Swisskaese

Is there an advantage to cutting back on production? ← Yes, the reason is to produce a higher quality of grapes. Quality over quantity. You don't need premium grapes to produce sacremental wine.

Everyday I drive through farming community to work and during the last blog they were growing strawberries now they are growing this: Any idea what this is? I don't know. I am guessing some type of cabbage.

This morning we went to the greengrocer, the bakery, the food fair and the supermarket. The weekly foodfair is a shopping mall near where I work. Today, the honey, olives and olive oil lady was there. Her name is Elaine and she is originally from England. Her business is called Elaine's Farm. She and her husband collect honey from their beehives and also collect olives from their olive grove. She sells her products every Friday at the food fair and she also delivers within a certain area. She sells thistle, carob, avocado, eucalyptus, citrus and clover. Elaine and her honeys Look at the difference in colours. The flavours are as different as the colours. We didn't buy any honey today because I already have one container of avocado and carob that I bought from her a couple of weeks ago. The we went to visit a very nice Druze couple that sells salads, kubbeh and baklava. They are from Dalyit al Karmil and they have a restaurant and catering business. We bought red tehina, hummous, eggplant tehina, cauliflower salad and lamb kubbeh from them today. Their salads and kubbeh are outstandingly good. Now I know where to buy baklava. Mansaf Druzi is the name of their restaurant. There are other people that come to the food fair to sell, such as: Argentinian women that sells empanadas and dulce de leche liquor. Great over ice cream. Israeli sushi! Sushi anyone? We then went to the supermarket to buy a few things and when we arrived at the butcher counter, a women was trying to buy goulash meat. The butcher told her to buy a certain cut and it would only take 40 minutes to cook, David overheard them and said, "No, it will take much longer to cook goulash." To which the butcher replied, "I am the butcher, I should know how long to cook this cut of meat." And I said, pointing to David, "His mother is Hungarian." and the butcher said, "My mother is from the Caucasus." and the woman said, "My mother is from Queens." and the other butcher said, "My mother is from L.A." Then we all laughed. This is Israel and why I love it here so much.

Our guests just left and I am starting the report.

Sorry, it has taken me so long to get back, but I have had some computer problems and then I had to start dinner. My guests are due any second now and after they leave I will post today's dinner and shopping from earlier today. Shabbat Shalom everyone.

I am off to run some errands in preparation for tonights Sabbath meal. The vegetarian guest will not be joining us. Tonight, my guests are a nurse who is originally from California and an Iranian affairs analyst, originally from Iran, but grew up in Manchester, England. As usual, we will have some very interesting conversations You know the question, if you could invite four famous people, who would it be? Well, I feel like I experience this in real life. David and I are really lucky to have friends from a variety of backgrounds, such as opera singers, baroque musicians, health professionals, political analysts, mathmaticians, scientists, historians, linguists, software developers, etc.. We are never bored. Tomorrow is my last day and I have decided to bake some bread. I am going to make something I have never made before. A couple of years ago David bought me Baker & Spices Baking with Passion cookbook by Dan Lepard and Richard Whittington. I have been dying to make Dan's Garlic Bread and you are going to watch me make it. The surprise dessert I wanted to make with the tehina fell through. I wanted to make sheeps milk ice cream and serve it with tehina and date honey. I couldn't get any sheeps milk and I didn't have room in my freezer for the ice cream maker. So, I will make it some other time and post pictures. I might try it with goats milk. What do you think? See you later.

