[Israel] Chalek the fourth: food
Mar. 16th, 2007 01:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidThis was an odd trip for food: most meals were prearranged in some way, either at a given venue with somewhat set menu or eating by people, so I had less choice than usual. That said, there was some excellent food this trip. Also some that wasn't so amazing, but who wants to read about that?
We made seudah shlishit in the apartment for a large crew, 17 people. It took me over an hour to make vast quantities of Israeli salad (tomatoes, seedless cukes, and bell peppers with salt, pepper, and olive oil), and a corn salad (canned corn, scallions, red pepper, salt, pepper, and olive oil), both of which were well received. Much more impressive, though, were the salmon options. There was wonderful smoked salmon brought from England (which tasted fattier than what I'm used to in the US, in a good way), and a whole poached salmon from some local caterer. That salmon was a bit of a pain for us: the caterer had put it on some kind of foil-wrapped board and decorated it with lots of lemon and salad greens and such all around. The board was huge, so the only way we could fit it in the fridge was by taking all the shelves out and putting it on the diagonal. Of course, the fish slid noseward, so we had to slide it back before unwrapping. Well worth all the trouble, too.
As seems usual at so many weddings, the hors d'oevres were the best food. There was a reprise of salmon similar to the one we'd had, crudites, a variety of olives, and so on. I liked the cooked foods best, including potato cigars, roasted veggies, and kibbeh (Which I'd seen before but never tried. They're spicy meat inside, very tasty.). I ate far too much.
Monday night we had dinner at Kitty's (an older woman who made aliyah from England years ago). I was amused to see the foods segregated by course: we started with salatim, then the main course was shepherd's pie (two thumbs up) plus broccoli and carrots, and dessert was fruit salad an soy ice cream bonbons (vanilla, chocolate, and mint; really good).
Tuesday turned out to be the best food day for me. Breakfast included a fresh orange picked the day before from the yard of Friend-of-Parents (I'm still regretting not trying one of the lemons, too) with the last of the spicy olives cured by the father of the bride (spicy, also pointy: the pits had to be eaten around carefully to avoid injury). Extremely yummy together, though when I told Father-of-Bride, he was surprised by the combination.
Lunch was with Josh and his wife, and we went out for lunch at some restaurant beginning with S, on Emek Refaim (I'm blanking on the name). Really excellent food, from the pumpkin soup through the entrecote steak. No clue what cut that is in American, just that it was a perfectly done example of what most steaks aspire to be, flavorful, juicy, and evenly textured.
Dinner that night was a sheva brachot chez Parents-of-Bride, in Mevo Modi'in. I helped retrieve the huge trays of potatoes and chicken wings from the communal oven (an adventure right there), though my favorite dish was a spicy cabbage salad that set my mouth afire.
Oh, and I have to mention Bendick's* bittermints, which totally rock (for thems that like mint with chocolate, of course). Really dark chocolate around intense mint, very addictive. I got some at Heathrow on the way home and had to sample them before the last flight.
* So close to "Burdick's". Accident?
We made seudah shlishit in the apartment for a large crew, 17 people. It took me over an hour to make vast quantities of Israeli salad (tomatoes, seedless cukes, and bell peppers with salt, pepper, and olive oil), and a corn salad (canned corn, scallions, red pepper, salt, pepper, and olive oil), both of which were well received. Much more impressive, though, were the salmon options. There was wonderful smoked salmon brought from England (which tasted fattier than what I'm used to in the US, in a good way), and a whole poached salmon from some local caterer. That salmon was a bit of a pain for us: the caterer had put it on some kind of foil-wrapped board and decorated it with lots of lemon and salad greens and such all around. The board was huge, so the only way we could fit it in the fridge was by taking all the shelves out and putting it on the diagonal. Of course, the fish slid noseward, so we had to slide it back before unwrapping. Well worth all the trouble, too.
As seems usual at so many weddings, the hors d'oevres were the best food. There was a reprise of salmon similar to the one we'd had, crudites, a variety of olives, and so on. I liked the cooked foods best, including potato cigars, roasted veggies, and kibbeh (Which I'd seen before but never tried. They're spicy meat inside, very tasty.). I ate far too much.
Monday night we had dinner at Kitty's (an older woman who made aliyah from England years ago). I was amused to see the foods segregated by course: we started with salatim, then the main course was shepherd's pie (two thumbs up) plus broccoli and carrots, and dessert was fruit salad an soy ice cream bonbons (vanilla, chocolate, and mint; really good).
Tuesday turned out to be the best food day for me. Breakfast included a fresh orange picked the day before from the yard of Friend-of-Parents (I'm still regretting not trying one of the lemons, too) with the last of the spicy olives cured by the father of the bride (spicy, also pointy: the pits had to be eaten around carefully to avoid injury). Extremely yummy together, though when I told Father-of-Bride, he was surprised by the combination.
Lunch was with Josh and his wife, and we went out for lunch at some restaurant beginning with S, on Emek Refaim (I'm blanking on the name). Really excellent food, from the pumpkin soup through the entrecote steak. No clue what cut that is in American, just that it was a perfectly done example of what most steaks aspire to be, flavorful, juicy, and evenly textured.
Dinner that night was a sheva brachot chez Parents-of-Bride, in Mevo Modi'in. I helped retrieve the huge trays of potatoes and chicken wings from the communal oven (an adventure right there), though my favorite dish was a spicy cabbage salad that set my mouth afire.
Oh, and I have to mention Bendick's* bittermints, which totally rock (for thems that like mint with chocolate, of course). Really dark chocolate around intense mint, very addictive. I got some at Heathrow on the way home and had to sample them before the last flight.
* So close to "Burdick's". Accident?
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-16 08:38 pm (UTC)I know about dangerous olives though. The roof of my mouth was like a mine field after Spain. But I couldn't.stop.eating.them.
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Date: 2007-03-16 09:59 pm (UTC)We were warned about the olives in advance, so I was very very careful with them; I hadn't realized how weapon-like they were.
(Hm. I wonder if they could be used as part of an actual weapon. Mace, maybe? Too curved for darts....)