Swisskaese

I put my recipe for Oxtail Soup in RecipeGullet. My recipe also calls for beef stock.

Oxtail Soup Serves 6 as Soup. 2 lb oxtails, trimmed of fat salt and pepper 2 T olive oil 2 onions, thinly sliced 4 cl water 4 c beef broth, fresh or canned 2 carrots, sliced 1/2 c canned tomatoes, drained and chopped 1/4 c pearl barley 1 tsp dried thyme 1 bay leaf 1/4 c parsley salt and pepper Sprinkle tails with salt and pepper. In heavy skillet brown in oil over high heat, transferring to soup pot as browned. Brown onions in same oil & put in the pot. Pour off excess fat, deglaze pan with 1 C. water, stirring in all brown bits & add to pot with the remaining water & the broth. Simmer, partially covered over moderately low heat for 3-1/2 hours until very tender. Pour into fine sieve over large bowl. Remove meat from bones, reserve meat covered & chilled. Let stock cool, chill overnight, and skim off fat in morning. Bring stock to boil, add meat, tomatoes, barley, thyme, bay leaf, and salt & pepper to taste. Simmer, partially covered for 30 minutes, or until barley is tender. Stir in parsley, discard bay leaf and serve. Keywords: Soup, Lunch, Kosher, Dinner, Easy, Beef ( RG1747 )

Sounds delicious. I used puff pastry for my spinach and ricotta pie. Bread making and pastry making are definitely a challenge in very hot and humid weather. I have the same problem here. Especially since I don't have central air/heat in my flat. I wish they sold ready-made flaky pastry here like they sell in England and The States.

Sounds like an interesting blog. I love cherries, but they are very expensive here. Someday, I am going to have a cherry tree. You could make a cherry claflouti . Can you tell I just got back from France or you could make crepes with a cherry sauce or cherry filling.

I have an excellent oxtail soup recipe. I will post it when I get home from work. Although oxtail soup can be very rich, you have to add a number of things to it in order to bring out the flavour.

I have used puff pastry a number of times and it always turns out fine.

Don't knock it till you try it. Here is a recipe for a date shake. This recipe includes ice cream. Here it is only made with milk.

I know you will enjoy them. I have been rationing them out and we just ate the last ones. Well, it is just an excuse to go back.

I have made this pound cake a number of times and have never had any problems. I put in in RecipeGullet a while ago. It does sound like your oven.

You won't be able to bring back fresh dates, but you can bring back dried dates. You can even buy them frozen at the supermarket. They make great date shakes. You must have a few fresh fruit drinks when you come here. I love Mango/Banana and Date/Banana.

When did it close?! I have been out of the loop since I moved to the burbs. They rocked. I agree. A few really good salads and toppings are better than 30 really mediocre ones. I really like fried eggplant on my shwarma, but I would never put it on my falafel.

Yes, Chris, we have some amazing dates and Tweety69bird will be able to buy them in the shuk. You can also buy them in most supermarkets. This is a picture I took a few years ago of one of the dried fruit sellers in Shuk HaCarmel in Tel Aviv. Notice the dates in the foreground. Another thing you could bring back is date honey and date filling which comes in sealed packages, I can't think of the word in English. You know the packages that have the air squeezed out them to keep the contents fresh.

There is great falafel all over the country. You just have to know people in the know . There are places in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and in the Center where I live that have great salad and topping selections.

The best restaurant we ate at during our travels was in Avignon. We had a lovely dinner at Basilic Citron, , 4 Place de la Principale . It has a wonderful space for romantic outdoor dining in the courtyard and the decor inside the restaurant is also very romantic. There were strolling musicians to entertain us throughout the meal. Interior of Basilic Citron Three course dinner for two with a bottle of wine was 90 euro. This was the most expensive meal of our entire trip. The food was delicious. We loved the entire meal, but we both really loved the tuna. We definitely recommend this restaurant. Our first courses were: Thon brulee aux epices, reduction de vinaigre balsamique aux agrumes Fresh tuna with spices and a reduction of balsamic vinegar and citrus Asperge vertes et blanches du pays, vinegrette a l'huile de noisette torrefies Local green and white asparagus with a vinegrette of roasted hazelnut oil Second courses: Tranche d'espadon poelee, tians de legumes, bearnaise aux pistils de safran Sauteed swordfish steak with a vegetable tian and a saffron flavoured bearnaise sauce Pave de caillebaud aux herbes fraiches vapeur, chartreuse d'aubergine a la tomate Piece of cod filet steamed with fresh herbs and an aubergine timbale stuffed with tomato Third course: Millefeuille a la pistache, marmelade de griotte acidule Pistachio napoleon with sour morello cherry jam Tartare de fraise du pays, sorbet cactus/citron vert Fresh local strawberries with a cactus and lime sorbet Wine: Plume, Cote de Luberon, white wine The restaurant next to Basilic Citron is Art et Gourmets and it was also busy and the menu looked very interesting.

