Food Truck Makes Aliya

Date: July 18, 2013
Name: Food Truck (Season of Culture)
Address:  Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem 

Life in Jerusalem keeps getting better..... The summer is chock full of cultural events, some reoccurring and some one-time events. This summer featured an import of sorts - a food truck. A common sight in many American cities, but not very common in this neck of the woods. Even the more third-world version, street food, doesn't really exist here - although we have dozens of felafel stands, these are established institutions cooking in (hopefully) clean, supervised kitchens. 

The Jerusalem Season of Culture keeps the surprises coming, and this last summer a truck was revamped into a diner on wheels. It made the rounds, stopping at playgrounds, public parks, and different neighborhoods, each time offering a simple dish. The truck offered non-dairy and/or meat, both kosher and halal, served by a local celebrity - all at very low cost (25 NIS), drink included.

One of the first nights, T and I went out to taste Indian food. The dish was simple but tasteful. Masala dosa topped with potatoes. Yum. The lighting, on the other hand, left much to be desired, so the picture isn't that great.

Southern Comfort Food

Date: April 4, 2013
Name: Little India
Address:  15 Ringelblum, Beer Sheva 

After the meal at Tandoori, I needed a positive experience. I was hosting D, a friend from the United States, who has been anonymously featured on this blog before. She had spent a few years in Be'er Sheva, and was heading south to visit her old stomping grounds. We decided that I'd join her later in the day, and we'd visit Little India, which is probably as good a reason as you need to move to (or at least visit) Be'er Sheva. 

We arrived for the lunch buffet, which included amazing dishes: red lentils, green lentils, pakora, two kinds of rice, a cooked vegetable stew, and a not-too sweet desert that tasted like malt-o meal (in a good way). And of course fresh vegetables (because this is Israel...)

The price was decent: 42 NIS, and the food was simply delicious. I had to go back for seconds, it was so good. We left, full and happy, and boarded the bus for the 1.5 hour ride home. If you're going to spend 3 hours commuting, it better be for such a great meal.

Tandoori for Two

Date: April 2, 2013
Name: Tandoori
Address:  Zamenhof 2, Tel Aviv (Dizengoff)

My dinner partner suggested this place and made a reservation, so I went with the flow. I arrived earlier, and realized that this place is way fancier than I am used to. Less so in the middle of the week, but still. 

I'd gone out the previous night with N to eat meat - we split a burger and Moroccan meat-filled cigars, so tonight I was going to be veggie. Gotta keep up appearances.

As loyal readers of this blog know, I judge eateries by their samosas. I decided to order a few appetizers in lieu of an entree, while my dinner partner ordered some form of curry lamb he loved from his days abroad. The waiter came, I ordered samosas, and asked about a lentil dish. The waiter recommended pakora, so I agreed. Bad move. I also ordered the Delhi salad. 

Our food arrived. The samosas were great - crispy, flavorful, amazing. But the pakora was just more fried goodness (or badness), that couldn't compete with the samosas. The salad was largely chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, with some lettuce, oily with a lot of pepper. 

The samosas were the shining moment, the chutneys were good. But what sort of waiter recommends pakora when  I just ordered samosas?? 

Lessons learned: 1) Don't always go with the flow. 2) Always study the menu beforehand, especially if you are a picky eater. 

Bigger lesson learned: Don't judge people based on the restaurants they pick. 

India, Paris, and Jerusalem Oh My!

Date: July 4 & 5, 2012
Name: Mousseline Ice Cream
Address: HaEshkol 6, Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem

Last winter, your truly met up for a 10-day adventure in Paris. Between the picturesque neighborhoods, staying warm, and maxing out our museum passes, we made a point of stopping and tasting things everywhere we went-especially baked goods.

Unfamiliar tastes, aromas, and textures put us in seventh heaven. We especially fell in love with macaroons. To the extent that we thought to sue Manischewitz for mis-guiding generations of innocent Jewish children into thinking that a macaroon is a little unleavened lump of coconut shreddings. You may be wondering: Paris? Macaroons? Why are you wasting my time with non-Indian food blah blah? Be patient, reader(s).



Macaroons in Paris, in the Christmas market near Sacre Coeur church (Montmartre)
This past week was crazy here in Jerusalem. Our good friend J was getting married and on Wednesday, we and M accompanied him as he looked for clothing for the wedding. We started at 3:30 and what felt like 175 years later, we'd gone through the Old City, downtown, and found ourselves in the shuk. It's unclear who was getting more impatient, us or J. Meanwhile, M had gone home. Being an ice cream fanatic, J beelined to Mousseline. After a round of scrumptious ice cream (grapefruit-basil, who would have thought?!?!), we went for round #2: macaroons.



Macaroons in Jerusalem. From left to right: vanilla, saffron, masala.
We chose three: masala, vanilla, and saffron. Thus, this becomes blog worthy. We ate the masala one first, savoring each morsel. It was spiced nicely, not too strong and the almonds were not overwhelming. We drank some water to cleanse our palettes (isn't that what sorbet is for?) and moved onto the vanilla. R was more impressed than D, the almond was a little too strong, but the real vanilla flavoring was clearly there. Lastly, the saffron macaroon. D took the first bite. At first, nothing. Then, a few seconds later, WOW. There are not words to describe this cookie. It tasted like a flower, like a day full of sunshine, like a million dollars, like an exploding comet or imploding star. WOW. D could barely contain herself and waved her hands, R's eyes lit up. J failed to fully appreciate the flavor, oh well.

