eG Foodblog: Swisskaese - Hannukah: The Feastival of Light

[Swisskaese]

Everything I planned to make tonight is made and I will post the pictures in the morning.

It is time to get a few hours of sleep.

Lila Tov Everyone! Until tomorrow.

[Tapenade]

After work today, I picked up David at the train station and we went to one of our local Green Grocers. This one is very special and you will see why by the pictures. It is right next to the citrus groves I drive by everyday. It is call HaMeshek (The Farm) and they have been in business since 1933. However, they recently modernized....

HaMeshek sign

The sign says "Taste of once upon a time".

All types of fresh salads and hummous.

Specialty teas

We bought Tunisian tea which includes star anise, cinnamon bark, rose buds, dried ginger and other goodies.

And Diet tea, something we need to go on after this week! Not sure what is in it. Looks like some dried fruits.

Various olives and spices and rice mixtures.

We bought a Bukharan rice mix. In general, the rice mixtures are various spices, nuts, fruits, etc. that you add to the rice right before you cook it. This one has slivered almonds and various spices. We also buy a Persian mixture that has nuts and raisins. And another one that has pistachios and dill.

And finally, organic strawberries from the fields in my town.

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The Tunisian tea and all the others at this shop, and most of the spices, come from the village of Beit Lehem Haglili in the north of Israel, or as one would say in English, Bethlehem of the Galilee. What? you may ask. Surely Bethlehem is a few miles south of Jerusalem. Well, yes, one of them is: Beit Lehem Yehuda, or Bethlehem of Judea, to define it properly. But this is where the New Testament story of Jesus' birth gets things mixed up: Jesus, whose family lived in Nazareth, was almost certainly born in the Bethlehem that's just a few miles away. The New Testament story puts his birth in the other Bethlehem, a few days trip by donkey, let alone on foot, and definitely not a trip for a very pregnant woman during a cold winter, because it lends credence to the Gospel accounts of the descent of Jesus from King David, who really did come from the Bethlehem south of Jerusalem.

The other thing, which you can't see in the photo of the table with all the different teas, is that the one closest to the camera is labelled "Viagra Tea." No, it doesn't contain crushed little blue pills; and in spite of Israeli skill in agriculture, we haven't actually engineered a plant that synthesises viagra. It contains cinnamon bark and dried leaves of qat, which is the only legal narcotic drug in Israel. But the Israeli government is strongly anti-drug, and even pays lots of money for mainly idiotic anti-drug advertising all over the place. So how come qat is legal? Well, it's the high of choice in Yemen, where a lot of Jews used to live; and there are so many Yemenite Jews in Israel who still like to chew the stuff, not just for the mild high but also because it's a social institution, that no government has ever dared to ban it. The closest they came was about a year ago, after an extract of qat packaged as pills was marketed all over the Tel Aviv area for young people who had heard about its aphrodisiac effects: a few users had serious adverse reactions to the pills, called 'Hagigat,' a play on words meaning 'celebration,' and one even died, and within a few days, the Health Ministry banned them. So now, we're back to the natural version. Unfortunately, 'Hameshek' doesn't say how much you're supposed to drink in order to get the advertised effect of "getting the blood flowing."

[Swisskaese]

Any idea what these triangular cubbie holes are for? Surely, someone wants to hazard a guess?

Edited December 29, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Swisskaese]

Good morning!

We had a very quick breakfast and are continuing our preparations for tonight's dinner party.

This is not a fancy dinner party tonight, so you won't be seeing our best china. We don't have an automatic dishwasher, we are the dishwashers, so we are breaking our rule and using paper tonight.

I really dislike paper plates, even though I have seen some really nice ones. But, I don't want to be up all night washing dishes. So, please forgive me. The other reason is that one of our guests is religious and he keeps a stricter level of Kashrut (keeping Kosher) than we do, so we thought it best to use paper plates.

We are going to start preparing the latkes this morning and I will reheat or re-crisp them in the oven. I will take lots of photos of how I make my latkes. I saw the Latke cook-off and everyone who participated did a good job.

I make my latkes a little different. I make them more like a rosti. My great-grandmother and grandmother did not add flour to their mixture.

BTW, I was 19-years-old when my great-grandmother died at the ripe old age of 92. Oma was an amazing woman and a fantastic cook. I really miss her. Both of my grandmothers are still alive. My Dad's mom is 93 and my mother's mom is 84. They are both wonderful cooks and I learned a lot from them, but I have to say that the two people I learned the most from were my parents. My mother is a wonderful baker and my Dad can cook anything. He taught me the real basics of cooking and he started me on the road to exploring cooking from different countries.

