Eating around Israel

This Spring I took my first trip to Israel to visit my cousin who had moved there. She had been telling me all about how much I was going to love it for years, so I finally decided to get over my politics and go. We spent weeks planning where we'd go and what we'd see. The necessary tourist stops, the famous religious sites, and of course where we'd eat. In the weeks leading up to the trip, I kept picking up the the Jerusalem cookbook in anticipation. I was ecstatic when I saw Gabriella Gershenson's beautiful piece in Saveur the month before on the Northern region of the country, and attempted to re-work my plans to include her recommendations. I found a NY Times article on Yotam Ottolenghi's favorite spots near the food market in Jerusalem. I had my trusty guidebook (basically because I like having an actual book of info that doesn't involve an internet connection) and all of those recommendations, along with the list my cousin had compiled. Top of the culinary itinerary was all matter of baked goods. I was excited to taste all the Arab sweets I'd never tried, and see if the Israeli versions of my favorite Jewish ones - rugelach, babka, and cheesecake were different. I was visiting during Shavuot, a holiday where it's customary to eat cheese products in celebration. I never knew about that tradition, but it's a good one. Unless you're lactose-intolerant, like my cousin. Poor thing. As I diligently plowed through cheesecake, burekas, frozen yogurts, and fluffy pitas stuffed with labneh and za'atar she tried to keep up, and suffered for it. She clearly went beyond the call of a gracious host.

Battling her intestinal woes, and my New Yorker impatience with the apparent shut-down of the entire country for four days, the holiday into Shabbat, we changed our plans daily and at times hourly, to work around these roadblocks. She did prove remarkably resourceful when needed, and was as content as me to spend a good portion of the day visiting markets, bakeries and such. In fact, the first thing we went to do was visit the Shuk Ha'Carmel and the spice district in Tel Aviv.

We traveled to Jerusalem, where for the most part, the Old City felt a little too perfect of a union between clashing cultures brought together by potential tourism profits. On a more positive note, I did see an elderly Holocaust survivor being carried into a synagogue in the Old City to celebrate his bar mitzvah and his whole party were so excited that we literally got swept up the stairs with them out of curiosity and awe. Then we looked at each other and realized we were two seconds away from being party crashers. We left in search of lunch and the Machane Yehuda market. It was one of the most vibrant food markets I've ever been to, even though a grumpy man with a beautiful halva stand (a sweet nougat made from sesame-paste) yelled at me for taking photos.

Throughout the week I had lots of new culinary experiences, including an old seafood restaurant in the Jaffa Port in Tel Aviv, where the meze spread they lay out on the table reminded me so much of the banchan dishes at a Korean restaurant (minus the tofu). I ate at a really fun Georgian restaurant for my birthday, where I had one of the most decadent savory stuffed breads I've ever eaten split open and topped with an egg. I foolishly missed out on my chance to have a a sabich sandwich (a pita stuffed with fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, pickles and chutney) because I didn't take the little cousin's advice one afternoon. But the thing that surprised me the most, was the plethora of dairy products. The dairy case at every grocery store was huge, stocked with different types of milk, chocolate milks and milk-shake type drinks, coffee milks, yogurt in every form imaginable, soft cheeses and of course, labneh. Labneh is a fresh cheese made from yogurt and eaten all over the Middle East (more on how easy it is to make at home in a later post).

On my last day in Tel Aviv, we made it back to the Jaffa port and went to Abulafia (24-hour bakery open since 1879), known for their fresh bread, and a form of Israeli bagels (less doughy and dense than NY ones) covered in sesame seeds. The options for your bagel sandwich are different types of labneh, feta, cream cheese and your choice of pickled things, veggies, spice blends, and chili pastes. The standard NYC options of scallion, vegetable or tofutti "cream cheese" looked pretty sad next to this. When my cousin said she had to get a bagel, I knew she'd regret eating it, the same way she knew if she ordered it, I wouldn't be able to resist sharing it. We stood on the street corner and devoured this pressed bagel sandwich, catching warm melty bits of cheese and pickles as we tore off chunks, each complaining that the other wasn't eating enough. That sandwich was the perfect sum of my experiences on my first trip to Israel. A little chaotic, a little unexpected, and a change in consciousness I knew I'd be taking home with me.

