Time for Meze in ISRAEL

You barely sit down at the table, and, even before getting the menu, you see some restaurant employees bringing you a big glass of lemonade or chilled water and one of them holds a platter with lots of small bowls which they place on your table.

These are the Meze, or, starters. It is a word I have heard being used in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus as well (I'm including only my personal travels here) for small bites of a dish. Usually put in the middle of the table, to share. Just a way of making a feast out of every meal. And it's about the spirit of community, of enjoying together, of sharing with your friends, family and all your loved ones.

But it is also about the pleasure of eating and what better way to discover a community or a culture than through its food. Meze in Israel have a wonderful mix of influences, most of them due to the great location at the Mediterranean but also very Eastern and with Arabic influence. Hoummus is never missing, but you also find a lot of dishes with or made from eggplants, you see salads made of carrots with spring onions but also ones from carrots with fresh coriander leaves (wonderful combination - I used this recipe at home as well).

 Here you can see how a table for two can look like in Israel... and all my cousin and I ordered were the mains (on the plates in front of us). Yes, the mains are rather expensive (and from the countries I've traveled to, Israel was unfortunately one of the more expensive ones when it came to food), but we got all what was put there in front of us, plus tea and desert at the end of what we can call a feast, not a lunch! Oh, and in case we would have been starving, we would have gotten refills on those meze, with no extra charge. In the end, it is so important that with only one lunch/dinner, you can learn so much about the culinary culture of a country and about what locals do when they meet: enjoy live to the fullest!

zChocolat - Share the Joy

 

Although we tend to live in a fast-paced world, where capitalism drives traditions into becoming commercial acts, such as seeing Christmas decorations in shops in mid September, like I was "lucky" to see in Stuttgart this year...or Easter bunnies hopping all over starting February...there is still a part of us that expects those holidays because they mean more, if you want to! They bring happiness, joy and smiles on so many faces, because holidays and traditions especially are meant to bring the loved ones together.

It is also a time when we tend to relax, slow down the pace, lay back and ...why not...relish...
So what better time than to receive another amazing package from zChocolat?!

I have mentioned zChocolat in the past as well on my blog, for their summer offering, and will quote the most important from that post: 

The chocolates are handcrafted in France by the World Champion Chocolatier and Meilleur Ouvrier, Pascal Caffet. For him, chocolate is an experience, which you will surely understand once you taste one of his 26 recipes created especially for ZChocolat, for which he uses no preservatives, no artificial colouring, 100% pure cocoa butter, modest sugar, high cocoa content, no alcohol, and only the best choice for the other ingredients as well, such as Piedmont hazelnuts, Iranian pistaccio, violets, raspberry, Sri Lankan coconut etc. However, not only choosing the best chocolate was a priority for this brand, but offering a customizable service of offering was also top of the list. The handmade packaging can be chosen as well, and it can be personalized with messages, just like my box was. You can choose the name of the receiver to be attached to the box, to give it the ultimate personal feel, you can also have an image put there, choose the personal assortment which will be, for example, sealed in the box with a coded heart-shaped lock...just let your imagination wander,...and ZChocolat will offer you the service. 

For the winter holidays, zChocolat has another seasonal line to offer: the holiday zBox, basswood or mahogany box collection. I got lucky and received the amazing mahogany Holiday Ruby box. What a delight - to finally hold the entire collection and taste all those different creations!

I took some days to do this, because THIS chocolate is not something you just eat,...but one praline is enough to fill your entire day with joy, taste, colour, music. It is amazing how many stories you can cover/go through by just one bite. It is time to close one's eyes and disappear...enjoy the experiences!
So here are mine - decided to let you in on just some I hadn't presented last time (see previous post), because THOSE were particularly amazing and the best reason to explain WHY this box is just the PERFECT seasonal gift ... This small box helped me travel through time and space and helped me reunite with people and moments which are set a long time in the past. Enjoy!

