peach St, Plum St, Almond street, Nut street, Stawberry street etc. A large variety of goods can be bought at prices that are usually less than in supermarkets or stores. This includes, spices, teas, coffees, fruits, vegies, jewelry,clothes, bags, souvenirs and so forth. There are juice stands selling freshly squeezed juice in front of you, such as oranges and pomegranates. Kiosks sell falafel,Shawarma,Pitas filled with "Jerusalem Mix" which is an assortment of different kinds of meats. Not uncommon is a joke here that when there is a kid born to "mixed" parents for example a Yemenite mother and a Hungarian ather like my husband-one jokely refers to such a person as A Jerusalem Mix". One can buy baked breads like all sorts of pitas, baked goods stuffed with meat or vegetables and pastries. There are ice cream stands and cafes selling "Black COffee" which is also called "cafe BOTZ" as the bottom of the glass cup has a sediment of mud-like coffee grind finely. Espressos are also popular. There are different ethnic sections in the market. One popular one is the Iraqi section, which was established in 1931. There you can find Pistachio nuts, rices, legumes, and rosewater. There are kubbeh restaurants there such as Ima Kubbeh bar and Mordoch. Kubbeh is a kind of stuffed dumpling... Also fascinating is the stall of Eli Uzi, a 64 year old yemenite Jew who came to Israel when he was 7 with his family. His family has medicine knowledge that has been passed down by word of mouth within his family for hundreds of years. He gets at least 200 "patients" a day. He makes juice out of Yemenite etrogs (I make truffles). He has a love serum, a tonic against early pregnancy nausea etc. I will include an interview of him that I found on You Tube. There is an Ethiopian section where special spices, grains and coffee beans can be bought. The grain Teff, which is a very tiny grain used by the Ethiopian community to make their bread,called Injera. It is suitable, by the way, for celiacs to eat as long as not mixed with wheat flour.

cute-PDF's for PDF!!!

they look lovely to me! What a nice thing to do!

Here there are not so many chocolatiers, although there are a good few hobbyists. The country is tiny after all. So when a rating is done it usually involves 5-10 of the well known chocolatiers in the country (I can't really think of more chocolatiers than that number). They get rated and then all the chocophiles and hobbyists give their opinions on the online paper or local forums, or amongst each other and their aquaintances. Usually one or two perhaps 3 get good ratings and others are either ignored or put down. There is no advertising of the chocolateries that I know of in these papers and so on. Again, what matters more? What the public thinks or what the "professionals" think? I know of a company that gets bad ratings by the chocophiles/hobbyists and yet the company is well known and does better, probably even more so than the others that get high ratings. I simply think that their emphasis is not always on top quality products, as it is on other things and they do very well.

I realize that the U.S. and Canada are huge and so rating small businesses perhaps does not have much effect. In my area chocolatiers get rated constantly, and not always by professionals, and some often get rated quite negatively. Luckily I have not been under the microscope -I have almost never agreed to go along with such requests(who knows, it could kill my small business...self confidence?), but I personally do not like it and would never publicize my personal opinion in order not to harm a small business. I do not know even if my opinion is based on anything but personal taste or more. But is it okay to rate and publish results or opinions? Am I too sensitive? And if it is okay, so, who should do it? Would you agree to subject your small business to be rated in a local paper and discussed by the locals?

well I think I will have someone ask about such limitations- will be easier to deal with. Falafel is a great idea. I do see the point of not making Indian food and all. The reason I contemplated it was because whenever this group gets invited out for dinner by the local "hosts" they request to go to an Indian restaurant. But I think in general you are right. I will probably still do the Samosa sausage roll and perhaps the cauliflower as the locals will enjoy this too. The rest will be our regular stuff. I will take photos! I appreciate all the advice really a lot.

aaah ok, now I know what this is. Kind of like an Indian type of sushi looking thing. Samusa Sushi. Just kidding, but they do look nice. Easy enough to make. Thanks

"sauasage role" thing does sound great. Anyone know what it is called or where I see a picture or recipe? Yes! Samosa is the name I was looking for! Now I can look for a recipe! And yes! I think onions on the side is a PERFECT solution-why didn't I think of that?

I thought of puff pastry with a vegetarian filling. Maybe curried potatoes and peas? Perhaps the BarBQ chicken or meat or both can include something Indian spices or sauce.

yes that is true-I always get side dishes!! I actually was thinking of some kind of "Indian pie" or "pocket" with vegetables. I am sure there is a proper name... This shouldn't be impossible to make? What do you think?

littles notes are a great idea. Some are vegetarians, not all. SO I thought: barBQ, salads: Chopped fresh vegetable salad, Humus, Tehina, Burnt/roasted eggplant with Tehina (all these have garlic) Cabbage salad-no eggs no garlic A curried cauliflower dish-cold ? Majadara with no onions Pita I still have to think of a few more vegie dishes...

Now I am really worried-what does not have garlic and onions in it! The people are from all over- and most are not living in their hometowns. At least one is from Hyderabad and one from Bangalore. The others we don't know. Yikes.

Okay- I will follow your advice. I will ask hubby and let you know.

Perhaps if I make naan and one or other dishes and the rest our local stuff it could be good. Which one or two dishes would you suggest? Thanks for the input!

my husband knows all of them - the men, at least. They dont care if others eat meat and I thought that the sides would be vegetarian -enough for everyone. We always have many sides anyhow, only now I have to think what side dishes!! Some families have more than one kid... I know, I know.... oh- and your answers are NEVER inappropriate!!!

naan bread on the grill is a great idea-we usually do pita bread! I have a smaller grill that we can use for naan. I too am a vegetarian so this will be nice for me. Thanks!

In a few weeks I will be hosting an outdoor/indoor "party" (for lack of a better word). It will consist of 14 families from India staying here for a few years (they have been here for about a year) and the local families of the people professionally involved with the Indian group... Kids of all ages will also be coming. What should I serve? I thought about a BarBQ, for those that do eat chicken/meat, but what about those who do not? Should I have some Indian style dishes? Which ones can I make having not too much experience cooking this style of food? Should I go with what I normally would make? Any ideas and recipes? What would YOU do/want? Whenever the group gets taken out to a restaurant, they request to go to "Taj Mahal" restaurant... Thanks in advance!

thank you for the explanations!

Thanks Bob. I still wonder if it is different to using tempered choc to make the ganache. I will have to conduct some experiments I guess! Is this tabled ganached used more for cutting and dipping ganache or also for filling shells-which is usually more fluid... What did Derrick do with his white ganache after he tabled it? Thanks

not too late-I have till mid June. Hmm that sounds good-dark choco for the chalkboard or white for a whiteboard... I will see if there are any pics available. Thanks!

does tabling the ganache affect texture? Graininess? And does using tempered chocolate into lukewarm cream achieve the same effects as tabling-does anyone know or has anyone done an experiment?