Swisskaese

Shabbat Shalom everyone! We had the following: Light white fish (they called sole, but it is not) en pappiote with garlic, sliced carrots and white wine Steamed cauliflower Toasted quinoa pilaf Gross Umstaedter Burgunder dry white wine

It is all in what you are used to. I am used to European cakes which have far less sugar than American cakes. I have only had success with reducing sugar. My cakes are never dry.

Caçacha As in a Passionfruit Capirinha

There is plenty of info on the internet, but it is spelled Nokerln and most of the info is in German or Hungarian. Nokerln are the German version of Gnocchi. For example: Nudeln and Nokerln Porcini with Green Nokerln

I think it would be very difficult to have a large quantity of 100-year-old balsamico, because: See this interesting article about balsamico. Maybe the real story is that the 100-year-old balsamico is 50-year-old balsamico with a few drops of 100-year-old balsamico.

I reduce the sugar in American recipes by 30-50%, depending on the cake.

Trout I love Trout with a pecan crust.

I have never been to Yemen, but we have a large Yemenite population here and I have eaten in Yemenite restaurants and have friends who are Yemenite. The food is very good, quite basic and in some cases very spicy. They make stews with honey. They tend to make a lot of lamb dishes. Yemenite soup, which can either be meat (beef or lamb) or chicken based are flavoured with hawayij, which is a curry-like spice, containing black pepper, cumin, cardamon, saffron and tumeric. The soup is very good. They also grill various types of meat and organs (tonsils, bulls balls, etc.). Hilbeh is served with all meals and you typically dip your bread in it. It is clarified butter to which fenugreek seeds have been added. They also eat roasted locusts. They have different types of breads, for example: 1. Jachnun, a layered rolled pastry that is baked at a very low heat over night. It is usually served for breakfast with a boiled egg, crushed tomatoes and zhug (a very spicy hot sauce). 2. Mallawach, which is a flaky pan bread. It is made from the same dough as Jachnun. The dough is called Aijn. 3. Kubana (overnight bread). This is a Sabbath bread for Yemenite Jews. I don't know if it is made by everyone. It is baked in a tube pan and is a sweet bread, like Challah. 4. Lechuch. This is like a big pancake with lots of little holes in it. It is great with honey.

Woo hoo Filipe! That is great. What was the prize?

Black Beans I love cumin in my black bean soup.

We have burger bars here that serve beef burgers, lamb burgers, turkey and chicken burgers with interesting sauces like: Chimichurri Pesto Aioli Tehina Red pepper sauce Maybe you could make different sauces and offer them with your burgers. They are simple to make. You could also serve cornish pasty or meat pies or pot pies.

No, it is definitely Halloween. I went to the Halloween parade in the 80s. There was no violence and it wants a lot of fun. I was in San Francisco with my then boyfriend and we were told about the parade, so we decided to check it out. We didn't have any costumes to wear and as we were walking down the street, a man in a see through lucite cod piece yelled out, "Hey, I know what you two are dressed as.... a heterosexual couple!" I about fell on the sidewalk laughing. We had a great time people watching. It is a shame the way it has turned out. Now, back to food...Have you been to Sam Wu's? Does it still exist?

This trifle recipe sounds delicious: Caramelized Pumpkin Trifle

Nicolai, what you refer to as traditional is your traditional Lebanese shwarma. Lebanon is not the father of shwarma! The question that was asked referred to what condiments are served at shwarma joints in Israel. Shwarma joints in Israel are very interesting because they incorporate condiments from many different places: Lebanon Iraq Turkey Israel Ethiopia Yemen For all we know shwarma may have been invented by the Bedouin in Central Asia or Mongolia and maybe the first shwarma was made out of camel . This is an neverending and pointless argument. Shwarma tastes great and I think it is nice to have interesting choices to put on mine. BTW- I meant to write Pickled Turnip instead of pickled radishes. I forgot the word for turnip in English. Here, pickled turnips are considered an Iraqi contribution.

Welcome to blogland. San Francisco is one of my favourite US cities. Love the Halloween parade on Castro street. Do they still have that? I am also a dragon. And speaking of Chinese, are you going to feature some great San Francisco Chinese food?

