New Horizons

New challenges...

The past couple of months have been full of changes, challenges & hopes.

Back at the end of November I quit my job of 7 years, with no prospects of a new one... That was a big change, and my immediate reaction was to sleep and sleep and sleep. I guess that was the result of stress and distress and feeling underappreciated. It also didn't help that I had been living hand to mouth, my salary only just covering basic living expenses... It's no fun having to think twice or thrice about whether or not to have a cup of coffee at a cafe.

The challenges have been to live on no salary, and to actively job hunt. I have been sending out my resume to hundreds of potential employers, getting an interview every week or two, though Murphy's Law of interviews is that they all happen in a bunch. So some weeks I wouldn't have any interviews and others I would have 2 or 3 or even 4... And that is pretty stressful.

Now, I don't know about other people, but my interviews generally last an hour or even more. I had one that lasted 3 hours (seriously) and got invited back for a second interview to meet someone who was flying in specially from the US. I have only had 2 interviews that lasted less than an hour - and neither was for a job that I REALLY wanted... Mind you, they were second interviews, and horror of horrors, one guy asked me, point blank, ok, what is 3/8ths? Urk - I have a fear of math when I have no paper or pen, let alone a calculator, to help me. I just don't trust my brain. Do I want to work for someone who asks questions like that?

The hope, of course, is to find a great job.

And finally, I interviewed at the right place, at the right time, with the right person, and was immediately asked to schedule a second interview for the next day. And, despite riding my scooter through torrential rain, arriving soaking wet in spite of my rain gear, and going in to the interview carrying shopping bags filled with my wet, dripping, streaming, soaking wet gear, and having to sit, damp-butted, through another hour long session, they called me back to say that they wanted me to work for them.

Which is all well and good, but they still hadn't told me what my salary would be, which is typical of Israel. So when I went in to sign my contract last week, I really didn't know if I would or would not be working. And I very nearly didn't, but I stood my ground, and am getting, for the first time since I moved to Israel, a living (though not extravagant) wage.

Tomorrow is my first day of work, and I am extremely nervous. But that is to be expected.

And on top of the new job jitters, I am going to be taking part in the International Women's Day Craft/Art Sale at the Amiad Center in the Flea Market in Jaffa, which is to be held on Friday March 14th, just over a week away.

That would be really easy, if I was going to be selling my pottery, but having lived hand to mouth, I had to stop potting, and my stock has been almost all given away as presents. Instead, I am going to be cooking and baking for the next week. And I am hopeful that people will like what I do and I will have lots of impulse buyers.

I am planning on making: English Almond Chocolate Toffee, Crumiri Cookies, Individual Chocolate Chip Butter Cakes, Caramel Corn/CrackerJack, and Honeycomb Sponge Toffee. As you can see from my examples, everything is individually packaged and they will all cost the same - 10 Shekels (about $2.50), which is, I hope, basically an impulse buy kind of figure, and that people will think "I feel like a snack, "oh that looks good, "hmm, maybe that will keep the kids quiet for a while. I will maybe have a few larger cakes for sale, but I figure people don't want to carry around cakes when they are wandering around a flea market.

If you have any suggestions for me - ie, I have never, ever participated in a sale before, and I have no clue how much of each I should make - should I figure on 100 packages of each item, 50? Should I do anything special for my stand? All comments or suggestions are VERY welcome!

A Very Kosher Dinner

Well, not really...

I treated myself to "Pork Breast" lat night, which is pretty much pork belly with a bit of rib attached. Definitely not kosher, but definitely terrific.

I followed Chez Pim's advice and made myself a personalized 5 spice mixture. Cassia bark, star anise, coriander, Szechuan pepper corns, cloves, black pepper corns & a couple of dried chilis, toasted off in a pot, gently crushed, threw in the breast, added water to almost cover, and gently braised with a closed lid for about 3 hours.

What makes mine different is that I smeared a darkly carmelized homemade quince/orange marmalade onto the skin, and with the heat it slowly melted and dripped down the sides, adding a sweet bitterness to the meat that helped to balance out the richness of it.

Once the meat was meltingly soft, I carefully removed it from the braising liquid, added a generous slug of dark soy sauce and reduced the liquid down to a sticky sauce that lightly glazed the sliced meat.

I served it on a bed of steamed rice, with a spinach & iceberg salad dressed with a sharp oil, wine vinegar & lemon dressing, with some finely chopped raw onions on the side to give a bit of bite to the pork.

Not alot of work for alot of reward!