Boker Tov Everyone I have a very busy day today. But before I run out, I am going to tell you about last night's wine tasting. Zaafran has wine tastings and cooking courses every week. Next Thursday they are having a wine tasting just for women. Daniel Rogov has graciously given me permission to include the introduction about Carmel Wineries from his 2007 wine guide: There were 18 people at this wine tasting. The tasting was of two new lines from Carmel Wineries, called "Regional Wines" and "Single Vineyard". And I have to say, I was quite impressed. I really liked these wines and I also liked the artwork on the bottles. They depict animals from Biblical times. The wines are Kosher, but they have not been pasturized. Let me begin with a disclaimer that I am not a professional sommelier. I just like good wine. I have had the good fortune of travelling and I have tried a lot of wines from Chile, Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, Australia, California, Washington State, Canada, India, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Israel, South Africa, Hungary Georgia (the country). I am sure I forgot a country. I don't collect expensive wines and I do not have a wine cellar or wine cooler in my home. In my dream home someday. I think the most I have ever spent on wine was 100USD. There are nine different wines in this series. We tried six different wines. Four from the regional series and two from single vineyard series. Regional Wines From Carmel website Johannisberg Reisling Upper Galilee This white wine is light and fruity. It had a very refreshing taste. Reminded me of the many reislings I had when I lived in Germany. It would go well with spicy fish and chicken dishes. There are only 250 dunams of this grape in Israel. I think only Carmel and Ramat HaGolan wineries produce this wine. Carignan Old Vines Zichron Yaacov Among other things, Carignan grapes are used to make sacremental wine, which I find is sickeningly sweet. This is not a sacremental wine. This is a robust and meaty red. I really liked it and would serve it with a nice juicy steak. This is the first time, at least in Israel, that this grape has been used to make a premium wine. The vines are at least 30 years old and they have been cut back so that instead of the typical production level of 2-3 tons of grapes per dunam (1,000 square meters), they produce between 700kg and 1 ton per dunam. Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Upper Galilee Very robust, well balanced wine with not too much tannin. Just right for drinking with a big juicy steak or on its own. Single Vineyard From Carmel website Cabernet Sauvignon This wine is from the Zarit vineyard on the Lebanese border. Together with the Cabernet Shiraz, this was our favourite all around drinking wine. I will definitely buy this. Gewurztraminer Muscat I am not a fan of muscat, but this was very good. Light and fruity. Not too sweet. Tasted a hint of passion fruit (I usually find those descriptions a bit pretentious, but I really tasted the passionfruit). The wines are made from grapes that have almost been allowed to become raisins on the vine and as a result, the taste is tremendously concentrated. However, it also means that this wine is produced in small quantities and is sold only in 375ml bottles. Apparently, we got the last two bottles of the 2004 vintage. It is from the Sha'al vineyard in the Golan Heights. Here are some pictures from the wine tasting and the shop: Wine tasting room. It is also used for Zaafran's cooking courses. Bread, premium olive oil, cheeses, olives and a spicy salad were provided for the tasting. The wines Overview of Zaafran. Spices, teas, premium chocolate, candied fruits, rice spices. All of these you can buy in small amounts. Premium olive oil Boutique dairy cheeses Our purchases: Carbernet Savignon Shiraz 2004, Sauvignon Blanc Chardonnay 2003, Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, Bakers yeast and cumin.

Thank-you, Michelle, that was so sweet of you! I think your fruit tart looks wonderful, and I love the square shape. I haven't come across an individual square tart pan like that in N. America...it is very cute! I looked up "kadaifi"--I think it is like "kataifi", is it not? Shredded phyllo? Or does the word "kadaifi" only refer to the walnut pastry that is made with this dough, and then drenched in syrup? I found recipes to that, too. Regardless, I think the marscapone kadaifi sounds delicious. ← Kadaif=Kataifi=knafeh=konafa=shredded phyllo dough It depends on what part of the Middle East/Central Asia/Balkans, etc. you come from. I should have left off the "i". It is spelled Kadaif. I am pretty sure Chef Bertele uses a square ring to make the tart. Maybe you could find them at a professional restaurant shop.

Thanks Wendy that is quite a compliment coming from you. I think you take beautiful pictures of your meals. We need to come to Seattle and take some lessons.

Thanks Milagai. A taboon is similar to a tandoor. Just like in a tandoor, the bread is baked on the sides of the oven. Lafah is about 1/3 as thick as naan. At this restaurant only lafah is made in the taboon, but at other restaurants, especially Arab restaurants in the North, they bake siniya, chicken, lamb and other meat dishes in the taboon. I think I am going to make David take me to El Babour in Wadi Ara for my birthday next month. I will take some pictures.

I just found out from a few of my colleagues that this is not such an unusual occurence. It seems that in some instances, the bride and groom eat somewhere prior to getting married. Usually, they are given a basket of leftovers or fed a few minutes after the wedding. ← If Israeli weddings are anything like Egyptian weddings, it might be because they won't eat until after midnight, by which time they'll have been on their feet for hours. What would be the likely wedding and party schedule of the people in your photo? Thanks for the linguistics discussion! I'd been wondering the same things about your use of Inshallah. Once again I'm surprised at how much cultural mixing there seems to be in Israel. You may need to repeat that, with examples, a few more times for it really to sink in. ← I am guessing that the bride and groom were Moroccan. I am not 100% sure. Mainly, the religious Ashkenazi's (Europe and Eastern European Jews) fast the day of the wedding. I don't think traditional (not orthodox) Sefardi Jews fast. We arrived there about 8pm. Normally, the weddings start about 8, so I am really not sure what their story was. I don't know if they were coming from or going to the wedding. The Weddings start at about 7:30 pm with hors d'oeuvres and then the ceremony begins at 8pm, followed by dinner.

