eG Foodblog: Swisskaese - Hannukah: The Feastival of Light

[Swisskaese]

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.

Edited December 28, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[fou de Bassan]

Thanks for blogging this week, you certainly have a busy life!

I'm looking forward to seeing the latke dinner photos as my latkes either burn or never go beyond a nasty pale.

[Swisskaese]

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.

[Swisskaese]

Michelle, I'm curious as to what brought you to Isreal?

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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.

[johnnyd]

Spicy Beef with Chickpeas

This looks and sounds delicious.

What cut of beef should I use?

Edited December 28, 2005 by johnnyd (log)

[Swisskaese]

Spicy Beef with Chickpeas

This looks and sounds delicious.

What cut of beef should I use?

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

Edited December 28, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Swisskaese]

Swisskaese,

the menu for your latke party looks amazing. I am so looking forward to peeking in on your preparations for it. Thanks to those who are explaining all the linguistic nuances. What I wouldn't give to be the "Shabbas goy" in your household!

Zuke

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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.

[Abra]

This is so interesting to me. I've lived in Israel for a total of 6-7 months, but it was over 30 years ago. It sounds like things have really changed on the food scene, except for the fact of the fresh vegetables being so excellent. I used to haunt the fruit juice stands for fresh-squeezed mitz gezer and mitz eshkoliot (carrot and grapefruit juices) which were breathtakingly delicious.

[Jason Perlow]

I agree Abra. One of the most memorable things about my six months in Israel during 1990 was the morning romp in the Tel Aviv shuk and playing backgammon (Shesh Besh) with arabs and drinking fresh squeezed orange juice. Those Jaffa oranges are exquisite, as are the grapefruits, which are renowned all over Europe, particularly in Italy.

[Swisskaese]

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.

Edited December 28, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Pam R]

Several years ago I made the mistake of looking at the nutritional content for a Milky and it killed them for me.

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the chocolate come in light now

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.

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Perhaps it's just something you have to have started with as a child. I've also been told that they get them in the army... so maybe you just get used to them

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.

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Watermelon - I asked a friend who just left for 2 weeks in Israel to bring back a bottle of watermelon juice. I also love that you can go to a restaurant (at least you could when I was there) and order 1/4 watermelon.

[Swisskaese]

Happy 4th night of Hannukah!

[Swisskaese]

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

[Chufi]

Michelle,

I was away for a couple of days so I'm catching up on your blog now.. It's wonderful.

I loved your story about how you ended up in Israel. I can't imagine what it feels like to grow up somewhere with the feeling that you don't really fit in. I am so glad for you that you found your true home.

I have a question.. I see that most of your cookbooks are in English, and obviously you write about food in English here on EGullet, yet I assume that in your daily life you do not speak English?

Do you think and write about food exclusively in English, or do you translate somewhere in between?

[Tapenade]

David is definitely my beshert.

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Gifted Gourmet's quick translation for the reader for the term "bashert":

Part of Speech: noun

Etymology: Yiddish for "fate, destiny"

Definition: One's predestined soul mate ... One's spouse.... An individual who is a good fit or good match.

It should only happen to you, dear readers of Michelle and David's blog!

Metsuyon! (excellent!)

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Personally, I hate the word 'beshert.' Its etymology is actually from the German verb scheren, meaning "cut" or "tailored." So does "beshert" really mean "made from whole cloth"?

There's a Hebrew expression I like far more, and which is more appropriate, besides: "the chosen of one's heart."

Edited December 28, 2005 by Tapenade (log)

[Tapenade]

Milky also comes in Mocha flavor and you can get Chocolate w/ whipped chocolate milk. Personally, I prefer vanilla and vanilla/chocolate swirl Karlo.  

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Chocolate with chocolate whipped milk?! I don't remember that at all. I really have to arrange a visit now.

I never ate krembos either. But the kids devour them. It always used to make me laugh seeing the kids on their way home from school, each one with a dot of "krem" on the tip of his nose -- the telltale sign of having just finished a krembo.

