Life in a Letter: Wedding Anniversary Present

Today was the day I get my Anniversary present, an all day cookery course in Tel Aviv, I was very excited for my lessons, but not for the early start.

So I jumped out of bed around 6am, hit the shower, and then tried unsuccessfully to set my blog for the day, now as you know my blog is set a day behind, it was early and I had trouble remembering what I had done the previous day, let along what my name was, needless to say I threw the ipad in my bag with the intention of finishing said blog on the train. I left the house at 7am and walked to the bank then headed to the train, I was earlier than I had anticipated, so I managed to get the earlier train, the platform was crowded and when the train arrived and we all got on, so was the train, there was people everywhere and not a seat to be had, people were sitting in the aisle and in the passageways between the compartments. Needless to say I spent the whole journey on my feet, 57 minutes later and we arrived at Tel Aviv Savidor train station.

I was early so it gave me time to get my bearings, I walked to Arlozorov Street, and waited for Orly, my host for the day, whilst waiting I got chatting to a lady from Columbia who was over visiting her son, we chatted about the Columbian weather, which sounds a bit like Scotland, all seasons in one day, just not snow, and how the people of Israel have the freedom to enjoy their religion on the streets without the fear of persecution, unlike Columbia where people are apparently very fearful of wearing their Kippah.

Lehuh

Orly collected me and my adventure began, Andy from Chicago was already on the car, and we picked up Alice who hailed from New York, and Barbara from Brooklyn, and little old me a crazy mixed up English woman who was born in England and lived most of her adult life in Scotland. Our first stop was Tel Aviv market area, and we were taken to a Yemen bakery, we walked into the door and the wonderful smell of Yemeny pittas wafted out to meet us, an older gentleman was making the pittas and gave us a demonstration on how they are baked, using a gas plate and a electric cover, the result was wonderful and we were given pitta to taste. The Lehuh which I really enjoyed was a cross between a Scottish pancake on one side and an English crumpet on the other, we took photos and said goodbye to the baker and walked outside.

Next door to the bakery was a very ornate door, which turned out to be a synagogue, apparently many years before most families had their own synagogue attached to their house, because they had such large families, and this would allow the family to attend together. The synagogue was tiny with room only for around 8-10 people at a push, it was beautifully decorated and we all took photos from the outside.

Next stop a street cafe selling Hummus with everything, we found a table and Orly gave us a run down of the cafe, its history and the surrounding area, oh and the Hummus, Orly ordered for us and more pitta and Lehuh, and then the Hummus, it was drizzled with a thin sauce of lemons and tomato and it was the lightest hummus I have ever tasted, it also arrived with a thin sliced egg on the top, this is quite traditional for hummus, the green sauce that arrived with it was hot and spicy and delicious, fava beans were also ordered for dipping the pittas into. We had a lovely breakfast sitting in the alley ways of Tel Aviv market, and then it was time to hit the food market.

Orly explained the red painted floors indicated the meat section, but our first stop was the spice shop, it was wonderful to finally get explanations to the spices and mixes that I find in Israel, the influences of which come from all over the world. This is where I purchased a large tub of Tahini, Orly had informed me this was the finest Tahini that she uses in her cooking.

Next stop the fruit and veg market, Orly explained and gave us tasters of the fruits she was purchasing, I was already stuffed from the breakfast, then it was cheese stores and more vegetables. We were given tasters from the Olia olive oil store, the vinaigrettes were divine and I purchased a Coffee vinaigrette and a Komquat with garlic one, my already heavy bag was weighted down with my purchases.

Next is was the Druze lady, we watched her make the Druze bread and then it was slathered with sour cheese, tabouleh and folded, then cut into pieces for us all to try, delicious. We tasted the cherries and then green almonds, I have seen these in the market before but didn't know what they were, the skin was peeled off the almond and we tasted the skin, which can be grated into salads, and the almond inside which was soft and very tasty.

Next stop the car, we were driven to Orly's house and our cooking adventure began, we were given lovely yellow aprons as it was getting messy, then we tasted the cheese's we had purchased at the market with Baba beh savoury pastries. And then it was down to the serious business of preparing for our meal.

We broke up the cauliflower and sliced the Korabi ready for baking, and then prepared the Babousa an Egyptian cake, Babouse means 'just a kiss'.

We boned Tilapia (St. Peter's fish) with what I can only describe as giant tweezers, then the fish was finely diced, the cilantro, mint and parley were chopped to within an inch of their lives, and everything was combined with garlic, lemon zest, and shallots. The whole mixture was then kneaded to break down the fish and allow it to combine without the use of eggs. The mixture was then made into little fish kebabs ready for the pan.

We made two types hummus and added corrainder and parsley to one which turned it green, we made the tahini sauce for the fish using turmeric oil, and the salads were prepared by firstly chargrilling the eggplants, the tomatoes and peppers, removing the skin and just using the flesh. This part of the cooking process was undertaken by Orly's husband Ben, using what I can only describe as two deep frying pans with an electric element on the bottom of each, the huge eggplants took about 5 mins either side, then their rear ends were sliced to allow the juice to run out and they then cool before you peel them.

We toasted with white wine from the Carmel winery and then after all our hard work it was time to eat, the feast was set, and we sat to the table, there was enough food to feed the Israeli army laid out on the table, and I was still stuffed from the things we had been offered throughout the day. We had a lovely meal and spoke about many things, I learnt a lot today not only about food, but once again about Jewish history, Israeli history and American Jewish history and politics. Orly and Ben were wonderful hosts and I had a thoroughly amazing day of food, good company and stories from around the globe, Barbara was previously a teacher in Brooklyn and the stories she had to tell were colourful and enjoyable, tales of school children and holidays and tennis and history.

We were all driven back into Tel Aviv, I was dropped back at the train station, and waited for my train in the sunshine of Tel Aviv around 6.30pm, My Beloved collected me from the other end and drove me home, as usual the evening was spent with My Beloved working on his computer and I caught up with my blog, as having not been able to sit and work on it this morning I was running very late.