Swisskaese

Tonight we had dinner at a local cafe called Arnon and Tamar. They have nice sandwiches, salads, soups, pasta, quiches and desserts. They also sell desserts, homemade bread, biscuits, wine and cheeses. The staff is very friendly and it is has a nice atmosphere. Tonight we both wanted foccacia sandwiches. I was going to have the spinach and mozzarella sandwich and David wanted the eggplant sandwich, but they were out of foccacia. So we both had quiches. I had a sweet potato quiche and David had a mushroom and onion quiche. They were both very nice. I had fresh carrot juice and David had lemonade with spearmint. David drank his drink before he could take a picture. Men! Orange and Pumpkin seed biscuits and the ones on the right are savory poppyseed biscuits. When we returned home, David surprised me with a new cookbook; just because. David's Mom is from Budapest. He is the Hungarian chef in the family.

I am off to the cafe. I will post details when I come back. Beteyavon everyone. Bon Appetit.

I really have sticker shock on kosher products when I go visit my parents. We usually just eat fish when we visit them because I don't want them to spend so much money on kosher meat. They don't keep kosher. Israel is an amazing melting pot. It is made of up of umpteenth generation Israelis, Israeli Arab Christians and Muslims, Palestinians, Druze, Bedouin and Jewish immigrants from every country imagineable....The whole of Europe and Eastern Europe, North Africa, South Africa, Central Africa, Central Asia, India, China, US, Australia, New Zealand, Burma, South America, Central America and the Middle East. That is a lot of food to choose from. I could do a blog for the whole year and still not show you everything. So, to answer your question, yes, you will find that most Israelis incorporate Palestinian dishes. But, the thing about Palestinian dishes is that they are also the same dishes that Israelis, Lebanese, Jordanians, Syrians, and other Middle Eastern countries eat. Okay, there are a few spices that one country may use, that another country doesn't use, but they are very similar. Every country is very proud of their cuisine, especially in the Middle East. Don't mess with Mama. Mama makes the best.....I've seen a lot of arguments here and on eGullet about what is authentic hummous (Abu Gosh hummous vs. Galil hummous), siniya, etc. I like them all. As for Israeli boutique cheeses, I have just shown you the tip of the iceberg. I so wanted to take you to the Galilee to some wineries and dairies, to Dalyat al-Karmil and go to some Druze restaurants and an amazing Arab restaurant in Wadi Ara called El Babour. I guess I will have to do another foodblog.

Thanks Klary, that is very sweet. I love using fruits in my dishes. I cook red mullet with a mango/orange sauce and use pomegranate molasses a lot in my cooking. I also make chicken and veal dishes with dried fruits. One of my favourite chicken dishes is stuffed with lemons, oranges and ginger. My all time favourite combination of fruits and meat is dates stuffed with ground lamb.

Yes, it is an very old olive tree. I think they are very beautiful trees. You just reminded me that I forgot to answer a question from the beginning of the blog. Yes, they are. We are fortunate to have zoned farming areas in my town. I really like living around farming communities. You can see the pride the farmers take in their crops. Some of the farms in my area are organic farms.

Here is a picture of a felafel sandwich from my previous blog. I will try my best to show the inside of felafel. The felafel place I wanted to take you to, Felafel Queens, has closed.

The boutique dairies have been affected by this. One of your suppliers, Gad Dairies, is located in the North. Have you carried anything from Nachshon Dairies? Maybe I need to start a new business. Cheese broker.

I will have to check the prices. I rarely buy halvah. ← Whoops, my mistake. I meant the prices of all goods in comparison to the US. Is it expensive to live in Isreal? Also, do you normally work on Sunday? ← Fruits and vegetables are cheaper than in the US and Canada. I can get artichokes for 4.99NIS kilo in the high season. I think the exchange rate is about 4.35 to the dollar. Kosher meat is a little less than in the States and Canada, but it is still expensive. I pay about 26NIS for a chicken. Property is very expensive. Our apartment in Tel Aviv was 140 square meters (approx 1400 square feet) and it was worth a half a million USD. We rented the apartment. A nice four bedroom single family home where we live costs between 650,000USD and 1 million USD. That is with a yard the size of a postage stamp. We hope to buy something next year. Rent is a lot less where we live now than in Tel Aviv. Salaries are less than in the States, but I can't complain. I have a nice life. I work Sunday to Thursdays. I travel to my company headquarters in Europe about every three months. Appliances are more expensive here.