Ooh La La

OK, flowers are beautiful,

But the beauty of this tart is that a little
goes a very long way

Towards satisfying a craving for
something sweet and indulgent.

Besides, almonds are good for you,
And all the hype about this is true.

Almond Tart - Courtesy of David Lebovitz,
adapted from Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Shere
(with some adaptations by me)

Makes one 9 or 10-inch (23-26cm) tart

For the dough

• 1 cup (140g) flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (my addition – caramel & salt are peas & carrots)
• 1/2 cup (4 oz, 115g) chilled unsalted butter, cut into little cubes
• 1 tablespoon ice water
  (you may need a teeny bit more depending on the moisture content of your flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
  (I didn't have any so I just used the vanilla)

Mix the flour and sugar in a standing electric mixer or food processor (or by hand, using a pastry blender.)

Add the butter and mix or pulse until the mixture is sandy and the butter is in very small pieces, the size of rice or smaller. It should be pretty well-integrated with no large visible chunks.

Add the water and extracts and mix until the dough is smooth and comes together.

Press into a flat disk (I suggest you try and make this about the size of the bottom of your tart shell, it makes it easier to deal with in the long run), wrap in plastic and chill thoroughly.

To put the pastry in the pan, let the dough come to room temperature and press the dough into a tart shell using your hand.

It takes some practice but don't worry if it doesn't look perfect. Try to get the dough relatively flat on the bottom, and push it evenly up the sides with your thumbs. It doesn't need to be perfect, but you do want to make sure the sides don't collapse. If that happens, you can take it out midway during baking, and push the half-baked dough back up the sides.

Put the tart shell in the freezer and chill thoroughly.

To bake the shell, put the chilled (or frozen) shell into a preheated 375F (190C) oven.

Bake the shell for 20-30 minutes, until it is set and light golden-brown.

Remove from the oven and patch any holes with leftover dough.

NB. I used all of my dough, so I made up a teeny tiny extra batch of about 1 tablespoon and used it to after baking to patch a crack and then to extend a side that was a bit shorter than the other.

For the filling

• 1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
• 1 cups (200g) sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt (I increased it to 1/4)
• 1 cup (80g) sliced almonds (I used 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract (I used vanilla)
• 2 teaspoons Grand Marnier or Amaretto
  (I had neither, so I used The Kings Ginger)

To bake the tart, heat the oven to 375F (190C). line the rack under the one you plan to use with a sheet of aluminum foil or baking paper.

Heat the cream, sugar, and salt in a big, wide heavy-duty pot (use one that's at least 4 qts/4l) until it begins to boil.

Continue to cook and when it starts to foam up, remove it from the heat and stir in the almonds, the extract, and the liquor.

Scrape the filling into the shell. If there's a bit too much filling, don't toss it; if the tart leaks, you can use it for topping off.

Make sure there are no clumps or piles of almonds and that everything is evenly distributed, then put the filled tart shell into the oven.

After the first ten minutes, check the tart.

Take a heatproof rubber spatula, holding it diagonally and with a tapping motion, break up the surface of the tart with a good series of taps (not too hard or you will break the tart shell). This keeps the top of the tart from getting that corn flaky look on top.

Continue to bake, checking every 5-8 minutes, and breaking up any dry crust that may be forming, getting less aggressive as the filling sets up. As it begins to caramelize, stop tapping it and let the tart do its thing.

Remove the tart from the oven when the filling is caramelized to the color of coffee with a light touch of cream and there are no large pockets of gooey white filling, about 30 minutes (my timing was closer to 40). Let the tart cool a few minutes on a cooling rack.

Check and see if the tart has fastened itself to the tart ring. Slide a knife (or a curved vegetable peeler, which will slide nicely in between the ridges) between the tart and the pan to loosen it so the sides don't come off when you remove the ring.

To remove the ring rest the tart on top of a solid object and gently coax the ring off. Slip a large spatula underneath it to return the tart to a cooling rack.

Once completely cool, run a long chef's knife under the tart to release it from the bottom. If it's stubborn, set the tart on top of a warm stove burner for a second or two and you should be able to pry it off.

I lined the bottom of my tart shell with baking paper and I have to say I had absolutely no problems with sticking either on the sides or at the bottom.

Of the pan...
But the same can't be said for how it sticks
To my sides or bottom!

Quick & Easy

This isn't necessarily the most interesting dinner,
but it is definitely as the title suggests.