What I ate in 2012

It's been almost a whole year since I've logged in to create a new post on this site. That is not to say that I haven't been cooking, eating and of course, sharing my food photos. I've been posting to my Tumblr fairly regularly, since it's a quick way to share Instagram pics and easy to do from my phone. It's also about 99% visual, and well, frankly I didn't feel like sharing my thoughts much this year. At times it seems like the entire food blogosphere is just one site after another of people with these amazingly beautiful lives and families. The thought of being able to keep up with the Joneses had me retreating this year. Cooking, baking and taking photos of food still works wonders to lift my mood. In 2012, I needed a lot of that, and although I didn't share it here, I was home cooking up a storm. With my friend-the chef-turned-neighbor, I've been fortunate to have a built-in audience to feed and learn from. I just didn't have the words to share stories in 2012. Sometimes it's good to be quiet, and just take notice of how you feel, rather than letting everyone know.

Despite there being plenty to smile about in 2012 - a lot of laughter, a bit of travel and a lot of silliness - my thoughts were mainly on other things. The nitty-gritty stuff, the sitting in a cubicle stuff, the hussle-ing and rat race cause it's time to be serious stuff. Or, is it? At some point along the way, I realized that I had turned down the wrong path once again, and lost sight of the things that I knew made me happy. Sharing food with people, baking, and taking photos makes me happy. It's almost like a form of meditation for me, forcing me to be present, and content in the moment. Life feels more lovely when your kitchen smells good.

I'm starting a food photography class today with Julia Crawley, of Liz and Jewels, as a way to re-focus and learn more. In anticipation, I've been combing through the photos of this past year. Below are some highlights with recipes for some of my favorites below to follow soon...

Donut crawls - hard work on a Saturday morning

I went last Saturday to find out where the best donuts are in Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. It was a donut crawl organized by Nicole Taylor, from Hot Grease on the Heritage Radio Network via Twitter, where I've met most of my favorite food-working and food-loving people. It was perfect timing coming on the heels of the New York Times Dining Section's round-up of doughnut shops around NYC. The slide show alone was enough to make even the most diligent dieter reconsider a ban on fried, glazed dough as an acceptable breakfast. We hit up some of the highlights in the Times' article, but also several more. All in all four official stops with a fifth stop for a much needed salty brunch at a restaurant that also happened to offer homemade maple-dipped doughnut bites with crumbled bacon on top. Life's tough.

I highly recommend you and at least 2 friends take this tour, especially if you pride yourself on being able to eat a lot of doughnuts. It was harder than I had imagined. Even with sharing in an effort to maximize the flavors you could sample while saving room for the next stop, a sugar coma loomed near. We took the train between each shop which helped a little bit to work up an appetite on the way to the next one. Here's a few photos (they get blurrier at the later stops, I'll blame it on the sugar) from each of the four doughnut shops on our tour.

If I had to pick favorites, I'd be torn as they were all so different. I loved loved Dough, our first stop, both because the doughnuts are gorgeous visually, and wonderfully dough-y, the way I like my doughnuts. The second stop, Peter Pan, which I have gone to numerous times, wins for old-school ambience hands down. I love that this place still exists, even if the cake donuts and crullers are more my Grandpa's thing. The third stop, Doughnut Plant would win the award for novelty and probably have to tie with Dough for flavor. These things are seriously delicious. Lastly, Babycakes would win the award for coolest place to take an out-of town guest (or obviously someone who's vegan). It's on a hip street, the inside has a cutesy-retro vibe, and even the clientele are too cool. While we stood there was mostly fashionista/model types (i wonder if they think gluten-free means low-fat?) and one super cool old lady in a turban sitting and eating her gluten-free, vegan treat.

Sorry, I guess you'll have to go to all 4 of them. And, if you find yourself in Williamsburg, give me a call and we can grab brunch at the 5th spot, Traif, where we'll definitely order maple-bacon doughnuts to start the day. Big thanks to Nicole for organizing and Adrian Franks for making the poster.

