Swisskaese

I speak 4-1/2 languages. German is my second language, it was spoken by grandparents, uncles, aunts and great grandparents at home. I also speak and read Italian and French. My French has really suffered over the years. Hebrew is my 1/2 language because I am still learning the language. I speak a mixture of English and Hebrew at work. Sometimes I translate from German into English or Italian, but for the most part I think and write in English. I also understand and can read in Dutch and Spanish and understand some Portuguese and Romanian.

I had drive 40km to get it, but I finally found a Krembo! Just kidding... The wrappers are put on by hand because they haven't been able to invent a machine that won't crush the Krembos. Do I hear a start-up anyone? Naked Krembo. Please, no phallic remarks about this Krembo. I know, I need to get my head out of the gutter. Creaminess..... This Krembo is Mocha flavoured. They also have vanilla, strawberry, banana, tutti frutti and chocolate. I forgot to mention that Krembo is a whipped sugar that is placed on a cookie base and covered in chocolate.

Today, I had my usual Muesli breakfast and Chai Masala. I had lunch at our company cafeteria. Most hi-tech companies here have a cafeteria for their employees. It is a hot meal and you have a number of dishes to choose from. There is always a fish, tofu, meat and chicken choice as well as a salad bar, hot vegetables and dessert. Here is what they had today (sorry for the blurry pictures): Here you had a choice of Tofu schnitzel, sauteed fish, fried chicken legs and curry chicken. And a choice of chicken schnitzel, grilled boneless chicken breast, roasted chicken pieces and stuffed potato with minced meat and grilled vegetables. Here is part of the salad bar. Other part of the salad bar. See the big tray of Israeli Salad? Soup and hot vegetable bar. Today was chicken & vegetable soup, stir fry vegetables and rice. This is what I had for lunch today. BTW - This is a Kosher cafeteria and since meat is served, there are no dairy dishes available.

Finally, here are the photos of the view on the way to work every morning. It takes me 15 minutes to get to work and I drive through a couple of Moshavim (Farm communities). I could eat this entire field...... Why you ask? Because they are Strawberry Fields Forever And I also see these...... Those famous citrus groves Jason mentioned. Oranges Grapefruits

Happy 4th night of Hannukah!

Our oranges and grapefruits are amazing. My favourite fruit drink combination is Mango/Banana. David's favourite is Mango/Pineapple. I love the fresh juices. I will have to do another blog in the spring and show my favorite juice bar in my old hood on Sheinkin Street in Tel Aviv.

Zuke you are welcome to come any time. Israel would be right up your alley for performance art. We have a fantastic fringe theatre festival in Acco/Acre. People come from all over the world and perform there. I will try to find their website for you.

Use whatever cut is good for Gulash. Let us know how it turns out.

I also have a problem with the texture of jello. Rachel your jello mold is beautiful, but I really dislike the feel of jello in my mouth and seeing it wriggle in front of me. I couldn't bring my self to have a jello shot in the '80s. My sister has a cotton phobia and I have a jello phobia.

That is an excellent question. I was accepted to a one-year exchange program between my University and Hebrew University in 1983, but I got mononucleosis and couldn't go. This would have been my first trip to Israel. Then, life went on and I travelled everywhere but Israel. My family here was quite angry with me that I never came to visit them and then seven years ago a member of my synagogue asked my Dad if he would participate in special program (long story, not for this blog) and he said he couldn't, so he suggested me instead. So, at the age of 34, I finally made my first trip to Israel and it was love at first sight. It wasn't because of some religious awakening, there was just something about the lifestyle that fit me. As you can see from my bio, and I will touch on that when I have more time, I did not fit-in in Alabama or the US for that matter. I really felt at home in Europe and in Israel. I went back to Israel the following year and while I was on that visit, I decided I wanted to move there. So, I came home, planned my move, waited six months to tell my family and moved with two suitcases and a very large duffle bag. I gave my self six months to find a job and found one in four months, met David at the same time as I found my job and the rest is history.... And of course the other reason I moved here is because you can find every type of food. The vegetables taste like vegetables and the fruit tastes like fruit. You can find Bukharan, Turkish, Russian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Iraqi, Georgian, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, Moroccan, Argentinian, Brazilian, German, French, etc. restaurants. It is amazing. I have learned so much about Middle Eastern food since I have moved here.

