When You Need Some Catered Food...

When I have guests at home I cook, but the other evening we ended up having a family event in Jerusalem for which we couldn't cook. The logistics and ambiance in a restaurant also wasn't a good idea. So I decided to contact Coney Island Bakery, 0526684005.

Even though Coney Island Bakery had closed that great little place they had on Jaffa Street, in the center of Jerusalem, that they are still in business. Now they just do catering. Coney Island Bakery has multiple kitchens, five separate ones:

• dairy
• meat
• vegan/vegetarian
• gluten free
• bakery for every taste

Coney Island Bakery does everything, from small orders to large weddings. We ordered a few quiches, of which one was vegan, plus a few salads and desserts. Here are the pictures:

 

Everyone enjoyed themselves eating the tasty foods. There was a really nice selection, and the food was custom-cooked.  Prices depend on what you order, or if you have a strict budget, they will do their best to come up with an affordable menu. They also delivered, which was very helpful. Coney Island Bakery aims to please. They care about their customers. We plan on ordering from them, again.

Fancy Food at King David Hotel Last Night,

Last night we were at the Ingeborg Rennert Center's Guardian of Zion Award, which was given to former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. This post is just about the food and ambiance. I'll post about the event and Bolton's speech on Shiloh Musings. For those who wonder why I need to keep up two blogs, this is an example. I'll keep the food porn  here, and the politics there.

Reception on the King David Hotel Terrace
Waiters also served all sorts of "small things," like, a bite-size serving of fish in a sauce, amazing fresh juice with lots of  ginger, mini-quiches and more. And there were "sticks" of fresh salad for the pickings.

First Course was waiting on the tables. Like Piccolino, they cure the salmon to make their own lox. Last week we had some in Piccolino, and it was better!

Main Course, delicious, best steak ever.

Dessert, of course

There was plenty to drink, water, juice, soda, two wines, but no beer.

We rushed out when it was over and miraculously made the bus home. 

Finish That Matzah!

Matzah is one of those products that lasts forever; yes, in two ways.

1. It never spoils.  Properly sealed, it stays edible for years.
2. If you overbuy the amount of matzah you really need for Passover, something we frequently do, it's easy to forget to eat/cook/serve it. So you end up suddenly discovering that very expensive simple food when preparing  (cleaning) for the next Pesach.

I've discovered that I can give my husband perfectly good matzah brei during the year as his "lunch sandwich."  He generally gets two peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, plus a couple of fruit and yogurt for breakfast when he goes to work.  With this eating regime, he has lost, and kept off, even more weight than I've banished.

Last night, since I realized that we were out of bread, making him matzah brei was the perfect solution.

I wrap it in foil and keep a piece of matzah dry for him to use to make the bracha blessing on bread.

The recipe is very simple.
Ingredients:

• 2 pieces of matzah
• 2 eggs
• water (milk or both) to moisten the matzah
• oil for frying
• honey or jam optional to sweeten it

Instructions:

• break matzah in pieces and put in bowl
• add water or milk or combination, about 1/4 cup
• add the eggs
• mix and then leave for at least 10 minutes
• heat the oil in the frying pan
• add the mixture and cover
• start on high and quickly turn to low flame
• when you can see that the matzah brei is solid, turn over and cook another couple of minutes
• leave covered on flame for a bit
• then serve or pack, with optional honey or jam

This is very easy and wonderful for traveling.

Extra flavor

Yesterday, eating my lunch, some fish fillet, sauteed with onion, squash and then already cooked spaghetti, with some catsup, water and tomato concentrate, served on cut up cucumbers, I felt that it was still "missing something." At the same time, my body was suffering from the after effects of the late "dinner" from the night before.

There's a health-diet eating rule, which mandates no eating after 7pm or to have at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. At most weddings here, which are 99% of the time, especially in the winter, in the evenings--ok, night--we're lucky to have the maincourse before 10pm, and that's after a first course which is more than most people have at home as an entire meal. And Israel is getting like the states, with a pre-Chuppah (ceremony) "Kabbalat Panin," "reception," in which you can eat a full meal plus. That means that without even "pigging out," you can easily eat three full meals at a wedding.

I'm not into salty foods at all, and something at the wedding we attended was salty, too salty. So I really didn't want to add any more salt to my lunch, which meant that I couldn't jazz up the food with Tamari Sauce. I checked the balsamic vinegar and discovered that it was full of salt, too.

So... I dressed my feast with olive oil and freshly ground pepper! it was great. I guess I should have put on fresh lemon juice too. OK, next time.

ps I only had "two meals," since I arrived too late for the reception, but I was so hungry, that I had lots of bread, which I usually skip.