The #DiscoverDonuts Tweetup Itinerary Dough - 305 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205 Peter Pan Donut & Pastry - 727 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222 Doughnut Plant - 379 Grand Street, NY, NY 10002 Babycakes - 248 Broome Street, NY, NY 10002 Traif - 229 S. 4th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211

A visit to the North Fork

Getting up to be anywhere by 8 am is not really my thing. I'd like to think one day I will morph into an early bird type and be able to enjoy the city before it gets busy and frantic, all the while getting a jump start on the day's tasks. It hasn't happened yet. Actually there is one exception to this problem. Travel. The promise of a trip, almost anywhere, will have me ready to go at least ten minutes early (even if it's without the bright-eyed part). So, when I received an invite to accompany Fresh Direct on a tour of some of the farms they have been working with on the North Fork, of Long Island I knew I'd be jumping out of bed early at least one day that week. The promise of tasting some of this great local food firsthand, and learning about ways to eat locally and still shop at a commercial grocer, just sweetened the deal.

First stop, Wickham's Fruit Farm, which is the oldest continuing operating farm on the North Fork. How old? Well, the farm is over 300 years old, and Tom Wickham, who gave us the tour is the 13th generation to be farming this mere 300 hundred acre plot of land. I suppose 300 acres wasn't much if your family was house shopping pre-American Revolution?! The Wickham's original house was build in 1649 (it's preserved and we drove past it - yay for adult class trips!), and still sits on the property. Tom told us that 200 acres of the land is actually farmed. Originally the land was used for potato farming, but today it is a plethora of fruit orchards and an impressive greenhouse that grows the sweetest tomatoes. I tried plenty of the cherry tomatoes that fell to the greenhouse floor just to be able to tell you that. These are the same tomatoes that Fresh Direct carries. The greenhouse ground is steam sterilized which prevents them from using harsher chemicals and all the the greenhouse tomatoes are unsprayed as well. (Though they can not get the organic label because they do use fertilizer).

Tom, who is a wealth of information, gave us a lot of his personal opinions on everything from immigration policy, to the plight of disappearing honey bees, as well as his views on the organic versus non-organic debate. According to Tom, organic fruit production on Long Island is virtually impossible because of the humidity. He showed us his license issued by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, a government agency that closely regulates the spraying of crops. NYS strictly regulates the use of restricted pesticides, in part because they are protecting the acquifer that supplies Long Island's well water. Tom, pointed out that locally grown fruit is safer to eat thanks to these regulations, as opposed to fruit grown overseas that is not regulated at all. I was so impressed with Tom and his family (his niece is running a hydrangea farm, his sister-in-law was picking blueberries, and his wife was waiting for a school bus of kids from Harlem to take them on a tour of the farm) that I would recommend anyone driving out to the North Fork make a stop at Wickham's. The fruit stand is open everyday but Sunday. I am definitely going back out in the fall for apples and pumpkins. Another great tip from Tom, who at 71 gets noticeably excited to talk about varieties of apples, McIntosh apples are a thing of the past, and Mutsus and Crispins are the best cooking apple.

Satur Farms was our second stop and we walked into the modern farm world as envisioned by two perfectionists, Eberhard Müller and his wife Paulette Satur. When I heard that Eberhard would be cooking our lunch later that day from produce picked on the farm, I was excited. But, when I heard that Eberhard had been a chef before he started the farm in 1997, and not just any chef, but the former chef of Lutece in New York City (he also helped open Le Bernardin with Gilbert LeCoze according to his bio), that's when I became positively ecstatic. Truth be-told, I sent a text message that read, "I feel like the luckiest girl in the world today." I will tell you all about the lunch below, but without the farm there would be no lunch, so a little bit about why I was blown away by this modern farm.