#22 - immediate beaming to distant places - the citrus and coriander combination embraced by Ivory Coast milk chocolate seamed a rather strange one, however I have immediately fallen in love with it. It's not that cold outside, but one does need a sweater and a warm jacket when you go out...but I didn't need to go all that trouble because my mind was already in warm climate countries thanks to this amazing chocolate. Even 10 minutes after tasting it, my palate was still embracing those distant places

#21 - I must admit, if I had to choose between white, milk and dark chocolate - the latter would always win my heart - so #21 is one of my favorites - dark with dark with almonds and roses...mmmmmm...the flowery note just adds that little something which was missing to perfection. I would order a box only with this one. I most specially adore the creaminess of it all - almost like a pleasant sin.

#19 - crunchy texture wrapped by smooth dark chocolate, a fine combination of contrasts. Best for those who cannot decide if they are tough or soft :)

#15 - dark chocolate delight with a fresh citrus note. I would compare it to a good night's sleep and to the refreshing start into the next day...relaxing but also offering new energy

#12 - this one would fit perfectly with #22 - sesamy, crunchyness, all these make me think of oriental deserts or even amazingly tasting salty main dishes. It's like I've been to a feast with only one bite.

#0 – crunchy, nutty… There used to be a time when gifts for Christmas consisted also in hazelnuts – and this praline wrapped in Ivory Coast chocolate is exactly as those type of gifts.

#1 – reminded me of my year spent on the Cote d’Azur, especially of the flower market Sunday in Nice. Although Provence is well-known for lavender, it was in Nice that I used to buy it. This vanilla-lavender filling in the 70% dark Venezuelan chocolate is again a time and space travel for me. All the good moments I associate with lavender just exploded in my mind once I let this praline melt on my tongue. Amazing how flowers are not just nice to look, not just nice to smell, but also give a distinct taste, a strong personality to things they mix with.

#4 – peanuts – remind me of parties and get-togethers with good family friends, where peanuts wouldn’t miss. It’s normal for me/us to serve something for guests, even if it’s just a small snack to go with drinks, but peanuts would never miss. It seems just normal that once I tasted this praline with peanuts and covered in 40% Ivory Coast milk chocolate, that I would feel so familiar and that I would think of all the loved ones.

#5 – dark. Inside and out! Sinful! Perfect

#6 – mmmm! Like a wafer in a small deluxe dark packaging.

#7 – this one was a strong one. Like a shot of espresso coffee, but crunchy and chocolaty! And very international: coffee beans from Kenya and Nicaragua and 70% Venezuelan dark chocolate.

(Photos taken by me)

Belgium Series - I - Belgian Chocolate

What better way to start this series than with what seems to be one of the most famous products of Belgium - the CHOCOLATE.

It is not the first time I am talking about chocolate (see here), but this time it will be another approach. I am not talking just about raw chocolate, but about chocolate in general and why Belgian chocolate is so famous.

The term of chocolate probably derives from Yacatan Mayan words "chokol"(=hot) and "atl"(=water). From times older than 1400 BC chocolate was used as a drink, a spicy drink. It was a mesoamerican luxury, drunk initially by Mayan and Aztecs. The beverage was done by grounding cacao seeds and turning these into a paste to which water was added so that this mixture would turn into a bitter drink.

In the 16th century, a missionary who lived in Peru and later on in Mexico writes the following about chocolate: "The Spaniards, both men and women that are accustomed to the country are very greedy of this Chocolate. They say they make diverse sorts of it, some hot, some cold, and some temperate, and put therein much of that "chili"; yea, they make paste thereof, the which they say is good for the stomach and against the catarrh...".

1585 was the first recorded shipment of chocolate to Europe for commercial purposes. It was still served as a drink, but in order to reduce the bitterness, cane suggar was added and chilli was removed from the mix.


