Lior

Yes we also have malawackh, which is the same dough as the jachnun, on rouned and flatlike a pita, fried on med heat on both sides and then it is a flakything of thin "leaves". One can have it sweet likea pancake or savory with grated tomatoes etc. I will make one tomorrow or the next day and photo it. Jachnun on its journey into the oven for 12 hours at low heat- about 115-120C. ready to eat: The house awakens to this delicious baked and familiar smell. Upon smelling it, one instantly remembers, "AAAH!! It's Saturday! " And goes back to snooze for a bit more,feeling very luxurious beneath the comforter. As the Saturday ends, everyone wishes the othe a good week. So here that is the time now, so I wish all of you- a very good week!!

Hello! Well, we either eat at my MIL or at my house, sometimes we are only 6 or 7 and sometimes we are 14 -15. It all depends on whois coming/can come etc. Yes those are Corelle!!! By coincidence my in laws have the same as we do!! And Rachel- I am sure you are a ballaboosta!!! Just the desire to be one is halfway there!! Back to the dairy festival that was barely existent I took a photo of a wild weed/plant that grows all around. It is called "Chkubeza" and is great to eat as a cooked green, or cooked and then served either hot or cold in a salad of lentils and onions, for example. You can use it like spinach and even make "meatballsl"from it. In the center of the leaves, before it flowers is a bud that the kids pick, peel and eat. It is crunchy and nutty. Other pictures from the dairy festival! : That was Entrecot duck (blehk! ) About food. Isn't it odd how itis often the same! I like that about the chicken soup being less yellow etc!!! Oh! And about the Jachnun, the red and green sauce is probably Schkoog, a spicy peppery sauce. We eat jachnun with grated and herbed tomatoes. Pictures are on their way. Sneak Peak:

This is very silly!! But after such a looong garbage can search I am proud to display my 30$ garbage can!! That was fun!

How funny!! I was forever in search for the perfect garbage can- my family thinks I am nuts... I spent so much money trying this and then that until I reall did find a nice one. not as nice and expensive as that one from Chov world but same conception. I now will photograph it!!!

The soup vegies include leeks, the green tops of celery- here the tops are more popular than the sticks- sometimes the celery is picked as a root in order to get the tops greens. Then there are whole onions, and parsley and roots such as turnip and another kind-I have to find out its nname in English! If I missed out on others I will let you know also.

Hello everyone! I just came back from the dairy festival and it was , uhmm, disappointing! I took some pictures of meat (!) and of a cow and calf, but that was about it! Oh well. Anyway, last night's dinner was very nice. It was great to be together. Thanks toeveryone who gave me kind words about the blog! And co pliments about my avator I wish the shiksa could get some burekas- I tried squeezing it through but did not succeed. Shabbat dinner at my MIL's: lubia beans: Broccoli and mushroom stew: cabbage salad (nothing new for you right?) Chicken: My other son taking a tablespoon of Hilbeh to put in the chicken soup: Hilbeh: About the soup: This is a traditional Yemenite soup, with chicken pieces, vegetables, and Hawaiij which makes it yellow. My MIL likes to take all the chicken out before it becomes too mushy as well as allthe vegetables. These are served in serving dishes and whoever wants this vegie or that piece of chicken can add it to his soup. chicken from soup: soup vegies: pita: white rice: potatoes meatballs and beef: Aftet that we sit around and chat and joke and then have coffe or tea and cake. I made a coffee cake with a topping of cinnamin, pecans and sugar, but forgot to take a photo. All in all it was a lovely evening. Later on I will post pictures of the jachnun. And on Monday I will got o the meat market for Gfron. Bye for now-have a lovely, lovely Saturday!!

Smithy, they are bamya to me too!! You must tell me a bit about yourself... We are all basically the same I suppose, when you get down to important stuff. Every house has solar panels as it is sunny most days. All our water is heated bt these, everywhere in Israel. If it is rainy or cloudy then we switch on the boiler for an hour or so to get enough water for a shower etc. It is never on all day though. There is a lot of talk now of other methods for electricity. Now the Morrocan is far from finished: Vegetable stew Salmon waiting to be cooked: mushroom quiche: homemade potato burekas with mushroom sauce: mini challahs brains and peppers And all for this weekend!! My personal shabbat pictures will be posted tomorrow morning-my time. It is half past midnight and I am sleepy! Lila Tov!

Back to the Morracan kitchen: We will start with a very tradional Morrocan dish called "Kubeh" It is a dumpling made of ground turkey and/or beef covered in the grainy cereal that you people would probably use to make hot wheat cereal! It is in a stew of vegetables and tomatoe sauce spiced and herbed with cumin, coriander, parpika, etc My neighbor does it tradionally on the gas as we say here in the middle of her small kitchen floor. She has a storage room just outside her kitchen where she has 2 refrigerators and an oven for frying so that her kitchen does not get too smelly! The vegies used: eggplant: eggplant dishes: another eggplant dish: another eggplant dish. She uses a cardboard eeg carton and paper towels to soak up the oil hence the dark spots on the carton!! more to come...

