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magidI tried out a new walk this afternoon (best parts: seeing a brown rabbit, and the wonderfully complex, yet low-key green smell of slightly damp forest and tiny wildflowers, totally different than the bright, one-note greenness of newly mown grass...), and ended up going through Watertown on the way home. Just in time, I remembered that there's a kosher bakery I'd been wanting to check out. It's a (Persian? Iranian? something like that) bakery, which got kosher certification so it can ship traditional pastries to NYC, to the Persian Jews there, which is just amazing to me. Not at all the expected direction of flow of kosher products.
I found the little shop, and it's got some grocery items along the sides, some I'd seen before, many I hadn't. Lots of items with sour cherries, and orange blossom water, and pickled eggplants, all familiar enough. But there was also a jam made out of a fruit I'd never heard of before (foolishly, I didn't write it down, and I've forgotten it), borage water, willow water, mint water (I think it has mint vinegar in it), and quince-lemon syrup. I didn't get any of them, but suspect I'll be trying them one at a time; all sorts of interesting possibilities
Then I looked at the bakery items. I'm not one for cream-puff-like desserts, which seemed to dominate one case, but the other case had lovely things. There were three kinds of baklava (walnut, pistachio, or almond), cookies made with a flaky pastry (three different kinds of those), a variety of nut macaroons (no coconut!), cookies made with rice flour, and tiny cloverleaf-shaped cookies made with chickpea flour. I couldn't resist; I got a little box of all different things. The baklava is sweet and sticky, of course, but with the clear flavor of honey, not just plain sweet. I thought the rice flour cookies uninteresting, but the chickpea flour cookies were amazing, wonderful, so excellent, little pillows of melting goodness.... I'll be getting more of those...
I'd started talking with the man helping me, having asked him what all the different cookies were. He was very friendly. As I paid, I noticed something I couldn't recognize in the other case, and asked. I've never seen dried mulberries before. I asked how they're used, and apparently they're a lovely snack with tea. He gave me a couple to try (chewy, but with a bit more complicated texture than other dried berries I've had), and somehow we ended up in a long conversation about mulberries, and how unappreciated they are in this country. He said that mulberries are good for diabetics, too, having some kind of insulin-like ability (or something). After that, I just had to ask about some of the funky waters and syrups. Apparently borage water is added to tea or coffee to help people calm down when undergoing stress. I still haven't found out what the willow water is for, since another customer came in, to get a rolled cake filled with cream. Apparently if you order in advance you can get one filled with chocolate cream, and/or fruit, too.
What a nice shop.
It was strange when I heard him use 'pareve' casually in the conversation; not that he shouldn't know it (he should), but with his heavy accent, and breaking into Arabic frequently with the old man who was also following our conversation, it surprised me when I heard the term. It shouldn't've, though.
I found the little shop, and it's got some grocery items along the sides, some I'd seen before, many I hadn't. Lots of items with sour cherries, and orange blossom water, and pickled eggplants, all familiar enough. But there was also a jam made out of a fruit I'd never heard of before (foolishly, I didn't write it down, and I've forgotten it), borage water, willow water, mint water (I think it has mint vinegar in it), and quince-lemon syrup. I didn't get any of them, but suspect I'll be trying them one at a time; all sorts of interesting possibilities
Then I looked at the bakery items. I'm not one for cream-puff-like desserts, which seemed to dominate one case, but the other case had lovely things. There were three kinds of baklava (walnut, pistachio, or almond), cookies made with a flaky pastry (three different kinds of those), a variety of nut macaroons (no coconut!), cookies made with rice flour, and tiny cloverleaf-shaped cookies made with chickpea flour. I couldn't resist; I got a little box of all different things. The baklava is sweet and sticky, of course, but with the clear flavor of honey, not just plain sweet. I thought the rice flour cookies uninteresting, but the chickpea flour cookies were amazing, wonderful, so excellent, little pillows of melting goodness.... I'll be getting more of those...
I'd started talking with the man helping me, having asked him what all the different cookies were. He was very friendly. As I paid, I noticed something I couldn't recognize in the other case, and asked. I've never seen dried mulberries before. I asked how they're used, and apparently they're a lovely snack with tea. He gave me a couple to try (chewy, but with a bit more complicated texture than other dried berries I've had), and somehow we ended up in a long conversation about mulberries, and how unappreciated they are in this country. He said that mulberries are good for diabetics, too, having some kind of insulin-like ability (or something). After that, I just had to ask about some of the funky waters and syrups. Apparently borage water is added to tea or coffee to help people calm down when undergoing stress. I still haven't found out what the willow water is for, since another customer came in, to get a rolled cake filled with cream. Apparently if you order in advance you can get one filled with chocolate cream, and/or fruit, too.
What a nice shop.
It was strange when I heard him use 'pareve' casually in the conversation; not that he shouldn't know it (he should), but with his heavy accent, and breaking into Arabic frequently with the old man who was also following our conversation, it surprised me when I heard the term. It shouldn't've, though.
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no subject
Date: 2003-09-03 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-04 03:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-04 11:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-04 11:56 am (UTC)The guy working there (the owner? not sure) was very explicit when I said I'd heard about the store being kosher certified, telling me that the bakery items were, but the other products (the packaged things) weren't necessarily. Lots of those were, though.
Just out of curiosity, how did you find my post?
no subject
Date: 2003-09-04 01:46 pm (UTC)I dunno how I found your post. Maybe I was playing around with the "find random user" function?
no subject
Date: 2003-09-04 08:11 pm (UTC)(I knew I had this info somewhere...)
56A Mt. Auburn Street
Watertown, MA 02172
617-926-0880
Supervision: Vaad HaRabanim of MA
no subject
Date: 2003-09-05 11:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-05 12:14 pm (UTC)If you're interested in food stuff, I have a bunch of my food writing marked as memories (though not every place I mention food (that would be most of my journal :-), nor entries about what I get from a farm every week, though those are easy to find if you're interested).
no subject
Date: 2003-09-03 08:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-04 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-04 08:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-04 11:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-04 11:52 am (UTC)I was wondering if you tied the fruit to the end of a string, as a cat toy, whether the fruit might be more interesting....
no subject
Date: 2003-09-04 09:57 am (UTC)