I'm amazed at everything you've written about Tiv Ta'am and all the luscious photos, particularly those cheeses. (I remember when the only thing you could get was "gveena tsehuba" -- yellow cheese, it was all encompassing.) I'm a former Yerushalmit, and, as you can imagine, we never saw that kinda stuff! Although maybe now they do. (By way of explanation, Jerusalem is a lot more strict on religious issues than lawless, heathen Tel Aviv and its environs.

Lovely blog!

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When I moved to Israel 26 years ago, most supermarkets carried one kind of cottage cheese (which in my opinion is still the best cottage cheese anywhere in the world), one kind of low-fat white cheese, and perhaps three kinds of packaged yellow cheese. All, of course, from what used to be the national dairy product monopoly, Tnuva ("milk churn"). Since then, Tnuva's monopoly has gradually been broken by companies such as Strauss and Yotvata, and a whole host of boutique cheese and yogurt makers. We've been up to a tiny village in the north of the country, Klil, which is almost impossible to find, and where there are a couple of boutique dairies that make incredible goat cheeses, including camemberts that rival anything I've bought from France.

As for the religious issue, the truth is that most of these producers make sure to keep kosher, so you can find their products in Jerusalem too. To the extent that the selection is more limited, it's only because Jerusalem is much less prosperous than Tel Aviv and its surrounding towns in the coastal plain.

[Swisskaese]

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.

[Swisskaese]

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.

Edited December 28, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Swisskaese]

Michelle,

I was away for a couple of days so I'm catching up on your blog now.. It's wonderful.

I loved your story about how you ended up in Israel. I can't imagine what it feels like to grow up somewhere with the feeling that you don't really fit in. I am so glad for you that you found your true home.

I have a question.. I see that most of your cookbooks are in English, and obviously you write about food in English here on EGullet, yet I assume that in your daily life you do not speak English?

Do you think and write about food exclusively in English, or do you translate somewhere in between?

←

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.

[Swisskaese]

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.

Edited December 28, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Swisskaese]

Okay, now for a test .....

Any idea where I took this picture? It is in Israel.

Any idea what these are?

While you are pondering over these, I am going to get ready to cook. I am making the following tonight:

2 butter crusts

Spinach-Artichoke Dip

Chunky Applesauce

Pastry Cream

[Gifted Gourmet]

"Couple in a Sardine Can" was cast in bronze by Benjamin Levy, a sculptor in Tel Aviv ...

more on Levy and some other of his startling pieces!

[Swisskaese]

"Couple in a Sardine Can" was cast in bronze by Benjamin Levy, a sculptor in Tel Aviv ... 

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Good job Melissa, but where is the sculpture located? It is not in Tel Aviv.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Good job Melissa, but where is the sculpture located? It is not in Tel Aviv.

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Either in Englewood, NJ or Ein-Hod Artist Colony?

[Swisskaese]

Good job Melissa, but where is the sculpture located? It is not in Tel Aviv.

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Either in Englewood, NJ or Ein-Hod Artist Colony?

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It is Ein-Hod and the reason I posted this picture is because David's late uncle, Peter Rozsa, lived there as well as in the artist's quarter of Jaffa. Ein-Hod is an artist community in the North. I will show you some of his artwork later.

For more about Ein-Hod: Click here

David comes from a very artistic family. His mother is a famous singing teacher in London. She taught Kiri te Kanawa, Karita Mattila and many other famous opera singers. She was a singer herself and still has a beautiful voice. His aunt is an actress here in Israel and his father was trained as an artist and also dreamt of being a orchestra conductor. David plays the flute, has a nice voice and is an early music fanatic.

I also studied classical singing, but alas never became a professional.

Ein-Hod is not far from Zichron Yaakov which is the home of Binyamina and Carmel Mizrachi wineries. This town was founded by Baron Edmond de Rothschild.

Binyamina Winery

Carmel Winery

Edited December 28, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)