You didn't try the tonsils? You are a brave man. After eating some scary things in China and Japan in my pre-kosher days, I just don't have the stomach for that anymore. ← I've always like innards, or at least since I was a little kid. Chicken livers, kidneys, etc. I probably would have tried the tonsils if I had gone back a second time. ← Pan, when are you going to come here and perform? Tapenade has connections and we are friends with several Baroque musicians. I'll take you to a Hungarian blintz restaurant......

I have to tell you that I felt sort of relaxed for the first time in a month. I really felt like I was on vacation somewhere. Tonight, I am going to take you to my second favourite cafe in my town. I am also going to show you my favourite cafe in Hod HaSharon and David's home away from home.

I will have to check the prices. I rarely buy halvah.

You didn't try the tonsils? You are a brave man. After eating some scary things in China and Japan in my pre-kosher days, I just don't have the stomach for that anymore.

On Friday morning Tapenade, Miriam Kresh and I went to a very special restaurant/dairy called Eretz Tzvat Halav or Land Flowing with Milk. This restaurant is located at Moshav Nehalim, which about 15 minutes from my house and this is the first time I have been there. I believe the moshav grows persimmons. The restaurant offers a buffet brunch on Friday. They specialize in sheep cheese and it is delicious. They used to have a large herd of sheep on the moshav, but for the past seven years they have been getting their milk from a sheep farmer in the North. However, they do have a few sheep that roam around the restaurant. Don't worry, they are behind a fence, but they are adorable. Miriam used to have a soap business. She made gourmet soaps from sheep, goat and cow's milk. She can tell you more about that herself. Anyway, she knows the owners and she arranged for us to taste sheeps milk. It is delicious. It is sweet and very rich and creamy. The owners, Aharon and Tami Markowitz really love what they do and you can see it in the quality of their cheese and the way they have decorated the restaurant with beautiful plants, fruit trees and fresh herbs. They produce the following cheeses (taken from a sample menu on another website): We purchased the Banias and the Tal. The cheese in the back is the red wine cheese. I think the one in the front is the Banias. Cheese wrapped in grape vine leaves and various sheep cheese spreads. Some had herbs and another had bits of roasted red pepper. Some of the roaming sheep. They are so cute! Pomegranate Tree decorating the restaurant Something I have never seen before, a baby pomegranate bush. Anyone seen this before? View from our table. Fruit and spinach salad. This salad was delcious. It had a balsamic dressing on it. The fruit was pineapple, dried figs and dried apricots. Here is Tapenade's plate. The restaurant also has a gas-fired taboon that produces very nice fresh pita. View of the buffet. The cheese shop is in the background. Beautiful cheeses. My only complaint is that they do not serve fresh juices.

I forgot to post one of the photos from Mahane Yehuda. You can of course buy loose teas and spices. I really like fruit teas and herbal teas. One of my favourites is called Tunisian tea. There is a picture of it in my previous blog. It has dried roses, ginger and other goodies. For spices like Baharat, Hawaiij (sp?) and Ras al Hanut, I only buy small quantities at a time.

Consider a truly green salad - romaine lettuce (chasa Aravi), baby leaves, arugula, fresh basil and a hint of fresh mint, those with a vinaigrette (lemon juice, olive oil, crushed garlic, salt, pepper, dash of mustard). And so help me if you add even a single cherry tomato I'll come to your home and spank you!!!! ← You're in luck. I am allergic to raw tomato. Salad sounds great and healthy.

YES! Turkish salad. Michelle, Daniel, I have been trying to re-create Turkish salad since discovering it in Israel 10+ years ago. (This is the kind that's a tomato-based salsa, not a "peasant salad" with leafy greens and feta cheese.) Does either of you have a recipe? ← I usually buy it, but I will check if I have a recipe in one of my cookbooks.

Boker Tov. I have to run to an appointment this morning. Breakfast was plain yogurt, a nectarine and some coffee. Later, I am going to show you the "Land of Flowing Milk" restaurant. It specializes in sheep's cheese.