OOOF! basically I missed the moment! Night fell fast! I managed some fast photos but they are a bit awful. The crows were cawing but I could not photo the sound!! So sorry I missed the moment!! rooftop view of night falling: empty streets. Most people have arrived at their destinations.

Shabbat Shalom l'koolum!- a peaceful sabbath to all! Sabbath is entering now with the setting of the sun. The streets are silent, you can hear the crickets chirp and see the crows and sparrows settling down for the night. The stores are now all closed until Sunday morning when they will be full early morning as though the people are in dire need of fresh bread and milk. I think it is a psychological thing! I will try to sneak a few shots of men on the way to their neighborhood synagogues. The roads are quite bare. Soon I will post as this time passes fast I must run to capture the feel!!

Well thank you so much!

I am back! So here are some pictures from the tiny Yemenite store I visited this morning. First of all,most yemenite food is baked slowly in the oven, save a few delicious fried goodies! Here is one- it is called either Galuba or Zalabiyya. It is like a fried donut with Ketzach seeds- that is black cumin or Nigella seeds. It is eaten in the morning. and cut just for you: a bit about this group of people: Operation Magic Carpet is the nickname for Operation On Wings of Eagles, which occurred between June 1949 and September 1950 that brought 49,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel. British and American transport planes made some 380 flights from Aden, in a secret operation that was not made public until several months after it was over. At some point, the operation was also called Operation Messiah's Coming. The nickname came about because most of the yemenites had never seen an aircraft before. The operation's official name originated from two relevant biblical passages: Exodus 19:4 - "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I bore you on wings of eagles, and brought you to Myself." And from the Book of Isaiah 40:31 - "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Since they had never seen aircraft before, many of the immigrants were extremely scared and refused to board the plane, but were convinced when reminded of these verses by their rabbi!! To them the plane was like a magic carpet. Interesting! The next pic is one of a dish called Kubaneh. It is baked in the same pot as Jachknun- mention earlier in another entry. You can see the pot under the Kubaneh. It is also cooked slowly for hours and is eaten with clariefied butter- see 2nd pic for this. The woman said that regualr butter has a lot of dirt in it and so claried butter is better. Hilbeh: The lighter green is not hot-as in spicy - whereas the darker is. Both are green due to parsley and coriander leaves. My MIL does not use leaves- it is a matter of choice. Sabiyyeh: layers and layers of thin sheets in groups. I couldnot get agood photo of the thin sheets-only the groups-sorry: Pita and Lackhuckh(lots of guttural noises here!!) up close of the pita which is made in an outside stone oven and stuck on the walls of the oven: Lachuch- a soft pita a bit chewy, almost like a pancake but not really: Another type of pita- smaller and called Salaf: Tomorrow we will have Jachnun for breakfast with the eggs and grated tomatoes so that photo will come later! Keep checking in cause soon I will post the Morrocan kitchen!

Hi! Your cookies look devine! I love the the little cup color combo with the cookies and Pistachios? They are very attractive! And yes, 10,000? At home? To me they look perfect. Send one!

Thank you Chufi! Now a sneak peak and then later the food pictures! This is my coffee table. It is made by the carpenter whose wife taught all my kids first and second grade over the years! He also did all the carpentry work in the house. I chose natural stone tiles and tiles with the symbols mentioned before. up close- the fish - kind of hard to see?: the hamsa and the pommegranate

Smithy! I hope you are in bed! If not-go! Right now!! I also boil down pommegranatejuice but I sometimes get very laaaazy!! I use the unsweet always and it is naturally sweet and tart! On lots of stuff. On chicken.meat, in salad dressings for leafy salads with walnuts it is great and then if you have fresh poms you decorate with a few seeds. Figs - the same. I also you them in ganache for my chocolates. My house is the usual construction. We use cement biggish bricks to build, not wood. All cement- poured in poured on for support and strength. Perhaps my house is a bit big but new houses now are getting bigger. But I do take great care in everything I choose and I do plan on living a lifetime here! The counters are granite stone. Iw ill photo my coffee table cause it also has those themes like the outside paving. Now I have to go take photos at my MIL and neighbors. Sleep tight!

Good morning- boker tov to all!! I am quite amazed how many people have visited Israel! Here we grumble about tourists not coming!! Humingbirdkiss! What a lovely idea to do in your pavement! I love it when people honor their area, heritage and surroundings! Ferns and trillium! Nice! Here are those bakery pictures I promised from "Meshi" (silk) bakery: Mideasternsweets: Morrocan sweets: the owner: Pizza burekas: Rogelach: bringing outthe macaroons: Bulgarian cheese burekas bread like focaccia, with oliveoil,tomatoes and peppers: last minute choices by the cashier and now I am going tothe Yemenite store and later I am going over to my neighboe that lives kitty corner to my house. They are Moroccan originally and she is a real "Ballaboosta" which means a super duper housewife in very positive and proud terms - cleaning, cooking etc. She is amazing-you will see!

Smithy! OMG!!! "warmed up" to -18C ?? Brrrrr- how long can one be outside? Hmmmm, you don't need a freezer! Yes! Chatzilim is eggplant!! Buy that and mix it in with your Tehina- when you make it! Cute about the garlic warning!!