In the 17th century, while being ruled by the Spanish, Belgium was introduced to the cocoa bean. The drink was highly appreciated and a favourite place to enjoy it was the Grand Place in Brussels. Brussels was the place where the story of Swiss chocolate also began: the mayor of Zurich, Henri Escher, experienced chocolate for the first time in 1697 and took this discovery with him to Switzerland, which is now a primary competitor of Belgium in terms of chocolate production.





Being so much in love with chocolate, the Belgians searched for their own supply and found it in Congo with the help of King Leopold II. Unfortunately, chocolate history in this chapter is very bitter for the population of Congo.

However, the Belgians managed to surprise the world in the domain of chocolate, so nowadays only this part of history is remembered. 1857 saw the opening of the first chocolate shop in Brussels, by Neuhaus, which still exists today. Neuhaus' grandson invented 1912 the first praline, by filling an empty chocolate shell with sweet substances.

What makes Belgian Chocolate nowadays so unique, so luxurious, is the fact that these gourmet products are confections by chocolatiers who use the highest quality of ingredients and Old World manufacturing techniques. It is in the ingredients and the craftsmanship that the quality lies.

There are more than 300 chocolate companies in Belgium, and thousands of shops around the country, and when you walk the streets of Brussels like I have done recently, you will see how many shops offer you chocolate, you just need to turn your head to another direction and there you will see the next place selling chocolate. My advice: go with brands such as Neuhaus, Godiva, Cote d'Or, Guylian or Leonidas.



I have noticed a lot of shops selling you extra offers of "six pralines boxes for the price of ... Euro" or "special offer, only now 6 boxes for the price of 2", and most of them are in very touristic areas, such as next to the Grande Place in Brussels. There was another shop I entered, which was packed with Chinese tourists who bought around 10 boxes each of pralines,... next to the famous Manneken Pis statue, and once they went out of the shop I could see that even the price tags where in Chinese and so was the sales assistant. It was probably a place to stop for the tourists from that region of the world, and a place where they thought they would buy the real thing as a great deal. I must repeat the fact that I advise against it. Just across the Manneken Pis statue is also a small Godiva shop, and when you see the people inside the shop, creating then and there the chocolates, by hand, then you notice the difference.

I am not much of a hot chocolate drinker, but it was a very frosty day when I wandered the streets of Brussels and I must say I had my taste of hot chocolate heaven at Godiva. When I drank that "potion", I understood why that population fell in love with it - it was a drink that surprisingly raised my happiness level, without intoxicating me (as alcohol could do to you), and it makes me smile even now when I think of it. It made the snow which was falling down on me seem nonexistent and the humidity which was going through one's clothes, disappeared as well. Even the grey sky didn't seem to bother me anymore. Maybe all these feelings were also there due to the fact that I was on vacation, but I am positive that the chocolate had a great contribution to my well being.

(C) text and pictures by author, Ingrid Sabine Weber
Pictures taken with HTC phone camera

Belgium Series - Preview

Ahhhhhhhh Belgium,
first time I visited you, you offered me a lot of what I had wished for in this vacation: great company, wonderful food and a lot of new discoveries. So much commerce and wealth, politics and craftsmanship, beauty and sad reality...all in one place.
So stay tuned for what is going to be the Series about my Belgium travel - 4 cities, many museums, different food dishes and beers and stories that you might find fascinating. I know I was!

Russian Lunch

I have recently acquired a book by the author Wladimir Kaminer. For those who haven't heard of him, he's a writer in Berlin, with Russian origins (he received his citizenship for some years now in Germany), and he has a funny-sarcastic-ironic but very clever way of telling short stories, many related to the life in the East and contrasts to the Western life...differences between communism, socialism and capitalism etc.

One particular chapter in his book I found appropriate to connect to a really nice lunch I have had with friends and my mother recently. It is the chapter where Kaminer discusses about the thornfish. His neighbour Andrej drags him to the opening of a new Russian food store in Friedrichshain and there the shadows of the past embrace the author while his neighbor buys the thornfish. The thornfish used to be one of the basic and most common fish in the socialistic Russia. You would eat it yourself but also feed the cat. But besides the function of nurture, the thornfish gave a feeling of freedom and of unity with the rest of the world, because it was fished from seas next to Australia.

