Saturday at the Park

We took a field trip to the Ayalon Park with some friends and were surprised to find a wild watermelon field.

Homemade Granola

Found some photos of some granola we made a while back. Can't seem to remember the ingredients... but thought to post anyway.

Open Face Tahini and Roasted Veggie Sandwich

When faced with a serious brunch dilemma, we decided to make an Open Face Tahini and Roasted Veggie Sandwich. After a couple of days of intensive cooking we tired out and opted to piece together a sandwich made from the week's leftovers. Bread+ homemade tehini + leftover roasted vegetables, made for a very yummy brunch.

Charcuterie

We recently had a delicious dinner at Charcuterie, a small restaurant in a quiet alley in the Jaffa market. Since opening in the shuk hapishpeshim (flea market ) two years ago, many other eateries/bars have followed. We started by sharing a plate of home-made cold cuts and then moved on to our main dishes: beet root gemelli pasta with spinach and smoked salmon and entrecote with braised Jerusalem artichokes and green beans. Our dinner was perfect. Chef-owner Vince Mustar, also of the Container, does a perfect job of mixing the magical after hours of the market with a delicious selection of homemade sausages, pancetta, prosciutto... (the list goes on) alongside simple pasta and fish dishes. We had a wonderful time, though some friends have mentioned having a hit or miss dining experiences here.

Charcuterie
3 Rabi Chanina st.
Jaffa
tel 03 6828843

A sneak peak...

This year we had the privilege of attending the first year studio presentations at the Bezalel Department of Architecture (Tom, as a teacher and Rena as a guest critic). Here's a sneak peak at some of the projects. More to come soon...

Why oh why?

Utter boredom (and suffering). That is what I went through when I went to see Love Fire, the new work by Yasmeen Godder. I could not connect to the choreography and found the piece to be cliche. Well, next time I'll stick to Batsheva.

Baked Split Banana

Baked Split Banana

Ingredients
1 ripe banana
1/2 tsp. light brown sugar
cinnamon for dusting

The Recipe
Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Split the banana in half, lengthwise. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Dust with cinnamon and serve.

Breakfast at Manta Ray

On a recent Saturday morning we walked along the beach to Manta Ray and sat down to their widely known breakfast. We ordered a zucchini and onion omelet and poached eggs. The breakfast was served with a big basket filled with delicious breads and various spreads- tahini, cream cheese, and jams. We also ordered a morning mezze of cured matthias (herring). We once very much enjoyed eating at Manta Ray, but with time their menu, satisfies less and overall, we were a little disappointed. We'd like to see them renovate and update the menu. It's not enough just to have the beach location, you need to back it up.

Manta Ray
Alma Beach
Tel Aviv
tel 03 5174773

Red/Green Tahini (Techina) Spread

Tahini (or techina as it is called in Hebrew) is a basic ingredient in the Israeli kitchen. It is eaten everywhere and by everyone; smeared with a pita, spread on a sandwich, as a salad dressing or in our kitchen, on soba noddles. Tahini cookies are favorite sin of mine too. The core to a good tahini recipe is a good raw tahini paste (or techina golmit). You can find very good options in Israeli grocery stores, but the best raw tahini paste we found was in the Machane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem.

For the Red (Roasted Pepper) Tahini Spread
Ingredients
1/2 cup raw tahini paste (i like to use Harduf Organic Tahini from whole sesame, but any good tahini paste, like Yona or Gamal will do)
10 roasted and peeled red peppers
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 piece ginger, the size of a garlic clove, peeled
1 chopped red chili (use half if you don't love spicy)
salt and pepper to taste

The Recipe
Blend all the ingredients in a food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste. The spread can easily be turned into a salad dressing by thinning it out with a little bit of water.

For the Green (Herb) Tahini Spread
Ingredients
1/2 cup raw tahini paste
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of coriander
10 basil leaves
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 piece ginger, the size of a garlic clove, peeled
1 chopped red chili (use half if you don't love spicy)
salt and pepper to taste

The Recipe
Blend all the ingredients in a food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste. The spread can easily be turned into a salad dressing by thinning it out with a little bit of water.

