Must have culinary items to buy in each port

[kcfoxy]

Israel I can help with (I'm Israeli-American)! :)

... Amba, a mango sauce Israelis love to use, especiallly on Meurav Yerushalmi (see below)!

 

Hilbeh, a mild sauce that Yemenite Jews put on almost every dish! (If you have a chance, try Yemenite Melauach, a fabulous layered pancake. You dip pieces of Meurav in shug hot sauce and/or honey, and it is SO good! *drool*)

Amba, a bright orange, tangy, Mango-based sauce that the Jews from India brought to Israel; it's great on grilled meats- it's very much like an Indian chutney.

Spices, such as Zatar and Sumac. Zatar is a delicious, mild green spice mix with sesame seeds in it that you put on pita (or other bread). Put good olive oil on the pita and dip in zatar- YUM!! Sumac is a spice used in making Meurav Yerushalmi ("Jerusalem Mixed Grill"), the food of my dreams! (I do have a recipe if you're interested- it took me, my chef hubs, and a lot of friends a long time to figure out the spice mix!) It's spicy grilled meat with onions served in a pita, and honestly there is Nothing else like it! The best Meurav can be had on Rehov Agrippas (Agrippas Street) in Jerusalem, near the truly great Machneh Yehuda market- a must-do if you're in Jerusalem for a day or two!

Pomegranate jam (called "confiture") and wine from Israel- both are totally delicious & I have never had anything like that jam anywhere else!!!

 

Curcumall: This is a liquid food suppliment made in Israel from Tumeric with extensive medical test results on it helping arthritis, as well as other ailments; we first found it in Israel via Ben Brewer and it helped my husband's arthritis (especially in his hands) so much that he has continued to take it and we finally found a USA supplier; if you Google Curcumall, it will come up. If you have arthritis you may want to look into trying this.

 

I always bring back bags of mud from the Dead Sea, as well as Dead Sea skin care products; many (Ahava) are readily available in the USA, but some are not, and the Dead Sea is my totally fave place in the world- I have Psoriasis, and the Dead Sea clears my skin 100% in 30 days and keeps me clear for a year at a time...

 

Wonderfully helpful information here...my mouth is watering and I've written down lots of new things to try. BTW: I am an RN who has taught myself how to make my own soaps and lotions, and love to include Dead Sea Mud in one of my specialty olive oil bars :p

 

Penzeys carries both Zatar and Sumac seasonings so I would love to share your special recipe for Jerusalem Mixed Grill with my (retired) cook/caterer DH. Do you need our email address or could you post here? :D

[gold1959]

Wonderfully helpful information here...my mouth is watering and I've written down lots of new things to try. BTW: I am an RN who has taught myself how to make my own soaps and lotions, and love to include Dead Sea Mud in one of my specialty olive oil bars :p

 

Penzeys carries both Zatar and Sumac seasonings so I would love to share your special recipe for Jerusalem Mixed Grill with my (retired) cook/caterer DH. Do you need our email address or could you post here? :D

 

Thank you for asking for the recipe! :) Below is the post from my Facebook page:

 

Meurav Yerushalmi – Jerusalem Mixed Grill

Meurav Yerushalmi, in a perfect world, is eaten on Rechov Agrippas (Agrippas Street), near the Machne Yehuda Market in Jerusalem, Israel, at about 10p.m. on a Saturday night, while sitting at a small table on the sidewalk next to the kiosk from which the cook has just handed you your pita, filled to overflowing with the spicy grilled meats & onion, along with a bunch of paper napkins... I lived right off Agrippas for a long time, and when I was in the IDF and working at night as a barmaid, stopping late at night on the way home for a “hetzi meurav” (half a pita, stuffed to overflowing) was normal, and, like the youngish idiot I was, I took it for granted… I recently had the joy of sharing this experience with my husband, and although we like to think of ourselves as world-traveled connoisseurs of street-food, neither hubby Chef Dan, nor I, have ever had anything like Meurav anywhere else; the mere thought of the scent of it wafting off the grill makes me drool… Simple to make, the elusive spice mixture was the problematic issue. The recipes I pulled off the internet (even on Israeli Hebrew-language sites) were woefully inadequate and utterly Wrong- they didn’t even come Near the taste of “real” Meurav! Other recipes I found had no measurements! After much internet research, Facebooking, emailing, intenet shopping for spices & condiments, and taste-testing, I put together this recipe, which, we think, captures the essence of Meurav Yerushalmi…

Note: Meurav Yerushalmi is traditionally made with an assortment of organ meats, including beef, turkey, and chicken spleen, livers, hearts, kidneys, testicles, etc., as well as steak and chicken or turkey meat. Cut up into tiny little pieces and seasoned on the grill, it all tastes like steak! I make it using turkey thighs and inexpensive steak, both cut up in tiny pieces, and it works great!

