What do Israeli children pack for lunch?

Here in Israel, the school year began a week ago. Schools here are on a healthy kick, with new government regulations banning sugary, fatty foods from the country’s schools and preschools. Yet packed lunches aren’t fully under government control - while the school makes recommendations, parents still make the final decision in terms of what to send. In my son’s new preschool class, the children empty out the contents of their lunch boxes onto plates, and eat in little assigned groups. One day this week, my son’s teacher photographed every child’s lunch and sent the photos to the parents. More ...

A day in the country: Vegetable picking and a wheat festival

Once so often we rent a car and leave the city. The festival of Shavuot a month ago was one of those times. We headed up north into the Galilee, one of my favorite places to visit. There, we spent a day in Beit Lehem Haglilit (literally Bethlehem of the …

Coconut mango sorbet

Making ice cream in an ice cream maker is incredibly easy. All you need is a creamy, sweetened liquid in the flavor of your choice, and you’re one step away from having ice cream. I’m enjoying the combination of mangoes and limes, both newly in season, with coconut cream as …

Wilted cabbage-carrot salad with pickled lemon

Wilted cabbage salad is nearly ubiquitous at Israeli street food joints and in mezze spreads, and my 4-year-old son is a cabbage salad addict. You should see him greedily shoving bowlful after bowlful of tart, oily cabbage into his mouth at the neighborhood falafel and shwarma joints. Quite a few …

What I’ve been up to

It’s been exactly a year since my last post. Over the past year, I have occasionally thought about my poor, neglected blog. Here’s what I’ve been up to, and why I haven’t been writing here.

Almond granola

This granola is scented of almonds – full of crunch sliced almonds, and flavored with a big splash of amaretto to boot. When I developed it, I had in my mind a crunchy but chewy almond-scented granola, and indeed, it delivers. I’ve been making a whole lot of it – …

Simple chickpea salad with celery

This simple chickpea salad is super convenient – it comes together quickly and makes a nice, filling addition to lunch. Plus, it requires no seasonal ingredients so can be made year round. (Is celery seasonal? Probably, but it’s sold year-round at my herb stand.) I like to keep cooked chickpeas …

Truffles in the Negev, and a Moroccan Passover delicacy

Desiccated donkey dung. How’s that for a description of food? Does it make you want to taste it? Eat it? I have to say, when I first heard that description – in reference to the truffles that grow in sands around the Middle East, including Israel’s Negev desert, it caught …

New Israeli wine recommendations (and new beginnings)

So, where have I been? We’ve simply been overwhelmed with life – least of all because my daughter was born late last year. And then a few weeks later, we moved to a new apartment. So it’s been hectic, to say the least. In late January, I attended Sommelier 2015, …

Hazelnut thumbprint cookies

If it looks like we’ve been making lots of sweets around here, well, that would be about right. I have no problem letting my son eat vegetable sticks dipped in peanut butter or tahini at least one meal a day. Baking cookies, however, falls into the general category of “toddler …