I sure have some awesome neighbors always willing to help me with my brave food choices : )I can always count on them for help with cooking directions ,reading labels etc...So I am not afraid to try new stuff at the store...Just another example of the warm inviting Israeli hospitality . Haiya who lives next door promised she would show me how to make this Moroccan fish dish and when she does I will post it on the blog -I can't wait to learn how : ) I have had it and it is fantastic!!!!!!!!!

The food in Israel is limited, but healthy,simplistic, and light... One exception ! This dish

Malawach with Tomatoes (Resek Agvaniyot)

Malawach ...Ma' low 'ah is a Yemenite dish of fried pastry dough. It is absolutely yummy. You can buy Malawach in the freezer section at the grocery store in Israel .It's not as good as fresh Malawach, but yummy. Not to mention way easier to make ! The locals eat this many ways (my neighbor layers the pancakes with meat ) I like it the traditional way with a Mediterranean salsa
Basic dough ball recipe for Malawach
4 cups flour
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 cups water; or enough to make a soft dough
1/4 lb. butter at room temperature

Mix everything except the butter -knead a bit for smoothness. Let rest , covered, for 3 hrs. Divide dough into 8 pieces. Flatten out 1 piece to about 6 inches in diameter. Incorporate about 2 tsp of butter into dough circle, pushing and kneading it in but maintaining the circle Cut a line open form the center of the circle to the outside edge. Take one end and roll it around into a ball. Prepare all pieces of dough in the same

Flatten out the ball to about 10 inches in diameter to make a pancake that is not more than 1/4 inch thick Heat a skillet and melt more butter over moderate heat(I use oil) Fry pancake until brown and crisp, for about 5 min. on each side

Now for the easy part Resek Agvaniyot -Cut the tomatoes in half and grate them into a bowl,flesh side on the grater ( I had never heard of grating tomatoes before I started my Israeli food adventure,it works well) I used four


Add 1 Tbp. of spicy chile sauce. The secret to the tomatoes...I hope I can find these Yemenite ones in the states they are so good .Try your local Asian market, any variety will work

Almost everything in Israel is served with Cucumbers and Red peppers
I also made an Israeli corn salad with dill . Malawach is served with Givina ,but you could use sour cream. Gavina It is a local cheese that is amazing and low fat.It tastes nothing like sour cream or yogurt. It has its own taste -There are so many different kinds of white cheeses here that look the same but taste completely different!

Happy children!

Apparently there is nowhere to get a haircut in Israel : )

Birthdays in Israel

My Baby turned 9 this month ... the second birthday our family celebrated in Israel . Eric had a birthday in April. We were in the middle of the Sinai Desert on our way to Cairo -adventure bound- when he turned 36! Before packing up for Egypt we celebrated with friends - His Mom was visiting at the time and made his favorite cake. Needless to say no one was home sick

Not the case this time. Mason is missing his Friends and Family in AZ . He gets the birthday blues back home too, around this time every summer it seems like everyone is on vacation -Same : ( I think it is easier at this age if your birthday is during the school year !

Thanks to a friend I knew about this really impressive candle

After the sparkle fades , all the canldes light and the flower spins around playing happy birthday in Hebrew Yom Hu׳le׳det Same'ach -

None of the boys minded that there was a flower on the cake !

Mason in the Jordan River

The Yardenit Baptismal site, Where Christian Pilgrims from all over the world come to be baptized or reaffirm their faith in the Jordan. Caden and Mason had not been Baptized, and this was something I wanted to have done while we are here in Israel.

If you are with your church than you would be with your Pastor, Reverend, Minister or some other Christian clergy who can Baptize.

We aren't here with our church, We don't belong to a church here either. We stopped by hoping to join in on a Baptismal (People say if you ask... Excuse me, we would like to receive the lord...can we join you? For obvious reasons any man of the cloth would have a hard time saying no) This was my plan !!! The only problem was we went there on a really,really slow day for Pilgrims! Suddenly I found myself staking out the place for a Baptizer! The Yardenit is a place people come to see even if they are not getting baptized. It is the spot believed to be where Jesus was baptized ,they have a nice fish restaurant and huge gift shop so many people were coming in and out for other reasons SIGH! I kept saying to Eric do you think he is a Pastor ,what about him etc...

Finally a man came walking in with a small group swim suits in hand : ) I knew that was our only chance!!! I politely asked... he said he would love to ! Turns out the nice man from Australia is a International Chaplin for the United States Military and a Non denominational Christian ...Just what I was looking for. The boys have now Baptized in the River Jordan

Zippori or Sepphoris, Israel is a unique archaeological site near Nazareth. It's history is tied to many religions. For Christians - The parents of the Virgin Mary, Anna and Joachim, were from here.

One of the most fascinating aspects about living here for me is all the History and Ruins. I heard about several programs were you can participate in an excavation. I was able to find a live dig near the house (45 min drive)There are 13 live digs going on around the country right and all need volunteers for digging, shoveling, hauling baskets ,cleaning and more. These digs are done in summer because they are usually done by the Universities . Archaeology students from all over the world come to do this hard work on their break in the heat (they must really love what they do)We were able to see first hand how it's done! The Prof. in charge of the dig invited the boys to come back and wash Pottery on Friday.

Archaeology students using small spoons to uncover a Roman Road

Zippori was established as a city in the 2nd Century BCE . Other digs going on in Israel date back to the second millennium BCE (4,000 years ago) The team we met is in the long process of uncovering a whole city

One of many Beautiful 2,000 year old mosaic floors in Zippori National Park

Five weeks left in Israel ! Yep we leave five weeks from today ... And so much left to do in this tiny country .

We went up to Mt Hermon the highest point in Israel . It is so hot and humid in the rest of the country right now , Mount Hermon is still enjoying cool weather .The slopes of Mount Hermon have some awesome hiking trails . Part of the area is classified as a military zone and that is very obvious when you get up to the top !!! We took the ski lift up and we were able to see far into Syria and Lebanon and Jordan. We stayed at this adorable Chateau in the mountains. Hard to believe there was patches of snow up there.

Heading back down on the Ski lift you can see Lebanon

Caden getting a closer look at Syria

Nimrods Fortress

A Medieval Castle from around 1229

This is Eric and my Friday morning ritual ...The boys had been in school on Fridays and Friday is the start of the weekend in Israel...So Eric and I had alot of mornings alone together ! WELL THAT WAS THEN... Now the boys are on summer break and Eric had to work on his day off last Friday. I found a new man to take his place (heartless I know) After breakfast we went boogie boarding ...Just the two of us :)

Typical Israeli breakfast salad ,eggs,bread and lots of Israeli cheeses

(Ok I do miss hashbrowns alittle)

...It is just the Taste of Israel 2009 but the signs in english all said IBIZA 2009 !The food festival sure had an IBIZA feel ! Located right on the Mediterranean Sea ...

We drank European beer and ate all kinds of yummy stuff... none of the menus were in English! You can easily point to what you want or sound out the words on the menu...did I tell you we are all such experts with our Hebrew! Yeah right!!!(I sound out a word just to find it to be a Hebrew word I don't know) Like entrecôte !!! What is that !!!OK, now I know entrecôte is steak... It was definitely a unique dining experience and we got to sample food from tons of local restaurants