I forgot about the butcher terminology and cuts of meat. That is a big one. Kosher cuts are in some cases very different from what you find in a regular butcher and the same goes with European cuts vs. American cuts. My butcher here has a chart with a diagram of a cow, sheep, etc. that shows the names and places of the cuts and what the cuts are used for. It was very helpful for me. Also, there are sausages, salamis, etc. that are specialty of a specific area in Holland, Germany, France, etc. that an ex-pat might not be familiar with and would not necessarily notice or in some cases may be afraid to ask what something is because it looks gross. However, it might taste fantastic. Flour, vanilla sugar and other baking items are also important to know. For example, Americans do not use vanilla sugar in baking. They use vanilla extract and sugar separately in their baking. They also might not know what Guss (in German) is and how it is used for tarts. Klary, a licorice lesson might also be helpful.

I have seen fruitcake recipes that use a different type of cake base, for example, I have a recipe for a butternut squash fruit cake. I think this would make a very moist fruitcake. Butternut Squash Fruitcake Maybe you could make one with pumpkin, sweet potato or something else.

This looks very similar to a bread they make in Samarkand for breakfast. Instead of using a stamp, they make an indention in the middle with their finger tips and then use a needle-like instrument and make marks in the indented part. This bread is only made in Samarkand and not in other parts of Uzbekistan.

I make a chicken tagine with quinces in the same manner that Chufi describes. I have also sprinkled pomegranate seeds on top before serving.

Klary that is a very good idea. I don't know if you have local newsgroups for expats in Amsterdam, but we have newsgroups here (Tanglo (Tel Aviv Anglos), Janglo (Jerusalem Anglos), etc.) and they are always whining about how they don't understand all of the different white cheeses here and the spices and how to use them. Most of them give up and buy American, British or South African products and don't explore cooking Israeli food. I think this is a real shame. Someone contacted me through eGullet and asked me if they could tag along with me when I shop. They had just moved to the country and didn't understand what certain things were used for. I showed her around and she is a very nice person. I felt like I gave her some pointers on what things are used for and I sent her some recipes to try at home. I didn't charge her anything, but it could definitely be a business. good luck.

I made: Roasted chicken stuffed with couscous, garlic and dried tropical fruit (passionfruit, coconut, kiwi, mango, papaya, cranberries, prunes, raisins, apricots and currants) and I drizzled sour apricot molasses on top of the chicken Steamed broccoli Melon White wine

Thanks LMF for bringing back so many wonderful memories of my 2-1/2 years in Ticino and all the travelling I did in Italy. Shame on you for not climbing the stairs up to Corniglia. I took my mother and sister to Cinque Terre and my sister and I talked my mother into hiking through two of the villages. We got up and had a hikers breakfast and my sister and I hiked from Manarola to Corniglia. My mother met us at Corniglia. When we arrived, we were waiting for Mom at the train station and were trying to find Corniglia. We sat on a bench and I saw the stairs and said, "Oh shit, she is going to kill us!". She arrived, and we said, "Mom, why don't we have a drink before we start the hike? Isn't it a beautiful train ride?" She asked where the town was and we didn't say anything. She then saw the stairs from the platform and said no way. We said we would take it slow and then she saw an 80-year-old woman carrying her groceries up the stairs. That convinced her to make the hike. We hiked to Vernazza and had a wonderful time. Then we went back by train and had the most orgasmic pesto lasagna at a tiny trattoria in Manarola. We stayed at Hotel Marina Piccola. They had great seafood dishes at the hotel restaurant. I remember we had crawfish, potatoes and green beans with pesto over linguine. It was outstanding. Obviously, this was before I started keeping kosher. The hotel was simple and clean, but had an amazing view of the coast.

Judith, I just saw this. I am so jealous. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Thanks Divina for showing me Florence again. I can't bring myself to go back anymore because it is not the same place for me. It is too overridden with tourists. All of the locals have left. It really makes me sad. I used to go there a lot when I lived in Lugano. Is there a good time to visit when it is not overrun with tourists? I used to go to restaurants that almost no tourists knew about. I don't think it is possible to find one anymore. I have this fear that Cinque Terre is the same way. When I went there in the early 90s, there were hardly any tourists. I hope it has not become a tourist trap. I really want to show David the Cinque Terre I know and love. I love Amaretti Morbidi . Do you have recipe for these? When I was studying in Switzerland, my best friend and I would fight over these. They were very hard to find and we would drive over the border to a little enoteca to buy them. They didn't always carry them.

The usual offerings are: Zhug (should be able to find this at a Middle Eastern shop or you could use Thai chili paste) Pickles Fried eggplant (sliced eggplant that has been salted and left to sit for an hour to extract the water. Pat dry and fry in olive oil until nice and brown on both sides.) Pickled peppers Tehina Hummous Amba Israeli salad (chopped tomato and cucumber) Chopped parsley Chopped coriander Chopped raw onion or fried onion slices Pickled beets Pickled radishes