It was cold and rainy outside when I decided to make dinner. Cold always makes me crave carbs, and so I decided to make one of the easiest pastas there is... Spaghetti ali oli, or spaghetti with olive oil and garlic. This is not the sort of food you eat before going out on a late night date, and neither is it an optional thing - either everybody eats it or nobody does - garlic is a very powerful thing when it is the main flavouring. But this is yummy, quick, easy and you can adjust it up or down accordingly.

Spaghetti Ali Oli
Makes 2 servings

I am putting this note first so that you don't discover after you have thrown the pasta water out that you should have saved at least a generous cup it to add at the end, . The butter & olive oil end up emulsifying with the water and turning into a sauce.

• spaghetti or spaghettini (the thinner stuff )
  - angel hair is probably too thin for this though)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic crushed (at least - depends on how daring you are)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 c chopped parsley - this helps to combat the garlic breath
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Nutmeg (optional - I like it, so I use it - freshly grated by preference)
• Parmesan cheese - finely grated & lots of it

While the spaghetti is cooking heat the olive oil gently and slowly cook the garlic in it - do not let it brown or burn, or it gets bitter.

When the spaghetti is done al dente (my trick is to take a piece out and cut it in half to see if there is still a white center in it - as soon as the white center is gone, the pasta is ready), drain it, but leave it wet - you want water. Put the butter onto the pasta, pour the oil/garlic on and sprinkle with the parsley and add salt & pepper (and nutmeg if using) to taste. Traditionally there is alot (read ALOT) more oil in this, but if you keep it wet and add some of the reserved water if necessary, then the amount of oil is kept to a (relative) minimum.

Serve with lots of parmesan and more freshly grated pepper.

And having talked about celeriac remoulade yesterday, I decided to use the rest of my beautiful bunch of celery to make a remoulade. No quantities, just the homemade mayo, spring onions, hardboiled eggs and lots of lemon zest.

Okay, they aren't the most colourful dishes, but definitely Yum!

Now I'm off to watch Bridget Jone's Diary
and slurp spaghetti...

Back Again

After far too long I am going to try and get back to posting.

So what is new and exciting?

Well, there have been a few star moments in my life recently.

I went to visit family in Canada, and got to meet my 3 year old nephew for the first time!

I quit my job - after seven (yes 7!) years.

I am currently unemployed, but I have a small plan in the works that might completely change my life and my direction (but not my location) if all goes well. Details will follow slowly...

And I am busy baking again - successfully and happily. It is a good thing though, that I have neighbours, otherwise I would be forced into eating all of my own goodies.

Crumiri (adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini)

These little bites are usually made with cornmeal, but the picture is of my semolina version.

They are light, moderately sweet, very addictive, and have been declared by my 6 year old neighbour as "the best cookies ever". I'm not sure about the accolade, as she says that about every cookie she eats, but I think they are pretty special.

The cornmeal variation is very crunchy, the semolina version is more refined, but still crunches very satisfyingly.

Makes about 24 dozen 1-bite cookies.

• 180 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 160 g sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, or 1/8 teaspoon seeds scraped from a real vanilla bean
• 240 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 110 g semolina (I used Cream of Wheat) or medium grind cornmeal

Preheat the oven to 175°C and line a baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add the vanilla and mix again.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and cornmeal. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. The dough will be thick.

Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a 2-cm star-shaped nozzle, and pipe onto the prepared baking sheet to create the shape of your choice (such as a star/flower, horseshoe, a stick, or a small "V", "S", or "O"). Make sure you keep the cookies small and give them a little room to expand.

If you don't own a piping bag or worse, if you own a shoddy one, plop rounded espresso spoons of the dough onto the baking sheet and press down gently.

Slip into the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes (depending on the size and shape of the cookies), until pale golden around the edges. Let stand on the baking sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Dust lightly with icing sugar.

The cookies will keep for about a week in an airtight container.

Variations: Replace the vanilla with high-quality almond extract or finely grated lemon or orange zest.

Home Alone

Well, actually, I was stood up by a blind date...

Which wasn't such a bad thing, to be honest, the guy is only about 6 years older than me but sounded older than my grandparents. No spice, no zip. I've been previously traumatized by bad dates - honestly, who considers McDonald's coffee the zenith of bean culture???, so I am a sceptic when it comes to other people's choices for me. But it doesn't help that I am also a sceptic when it comes to my own choices... I have lousy taste in men!

But I ended up spending my time wisely - I blanched a kilo of this seasons sweet chestnuts, and then for the next 3 hours peeled them (next time I will give them 10 minutes in the boiling water, before I start to strip them down.

The peeled chestnuts went into a bath of cream and simmered away for about an hour. They are now cooling and I have a world of possibilities open to me for playing with my food this weekend.

