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April 2009

Toasts with loquats, cheese and basil

Quick to put together and fun to eat, these toasts take advantage of the onset of loquat season. I picked up a whole bucket of loquats at the Carmel Market for about 3 shekels a kilo this weekend. Admittedly, they were somewhat bruised looking, hence the price, but that means …

Happy Independence Day!

Today is Israel’s Independence Day. Like all Jewish holidays, it starts in the evening, which means it makes an excellent opportunity for fireworks. We celebrated with a picnic on our roof. For whatever reason, every municipality has its own display or two, and since Gush Dan is so crowded with …

Savory roasted loquats and plums

I’m always sad to see the various fruits fade out of season, to return only in a year. Fortunately, others are always arriving in their stead. At the neighborhood greengrocer today, as I was mourning the present passing of the citrus fruits, soon to be followed by strawberries, I was …

Five days in Budapest: Foods and places we liked

We just spent a wonderful five days wandering Budapest, city of beautiful architecture and fabulous cakes. I have particularly happy memories of one particular chocolate cream cake coated in marzipan (in the top photo), from a small cafe near our hotel. Here are some of the things we enjoyed eating …

Passion fruit coconut sorbet

Passion fruit is downright weird — it’s ripe once the peel begins to wrinkle, at which point you slice it open to find it filled with yellow goo. Not the kind of texture you’d usually associate with fruit. That said, it’s a fabulous ingredient for cooking — full of intense, …

Green tea ice cream

This was another one of our favorite foods in Japan, even if one particular ice cream cone dripped and left green stains on my favorite skirt. I prepared it almost the same way I made another kind of tea ice cream — the Thai tea ice cream recipe I posted …

Asparagus with sesame oil and herbs

I was looking for a fresh way to prepare a springtime bunch of asparagus I picked up at the market — something light that would let the flavor of the asparagus dominate. This simple salad incorporates fresh herbs, another great springtime ingredient. I used a few leaves of sage and …

Banana amaretto waffles

This batter yields a soft, mildly banana-flavored waffle, good enough to eat without syrup. I found sweet, ripe bananas at the shook, which were perfect (for waffles as well as any other baked good).

Roasted red pepper salad

This is a very simple roasted pepper recipe I learned while I was living in Madrid, from my landlady/host Sra. Pilar in her high-ceilinged apartment in the upscale neighborhood of Salamanca. That was quite possibly the most I’ve ever paid to rent a room, but I guess it was worth …

Matzo balls with vegetable soup and Middle Eastern spices

Sorry Maneschevitz, but I see no reason to make matzo balls from a mix — they’re pretty simple to make from scratch. I also think that the whole search for the perfect matzo ball recipe is a bit overrated. Matzo (matzah) balls are basically matzo meal mixed with egg, and …