Yes, indeed, food has more functions. It makes people creative at times (using the same basic ingredient, you have to think of how to transform it each time so that you don't have the same result), it makes them remember the past (taste has a wonderful way of telling stories you thought long forgotten) and it makes people come together.

My mother tells stories about the Russian hospitality and how, if you were a guest in someone's home, you would never have to feel that there was not enough food. People would go borrow from their neighbors what they were missing, only to make the guest feel special and "at home" in their home. It's like making you feel warm around your soul too and not only around your stomach.

If we look at traditional Russian food, its main purpose is to provide a lot of energy and warmth. The weather we now have outside has been blamed on Siberian "winds", so imagine how it has to be there and what you must eat in order to stay fit. Soups are very common, followed by dishes based on meat or cabbage, just like these Pelmeni below (some would say they are similar to tortellinis), which usually contain a mixture of two meat types.


Here you can see the Piragi, a type of buns filled either with a mixture of minced meat with onions or with a mixture of cabbage and eggs. I prefer the second ones. All of these dishes are accompanied by good, fatty, sour cream (smetana), because energy is also built on fat.



My mother picked the dish mix above, a varienty of salads of which many contained cabbage, beans and beetroot (which is a rich source of antioxidants and nutrients and very important for cardiovascular health).

Pickled vegetables and fruit are also a fine way the Russians complete a dish, and I has small wild pickled apples to accompany my venison steak and my elk roast. Below you see a venison roast our friend got. It was so yummy he finished first.

To complete a real meal, one must enjoy a really nice black tea (черный чай) which is served usually in fine glasses in a finely decorated glass-holder.



In the recipient above, the sugar was "served". I loved the presentation in that restaurant and using trays and bowls and dishes with traditional pattern also gave a feeling of belonging, because you could eat like people would have for ages and would be considered part of the "family".

To end the lunch in the most traditional way, the tea is made with the samovar (самовар) and next to it you get some small sweet pretzels (бублики) or some chocolates which contain wafer (generally called конфекты).


But whatever you eat and wherever you are and no matter what nationality you are, it is important to remember that food can unite people for life and that the joy of sharing something with the person you love, be it family or friend, can never be taken away from you. Nor can your memories be stolen...I can still see the way my mother was traveling in time with every bite she took from that lunch.

Bucharest, My Love! - Part II - Magazinul Boieresc

Today I am taking you on our second journey in Bucharest - a journey which I had started last week with Hotel Sarroglia.

Also last week I have been invited to the official opening of the "Magazinul Boieresc" shop, a place which has special things to offer.

The term "boier" means translated into English something like "gentleman, nobleman, lord, governor" and in fact the Romanian word does include all those meanings. Being a "boier" was a lot about rank, class, and status, so the name of the shop is probably fit for the products it has to offer. One must really have some knowledge to appreciate the goodies hidden in this concept shop (and the shop is indeed hidden - a place for connoisseurs).

One of the gems this place has to offer is a variety of Romanian truffles and Romanian truffle products. At the opening I have tasted cheese with truffle, truffle foie gras, butter with black truffle, white truffle foam...it was just a delight!



You can also get a great variety of Romanian and foreign wines (French, Spanish, Greek etc.) and the one who selected them, Mr. Razvan Avram, is really passionate about wimnes in general and I have had a long and very interesting discussion with him.


Last, but not least, one last gem this place has to offer are the people you can meet. They know a lot about l'art de vivre and are so passionate about gastronomy in general while still having vast knowledge in other domains - it's very enriching to talk to them. It was a lovely night for me at the opening and I will surely come back.