Creme de Marrons anyone?

3 Variations on a Theme

Today is CSA Monday - Hooray

What arrived today?

• Curley Parsley
• Kholrabi
• White and sweet potatoes
• Romaine lettuce (huge)
• Dill
• Spring onions
• Clemintine oranges
• Tomatoes
• Rocket
• Cucumbers
• Young lubia beans (like cowpeas or asparagus beans but sweeter)
• Young beet greens

Having concentrated on bread this weekend, I had a bit of a surplus of greenery and I thought I would try variations on the theme of Chinese style greens.

First up was snowpeas with dried shitake mushrooms, ginger, garlic, dark soysauce, sesame & chili oils. The sweetness and crunch of the peas nicely counterbalanced the salt of the soy and the chewy texture of the reconstituted shitakes, and were a huge treat, not having had snowpeas in years - they are not easily found here, and when you do find them you need a mortgage to buy them.

Next up were the lubia. Stirfried with ginger, garlic and szechuan pepper, doused in wine and then drizzled with oyster sauce and sweet soy and topped with coriander. These were meaty, crispy and oozing with wok hai.

Last on the list was Swiss chard with ginger, garlic, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, sesame & chili oils. Swiss chard seems to be my new favourite vegetable. These were succulent, spicy and salty-sweet, I managed to obtain not only wok hai by seriously heating my pan but an amazing case of umami, without having any meat. Of the three different stirfries, this combination is the one that I am planning on making again, and very soon...

Saturday's Sunday Brunch

As I may have said before, Saturday is my Sunday...

This doesn't mean that Sunday doesn't exist, it just means that while the rest of the Western World is enjoying their Sunday brunches, I am busy beavering away at work. So I enjoy my brunch on Saturdays...

This particular Saturday I hankered for a genuine brunch. The smoked salmon and cream cheese, the crepes, the spinach salad... What I ended up making pretty well satisfied that craving.

Admittedly I cheated and used something called malawach, a Yemenite bread that is usually pan fried until it puffs up and is crispy and golden brown. Like a croissant or puff pastry, it can be torn apart into very thin layers. This is easily found in the freezer section of almost every corner store and every major supermarket in Israel. If you can't get malawach, use frozen puff pastry instead.

Seeing as this was my Sunday, I was too lazy to look into any cookbooks for exact recipes - I followed my instincts and came up with this:

Swiss Chard Quiche with Smoked Salmon

• Malawach defrosted 1
  (or puff pastry enough to make a 9 inch quiche shell)
• Swiss Chard leaves chiffonade (finely shredded) 3-4 loosely packed cups
• Onion finely diced 1 small
• Olive oil 1 tbsp
• Feta, Tsfatit, Neufchatel or similar cheese sliced or grated 150 gr (or more if desired)
• Smoked salmon - 4 slices
• Eggs 4
• Heavy cream 75-100ml
• Salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste (be cautious with the salt, both the salmon and the cheese, especially if using feta, are already salty, better to undersalt alot than oversalt a bit)

Over medium heat sautee onion in oil until golden. Increase heat and add chard. Cook until most of the juice has evaporated, add liberal quantity of nutmeg and pepper (freshly grated/ground if possible) and a bit of salt. Turn off heat and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350f/170c. On a floured surface or between pieces of silicone paper roll out malawach until slightly bigger than the quiche tin. It should be thin, but not transparent. Put a piece of silicone paper on bottom of tin (or flour lightly) and lay the dough into the tin and trim edges leaving a bit of a margin for shrinkage.

Blind bake the pastry for 15 minutes, using beans or pastry weights to keep the bottom from rising up and bubbling. When it is lightly golden, remove and let cool.

Beat eggs and cream together with a fork until mixed but not frothy.

To Assemble

Rip salmon slices by hand and lay in a spoke pattern on the bottom of the pie shell (this makes it easier to cut). Add about 3/4's of the cheese and then the chard, making sure each layer is fairly evenly distributed. Pour over the egg mixture and then add the rest of the cheese on top.

Put into the oven and turn heat down to 325f, bake for about 25 minutes. If the edges of the crust look like they are getting too dark, cover them with foil, leaving the center of the quiche uncovered. Remove from oven when jiggly but not sloshy, and the sides are medium firm. Let cool for at least 20 minutes.

This can be served warm, room temperature or cold, and with a salad will serve 4 hungry people, or makes 8 nice slices for part of a brunch buffet.

Egg & Chips

I love presents...

I love getting presents,

but almost better than that I like giving presents.