Before we went to the wine tasting we stopped by one of, if not the best pastry shops in Israel. The pastry shop is called Gaya and it is owned by the pastry chef and his wife, Hans and Mira Bertele. It is located at Segula Junction. Hans' mother-in-law, Tova was running the shop when we arrived. His pastries are a work of art and taste wonderful. His strudel is made with homemade dough like you would find in Hungary or Germany. Unfortunately, he does not have a website. But, we took a few pictures for your viewing pleasure. Ling, we went here just for you. My hips are crying already, but it was well worth it. I had this fruit tart with pastry cream, figs, blackberries and raspberries David had one florentine. Beautiful fruit tarts Top shelf - Foreground L to R, Passion Fruit and Vanilla Tarte, Carosel - Chocolate mousse with cream and praline Rear L to Right, I don't know what the left pastry is, Marscapone Kadaif Foreground - Bitter Chocolate Mousse Rear - Passionfruit and forest fruits with crunchies There was no sign for this. I am assuming it is a chocolate-orange cake No sign for this one. Chocolate Sabayon I highly recommend this pastry shop. I must go to bed because I have a very busy day tomorrow. I finish my wine tasting report tomorrow morning. Lila Tov

I just returned a few minutes ago from the wine tasting. As soon as 24 is over, I will give you a full report. It was a lot of fun.

I would like to prepare you for tonight's tasting. It is not going to be a tasting of one of my favourite boutique wineries, but it is going to be a wine tasting of Carmel wineries. This doesn't mean that I don't like Carmel wines. I do like some of their wines and I will give you a full report this evening. Carmel Wineries was started by Baron Edmond de Rothschild in 1882. I like their Private Collection wines and some of their Selected Vineyards wines. I am not sure which brands we will be tasting this evening. I am not sure if Daniel is available, but he could tell us all about the wines. He is currently finishing Rogov's Guide to Israeli Wine 2007. I have the 2005 version of this book and it is very helpful. I plan to buy the 2007 version when it comes out.

Thanks Diva.

I just found out from a few of my colleagues that this is not such an unusual occurence. It seems that in some instances, the bride and groom eat somewhere prior to getting married. Usually, they are given a basket of leftovers or fed a few minutes after the wedding.

I use it all the time and David always makes fun of me, because he says this the one thing I say where my southern accent comes out. He says it sounds like I am saying "Y'awl" as in "How y'all doin?".

I forgot to mention a few other things about the Goose restaurant last night. You could order a number of different grilled meats, cut for shishkaba, at the restaurant, such as: Cornish hen (boneless, skinless) Steak Chicken Tonsils Turkey Chicken hearts Gizzards Spleen Turkey testicles Goose heart Goose liver Goose filet Lamb Lamb fat (you can add this to any of the above) You could also order a regular steak.

Never mind the wheat grass and the fruit and juice--what's his phone number? With or without the lad, though, fruit and juice stands like that one would be wonderful to have over here in the States. (Well, I guess we do have our approximations, like the fruit stands that sell fresh squeezed juice, and the smoothie stands that have proliferated like dandelions.) I have a linguistic question for you. I note that whenever you want to say "God willing," you use the Arabic term -- "Inshallah." Is this an ecumenical gesture or a way around the prohibition on uttering the name of God that some branches of Judaism have? ← It is actually an Israeli thing. Most people say "Baruch Hashem", when is not using the word G-d. A lot of Israelis use both Inshallah and Baruch Hashem. It really depends on the individual. For example, we use the Arabic term, "Yallah" to get someone to get going. The proper Hebrew term is Bo or Bo'ee, depending on whether you are male or female. ← My other half has informed that I gave incorrect information. The Hebrew phrase for "Inshallah" is "Bisrat Hashem" and this is a direct translation from the Arabic. Yallah means several things in Hebrew, "Don't mess with me", "Get going" (positive or negative) and "Let's go". In Hebrew, you would say "Kadima" to imply "Get going". Bo or Bo'ee means "Come here".

Lafah is 18 inches or more in diameter and it doesn't have a pocket. Love the slogan.