Paulette and Eberhard started small when they opened. Their first customers were the high-end restaurants that Eberhard and his friends worked at. They would drive out to the farm late on a Friday night, work all day Saturday, driving back to the city on Sunday with whatever they picked that weekend, making drop offs at the few restaurants that heard about the amazing greens they were growing. It's the chef equivalent of your neighbor bringing you some extra bounty from their backyard garden. Eberhard was originally from Germany and he wanted to model some of the better European ways of growing. One of the practices that Paulette explained that most impressed me, is so basic and ecologically sound that I can not believe most American farmers do not do the same. The seedling that Paulette is holding up in the photo above, is not planted in a disposable plastic container, but is planted into a little press pot of soil made by a machine. This allows them to do all their transplanting without any waste.

Satur Farms has been working with Fresh Direct for six years now. Paulette explained that Fresh Direct is their farm stand in a sense. They couldn't just bring many of their delicate leafy greens to sit in the sun in a parking lot at a greenmarket and have them be as crisp and fresh as they want you to enjoy them. Working with Fresh Direct they pick the greens, wash them, vacuum cool them, and then package them on the farm in Long Island and then Fresh Direct is shipping them to you the next day. They have expanded their operation to a year around business buy growing the greens in Florida during the winter months. Paulette explained that the greens that they grow in Florida make their way to Long Island to be processed within 24 hours, which in her opinion is still preferable in terms of freshness and environmental concerns for us in New York. Produce grown in California would take closer to six to eight days to get to your table. Each day decreasing in flavor.

The array of vegetables that Satur Farms grows was impressive. They have mesclun, arugula (or rocket), butter head lettuce, of course. They also grow all types of herbs, leeks with long white shanks (Fresh Direct carries both of these too), chard, beets, baby carrots, baby spinach, frisee, and celery (see the photo above for what a celery bulb looks like as its growing). They started growing mache, a very popular green in Europe, and have at times taken other suggestions from chefs.  They are not a certified organic farm, but do use organic sprays and only steam sterilized manure. Another wonderful aspect of farming on the North Fork, is that they are irrigating the fields with well water. Paulette explained that when we've had large recalls of spinach and other vegetables from California, it is because the water they have to use is above ground and susceptible to water born bacteria. By the end of the farm tour, I already knew I'd want to support any farm dedicated to perfection and good environmental choices. Then we went to lunch at beautiful Paumanok Vineyards, pictured below, and I had a meal that was a lesson in what it means to eat seasonal, fresh food.

I should mention, in case you weren't aware, that when most people visit the North Fork they are going for the vineyards. There's a little map you can pick up that lists each vineyard you can visit for wine tasting. I highly recommend more people take this trip. It's a ton of fun (I've done it twice by now, hoping to go again this summer) and I really do find that the white wines are really very good. I haven't loved the reds as much, but then again, I haven't tried them all. The Paumanok family, were all in attendance at this lunch and they were pouring Rieslings (a dry and a semi-dry), a Dry Rosé, a Chenin Blanc (I believe they are the only vineyard on the North Fork growing this grape), among others. It was a perfect setting for the lunch prepared by Eberhard. The ingredients were literally picked that morning, on our plate by lunch, fresh food. According to the Chef, when your food is that fresh there isn't much you need to do to it to bring out the delicious flavors. Eberhard said, "food can't taste any fresher than it does here," and after this lunch, I would have to agree with him. If I win the lotto, I'd by a house on the North Fork over the Hamptons any day.

These photos are some of the more colorful dishes that we enjoyed.  That is a striped bass escabeche, with baby carrots, a beet salad, a green bean salad, and a peach and nectarine fruit soup with a lemon verbena syrup and red currants. This lunch will forever make my lunch of hummus and crackers and maybe a cheese sandwich seem very sad. The color's were breathtaking. It was just as visually beautiful as it was a flavor explosion. Everything was just simply dressed letting the true flavors of the produce shine. I will try to recreate the beet salad for you in the coming days.

To sum up this day trip courtesy of Fresh Direct, I now fully appreciate how this innovative company has taken a big leap towards doing the right thing for the future, and believing that their customers are smart enough to take notice and support their efforts. Now, lucky New Yorkers never have a reason to gripe about not making it out to the greenmarket after work, or living so far away from amazing farms.

FreshDirect has provided a discount code as a special deal for all my NY readers. Enter the SUPPORTLOCAL code for 20% off your entire Local Market and is good all summer long.

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