I love the challenge of finding exactly the right present and then wrapping it up and putting on lots of curly, shiny ribbons. Maybe this is a throwback from when I was little and we always recycled the wrapping paper. Every giftgiving occassion in my house saw the same paper return again and again and again. And we never had bows or ribbons to add any frills. Not that the gift inside wasn't good, it always was, but there is something about the anticipation of pulling the ribbon and having it unfurl, opening up the wrapping, wrapping that was new and special just for this particular gift, that adds to the fun of being on the receiving end.

So when I had to go shopping for a gift for a 5 year old girl, my god-daughter, I had to think long and hard. I know what I would have liked at her age, but Spring is different from me. She was adopted from the Ukraine where she had spent the first year of her life in an orphanage, lying in a cot staring out at the world from its bars. Her mother is a dear friend of mine, French, who decided that Mr. Right wasn't around the corner, and that if she was going to have a family, she would have to do it on her own... The day that Spring came into her life, the meaning of life seems to have fallen into place for her.

So, I went searching and found what I thought was the perfect gift, or rather, gifts... An official Barbie stamp set, with all sorts of rollers and markers and ink pads and stamps, all bearing the plastic lasses image.

And if that wasn't enough, I thought a bit of mental challenge would be good, so I got Spring, a little princess if ever there was one, a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 100 piece wooden puzzle.

And just because I love excess, I got her lots of stickers in a little handbag.

Nor is it good enough that everything is wrapped. Everything needs to be wrapped separately, in at least 2 different kinds of paper. And of course, topped with shiny coloured ribbons...

Ater all of that thinking & buying & wrapping,

I didn't have alot of energy or imagination left.

So what to cook for dinner?

Egg & Chips!

Mind you, these were extra special oven chips made with organic potatoes (both regular and sweet) and homepressed oil made from Syrian olives. The egg was freerange, and of course the salad was made with all sorts of Chubeza baby greens and a dressing made using fresh-squeezed CSA grapefruit juice and dijon mustard.

I think that was a pretty good present to myself, don't you?

It Was A Dark & Stormy Night...

Suddenly there was an almighty crash and the building seemed to shake.

Unfortunately it wasn't Snoopy dancing on the roof, nor was it thunder to go with the lightening zinging across the sky, or even a car slamming into a bus (or vice versa). Instead it was a cop's nightstick smashing our safety-glassed storefront window in frustration as a criminal used our building as an escape-route, slamming the front door shut in the cop's face. And to add insult to injury, the neighbour who saw the incident is not terribly swift and didn't bother taking down the cops tag number. Now we are stuck paying for a broken window (we are talking 2m x 3m (6ft x 9ft) that will need replacing sooner rather than later.

Good thing I had anticipated the increasing greyness of the day.

My bed was covered in fresh linen and a warm snuggly blanket,

ready for me to take a rainy Saturday afternoon nap.

I had made serious comfort food after coming back from the birthday party - chopping veggies is a very soothing occupation after being surrounded by squeeling 5 year olds. And after the window incident, I certainly needed comfort.

Orange & Red Soup

This is made with any sympathetically coloured veggies you might have. It is a fridge clearing act that creates a sweet borscht-like concoction that can be served chunky, pureed or strained, depending on what texture tickles your fancy.

• Onion
• Pumpkin
• Butternut squash
• Carrot
• Sweet potatoes
• Yellow zucchini or summer squash
• Beets
• Bay leaves
• Olive oil 1 tbsp
• Salt, pepper & white vinegar to taste
• Sour cream and parsley for garnish

Dice the onion & gently fry in the oil until golden and fragrant.

Dice all the veg into 2 cm cubes

Add about 1 cup of the squash & beets to browned onions, stirring occassionally - you want them to get a bit caramelized, for extra flavour. Do not burn.

Add the rest of the veg

Add cold water to barely cover and throw in the bayleaves.

Bring to boil and reduce to a slow simmer until veg is soft (about 1/2 hour)

Season to taste (the vinegar makes it less cloying and adds a welcome extra dimension)

For clear borscht-y soup, strain through a seive, pressing only very lightly on the veg. Strain again through a coffee filter or muslin. Let the liquid settle, and then carefully pour off the clear liquid, stopping before the sludge joins the party.

Meanwhile, baking merrily away in the oven was a pastissio/moussaka/lasagna thing that will provide me with at least 10 meals.

La MoussTissio

A layer of tomatoe & meat sauce (simple bolognese)

A layer of cooked corkscrew macaroni

A layer of sauteed eggplant

A layer of feta/bulgarian cheese

Repeat

Top with a layer of well nutmegged bechamel

Bake in a medium oven until browned, crispy and bubbling.