They have a huge cookbook collection. I started reading Bon Appetit, Gourmet and Southern Living Magazine at a young age. My first recollection of cooking is when my parents bought me an Easy Bake Oven. I think I got it in 1968. It was light blue. When my brother, may he rest in peace, was old enough, he and his best friend Wade used to make cakes using my Easy Bake. They would put ingredients such as paprika, cayenne pepper, soy sauce, etc in the cake and serve to the neighborhood kids they didn't like. Actually, if my brother was still here, I am sure he would be a good cook. He loved to invent new things.

My sister is a late bloomer, but she has turned into a good cook. She made some things, like stuffed grape leaves, that I have yet to tackle. She and her friends, pre-children, used to have pot-luck suppers about once a month.

Edited December 29, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Swisskaese]

Here are the photos of the dishes I prepared last night:

Ingredients for the spinach-artichoke dip. The recipe called for Monterey Jack cheese, which we can't get here, so I substituted Kashkaval, which is a bit stronger in flavour, but it tasted good.

This is the finished product ready to go in the oven a few minutes before the guests arrive.

Pastry cream ingredients for the Pomegranate tart.

And the secret weapon! I think this will be a nice contrast to the tartness of the Pomegranate seeds. I added this after the pastry cream was cooked. These are three different types of Cassis. Starting from right to left: Baume de Casiss, this was bought in Provence. David would not let me use this in the pastry cream. The middle one is from a small winery called the Hills of Galilee. We also have a Kiwi liqueur from this winery. The one on the left is from Carmel Winery and this is the one I used.

Finished pastry cream.

[Swisskaese]

And.....

Mama Kemp's Butter Crust dough. I will post the recipe later. It is just butter, flour, sugar and an egg yolk.

Press into a tart pan or even tartlette pans.

Prick bottom with a fork.

Baked tart.

Chunky applesauce for the latkes.

[Zucchini Mama]

Swisskaese, I had the same Easy Bake oven you did and I used to do the same thing-put mustard and ketchup and all sorts of things in the mix to serve to my friend's brother. Only I think I did it because I had a crush on him.

The triangular cubby holes--I just imagine candles in them.

You studied classical singing too! I bet your facility for languages come from your musical ear.

Zuke

[bloviatrix]

Milk doesn't come in plastic bags anymore?

BTW, I have a container of the same salt. (it was someone's idea of cute thing to give for mishloach manot)

Edited December 29, 2005 by bloviatrix (log)

[mizducky]

Any idea what these triangular cubbie holes are for? Surely, someone wants to hazard a guess?

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All I can think of is that perhaps jars of some kind of fermentable item were put in those niches to, well, ferment. Wine? I dunno ...

[cakewalk]

Are those triangular cubbies from Beit Govrin?

Re: Israe'ls cottage cheese. It is indeed the best in the world. It's also got a 9% fat content. They did eventually make a "low fat" cottange chesse, which had 5% fat. Also pretty dern good, IMO. And then, alas, they came out with a 1/2% cottage cheese. Feh.

[Swisskaese]

Are those triangular cubbies from Beit Govrin?

Re: Israe'ls cottage cheese. It is indeed the best in the world. It's also got a 9% fat content.  They did eventually make a "low fat" cottange chesse, which had 5% fat. Also pretty dern good, IMO. And then, alas, they came out with a 1/2% cottage cheese. Feh. 

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That is correct Cakewalk, it is Beit Govrin. The cubbie holes were used to raise pigeons for food and use their feces for fertilizer.

[Swisskaese]

Dinner was a big success. No one left until 2am. I just finished cleaning up and I am going to bed. I will post the pictures tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are visiting two boutique Kosher dairies and some other surprises along the way.

Also, we are going to have Shabbat dinner at my cousins. I will take some pictures and post later.

Saturday I will have more time to chat with you and post about Flam Winery and Latrun Monastery.

Lila Tov Everyone and Happy 5th night of Hannukah!

[Swisskaese]

Milk doesn't come in plastic bags anymore?

BTW, I have a container of the same salt. (it was someone's idea of cute thing to give for mishloach manot)

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Milk does still come in the plastic bags. I find this easier to use.

[mizducky]

Are those triangular cubbies from Beit Govrin?

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That is correct Cakewalk, it is Beit Govrin. The cubbie holes were used to raise pigeons for food and use their feces for fertilizer.

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Wow, was I ever off with my guess! Don't you hate it when you confuse fermentation and composting?

(Somewhat) more seriously--I just went and Googled Beit Govrin--fascinating! I'm tempted to ask more about how they managed pigeon-husbandry in those caves --for instance, were the birds free to come and go through the cave mouth as they pleased, or did they wedge little cage-fronts into all those cubbies? -- but I'm afraid that'll take you way the heck off-topic. (Although, if they were raising the birds for food, I guess it's still semi-on-topic ... don't mind me, I love to play armchair nutritional anthropologist... )

[SobaAddict70]

Er, milk comes in plastic bags? Do tell.

