$10 Worth of Ham

What 40 shekels will buy you in Jerusalem, Israel…. 

Faithful readers of my blog are certainly aware of my ongoing longing for all the foods that are difficult to find in our Jewish neighborhoods.  Pork products can be purchased, but I do not include them in my weekly shopping.  One reason is because you can’t buy these products in the regular grocery stores.  You can only find them in specialty shops or at the Russian butcher shops.  Since we don’t live near a Russian neighborhood (and therefore near a Russian butcher shop), my source of these products is a nearby specialty cheese and deli shop.  This leads to the second reason I don’t include pork items on my weekly shopping list.  These specialty shops are aware that they have a niche in the market and that people who want these non-kosher items are unable to do much shopping around for the best price.  The price is set accordingly! 

So I limit my purchase of ham, bacon, etc. for special meals and for dishes where these products are an accent rather than the main dish.  This recent 40 shekel purchase of ham was for a quiche I made when we received a few friends as dinner guests.  It was a delicious treat for all of us! Perhaps not having easy access to certain foods has its advantages.  I don’t think I ever truly appreciated the flavor of ham until I moved to Jerusalem! 

My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets – Parchment Paper

I’m quite certain that you can buy parchment paper in the US, but I never used it before living in Israel.  I wasn’t very happy about using it the first time, but my affection for it has since grown.

My relationship with parchment paper started the very first time I wanted to bake cookies.  We had just purchased a stove for our kitchen and I was anxious to bake cookies, simply because I now could bake cookies!   But first I had to go in search of cookie sheets.  A simple task…one would think!  I had no luck at store #1…no luck in store #2…but I was determined and stubborn.  It might be difficult to find essential items in a new land, but I wasn’t going to let this get in my way.  Needless to say, I returned home 4 hours later without any cookie sheets and resigned to Plan B. 

Plan B was to use parchment paper placed on the metal trays that came with the oven (similar to the bottom of a broiling pan that comes with American ovens).  At that time, I was a little too frustrated to admit to myself the benefits of the parchment paper.  But I have since fully embraced parchment paper as an essential item in my kitchen. 

The main benefit of parchment paper is the ease of clean up.  One simply throws away the parchment paper and quickly rinses off the little bit of greasy residue that may be left behind.  It’s quick and easy! 

I also use it when I roast vegetables or potatoes in the oven…for the same reason.  The clean up is so much easier! 

Cookie sheets cannot be found in Israel.  American friends living here confirmed my suspicions that arose after my 4 hour expedition.  But I have grown to like my “Plan B” so much, that I even declined the offer of a real American cookie sheet from a friend who was moving away. 

My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets – Chef’s Knife

Blogging about the new kitchen scale prompted to me to think about and blog my other favorite kitchen gadgets.  Since I had the camera out to take a picture of the scale, I decided to take pictures of a few other favorite kitchen items at the same time.  I have thought countless times about sharing with you about my love affair with my chef’s knife, but never took the time to make a picture. 

I had a difficult time deciding what to do with the money for kitchen knives my brother and his wife gave us as a wedding gift.  To buy a knife set or not…that was the question.  After some extensive internet research and asking a few friends their opinion, I decided that it would be better to purchase just one or two very high quality knives that I would use, rather than a large set of mediocre quality knives of which I would mostly use just one or two anyway.  I purchased this chef’s knife and a matching bread knife. 

I have not regretted my decision since making the purchase of this chef’s knife. I use it almost daily.  It is a perfect companion for chopping onions, fresh herbs, and nuts.  It cuts chicken and beef with ease.  I have not yet mastered the knife technique of a real chef, as demonstrated so nicely in the movie “Julia & Julie”, but maybe with a little practice! 

My New Favorite Kitchen Gadget

For the European among you, this post will probably not be so interesting to you.  But for the Americans, I urge you to pay close attention!  I have discovered the wonders of cooking and baking with a kitchen scale. 

Outside of America, ingredients in recipes are listed by weight.  A recipe will call for 100 grams of sugar instead of 1 cup of sugar.  A kitchen scale has been on my list of kitchen items to buy because I have received a number of recipes from European family and friends that are measured by weight.  I have made some efforts to convert these measurements to my American style of measurement, but with mixed results.  A lumpy chocolate pudding was by far the worst of these efforts!  But since I am accustomed to using measuring cups and spoons, and since the majority of the recipes I use are American oriented, the kitchen scale purchase was not given a high priority. 

But, a few weeks ago I spotted this trendy, red kitchen scale for sale in an Israeli home store.  I had finally found a scale that I would enjoy seeing in the kitchen, plus it had the added functionality of a clock and timer.  Since it’s arrival in my kitchen, I have been surprised at the diversity of function it offers and how much  I have enjoyed using it.  

  First, a kitchen scale allows you to measure your ingredients in one container that is most practical for your baking/cooking purposes.  You simply place the bowl, pot, or plate on the scale and set it to zero.  You add the first ingredient….reset it to zero…add the second ingredient…reset it to zero…you get the idea. 

Second, there is no need to level off measuring cups, etc.  You can simply spoon or pour the ingredient into the bowl until you reach the desired weight.  It feels like it saves a bit of time and reduces the amount of flour that I always manage to spill onto the counter.  

Third, it helps with determining how much pasta or how many potatoes to make for a meal.  One very useful things I have learned from my Dutch family and friends is how many grams of meat, potatoes, vegetables, or pasta is considered one serving.  100 grams of meat.  150 grams of vegetables.  100 grams of potatoes.  75 grams of pasta.  It’s really a very useful way to plan meals.  Now that I have a kitchen scale, I can weigh the pasta and potatoes (two items I have always had a difficult time “eyeballing”) and be sure to have the perfect amount!