Back to the Krembos... I just got back from lunch in the office cafeteria. Photos later. I took a poll from several of my colleagues and they all love Krembos, in fact one of them buys a 36-pack because he eats 3/day on average. He also skinny.

Good morning everyone! I have a very busy day at work before my day off tomorrow. So, I won't be able to do much posting until later this afternoon. CaliPoutine, I will be happy to explain why I came here. I will just have to work some food related reason into the reason. Cakewalk, I am very familiar with the yellow cheese. My family has been here since 1933 and always complained about the cheese. Now, you can get amazing Kosher and non-Kosher cheeses. The only thing you can't find is good cheddar. We always bring some cheddar back with us when we visit David's Mom in London. Thursday, we are going to show you one of our favourite bakeries. Friday, we are going to visit a couple of Kosher boutique dairies where you will see that we have graduated from standard Israeli yellow cheese. Sunday, we are going to have some hardcore falafel.

Ok. I am really going to bed now. You don't want to know what time it is right now. Thank you Pontormo and Rebecca. I am happier than I have ever been. Moving here was definitely the right thing for me to do. It is a crazy place and sometimes a scary and heartwrenching place, but I really love it here. David is definitely my beshert. The sweet potato and apricot salad was very nice. It was roasted sweet potato in which strips of dried apricot had been added after it was cooked. I will be happy to share some of my favourite salads tomorrow. Lila Tov everyone. 'Til tomorrow.

oh how you rub it in! I was expecting a shipment of milky's today - but it has been delayed in Toronto yet another week. I think I'm the only one bringing them into the city - and when a shipment arrives Israelies pour into the store to get them. Do milkys come in any flavours other than chocolate and vanilla? And you don't eat Krembos either... so ... who does? ← I can't believe I am still up! Pam, lots of Israelis love Krembo. You would be surprised. Milky also comes in Mocha flavor and you can get Chocolate w/ whipped chocolate milk. Personally, I prefer vanilla and vanilla/chocolate swirl Karlo.

I almost forgot... Happy 3rd night of Hannukah!

Finally tonight, I bought three of the four most important food staples in the Israeli diet..... Milky's: This is basically chocolate or vanilla pudding with a topping of whipped milk. Every child's must have on the grocery list. Then there is Bamba and Bissli! Bamba is a peanut flavoured snack that was invented here in Israel. I think Cheetos now makes there own version with a license from Osem, the company that invented the product. Bleudavergne served it at a dinner party on her last blog. This snack is served to children the minute they exit the womb. Bissli is another snack from Osem. It comes in a variety of flavours, such as Falafel, BBQ, Hamburger, etc. This one is onion flavoured. Another must have on the grocery list. The fourth item I could not buy tonight was Krembo. They only had a 12 pack and since neither David nor I eat them, it didn't make since to buy the twelve-pack. So, I will go to a mini-market tomorrow and buy one. There was a thread on this in the pastry section. Someone wanted to make them. Tomorrow, I am going to show you the farm area of Hod HaSharon, my green grocer who has been a staple in the area since 1933 and we are going to tell you about ...... and and you will see my office cafeteria.

We went to the supermarket today to buy everything we need for the Latke party on Thursday night. We have invited 10 friends over. One of them is visiting from the United States. The menu is as follows: Gluehwein Spinach and Artichoke Dip Tapenade's Tapenade Classic Latkes Curried Sweet Potato Latkes Strawed Potato Cake Stuffed With Braised Leeks from Paula Wolfert's "The Cooking of Southwest France" Green Salad, made by one of the guests Homemade chunky applesauce Sour cream Pear Tarte Tatin Pomegranate tart Lemon Tart Wine, juices, coffee & tea And you are all going to watch me prepare the meal, starting tomorrow night.