[CaliPoutine]

Er, milk comes in plastic bags?  Do tell.   

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Milk in Ontario( maybe all of canada???) comes in plastic bags. There are 3 individual plastic bags in one larger bag( 4L total). You insert one bag into a special milk pitcher and cut a slit in the top.

I have Michigan milk in my fridge at the moment or I'd take a picture. Maybe another Canadian will oblidge

[Mooshmouse]

Swisskaese, I hop in and out of your blog every day. As half of the token Gentile couple at many shabbos dinners with an Israeli family that we once knew, I'm thoroughly enjoying your colourful food journal.

Er, milk comes in plastic bags?  Do tell.   

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Milk in Ontario( maybe all of canada???) comes in plastic bags. There are 3 individual plastic bags in one larger bag( 4L total). You insert one bag into a special milk pitcher and cut a slit in the top.

I have Michigan milk in my fridge at the moment or I'd take a picture. Maybe another Canadian will oblidge

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Lo and behold, a website devoted entirely to milk in plastic bags! It even has a step-by-step pictorial on how to properly use these wonders of modern packaging. Just when you thought you'd seen everything on the internet...

I haven't seen bagged milk in British Columbia for a number of years now. Come to think of it, I can't even remember when stores stopped selling it that way.

[Swisskaese]

This is one of our favourite bakeries, Artisanal Breads. Everything is good and you usually waddle out of there because they have samples of everything.

The black loaf is chocolate bread. It is yummmmy and not sweet.

Edited December 30, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Rachel Perlow]

OMG - captions of above, please!

Is that last pic of fruit strudels or something? :drool:

[srhcb]

OMG - captions of above, please!

Is that last pic of fruit strudels or something? :drool:

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Rugelach? aka "Jewish Strudel" at my local Italian Bakers.

SB (great pics!)

[cakewalk]

Lo and behold, a website devoted entirely to milk in plastic bags!  It even has a step-by-step pictorial on how to properly use these wonders of modern packaging.  Just when you thought you'd seen everything on the internet...

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I don't know how you found that site, but it's great! But I find it funny that the webmaster complains about the flowery milk container, and I love it! In Israel the containers are a boring one-color plastic job. Anyway, the thing about the plastic bags of milk, at least in Israel, is that the milk is not homogenized. (At least it wasn't when I lived there; that might have changed.) Not such a big deal, but you had to shake the bag before you poured. So when I used to come back to the States for visits, I would unconsciously shake milk containers before I poured milk into my coffee, like you would shake a container of orange juice. Got a lot of weird looks from people.

Those bakery shots are incredible!

[Swisskaese]

Lo and behold, a website devoted entirely to milk in plastic bags!  It even has a step-by-step pictorial on how to properly use these wonders of modern packaging.  Just when you thought you'd seen everything on the internet...

←

I don't know how you found that site, but it's great! But I find it funny that the webmaster complains about the flowery milk container, and I love it! In Israel the containers are a boring one-color plastic job. Anyway, the thing about the plastic bags of milk, at least in Israel, is that the milk is not homogenized. (At least it wasn't when I lived there; that might have changed.) Not such a big deal, but you had to shake the bag before you poured. So when I used to come back to the States for visits, I would unconsciously shake milk containers before I poured milk into my coffee, like you would shake a container of orange juice. Got a lot of weird looks from people.

Those bakery shots are incredible!

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We have moved to the 21st Century, the milk is homogenized now. And, you can get blue containers now.

[Swisskaese]

OMG - captions of above, please!

Is that last pic of fruit strudels or something? :drool:

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Rugelach? aka "Jewish Strudel" at my local Italian Bakers.

SB (great pics!)

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It is not rugelach and rugelach is not Jewish strudel. Rugelach is a cookie with fruit or nut filling. Strudel is strudel. This is not strudel, I forgot what they call them. It is a hard crust, filled with either a walnut filling, poppy seed filling or raspberry jam, raisins, walnuts and chocolate.

Tapenade is going to write more about his visit there later tonight. I was making latkes, while he went to the bakery to pick up ciabatta and onion peasant loaf for our appetizers. The onion peasant loaf was to die for!

[Swisskaese]

OMG - captions of above, please!

Is that last pic of fruit strudels or something? :drool:

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David is going to explain all the breads. I promise, after we come back from Shabbat dinner.

[Swisskaese]

Here are the finished desserts that I made for yesterday's latke party:

Lemon Tart

Pomegranate Tart

Pear and Walnut Tarte Tatin

Shabbat Shalom, Happy 6th night of Hannukah and see you later tonight!

Edited December 30, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)