Saturday, November 04, 2006

Happy Friday!!

I love Fridays...

I thought I was going to Jerusalem today, but in the end I went to the Carmel Market. I am so predictable, but honestly, who wouldn't want to go to there? It is so full of life, sound, colour, smell (not always good, but definitely always interesting) animal, vegetable and mineral. I didn't need to do any shopping, but I went to keep SistR company and see what there was to see.

The first order of the day was to get some liquid sustenance.

There is a little cafe just at the beginning of Shabazi in Neve Tsedek, they do lovely cookies, biscuits and cakes as well as sandwiches and of course coffee. I could face a coffee with its little nibble of date turnover and (surprisingly delicious) granola square, but S had a white chocolate cake with butter icing. Personally I am a cold pizza or dimsum for breakfast kindof person. I like a salt fix with my cafeine.

Having fueled up, we wandered into the market, me concentrating on visual, S concentrating on visceral. I saw this cat, lying in the sun snoozing away and thought to myself that if I could have found a doormat big enough I would happily join him. I am a late night blogger, but I have to get up early in the morning... there is a bit of a conflict here, but it hasn't stopped me yet!

The season has changed, it is now the turn of persimons,

clementinas

and Annonas, or custard apples

But it is just the beginning of their season, so I will wait a week or so before I succumb to their temptations - I like my fruit ripe and full of flavour, not hard and hinting of vague possibilities.

These are sunflower seeds, for human consumption, not for the birds. These are probably the most popular snack for grownups there is here. Going to a movie? Forget the popcorn, bring an illicit bag of black seed. In India you see betel stains all along the streets, in Israel you seed empty sunflower husks. I was tempted to get some, but I just can't bring myself to spit the shells onto the floor at home...

What I did get were some dried red peppers. Lovely and crispy and hot - perfect for a stir fry or maybe to turn into red harissa paste.

And now that winter is coming, my alltime favourite flowers are back in the market. Anemones are simple and flower-next-door unpretentious. They smile all day long, and even though they often start as unprepossesing little buds, when the are happy they open their petals and bring sunshine into even the greyest day.

They make me happy,
and isn't that a good thing to be able to say about anything

5 comments:

Chanita Harel חני הראל said...

I love fridays too, and I love this Post , thank you :-)

aja said...

היי חנית,
תודה רבה רבה!

burekaboy — said...

have u ever had the custard apple? i've always been too "afraid" to try it. don't know why. looks kinda icky to me though photographically interestingly reptilian. especially as its supposta be savoured in a, well... semi fermented state like icky persimmons i do believe. i think i have issues with texture.

aja said...

Hey BB,
I like custard apples, they are a bit grainy with a sourish but overlying sweet flavour that is a bit apple, a teeny tiny bit guava, tropical, pear, kiwi-ish. They should give under pressure but not be fermenting...

As to persimmons, you need to try the israeli kind (square, as against the strawberry shaped Japanese ones) they are sold under the name Sharon Fruit, and are called kaki in french (lousy name if you ask me...). They don't have to be eaten slimy and fermented. In fact, usually persimmons here they are rock hard. Ok, if they are too unripe they will do an unripe banana and try and take your tongue off, but as soon as they are bright orange and still hard (harder even than apples) you can eat them. Mind you, the riper they are the sweeter they get. They have a pumpkinish flavour to them, and are really good. If you do have very ripe persimmons they make amazing muffins! Yummmy

burekaboy — said...

just found your answer. thanks for that info. i may retry and re-see if my opinion re: persimmons will have changed as a result. i know there are different varieties and i think only tried the japanese one. can't remember as it was long ago and really gross. lol.