Thursday, June 14, 2012

That Delicious "Taste Memory"

We all have different sorts of memories, smell, sound, visual, taste and probably more.

A friend who had lived in Israel during the 1970's still drools at the thought of a certain bakery.






Yes, it's that Hungarian conditory Rechov Strauss (Street) in Jerusalem.  Yes, that's the legendary bakery, pastry shop in which you can have some tea or coffee with your cake.  Trying to keep up with the times, there's a small sign announcing that they also serve "ice coffee," which is like a "frozen malted."  I don't know what it's called in other countries.

I haven't eaten there for decades, but I have memories of eating apple strudel and nut cake/pie.  The last time I was there, my mother and I ordered and then walked out, because someone was smoking.  We then wandered around downtown Jerusalem until we found a nice pastry/coffee shop that enforced the "no smoking" and had their cake displays refrigerated.

Very few stores and restaurants have survived so long.  Most bakeries are now branches of large chains.  Even if they bake on the premises, it's done with frozen pre-prepared "goodies."  If you want something really good, you should go to the old bakeries like this one.

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