Serve immediately or let cool thoroughly, cut into portions and freeze.

Directions for a Rainy Afternoon

Finish cleaning kitchen

Pour a cup of fortified coffee or tea

Climb into bed with a favourite book

Curl up and enjoy!

Cookie Gun

I shot the cookie...

But I didn't shoot the deputy ...

My mission was to make cookies for a 5 year old's birthday party. Lots of them... So I searched for spritz cookie recipes, and then basically used the recipe that came with my gun, adapting here, playing there. This isn't the greatest recipe - it could be lighter and shorter, but for a first attempt it wasn't too bad.

Dainty Tea Cookies

• Butter 1 cup
• Sugar 2/3 cup (white, brown or a mixture)
• Egg 1
• All purpose flour 2 1/2 cups
  (for chocolate flavour substitute 1/2 cup good cocoa powder for equal amount flour)
• Salt 1/8 tsp (I think it should be more)
• Baking powder 1/2 tsp
• Vanilla extract 1 tsp (or fresh vanilla - yum)
• Decoration: marzipan, Smarties, dried apricot pieces, maraschino cherry pieces, crystallized ginger (my favourite), chocolate chips - use your imagination

Heat oven to 500f

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (I used my KitchenAid mixer)

Mix dry ingredients and then add about 1/4 of mix to creamed butter/sugar, mix thoroughly

Beat egg lightly with vanilla, add to mix

Add remaining flour and mix thoroughly until smooth and well blended.

Fill cookie gun and shoot onto cool, ungreased baking sheets
(I did mine on Silpat).

Add decorations and bake for 6 minutes (my oven runs very hot or cold but absolutely nothing in the middle, so the gun maker's temperature recommendation was good for me, you could drop the temperature and bake longer, either way just make sure they don't burn)

Cookie shooting isn't as easy as I thought, and after a while the outside of the gun gets a bit greasy, an inevitable byproduct of working with butter dough. Figuring out how much dough to squeeze out, how to pull back so the cookie stays on the tray with its markings intact...

And just so you don't get the wrong impression, I made 3 different batches, 1 using white sugar only, 1 using dark brown sugar, and 1 using cocoa powder and half and half white & brown sugar. Brown sugar burns quicker than white, and with the cocoa you can't tell nearly so easily. Good thing I like well caramelized cookies...

12 dozen cookies later I can honestly say...

This cookie shooting thing is a bit of an art.

Dinner Out

I have a new cousin!

Actually, MMM is an existing 2nd cousin who I have never met before. I grew up in the land of igloos, she grew up on the dark continent, and our paths never crossed until tonight. She is here on business and contacted our mutual 2nd cousin (yes, my family life is replete with 2nd and 3rd cousins 2ce removed on our distaff uncles side - this remaining in contact is a result of wwII and the dissipation of the family to all corners of the earth), and we all met up tonight. I didn't get to spend lots of time with her, there were other people at the table, but I do hope to stay in touch with her and hopefully, over time, get to know her better.

On top of that gaining a new cousin tonight, I got to see me already existing, and dearly beloved cousins, and we all went to dinner at Manta Ray. As usual, the dinner was excellent. They don't understand this blogging thing, they think I am a bit obsessed, so I only took 1 picture of my dinner. But as usual, the mezzete were oppulent and delicious. We had avocado with freshly marinated sardines, tzatziki with fried eggplant, grilled eggplant with labane, grey mullett ceviche with sumach, their excellent balkan bread (like a foccacia) and a really good Israeli wine from a boutique winery called Ella Valley Wines. I didn't get a chance to look at the bottle, but it was a lovely rich red wine, not too tannic and with good legs.

My main course was sauteed shrimp and scallops in a tomato cream sauce. I could have lived without the sauce, it tasted rather like a buttery, watered down thousand island dressing, but the shrimps were juicy and sweet, and the scallops were perfectly seared, with a golden crust and a melting interior that was hot without being overcooked and still tasted of the sea.

Upon my recommendation we finished with a crunchy chocolate decadence. The name says it all!

CSA Mondays

My CSA is back in action!

I have just come back from SistR's where we divied up the spoils.

Oh joy and bliss. I love surprises.

What did we get this week?

• Kholrabi
• Beets
• Turnips
• Radishes
• Baby mixed lettuce
• Parsley
• Eggplants
• Butternut squash
• Grapefruits
• Sweet and white potatoes
• Bananas
• Tomatoes
• Asparagus beans
• Cucumbers
• Red and green peppers

Oh the things we can do...