Meats: approx. 3 lbs chicken and/or turkey (thighs, legs, or breasts) and beef steak, cut into small pieces

3 onions, cut into small pieces (slightly larger than the meat pieces)

Vegetable Oil

Pitas (Preferably regular “white bread” pita. The whole wheat ones are thinner and have a different texture…)

Amba Sauce (A tart Israeli-Indian Jewish fruit sauce made from green mangos, similar to a chutney). Amba is laborious to make yourself; the mangos have to sit in salt for 5 days for a start! I purchase Israeli Amba from Avi Glatt, NY: http://www.aviglatt.com

Spice Mixture:

Note: the better & fresher the spices (fresh, coarsely ground black pepper, for example), the better the Meurav...

¾ tsp. ground cinnamon

1 ½ tsp. ground turmeric

1 ½ tsp. ground cardamom

3/8 tsp. ground cloves

1 ½ tsp. curry powder

1 ½ tsp. ground black pepper

1 ½ tsp. ground coriander

4 ½ tsp. ground sumac (purchased on eBay from Stuart’s Spices, NY: www.stuartspices.com)

3 heaping tsp. crushed garlic

3 tsp. ground cumin

3 tsp. Kosher salt

¾ tsp. paprika

¾ tsp. ground chili powder

3 tsp. Baharat spice mixture (Lior Gourmet Spices from Israel, imported by Galil Foods, NY, purchased on www.amazon.com)

 

Traditional condiments:

Cracked Israeli Sura Olives (also purchased from Avi Glatt: http://www.aviglatt.com)

Pickled peppers (such as “Tuscan” peppers, and hot cherry peppers)

Sliced, fresh radishes

Kosher dill pickles (I like Mt. Olives small crunchy dills...)

 

In a cast iron pan on medium heat (5, if your stove dial goes from 1 to 10), or on a grill pan, a la Machne Yehuda, heat vegetable oil and sauté the onions until soft. Just as the onions are beginning to brown, add the meat and the spices and start stirring & flipping with a spatula to coat the meat with the spices, and grill it until the meat is done. Turn the heat up to brown it at bit at the end.

Warm the pitas, cut in half and smear the insides with a bit of Amba.

Fill to the brim with Meurav.

If desired, eat with, or top with, the cracked Sura olives, peppers, pickles, etc.

Holding the pita in your napkin-covered hands, close your eyes while you eat, imagining yourself on Rehov Agrippas…

[gold1959]

So gorgeous!!!! Thank you for sharing this photo!

Elisse

 

 

Happy Easter, people. Here are some pyskany for you.

[pastamom2011]

We bought wine stoppers that have a rubber stopper and then two prongs that curled under the lip of the wine bottle. I have used them frequently for Champagne or Prosecco and the bottles kept their bubbles for a week or longer. Now, it isn't usual for me to have an open bottle hanging around for that long... but I was out of town!!

[MarGG]

So gorgeous!!!! Thank you for sharing this photo!

Elisse

 

I have never seen Easter Eggs painted like this. Beautiful! What is all this about?

[trinaM]

Hi melissa, what a great idea. I had not thought of something like that.

Have you ever had issues bringing food back to the ship or back into the country? thanks.,

 

Hello everyone,

 

We have just booked an Eastern Med cruise for Sept.2013 on the new Reflection. We'll be in Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, Istanbul, Ephesus and Naples.

 

In Europe last year I was excited to bring home items from each country that I could use for cooking - i loaded up with saffron and paprika in Spain, olive oil, meats, cheeses and chestnut honey in Italy, mustards and spices in France.

 

Thinking ahead to this trip I am wondering what local treasures I should be on the hunt for. Immediately I think of oregano and honey in Greece, pistashios and spices in Turkey...lemoncello and maybe preserved lemons in Naples.

 

What am I missing?

 

Thanks in advance....Melissa

[Lovely other]

You comment made me recollect this map, it's called "Europe according to Americans". :)

 

yay i originally hail from the stripper section ...interestingly in england everybody thinks polish are construction workers rather than strippers.