Okay. From last to first-sorry! Yes, it is like chocolate and water! That is why you add in increments and mix in between. It took me under 2 minutes to make- all gone by now! It is Elite "m'tubelet" meaning including herbs and all. So it is perfect. How amusing that you have a picture of Bulgarian Bamba!! Never knwew they had it! I would love to know our common grounds... other than what I have discovered already, of course! Smithy- you have a lovely way with words! And you know some hebrew!!! Hatzilim or eggplant. It is in the picture with my typical dinners. Yes, I often have baba ganush which is tehina made up and mixed with mashed eggplant, which has been grilled on the flame till blackened. Then you have to scoop out the pulp without any black skin dots!!! What is the temp by you? Snow?? And to those who complimented my chocolates- thank you sooooo much!!!

Peanut snack chips= Bamba, soup almonds and tehina ready spiced or actually herbed! 1. Bamba is the national snack from age8 months I think!! It is allnatural, from peanuts, is crunchy but quickly softens in the mouth and youkeep taking another one even aftersaying "enough!" 2. Soup almonds- also all natural, are tiny little delicious crunchy squares that you put in a bowl of thin soup. Like chicken soup or thin vegetable soup-not a thick soup. 3. herbed Tehina takes two mins to make and is delicious. It comes like a paste with the sesame oil floating on top, so one must mix it up a bit first. For one to two people 6 tablespoons of Tehina paste is enough. You add two TBS of water at a time and mix to incorporate it, then another 2until the right color and consistency is attained. SOme like it thicker, some thinner. Then over chopped cukes, tomatoes and other salads. On a sandwich like butter or mayonnaise. My kids love to take a roll to go, with tehina, humous and an omelette. Even cold is okay. Add some french fries- great!! Typical sandwich. Today Lior had one for lunch- on a short baguette and finished the whole thing! Bamba: soup almonds: Tehina paste: Add 2 tbl water: add some more water: some more and walla! You have tehina:

no, no.... please send them my way. what beautiful food you have access to. i could dive into that cheese selection. as it is i'm salivating on the keyboard here at work. thank you for this tour ← well I wish I could! You are, however, welcome to come get some!!!

Well shuk is on Wed and Thurs only in prep for the sabbath so thereis not much bargaining on food. I think if you come and buy a lot you ask for a discount. If something is not round and you ask- no discount for me?? He will lower a bit to the lower round number. With clothes it is a whole other story.

Rachel! Do you write!! You bring tears to my eyes! You see things in such a beautiful way!! It is breathtaking to read your descriptions !! Yes! I also love that glorious morning sun-it seems to scream to me" another beautiful God given day to those below!! Eat and partake! The moments pass so fast! I forgot to mention other noises. While hearing them Iwished I could record it to play along with the shuk part! But try to imagine- above the shouts and enthusiam, music plays- most often wailing type of "eastern music" With words to a young man's love "you are the flower in my garden... or- I am nothing without you, only half a man...! And Peter- I LOVE artichokes. I make a butter, lemon,sumac, garlic and salt sauce and we dip each leaf until we get to the heart! I understand your desire!! Yes the smell is devine. Often the turkish coffee aroma mingles in with the herbs! Let's go back to shuk! "bikes " used by eoderly toget around. They also drive them on the street. The cover can become a convertable! This is what I meant to post instead of the previous! This is the "don;t touch the cardboard" arguing over goods a minute from the shuk- itis a 700 year old building and hencethe name ofthis neighborhood: Tower- or as wecallit- Migdal. In arabic- majdal. note the satelite!

Absolutely fascinating!!! I wish I could have been there to watch!! And the little boy is so cute!! I just love those old molds!! What an astounding collection-whew! (whistle!) And the pig? Just GREAT!!! Thanks for the pictures!

Hi! Home from the madness of the shuk or market!! We call this mess a ballagan"!! I began with the view I see when walking towards the market. It is a lovely sunny day today-perfect for taking you to the market. There are lots of people out to buy produce before cooking for the shabbat (sabbath) and everyone wants the best price, the most beautiful tomato, the perfect cucumber. There is a lot of bustle, sellers yelling out their prices and proclaiming to have the best produce. They yell at each other also - with real insult - How dare you think your produce better than mine!! Hey Mrs.!! What do you think?Whose looks best?? And when I ask to take their picture, they yell out:'Take him! Not me!" Then they both laugh and tell me to buy some from each!! Lots of the people, especiall older women and men, bring abasket on wheels to cart their goods around in. They are very useful, actually. Best prices from me!! Hey don't touch that cardboard!" Best prices!!! Croissants etc: "Fresh from the morning!!" best boxers right here!! Market kids- I asked him why he is not in school and this was his reponse! curtains, rugs, pillowcases Sitting up high Cuttin a piece of pumpkin for a customer And more later!! Time to do some housework!!

Kim! Thank you!! They are great cats!! But you need your sleep! Hope you won't be stressed out for Fri night party preparations!! Boy if I could, I'd just "pop" over and help!! I am glad you like my blog!!