Don't those beet stalks look like rhubarb? Mmmmm... I have never cooked with root vegetable greens before and I have lots of them to play with. I love a challenge...

Krembo

Hannukah is just around the corner.

I know this only because Krembo have started appearing in the shops. "Krembo?" you ask, "What on earth is a Krembo". Well, they are the Israeli equivalent of a Mallomar, but way better.

Standing about 7.5cm/3in tall on a simple 5cm/2in cookie base, this is no creampuff. What we have here is 115 calories of seriously whipped, vanilla flavoured, boiled meringue, covered in the thinnest coating of delicate, supremely shatterable, milk chocolate. This is a 100% mid-winter treat. Even with airconditioned transportation these babies couldn't survive the 5 minutes in the summer sun it would take to go from truck to store . But come winter, like the desert, the stores bloom with little blue and brown (mocha flavoured) foil packages.

Unlike the slightly spongy Mallomars, the filling is so light that the mere act of trying to cut open a Krembo deflates the creamy interior. Biting into one is also a bit of a challenge. If you start at the cookie end, you end up with a shattered chocolate shell oozing filling. If you start at the chocolate end you usually wind up with the cookie and no filling to give it some interest. Biting north to south usually destroys the cookie and the other half of the Krembo falls to the ground.

It could be that the proper Krembo eating technique is a skill that needs to be learned in childhood, and which I will never master. However Krembo enjoyment is a skill that almost anyone, including yours truly, can learn.

LeftOvers

Last night I went to Benny HaDayag for dinner.

I've been there once before on a very un-hot blind date. There was almost nothing in common between the pair of us and it was a very uncomfortable evening and I seem to have supressed all memory of the food - I think that we ended up just having the salads and then going our separate ways. So last night was kindof like the first time there for me.

This time I went with Cactus and Sassy, and all the way to the new Tel Aviv port I was kicking myself for forgetting my camera at home. I have been so good about carrying it around with me, but I am only human and yesterday morning was more concerned with raingear than photogear. We had made reservations for 20h00, which in Israel is very early. We are not quite as extreme as Spain, but pretty close.

The only other people at the restaurant were tourists, which meant we were seated immediately and didn't have to fight any lineups or loud groups. Benny's doesn't go in for menus - there is a chalkboard inside that stays there - if you want to know what there is to eat you need to get up and check it out. That is also the only place where prices are posted - and that is only the per kilo price of the more esoteric aquatic denizens. We wanted to take advantage of the still warm weather and opted for an outside table - at the end of October! Now who can complain about that?

Our waitress was asking for our drink orders even before we had finished sitting down, and by the time we had got ourselves sorted our table had been covered (quite literally) with a vast assortment of salads and a huge basket of warm rolls. C & I split a half bottle of Mt. Hermon Chardonnay - a nice, eminently drinkable little number, light and refreshing and not a la California and so oaky you spit out splinters.

I knew I had made a BIG mistake in forgetting my camera when I surveyed the goodies loading down our table. First off was a bowl containing a piece of grey mullet swimming in a very spicy Tripolitan (Libya) red sauce. I have friends whose background is Libyan and have come to the conclusion that there is only one sauce in Libya and this is it. You have mafroum, fish, couscous, chicken and everything else in between, served with this sauce. When red sauce (honestly, that is what they call it) is homemade the spice level is at least twice as hot as Benny's, well beyond the pain threshold of unsuspecting tourists. The sauce at Benny's is very conducive to being mopped up with bread.

There was a nice humous with a thick ful paste on top, eggplant - in mayonnaise, with vinegar, and with tomatoe sauce, there was a Turkish salad (tomatoes and peppers stewed), pickled lemons in a turmeric/curry sauce (that is great with falafels), there was cauliflower in the the same bright yellow sauce, there was a moderately spicy green s'hug (chilis and coriander), chopped tomatoes with green chilis and a bit of lemon, there was green tehina, white coleslaw, and red coleslaw, and if that wasn't enough, a really big bowl with chopped tomatoes and onions on one half and shredded lettuce on the other, both lightly dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

When we had made some inroads into all of this bounty, a plate with a beautifully grilled eggplant, split and draped with tehina arrived and a couple of the empty plates were taken away and replenished at C's request.

After we had been eating for at least half an hour, our waitress arrived to take our order. This wasn't laxness on her part, this is SOP for Benny's, relax, take your time, fress!