Now to finish this evening. We went to a grill restaurant south of Tel Aviv. The restaurant is called Avazzy, which means Goose. The restaurants happens to serve goose. We went there to eat goose shwarma, but they don't make it anymore. So, we had shipudim, the Hebrew word for shishlik, which is what most people know as shishkabab. This is a really good grill restaurant. It is not fancy at all, but look what we were greeted to when we entered the restaurant: No, it is not prom night in Rishon Letzion. That is a bride, yes folks, I said a bride. Now, my mama always told me, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it at all." So my comment is Well, she did wear a bib. The restaurant has a taboon oven and they are constantly making fresh lafah. David got the baker to do a little lafah acrobatics: The finished product The grill. It is a charcoal grill. They were grilling shipudim, steaks and eggplants. Mezze. Similiar to last night, except they had rice and a hot cauliflower dish that was really good. I am not sure how they made it. I think it was cooked in chicken broth. We decided not to have hummous. We basically rolled out of the restaurant. I have to go to the gym tomorrow. Sorry for the blurry picture. David had chicken livers which he said were nice and moist, and goose filet. We are not sure if it was goose breast or butterflied thigh. I had goose filet and lamb. The goose and lamb were both nice and moist. The lamb was pink inside. Very good. We finished the meal with a Turkish coffee for David and mint tea for me. I usually just have the mint and forego the teabag. The baklava was walnut and it was moist and tender. Just enough syrup. They made up for last night's baklava. I must go to bed now. I play director again tomorrow. I have a full day of meetings tomorrow, but I will try to check in from time to time. See you at the wine tasting. Lila Tov Edited all my mistakes. That is what happens when you speak three languages at work all day. I get mixed up when I am tired.

Never mind the wheat grass and the fruit and juice--what's his phone number? With or without the lad, though, fruit and juice stands like that one would be wonderful to have over here in the States. (Well, I guess we do have our approximations, like the fruit stands that sell fresh squeezed juice, and the smoothie stands that have proliferated like dandelions.) I have a linguistic question for you. I note that whenever you want to say "God willing," you use the Arabic term -- "Inshallah." Is this an ecumenical gesture or a way around the prohibition on uttering the name of God that some branches of Judaism have? ← Sandy, there is a big gay tourism campaign at the moment to attract gays to Tel Aviv. Let me know when you are coming and I will get a cousin of mine to show you the hotspots. It is actually an Israeli thing. Most people say "Baruch Hashem", when is not using the word G-d. A lot of Israelis use both Inshallah and Baruch Hashem. It really depends on the individual. For example, we use the Arabic term, "Yallah" to get someone to get going. The proper Hebrew term is Bo or Bo'ee, depending on whether you are male or female.

Still enjoying seeing Israel (and its cuisine) through your eyes Michelle. Thanks for the photos of your dinner at The White Pergola. Warm bread, olives, and an assortment of fresh salads, a tasting of the fresh catch of the day, and lemonade--definitely a perfect meal for me. I have to ask though, do you think the reason that some restaurants want you to leave your leftover salads is that they, er, recycle them? Sorry, but my enquiring mind has to know (and I'm sure I'm not the only one here who's wondering that). ← No, it is really because the meals are a fixed price and you can ask for refills on the salads throughout the meal. Some could ask for a refill at the last minute and then ask for a doggy bag. That is cost prohibitive for a restaurant.

I am pleased that I could show you my part of the world. Before I show you this evenings meal, Tapenade was in Tel Aviv today and he went to a pastry shop. This shop is called Roladin and it is the same pastry shop I featured in my Hannukah blog. They are a kosher bakery that serves all types of cakes, pies, quiches, breads, cookies and burekas. They have been in business since 1987. There products are very nice and we always buy their doughnuts for Hannukah. We buy our bread at another bakery. I also featured them in my last blog. Sorry for the blurry pictures tonight. I think Tapenade put the camera on the wrong setting. But we will forgive him. Here are the photos from Roladin: Chocolate cake, Kremeschnitt with raspberry filling and a plum tart. Loaf cakes, braided yeast cakes, strudels, babkas and rugelach Breads and burekas More burekas: mushroom, eggplant, bulgarian cheese, kaskeval, spinach and pizza Chocolate Mousse Cake and Cheesecake Here are some pictures of Neve Tzedek, the original part of Tel Aviv. I really love to walk around there. They are some cute boutiques, cafes and restaurants. I would love to buy an old house there and renovate it, but I need a gazillion dollars to do it.

I have to say I was really glad to see you blogging and am so inspired to visit Israel one day. Is it common place to take leftover food home? Everything on the table looked so fantastic, especially the eggplant dishes, I would regret not being able to eat it all! ← You can take leftovers home from restaurants. Although grill restaurants, such as the one I am about to show you are not so keen on letting you take leftover salads home. I don't know why. It is a bit silly. You can always ask, some them say ok and others say they would prefer that you leave it. BTW - We do have a table to table program where restaurants and wedding halls donate leftover food to soup kitchens and other organisations in need.