Kaymak @ Shuk Levinsky

Lately we've been doing some of our grocery shopping at Shuk Levinsky, an open air market in the Florentine neighborhood of Tel Aviv. After an hour of arguing with vendors and stocking up on nuts and spices it's nice to sit down and take a break, read the newspaper and have a sandwich. Kaymak is the perfect place for this. Choose between their delicious sandwiches and daily specials. The company is warm and the arak flows freely.

An Iraqui sandwich special: techina, fried eggplant, hard boiled egg and lettuce on whole wheat gebetta .

Orange gazoz (home-made soda pop) and cucumber sticks.

Turkish coffee and a carrot muffin.

Kaymak
49 Levinsky street
Shuk Levinsky
Tel Aviv

The Hand Factory

The Hand Factory is a great postcard shop in Old Jaffa.

They also did a wall drawing at the recent Fresh Paint Art Fair.

and another in 2009 on Messilat Yesharim street (Tel Aviv)
The two wall drawing photos are from Julien Roux's website.

The Hand Factory
Julien Roux & Elanit Leder
15 Netiv Amazalot
Old Jaffa
tel 054 9205592

BILL and Chimera

Summer has arrived and a recent gust of dance performances in Tel Aviv has left us pretty busy balancing work and play. Last week we went to the premier of BILL by Sharon Eyal and were truly amazed. The movement, costumes, lighting, everything was precise with just the perfect amount of crazy/wild. It has been a while since we have seen truly forward thinking choreography. We loved it and can't wait to see what she does next.

Last night we continued our summer dance binge at Chimera where we enjoyed 13 short dance pieces by the Batsheva Ensemble. If you hurry, there are 2 performances left over the weekend.

images from the Batsheva website.

Thai House

As we eat out in Tel Aviv on a regular basis, we have recently noticed the lack of selection in world cuisines. It is almost impossible to find an authentic East Asian restaurant that serves anything but sushi. Pakistan to China, Africa and South America are not represented at all in the local food scene.
That said, there is one exception: Ba'it Thailandi (Thai House) is not only a genuine Thai restaurant, but one of the better estzablishments in the city. The restaurant serves traditional Thai dishes made with real Thai ingredients, grown specially for the restaurant on a farm outside Tel Aviv. Their Tom Yam soup is an absolute must with the right amount of tangy flavor and their Som Tam (a spicy green papaya salad) tastes almost as if you are eating in a food stall in Bangkok. For main dishes just take any of their wonderful curries or stir-fries. For dessert, if you have room, the sticky rice with mango is to die for. This is by far one of our favorite places in Tel Aviv. We wish they would redecorate, though...

Tom Yam Soup

Som Tam

Red Curry with chicken and potatoes.


Ba'it Thailandi (Thai House)
8 Bograshov, on the corner of Ben Yehuda
Tel Aviv
tel 03 5178568

Lunch at Mezze

This small vegetarian restaurant has been under our noses for quite a while, but we only began eating there recently. The menu is laid back and the dishes are not too sophisticated. Mezze offers tasty and well balanced imaginative veggie options perfect for the health conscious (we spotted many a dieting local celebrity there).
The highlight of their menu is the absolutely delicious tahini (techina) of the week, with combinations such as tahini with yogurt and dried tomatoes and tahini with chili and oranges. The mains are mostly rice and grain based dishes all very tasty and filling. We had black rice with pumpkin, azuki beans, herbs and goat feta cheese. It was rich in flavor and texture. The special of Indian vegetable stew with whole grain rice was simple, slightly sweet  and also very good.
Mezze also offers a menu of shakshuka, sandwiches and salads options and an array of small mezze dishes. Highly recommended.

The secret tahini and freshly chopped salad

Black rice with pumpkin, azuki beans, herbs and feta cheese

	Indian vegetable stew with whole grain rice Quinoa and sprouts with yogurt sauce Mezze 51 Echas Ha'am St. Tel Aviv tel 03 6299753