One of the things I was really looking forward to when visiting Israel, was the food. Especially the hummus and felafel. I love hummus, and I’m a pretty big fan of felafel.
As you know, we rented a car and drove around the country. One of the big problems with this is timing. Sometimes it’s easier to wait until you are at a good stopping point, or you are just trying to get somewhere and you forget to eat. We did this on our way to the Roman ruins of Caesarea or Kaysaria. It’s a little south of Haifa [...]
Continue reading The Best Hummus in Israel
Plenty to do and see on Kreuzberg (Rhön), not to mention some damn good beer!
With winter almost over, Jim and I decided to go with a few friends to enjoy the last of it. Driving to the well-known Bayerische Rhön Nature Park we were excited to enjoy a gorgeous day out and try the world-famous beer we’d heard so much about since we arrived in August.
These views greeted us on the sunny, yet cold, Sunday morning as we parked the car and climbed to the monastery to start our exploration of the area.
The first stop was the [...]
Continue reading Kreuzberg (Rhön) – The Mountain and the Monastery
From tree to end product, this photo essay is all about those delicious olives!
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Tunisia olives are world reknown, and surprisingly, it is one of the world’s leaders in olive production. Traveling around the countryside, especially during the olive harvest, you can witness the entire production from tree to market or even to the table.
From Bizerta to Ichkeul, and from Carthage to El Kef, the roads drive straight through olive orchard [...]
Continue reading Tunisia Olives from Tree to Table – A Photo Essay
Japanese Street Food…sooooo good! Taiyaki, Yakisoba, and Okonomiyaki…oh my!
Even these ladies stop to have a snack at one of the many street food vendors in the Asakusa District of Tokyo.
Usually the best street food is found in festivals, and this is true as well in Japan. However, there are some districts in Tokyo that always have that festival feel and the best street food can be found there any day of the week. All of the snacks I mention here were had in the Asakusa district of Tokyo.
Delicious little cakes in cute litte fish shapes. The perfect way to keep the [...]
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Borek -serve warm for best results.
Recently I posted a traditional Turkish Börek recipe. Börek is one of my favorite dishes, and I like to make a pan of it and eat it for lunch for a few days. So I’ve developed my own version, a bastardized version to be sure, but it’s pretty yummy.
In Turkey, most börek is only made with one type of filling. You will have cheese or meat, but not both. For my recipe, I have combined cheese with spinach.
This recipe is one I developed years ago to fit an American palette. It [...]
Continue reading Turkish Food – Börek with an American Twist
Women buying peppers along the river in Inebolu.
Every Saturday in Inebolu, a Black Sea costal town in northern Turkey, the villagers come down from the mountains to the market. They come to buy and to sell. The market is too small to accommodate everyone, so it spills into the road along the river.
In this photo the Turkish Ladies are buying green peppers. Green peppers are typically served in most meals alongside the meat.
I love this photo because it’s a picture of fashion, cultural fashion. They are all wearing scarves, sweater vests, and long skirts. This is [...]
Continue reading Reflection #508 – Turkish Ladies at the Market in Inebolu
Borek – ready to eat!
Börek is found all over Turkey, and, in fact, many places that the Ottoman Empire used to be. Each place within or outside of Turkey puts their own twist on it, but basically its a dough-filled pastry. Most often the pastry filling is savory and will usually be cheese, ground beef, or spinach. Sometimes you can find potato or other vegetables or even sausage fillings.
Yufka for Borek
Turkish börek is made out of a very thin dough called yufka. It used to be that you had to go to the yufka-maker’s to buy [...]
Continue reading Turkish Food – Three Variations of Börek Recipe
Hofbrauhaus
The Hofbrauhaus in Munich is just the right mix of German culture, beer, and Bavarian food. The band is always playing. The barmaids are always carrying. The pretzel lady is always ready to sell you one. And, the tables are big enough to fit at least two nationalities of beer drinkers.
I love walking into the crowded room and choosing the table that has some interesting people sitting at it, before asking, “Ist hier noch frei?” Is this still available. Then we sit down and get to know our tablemates. I have sat with Taiwanese, lots of Americans, [...]
Continue reading Reflection #501 – Gentleman at the Hofbrauhaus Munich
When in France…
Roquefort cheese aging in the caves.
Waitress: Ma’am, what kind of dressing would you like?
Me: Roquefort!
Waitress: Sorry ma’am, we only have blue cheese. Will that be ok?
Huh? I thought Roquefort and blue cheese were the same thing? Well, let me tell you, it is not! Just like the French have coined and now own the term “champagne,” and all the rest of the world must call theirs “sparkling wine”, they have done the same thing with Roquefort cheese.
Roquefort Cheese
Roquefort is produced in the town of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in the south of [...]
Continue reading The Real Roquefort…Cheese that is!
Jordanian Bakery
Reaching in with his bread board to stack and remove his flat bread from the oven, the baker is wearing his traditional red and white kaffiyeh and jellabiya. This bakery was located somewhere on the road between Petra and Madaba in Jordan. The baker was accompanied by three helpers, and they formed a sort of assembly line for baking the bread. As you can see in the foreground, there were piles and piles of it. Hot from the oven, we just couldn’t resist buying some. Delicious! Too bad they weren’t selling a side order of hummus to [...]
Continue reading Reflection #497 – Jordan Bakery
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