The next day, D and M returned to the market and sat down in Mousseline. M ordered 3 macaroons: raspberry, passion fruit and masala. She enjoyed them all. D found the passion fruit right on, while the raspberry was a little weak. Overall: Yum. We're always happy to re-live some Paris fun, and always thrilled for bloggable food adventures.

Travel Hell and Indian Heaven

Date: May 31, 2012
Name: United Airlines
Address: Flight #90, aisle seat between Newark and Tel Aviv.

After successfully packing, donating, and recycling my belongings (thanks to everyone who helped!), and after holding a lovely going away gathering, one challenge remained: getting to the airport and surviving 3 connecting flights between Washington, DC and Tel Aviv, Israel.

The taxi driver carried my bags from my doorstep, American curb-side check-in didn't weigh my bags or charge me for the second one, and the airport helper wheeled me through security, including an x-ray of my cast. I even dozed off and had an awesome nap. But one hour before take-off, my first flight was cancelled. Back into the wheelchair to re-claim my bags and re-book my flight. I was re-routed on United, which elimiated one connection and got me in earlier than originally planned. The United agent weighed my bags (48 and 49 pounds, thank you very much), charged me ($70, ouch), and informed me there is only a middle seat and no hope for a vegetarian meal. Oh well.

Thanks to the airport helpers and other passengers, I made it on board (aisle seat, cast karma strikes again!) and fell asleep. I woke for dinner, but no veggie meal. Even the salad had fish in it! I'm already suffering, what's a little more? I went back to sleep, and woke later to find a vegetarian snack box on my tray. Two bites of quinoa, roll, and vegan cookie. Yum. Back to sleep.

I woke up with 2:45 hours to go and decided to watch "3 Idiots," which is Bollywood's highest grossing film. I'd heard about it through my internship at OEC, when we'd talked about putting these chairs into an exhibit about Indian Americans. As I watched, breakfast was served. As if my karma was feeling guilty, the vegetarian option turned out to be Indian food! Rice with curried vegetables and channa masala.

I was in Indian heaven. As I was the last passenger to de-plane, I had exactly enough time to finish watching the film. A lovely ending to a horrible travel experience. No pictures because my camera was in the overhead compartment and anyways, the steward had taken my crutches.

Hobbling to the Himalayas

Date: May 30, 2012
Name: Himilayan Heritage
Address: 2305 18th Street NW. Washington, D.C. 20009

In the interest of keeping things interesting, I broke my foot right before graduation and learned that my health insurance had expired much, much earlier than I thought (thanks, mom). As if life wasn't difficult enough, I decided to move home earlier than planned. Thus, I had 5 days to pack, say goodbyes, and wrap up 2 years of life in Washington, DC. All on crutches and in 90% humidity. Not fun.

After sending my housemates to the post-office three days in a row, I decided to go on my own. The post office near me wasn't accepting international packages (anyone detect a theme here??), so I (literally) hopped on the bus, and headed to the post office on 18th and Kalorama St. NW.

After being assured it was only 1 block from the bus stop (more like 4 blocks), and without a drop of shade on either side of the street (seriously, is the world out to get me?!?), I finally made it. I finished my business there, and headed out starving. Luckily, Himilayan Heritage was right across the street. Even luckier: I had a Google Offer.

Beautiful decor--the waitor took pride in telling me that Nepal is the homeland of Buddha.

I was alone, although it was lunch time. I ordered a mango lassi, paneer pakora, vegetarian samosas, mas ko daal, and partha. A lot of food, but my order had to top $30 for the coupon to apply.

Before I even ordered, a plate with puffed rice and spiced beans arrived, which evoked the mixture described at the beginning of The Namesake (with beans in lieu of peanuts).

The lassi was thick and was an excellent soother. The samosas were excellent, although the dough was a bit salty.

The mint and tamarind chutneys were absolutely delicious; the potato-red onion mixture was spicier.

The paneer pakora was delicious, with delicate spices batttered and fried around ghee. Two filled me up, and the rest made an excellent lunch the next day (with the second samosa). The daal was great, made with black lentils and delicately flavored. But I was already full. I packed the leftovers, and enjoyoed dinner and lunch the next day.

Indie in Philly

Date: April 30, 2012
Name: Minar PalaceAddress: 1304 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

As my date of departure looms near, I'm trying to see as many of my US friends as possible. Last week my good friend DH was visiting the east coast, and we spent the day together in Philly. I hadn't seen DH in over a year, and it was quite exciting. We met in the Amtrak station, and after a quick strategizing session (thank you free wifi), we headed to our destination: Minar Palace.

The decor is quite nice, albeit somewhat on the dark side. We opted to sit by the windows, mostly for the blog's sake.
We went for the buffet ($9.95 + tax), because we were both pretty hungry and it had sufficient vegetarian options. As an investigative eater, I'm always motivated to taste as many things as possible!

The vegetarian options including naan, rice (with cloves), samosas, saag paneer, aloo baingan, dal tadka, mint chutney and tamarind chutney. There was also a small salad bar with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, plain chickpea, raita, and more, including pickled mango.
Yum! We wiped our plates clean and went back for seconds (and thirds). The saan paneer looked like chunky homemade henna, but tasted amazing. The aloo baingan was also good, mild flavors. The dal tadka was a little spicym with strong tumeric flavoring. The samosa were good, although I've had more flavorful ones elsewhere. But the textures were quite good: a soft inside and crispy wrapping. The pickled mango was a little too spicy and overwhelmed the palette. The chutneys were superb.
The buffet had 2 dessert options: rice pudding (D) and mango ice cream (yours truly). We were both super happy with our choices. The mango ice cream was creamy without being too heavy--a great ending to our meal.

What's for lunch?

(At the Academy of Natural Sciences)