There are some very nice pastry shops here in Israel, but I can only recommend the ones around Tel Aviv-Yafo, Jerusalem and the area that I live in. If you are interested, let me know. Israel is a very diverse country so it is much more than baklava. I have used ras al hanout in an apricot tart I made. It really took it to another level.

This website may help with suggestions for Bethlehem: Open Bethlehem

Shwarma in Haifa: Shwarma Amil Derech Allenby 33 Haifa Shwarma Chazen Derech Yafo 140 Haifa Falafel: Falefel Hazkenim Wadi 18, Wadi Nisnas Haifa Burekas: Burekas Bechar Haaglah Derech Haazma'ut 35 Haifa Druze Restaurant: Elchar Tchernikovsky 35 Haifa Hummous: Abu Maron Kibbutz Galuyot 1 Haifa Pastry Shoppe: Dudu Otmazgin (sp?) Wedgewood 3 Haifa If you are going to be near Umm al Facham, you must go to this excellent Arabic restaurant: El Babour Kwish Wadi Ara Umm al Facham Anyone in the area will know where it is. All of the places above received high ratings.

I wish I could help, but I haven't been to Bethlehem in seven years and I don't know much about Haifa. I have the latest edition of the dining guide for Israel. Sort of a Michelin guide. I will look there and post some suggestions. Where is Rameh? Are you going to be in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem? The Hebrew word for souk is shuk. You could bring back zaatar, ras al hanout, hawayej and baharat.

Shabbat Shalom everyone! We just got back from a beautiful trip to Provence. We had the following: Basil and garlic green olives from our trip Stuffed butternut squash Haricot verts Red wine Calissons

It sounds like sangak. I haven't been able to find a recipe for it. The truth is that I can buy something similar here which is made in a Yeminite bakery and also I can buy fresh Iraqi lafah. I would suggest buying it, since it should really be made in a special domed tanoor oven.

To continue my trip report.... The beautiful view from our friend's villa Small Provencal vegetable stand And fruit stand (check out those prices!!!) Candied fruit Lovely caramels

We did not eat out a lot because most the restaurants were very expensive and since we had a kitchen in the villa, we took full advantage of cooking with beautiful fresh ingredients. The reason I say expensive is because 1 Euro is approximately 5.50NIS. We grilled sardines, sebaste, trout, red gunard and emperor bream. The fish was outstanding. We were really looking forward to having red mullet, but it cost three times what we pay here.

We drank a lot of wine while we were there and were amazed at how little they cost. We had: Les Ofevres Vignerons, Sainte Victoire Cote du Provence 2004 Rose Golfe de Saint Tropez Merlot, Vin de Pays du Var Montcigale Beaucaire, Coteaux d' Aix en Provence 2005 Rose Chateau de Sablet Bordeaux 2005 Domaine Francois Gerbet Bourgogne 2004 Rose Chateau Minuty Gassin, Cuvee du Bailly 2004 Rose L'Arnaud 2005 Rose Les Vignobles Choisis 2004, Cotes de Provence We also ate a number of cheeses: Le bleu des Basques Saint Nectaire Pyrenees Montsegur Brie Dry chevre, don't remember the name

We just returned on Tuesday from a fabulous 12-day vacation in Cap d'Antibes and Avignon. We stayed in a beautiful villa on Cap d'Antibes for 10 days and a hotel in Avignon for two days. We travelled to Antibes, Juan les Pins, Haute de Cagne, Nice, Tourtour, Villecroze, Salernes, Flayosc, Vence, St. Paul de Vence, Villeneuve-Loubet, Grasse, Villefranche sur le Mer, Saint Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Marseille, Cassis, Avignon, Orange, Carpentras, and Aix en Provence. We didn't want to come home. Here are the things that we brought back with us: Two Provencal salt mixes, walnut oil and Basque paprika Calissons (we also bought dark chocolate covered), olives (didn't eat them there) and chestnut honey Creme de Prune and Creme de Lemoncello from a lovely shop that I will tell you more about in St. Paul de Vence Wanted to bring more, but alas we have a limit.

I just returned from a magical trip in Provence, except for the first night when my handbag was stolen with two passports, two driver's licences, two credit cards and a number of other things... . I was sitting in the car and the thief opened the door and took my handbag. The most important thing is that he didn't hurt me. Lock your doors at all times when you are travelling in France. Especially, Antibes and Nice. I will give a full report in a few days with some pictures.