Today David and I went to my secretary's mother's restaurant called El Senia in Ra'anana. El Senia is a Moroccan brass tray. This restaurant is very special. Hannah Ben-Yishai, the owner, looks like a typical Moroccan Jewish mother and welcomes guests as if they were visiting her home. This is the best of Moroccan home cooking. We begin with Moroccan salads. From 12 o'clock clockwise: Beet root, Green olives with preserved lemons, Spicy cooked carrot salad, Aubergine with garlic, Matboucha (spicy tomato and red pepper salad) and in the middle a grated raw carrot and sesame seed salad. Fennel and red pepper salad dressed with olive oil And then ....... Couscous with Spicy Beef and Chickpeas The beef dish was spiced with nothing more than hot paprika, cumin and garlic. This dish was outstanding. The restaurant is decorated with a collection of brass coffee pots and traditional Moroccan tea glasses. She also has some nice hamsahs (called The hand of Fatima in the rest of the Middle East) When you taste the food you can tell it was made with a loving hand and with wonderful fresh Israeli vegetables. The couscous was wonderful, each grain was separated as it is suppose to be. I have eaten at a number of Moroccan restaurants here and abroad and it is some of the best I have ever had. On Thursday morning (I have the day off!), Hannah has invited David and me back to the restaurant and she is going to give us a cooking lesson on how to make a very special Moroccan Hannukah treat, Sfenj. This is not exclusively Moroccan, it is made througout the Magreb and the Middle East and the Gulf. Here is a picture of the lovely Hannah and my David

Wow, it takes a long time to download the pictures. First, I want to introduce you to the rest of our happy family. We don't have a dog, cat or children at the moment, but these furry friends are very attached to us. Starting from the left is D.B., which stands for David's Bear. This bear is approximately 50 years old. Next is Eli, David's elephant and he is 51 years old. Then there is Harry and Bloombear. They are my bears and are only a few years old.

Thanks Melissa for explaining ta'am. I am finally back from the supermarket. David loves to go down every aisle. The truth is that we were buying everything for the latke party on Thursday and the Hungarian dinner on either Friday or Saturday, depending on whether we are invited to my cousins for Shabbat dinner or Shabbat lunch. While I am loading the pictures, I will show why we are called the land of milk...... And we also have some very nice spices..... These pictures were taken at a supermarket called Tiv Tam (Quality Taste). We don't may a habit of shopping here because they do not sell Kosher meat, so we can only buy produce and a few other things. But, the supermarket is very nice.

I am off to the supermarket. Milkies, Krembos and the rest are coming up...... See you soon.

I am glad I can bring some joy to you Cakewalk. For the other viewers, Tari means several things, such as fresh, hot, new or young. And obviously, can be used in a number of ways. In this case, I am sure the seller meant "fresh, fresh".

Thank you for responding, Michelle! I should have asked about proportions. If there's 1/2 cup of vanilla sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla? It's okay to speak in terms of weight in grams since I have a scale. ← Sorry Pontormo. I only saw your question now. The proportions I gave you were for your question about 1/2 cup of vanilla sugar.

Hi Barbara, David is going to write about this later, but some of the varieties that are grown here are Manzanillo (Spanish), Syrian olives and Barnai, which is a variety that is indigenious to Israel. Syrian Olives have a very strong, peppery flavour. I really like to use the olive oil on salads.

I am having a very busy day at work today. So, I won't be back online for a couple of more hours. While you are waiting, here are a few pictures of painted bulls in Tel Aviv. They are placed on Rothschild Blvd in honour of the 50th anniversary of the TASE (Tel Aviv Stock Exchange). I know they are a bit off topic, but a bull does produce great steaks! I won't have time to go to the Shuk this blog, but here are some pictures from when my parents came to visit this past April. Dad was trying to get my attention to take a picture and I didn't here him so the Shuk barkers sang, "Michelle" all the way down the line of the Shuk until I turned around. It was very funny. Please feel free to ask me any food-related questions.