Pundak Shaul or Shaul's Inn is in the Yeminite Quarter of Tel Aviv. This section of Tel Aviv is near Shuk HaCarmel and Neve Tzedek, which is the original part of Tel Aviv. I will try my best to feature Yemenite food this week. The restaurant serves grillled meats and yemenite soups, all sorts of salads, borekas, etc. I have never been there, but I have heard that it is good.

I won't answer that! But I can't wait to see it! Oh that siniya looks so good. I love the combination of ground beef and tehina. Is the tehina warm or cold (baked with the dish or put on top afterwards?) ← I really am going to bed. I realised I missed this question. It is put on top and baked with the rest of the dish. And this is the perfect time to mention that I am planning to make the Palestinian national dish, Makloubeh. It is also made in Jordan and probably in other Arab countries, but I am making a Palestinian version of this dish. Now, I need a little help from you. I need to serve other things with this dish. Makloubeh contains chicken, rice, eggplant and cauliflower. What salads would you suggest I serve with it?

Well, this will have to be the final post of the evening. I have an early morning tomorrow. I will try my best to check in throughout the day, but I won't be able to post any pictures until tomorrow evening. Tonight, Tapenade made dinner. We take turns during the week. He accidently defrosted a whole chicken instead of chicken wings. And, he just got new glasses. Seriously, it is not a work of art on the plate, but it was delicous. He roasted chicken with HP sauce (very British), pomegranate molasses, orange juice, melange du diable (a salt mixture that we bought in France. It has salt, anise, corriander and lemon and orange peel.), fresh oregano and garlic. Green beans and corn We had a glass of unfiltered cabernet sauvignon that we received as a gift from our hosts at a zimmer that we stayed at last year in the North, near the Lebanese border. The family is originally from Tunesia and they have live on a moshav. They have about 8 acres of land that contains wine grapes and fruit trees. They gave us three bottles of wine and a case of apples. A zimmer is a wooden cabin that you can rent for a week or in our case a weekend. They usually contain a jacuzzi for two in the cabin. This one had a fireplace, jacuzzi and a four poster bed. It was very romantic and I really hope we can go their again. They served a lovely breakfast every morning to our cabin with homemade cherry jam. I think about them often. Tapenade used the apples to make his famous Charoset for Passover. Charoset symbolizes the mortar that held the bricks together which the Jewish slaves used to build the buildings for the Pharoah. It is typically made of apples, sweet wine, nuts and cinnamon. Tapenade's is in another league. But that is for another thread. Lila Tov Kulam! Goodnight everyone! Let's all pray for peace.

I forgot to mention that just for Ling, I am planning to go to a couple of pastry shops.

I totally agree with Daniel and his comments about schnitzel. I come from a German family and my uncle had a German restaurant in my hometown. His restaurant was famous for its Weiner Schnitzel. I am a purist when it comes to schnitzel. I really have a hard time calling the chicken ones schnitzel. It is fried chicken!!

I was in Israel with my graduating class years ago. It seemed chicken/turkey schnitzel was served to us daily! Is it still very common everywhere? I didn't want it again for months when I got home - but now I use Pereg breadcrumb mixes to make it with the same ta'am (flavour) I remember. Looking forward to more... edited because I left the wrong picture in.. ← The sabich was/is considered breakfast. It is a full breakfast in the same way a cornish pastie was a full meal for the tin miners in Cornwall. Typically it doesn't have shwarma meat in it. I say was because some of the Sabich stands stay open all day, so you can eat it whenever you want. Schnitzel is big here. You find 20 or more varieties of schnitzel in the freezer section of the supermarket, including smiley faces, dinosaur and other shapes. I don't buy them. The only time I make schnitzels is during Passover, when I coat them in matzah flour.

Yes, a majority of the Ethiopians here in Israel are Ethiopian Jews. I don't like to use the term Falashas because it is a bit like using the n-word. This term was a derogatory term used by the non-Jews in Ethiopia. It means "invaders". The majority of them were airlifted from 1984-85 and also in 1991. They are a very attractive and lovely people and they haven't had an easy time here. You may also here the term Falash Mura, which are Ethiopian Jews that converted to Christianity, but returned to Judiasm. Mahane Yehuda means "The Camp of Yehuda". The street near the Shuk is called Mahane Yehuda Street.

I will have to show you dinner later or tomorrow. Tapenade had a late start tonight. Please feel free to ask more questions. I will check back later.