Food, glorious food!

One of the really enjoyable things on this trip has been the food. Every morning, no matter where we wake up, there's an assortment of cheeses (cow, goat, and sheep), salads and egg dishes.

In the Old City of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) there is a place called Lina's. All they serve is hummus, and I do believe it's the best I've ever had. It's a little Palestinian place in the Muslim quarter, fifteen shekels a plate, or about $3.

There was also the Turkish place in Tel Aviv, which served us so many salads of hummus, baba ghanoush, tahini, and others that I don't know how to name, that we didn't even guess they would bring out kabobs of lamb and chicken for us.

Last night we had excellent shwarma from a stand on Ben Yehuda, a trendy pedestrian street in West Jerusalem that would resemble the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, but for the sheer number of Orthodox, along with Israeli military and Christian missionaries from China. It's also a teeming parade of the trendy and unbelievably good-looking.

But my favorite dish is Shakshouka, which I ate almost every day. Originally from Tunisia, there is now an Israeli version of this popular tomato sauce and egg dish eaten primarily as a light, late supper. And I got a recipe!

Chop up an onion, sautee in vegetable oil. Add chopped sweet (bell) pepper, sautee. Chop up a couple of large tomatoes, add to the sautee. (Also good at this point is seeding and chopping a small hot pepper and adding that to the mix. Garlic too, if you want.) Simmer with the tomatoes for maybe 10 minutes. Crack two eggs open and lay them whole on top of the mixture. Tip: spoon some sauce over the yolk of the eggs. The eggs should set in about 3 or 4 minutes. Serve with hot bread and butter. Also a good pairing is a fresh green salad with arugula, tomato and feta cheese. I like it with a light red wine.