Now the whole point in coming here was to try their mixed seafood platter, as seen by C+S earlier this week, and lusted after ever since. So they confidently told the waitress that we would have a platter for three. We then continued noshing and a some lovely crispy-melty deepfried eggplant appeared, just to add a bit of variety. Now admittedly, the little salads are not served in large portions, but there are so many of them that you manage to unwittingly eat much more than you thought you would, just in having a bite or two here, a taste and then another one there...

Benny's is not known for stinginess when it comes to portion control, but the only word that C, S and I could come up with to describe the seafood platter when it arrived steaming to our table was appalling. Imagine a shallow triangular serving bowl, now imagine it 45cm on each side (18 inches for the metrically challenged), and now imagine it filled almost to overflowing with fat juicy shrimps, calamari, mussels and crabs. OMG.

We sat and stared, open mouthed, for at least 30 seconds, and then we all tentatively reached out and took something from this overwhelming dish. After that we set to with gusto, but no matter what we did we just couldn't seem to put a dent in it, and every once in a while one or the other of us would shake our heads and say how ridiculous this was. There was enough there for at least 6 people. And I mean 6 people who are serious about their seafood.

The crabs and mussels had been done in butter, white wine and garlic and the shrimp and calamari had been dusted in flour and deepfried. This was the ultimate fingerfood dinner, but not greasy or gooey or gluey. The calamari were meltingly soft, not a rubbery bit in the lot, and the shrimp exploded when you bit into them. The mussels were big and juicy and full of flavour, and the crab was delicious and worth every bit of effort put into them in order to get at the sweet white meat.

45 minutes later I sat back and couldn't contemplate another bite. C+S continued on for a bit, picking out choice morsels, trying to find the perfect last bite, but they soon followed suit and pushed their chairs back replete. By the end of this we were drunk with food, unable to think about even a cup of mint tea, convinced that nothing would pass our lips until the next evening, maybe... For all that, the meal, including wine, soft drinks and mineral water, cost about USD100 for the 3 of us. Now that was ridiculous

We left Benny's after almost 2 solid hours of eating, walking along the boardwalk feeling like our stomachs were arriving at the corner at least five minutes before the rest of our bodies. But satisfied? Oh yes...

On the way out of the port we noticed a newish jewellery store, so we stuck our heads in to see what was on display. Shouldn't have done that. I saw a ring that I really liked and decided that, having inherited a little bit of money from my grandmother Jeannie, enough for a very modest piece of jewellery, I would buy it so that I could wear something that would remind me of her every time I wore it.

But then I decided to try on a lovely silver necklace and tried it on. Usually I try and coerce people into buying things that I think look gorgeous on them, but this time the situation was reversed. C+S both started exclaiming and convinced me that this was a "me" piece and that it would be much more unusual than the ring, which, though lovely, wasn't nearly as special.

Besides, it was in keeping with our seafood dinner. 8^)

So what do all of these pictures of risotto milanese con frutti di mari have to do with anything? Well that is what I did with the leftovers.

Basic Risotto Milanese

• Arborio Rice 220gr / 1 cup
• Onion, finely minced 50 gr / 1/4 cup
• Saffron generous pinch
• White vermouth 50ml 1/4 cup
• Wite wine 100ml / 1/2 cup
• Water or chicken stock 4 cups
• Butter 20 gr / 1 tablespoon
• Parmesan, finely grated 75-100 gr / 2-3 ounces
• Salt + white pepper to taste
• Parsley, finely chopped small handful

Make sure you use a pot that is large enough. Risotto is deceptive and always needs more space than you think it will.

Over medium heat sweat the onions in the butter until translucent.

Turn the heat up and add the rice, stirring occasionally until the rice goes a bit translucent with a spot of white showing in the center.

Toss in the saffron and the vermouth and stir until absorbed.

Add the wine and stir 'til absorbed.

Add some salt and 1/2 cup of water/stock and stir 'til absorbed.

Continue adding the water/stock by the 1/2 cup full stirring well between additions.

Start testing for doneness after cup 3 by trying a grain of rice for doneness. The rice is done when it is firm but not gritty and there should be a creamy sauce swaddling the rice in the pan.

Add water/stock as needed until al dente.

Stir in the parmesan and check for seasoning.

If it has thickened up too much add some more liquid until it is creamy again {don't forget to check again for seasoning}.

At that point I added my leftover seafood, hence con Frutti di Mari, covered the pot for 5 minutes with the heat turned off and kept warm under a tea towel.

Just before serving stir in most of the parsley, saving some for garnish.

Eat, drink and thank goodness for leftovers.