Eating In

After our trip to the North and our trek through the shuk for edibles, we had the yearnings for and the makings of a breakfast at home.  The view from the terrace and the sun so hot at 11am saw us enjoying an array of sweet and savory delights.

Olives, tomatoes,  lychees, mango, passion fruit (picked at a friend's house), dense bread, cheese spread, coffee, tea and yogurts.  The yogurts we bought were different from the those available in the US.  Israel is known for its proclivity for dairy products, which definitely came through in the texture and flavor of the various styles of yogurts we ate.  

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Later that day, we walked to the heart of the Rechavia neighborhood to a restaurant called From Aza (Gaza) to Berlin to get hummus for our family dinner later that evening.  We took a moment to try Kubbeh soup, something I had never heard of.  

It was sweet and sour, a rich broth and dumplings stuffed with what reminded me of pot roast, but was more pungent, flavorful and somewhat sour.  It was surprisingly good!

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That evening I tried my hand at replicating the eggpant and nana salad we had feasted on at Goat With the Wind.  It came out great...I roasted the eggplant with olive oil, pine nuts, salt and garlic in a baking dish and garnished it with nana, parsley and green onions when it was done.  

Our dinner included grilled chicken, kebabs, hummus with fava, Israeli salad, green tahina (tahini) and pita.  It was a delightful meal with four, little under-3-year-olds keeping us on our toes.

In the evening we took a stroll around some of the parks in the neighborhood and I cut a few sprigs of the ubiquitous rosemary to make some herbal tea with nana and lemon for drinking cold the next day.

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The next morning we ventured upstairs to have breakfast with the family.  My host's sister-in-law made jachnoon, a Yemenite bread that is traditionally eaten on Shabbat morning

with grated tomatoes.  

It was quite interesting and I must admit I was apprehensive at first glance...but once I had a taste, I enjoyed it.