(C) text and pictures by author, Ingrid Sabine Weber

Athens: Divani Apollon Palace & Spa

At the beginning of September I have been given the opportunity to stay at one of the Divani Collection Hotels in Vouliagmeni, 20km south of Athens. The region is known as a luxury escape for people from Athens, a really pricy area for real estate (among the most expensive in Greece and Europe) but also relaxing and sought-after place to be.


I went to this place with high curiosity as the area had been praised by a friend of mine who is a tourist guide and who had been there before me, and I came to find this:


There were these pools outside (with supplementary indoor pool and spa area),...and one of the pools outside was with salty water - this reminded me of the swimming-pool in Monaco on the Port Hercule - I used to love these kind of pools because 1. you know they are extremely clean while 2. still giving the impression you are swimming in the sea. And if you felt that wasn't right, that wasn't the real deal for you, you could just grab your towel and walk another 15 meters to the beach across the street from the hotel, a private beach for hotel guests.


I took these pictures below from the balcony of a room where a friend of mine was staying. This shows that next to the pool area you have a grass area. I must admit, I have never seen grass like this in all the 10 times I have been to Greece, and I have been there in April and September as well before, but this here at the Divani Hotel was a real treat! It invited me and some friends to some mini-golfing or playing many other games, such as football, however, I wouldn't advise high heels there, the earth below the grass was so soft that even in my ballerina shoes I felt like sinking there.




At the pool bar you could get a drink, but also towels (which I found to be really soft and comfy).

What you see there as being the first floor is actually level zero where my friends and I had breakfast and lunch. The food variety was great - from salad version of all kinds, including the Greek salad to international (Italian, French, Indian to just name a few) and Greek main dishes (Pitas and Mousaka were amongst my favourites) to all kind of sweet goodies but also fruits of the season as well as canned fruits.


This picture of me was taken short time before getting on the shuttle bus to the airport - which is 30minutes away.


Before I take you "into my room", here is the view I had every morning - the quiet sea was so relaxing and at nights the moon would reflect nicely into the water, being accompanied by ships in the distance.


Coming back to the room on the 7th (and top) floor which I got, I must describe the bathroom, which I adored - a lot of light and a lot of space - only for me!!! The icing on the cake was this mirror, of which I know my mother would have been a fan. She owns a magnifying mirror herself, which is really useful if you want to put on the make-up without wearing glasses, but this one had an extra: the light. You could turn on the light which was on the frame of the mirror and see.....just see....everything!


From basic hotel rules, if you leave your towel on the floor you want it to be replaced, whereas your bed sheets will always be replaced. Next to the sink I found this wheel which was a smarter (and maybe more eco-friendly) way of communicating with the maids what I wanted to be replaced and cleaned - towels and sheets included.


I usually don't use the shower gels/shampoos or anything else extra provided by the hotels I go to, but these "babies" were smelling so luring that I had to try them - and I was extremely satisfied.


On the table in front of the bed, inside the room, I found this catalog of "The Leading Hotels of the World" - that's when I realized why the service in the rooms and outside as well as the comfort were so flawless - for my friends in Monaco, you can compare with Hotel de Paris, Hotel Hermitage or Hotel Metropole (except for the architecture, which is more modern in the Divani Hotel).



Before I finish this entry, I must say that I had read some more and some less positive reviews on TripAdvisor before arriving at the hotel, that people could hear through walls or that their pillows were not good enough. I must say: yes - there can be some noise heard from the corridors, but only if you live in a vacuum or a place far from civilization, you can be deranged by it. I slept one night with my window open because I wanted to hear the sea and the wind blow - once I closed my window I felt too isolated.


As for the bed - I just love hard-comfy beds like that one. The pillows were just right - and if I would have needed extra one - there were some in the wardrobe!


What I appreciated the most in my stay at this hotel were the small services which were around small details but which made a difference: the fact that when I got upstairs from a busy day from the conference the curtains were pulled and my bed was ready for me to jump in - and the breakfast list as well as a candy wished me "Good Night!" and "Good Morning" (in a way) - that all made a difference: it made me smile and feel good. And isn't this what we all long for?