Swisskaese

Actually it is halvah spread or our version of Nutella. Nutella is much better.

I used to pride myself in my bread baking until I moved to Israel. I cannot get the dough to keep its shape during the rising process. It spreads out on the baking sheet. I have tried the following: 1. Tried different brands of flour 2. More kneading, less kneading 3. Dry yeast, yeast cake 4. Added less yeast, added more yeast than called for 5. Proofed in a warm oven, put on a warm balcony where the sun shines in HELP!!!!!

We had a typical Israeli breakfast, sans the Israeli salad (I am allergic to raw tomato): Omlette with fresh majoram, thyme, chives and sage Various cheeses: Smoked cheese, Bulgarian cheese (similar to Feta), Sheep's labane, Bulgarian spread with olives, another type of white cheese that I don't know how to translate into English, cottage cheese (much better than in the States) and English very sharp cheddar that I brought back from a trip to London a couple of weeks ago Fig and apricot jam Smoked salmon Smoked mackerel Wholewheat sunflower seed bread from a local baker Homemade wholewheat raisin and walnut bread Austrailian Skyberry coffee Mango juice Grant you, we didn't eat all of this; I just put it out on the table for variety. Next time I will take photos.

I am not a fan of Cholent (wasn't brought up with it), but here is a recipe for vegetarian cholent: http://www.jewish-food.org/recipes/vegchol4.htm

I also would suggest the following for vegetarian Shabbat Dinner: Seven-vegetable Tagine, Spinach lasagne Pumpkin, sweet potato soup or a hearty vegetable soup Stuffed peppers, butternut squash or eggplant Spinach Ricotta Pie They all hold up well on a warming plate. I have recipes for all of these. Let me know if you are interested in any of them. I made the following for Shabbat dinner: Roast Chicken stuffed with lemon, fresh sage, fresh garlic, fresh thyme and also placed a lemon slice, sage and garlic slices under the skin. Sprinkled lemon juice, olive oil and dried savory on the skin. Jerusalem Artichokes Stuffed butternut squash Served with Chilean Merlot

You can also stuff chicken and fish with marzipan. There are two recipes in Paula Wolfert's Morocccan cookbook for chicken and fish stuffed with marzipan.

I just saw your joke. It is very cute!

Hear is a recipe for Brandy Butter Ice Cream. I think it would go well with Christmas Pudding. Brandy Butter Ice Cream

A stoofperen is a cooking pear or stewing pear, but I am not sure what type of pear it is in English.

I would agree, however, (and perhaps I didn't state this well at all in the original question) I'm wondering more about how the spread of Islam affected the original cuisine of regions around the world. ← That is the precise point I was trying to make, Islam did not influence the food; the cultural cuisine influenced the food. The Ottomans, who happened to be Muslim, influenced Hungarian, Bulgarian, Romanian, etc. cuisine. The Persians influenced .... and the Indian Moghuls influence.....the North Africans influenced Spanish and Sicilian cuisine. As far as Muslim dietary laws go, they can't eat pork, they can't drink alcohol and all meat has to be killed according to Halal rules, which I explained above. Other than than, they can everything else. Kashrut (keeping Kosher) is much stricter.

Actually, they are not that different and that goes for Jews where ever they happened to live. The foods were similar and when they couldn't eat certain foods together (i.e. Ghee and yogurt in Butter Chicken), then they would make a variation of it.

Adam you are absolutely right, the Persians also had a tremendous influence on food in other countries. The Persians have a rich cultural heritage full stop. There are a number of races and cultures that do not fit into a country. A number of them being bedouin tribes, that still exist today.

Foods from Muslim countries should not be defined as "Islamic" or "Halal". Yes, there are traditional foods prepared for Muslim weddings, Ramadan, etc., but they are regional dishes (i.e. Lebanese, Moroccan, etc.). Some of the dishes in certain areas (i.e. North Africa, the Gulf) are similar, but they also have different spices based on the area and also based on whether the original recipes came from nomadic tribes or from city dwellers. Halal refers to the way an animal is slaughtered. It is similar to and borrowed from Kashering an animal. I think that the Ottoman Empire had a tremendous influence on food. The empire was vast and influenced food in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, etc. They introduced new spices, grilled meats, pastries, stuffed vegetables, kebab, yogurt, yogurt cheese, and much, much more. Morrocan, Lebanese and Persian food, for example, also have a rich history and are becoming more and more popular, but again they are all different. I think we would be doing a great injustice to lump all of the Muslim countries into one group and call it "Islamic" food. It is like asking what is Jewish food or European food. Is Jewish food kugel and gefilte fish? Absolutely not! Is European food Moule et Frites?

Here is a recipe from Martha Stewart. I have never made this, but Martha never lets me down: Chocolate Fudge Here are a couple more: Old Fashioned Milk Chocolate Fudge Classic Fudge

The Greek word for honey is Meli. These are honey cookies.

Here is a recipe: Melomakarouna You really need to use a high quality honey for this cookie. If possible, you should try to find Greek honey. The honey makes this cookie.

I stuff mine with ground meat (usually beef, but I have used chicken, turkey and lamb). I mix the meat with chopped onion, rice, pine nuts, cinnamon, dijon mustard w/seeds and pomegranate syrup. I pour a mixture of water and tomato sauce, cover with foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. I forgot to mention that I split the aubergine ,drizzle with oil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes to soften it before I stuff it.

I am sorry, but I do not understand what you are trying to say. Maybe you should try it in English.

As one who keeps Kosher, I really dislike parve (fake dairy) desserts. However, with that said, I have had a very good parve lemon mousse cake from Roladin bakery in Tel Aviv. I always make Fresh Apple Cake, Bittersweet Chocolate Cake, a fruit dessert (i.e. Gallette, Crostada, strudel, roasted peaches with pistachios and almonds, etc.) or sorbet (chocolate, etc.) when I need to make a non-dairy dessert.

Shabbat Dinner was: Starter - Artichoke with mayonnaise/dijon/garlic/lemon/balsamico dip Main Course - Marhapoerkoelt with brown rice and broccoli Today we went to a friend's Bat Mitzvah. She is 54 and had never been Bat Mitzvah'd. It was very special. Her cake was a Torah with a Hanukiah and it said "Congratulations Shlomit, It is never too late!". She explained that the baker, put "it is never too late"; she did know anything about it until she picked up the cake. I thought is was cute. This evening I made chicken with a side of sweet potato latkes.

Wow! Those look amazing, especially the keshta sweets. You think they would ship here? Someday, I hope I can go there and try them myself. Are the Ghoraiba similiar to Mamoul, but filled with cream instead of dates or walnut filling? Does anyone have a recipe for the fatayr bi-sbanigh. How do you make the pastry? I would weigh 200kg if I lived in Tripoli. Both pastry shops look fabulous.

The baklava that Ellen is referring to is made with sugar syrup; they just use a lot of it. I prefer the baklawa in Nazereth. That bakery is reputed to be the best in Israel and I would have to agree. They make with loving care.

I think I would have to change the name of this ice cream. It definitely wouldn't work where I come from.

Here is a recipe with step-by-step photo instructions: Kourambiedes

I made classic latkes tonight. I make them with potato, onion, egg and salt and pepper.