Now that I have a kitchen scale, one of the first recipes I tried making was the chocolate pudding recipe that had failed so miserably.

It was a delicious success! 

The French and their Food

We ate well…very well…while in France.  I can fully recommend skiing in the French Alps because there is no danger of starving!  Even the food we purchased for lunch at the restaurants on the slopes was presented with finesse and tasted like we were eating at a 5-star establishment.  I just wish I would have remembered to take a picture of that savory crepe made with Reblochon (a local cheese)…and that exquisite mug of hot chocolate…oh, and that delicious tarte tatin (an apple dessert that is a French Alp tradition). 

A balmy Shabbat afternoon

 

It’s a very warm and sunny afternoon here in Jerusalem.  So warm, in fact, that J and I decided to eat lunch on our balcony.  I’m sure we will have some more winter-ish weather before summer truly arrives, but I think it is safe to say that spring has arrived in the Holy Land! 

 

 

 

Skiing videos

To give you an additional glimpse at the beautiful views we enjoyed while skiing in the French Alps, I have posted two short videos.  Both of these videos were taken on the beautiful 14-km trail I mentioned in my previous post, Le Cascade. 

To help you know who you are looking at:
I am the skier in white pants and blue jacket.  Jonathan is the snowboarder.  Roechama is in purple, but since she was taking the videos, cannot be seen in either of these videos.  And the really fast skier is Arjan. 

Enjoy!

 

Skiing in the French Alps

J and I have just returned from a week in the beautiful French Alps.  We again enjoyed a great ski holiday with our friends Arjan and Roechama who had skied with us in Austria last winter.  We stayed in Flaine, a ski resort located at 1600 meters (5,250 feet), and we skied on slopes as high as 2500 meters (8,200 feet).  Views of the Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain, greeted us on clear days.  The beauty of the Alps surprised and awed me just as much as the first time I saw them last year in Austria.   

We skied in an area that encompassed 5 different ski resorts, with more that 250 km (155 miles) of available ski runs.  The most enjoyable days were when we travelled far and wide across the entire ski area, using the slopes and lifts to make our way across the valleys and peaks.  A highlight of the week was when we skied Le Cascade, a 14 km (8.5 miles) trail that traced its way across the wind blown peaks and down into the forests.  A beautiful new view greeted us around each turn which tempted us to take several breaks to enjoy the beauty surrounding us.   

 

Since I still consider myself to be a beginner skier, I took a few lessons at the beginning of the week.  It was fun to have Roechama join me in the lessons.  We agreed it  was helpful to have consecutive lessons with the same instructor.  Deciphering the teacher’s French accent proved challenging, but we finally figured out after a few hours that what we thought to be fancy French ski terms was really just her saying “up motion” and “down motion” with a French accent.  Thankfully her demonstration of these terms helped us know what she meant even before we understood her words!  We also had a difficult time interpreting her French pronunciation of Olympics.  She was quite surprised at our repeated assertions that we did not know the event she was talking about!  Only after some additional explanation on her part did we finally realize that she was talking about the Olympics!!  (No wonder she was so visibly astonished by our ignorance!)  But language challenges aside, her instruction helped me to improve my technique.  More importantly, I grew in confidence.  I was much more relaxed on skis this year than I was a year ago.  I even began to enjoy the feeling of speed!  At the end of the three lessons, I was told that I was between the intermediate (2) and advanced (3) levels of skiing.  Perhaps next year I will hit that “expert” level and dare to venture onto a black slope or two! 

Flight Plan: Zurich to Zurich

After a week in Germany when J worked in his office there and I in our hotel room, we departed for our ski vacation with friends Arjan and Roechama.  Our travel plan was to fly to Geneva, Switzerland where our friends would pick us up the next morning to drive the rest of the way to our rental apartment in the French Alps. 

The trip required a 35 minute flight to Zurich and a 30 minute flight to Geneva.  Including the waiting time at airports, the entire trip was to take about 4 hours.   We were anticipating a relaxed evening in Geneva while enjoying some regional specialties for dinner.  Little did we realize that our trip would take more than 12 hours! 

It was snowing in Switzerland that afternoon and evening, so we had the expected delay for our first flight.  However, our second flight introduced some unique travel delay experiences.  Our first sign that travel troubles awaited us was when we needed to sit in the airplane in Zurich for an hour before we were cleared for takeoff to Geneva.  Thankfully, we were on a Swiss Airlines flight, so we were given free Swiss Chocolate and free bottles of mineral water to help pass the time.  Finally the plane took off and we were on our way to our final destination.  After arriving in the Geneva Airport airspace, the pilot than announced that we would need to circle 45 minutes before landing.  

One hour later, the pilot made another announcement.  We were returning to Zurich!  The Geneva Airport had such severe delays we would need to circle for at least another hour with no guarantee that the plane would even then be permitted to land.  The lack of sufficient fuel led to the decision to return to Zurich and rebook the passengers to another flight.  We passengers were again appeased by swiss chocolate and free water as we journeyed back to Zurich.  

We were given free tickets to travel to Geneva by train…a 3 hour trip.  We rushed to meet the next available train, which meant we had no time to stop for food.  We arrived at our final destination after midnight.   Our special “regional” dinner was at a local McDonald’s, surrounded by all the colorful characters one finds in a city during the late night hours.  

At the end of it all, we had a full tour of Switzerland by air and by train.  If only we would have traveled during the day, for then at least the views would have made all the time spent traveling that much more enjoyable and worthwhile!  At least I had good company…and quality Swiss chocolate :)