It’s almost a tradition now that we have a pizza party for my daughter’s birthday. I make the dough ahead, and get all sorts of toppings ready, then the girls shape the dough, and get creative. Problem is, despite the array of toppings on display (feta, grilled vegetables, olives, pesto….) they always go for the tomato sauce first, then the cheese, then the pepperoni. This year, they branched out a bit-one girl even put a few Cheetos on her pizza, which was not the type of “branching out” I had in mind. Nonetheless, they love making pizza as most of them don’t cook much at home. You can learn a lot about girls from a pizza party—like who takes charge, who pairs up with who, who is most creative…etc. Of course my daughter, being the social butterfly, talked more than anything else….but then again, she gets to make pizza all the time. I made a great pizza, which I’d definitely make again. It was; crust, Provolone cheese, grilled patty pan and zucchini squash, pesto, chopped fresh tomato, feta and Romano cheese. After the pizza it was on to the play Fame, staged by a local theatre group. The girls loved it and sang all the way home to get cake…but that’s another blog.

The girls getting down to it.

Two pizzas

Another pizza

So the Relish garden is in full swing. In fact it's pretty close to being a jungle. How exciting it is to pick okra, green beans, eggplant, zucchini, and basil. The tomatoes are taking their time, but there are plenty to be had from the neighboring plots. The motto of the garden is one of fellowship and community. So, if you see produce that needs to be picked, you do. If a garden needs water, you do that too. As a result, the garden thrived while I was in Israel for 10 days. And there's an abundance of veggies there all the time. One of the most delightful things about the garden has been all the beautiful squash blossoms, which I've never grown before. Which also leads me to the squash, which leads me to the fact that I waited much too long to pick it and now have 2 4-pound monster zucchini squash on my kitchen counter. What do you do with those? Anyone got any ideas? In the meantime, here is a terrific okra dish my kids love.

Quick Okra Sauté

Mark Boughton

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So it’s our last day in Israel, Tel Aviv to be exact. We spent the day wandering through the lanes of Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv’s oldest neighborhood. We visited the former home of one of the founders of the Neve Tzedek restored by his granddaughter, who is also a famous artist. I fell in love with her sculptures of these charming, elfish women (below), and also the paintings of Nahum Gutmann, one of Israel’s most famous painters.  

But on to the important things—lunch, specifically shawarma, the national dish of the Arabs. Shawarma stands dot the city, and we stopped at what we were told is one of the best. In Israel each vendor makes his own Shawarma. Israel shawarma is made from turkey with lamb fat added. The marinated meat is sliced and stacked in a large rotating skewer that roasts the meat on the outside. (Definitely not something one would make at home). It is then shaved and stuffed into a pita with, what else, hummus, pickles, tahini and of all things French fries.  I bypassed the fries and stuck to the hummus.

Our bon voyage dinner consisted of shakshuka, the Iraqi dish we had seen all over Israel, particularly for breakfast. It was at the famous restaurant Doctor Shakshukas in the old city of Jaffa. It’s a wild, cavernous place half inside, half outside that resembles a flea market more than a restaurant. Shakshuka consists of eggs, tomatoes and hot sauce and watching the cooks make it was something… Shakshuka is something you can make at home.  

If you’re an NPR junkie like I am, you’ll love the new book All Cakes Considered. All Things Considered producer, Melissa Gray started baking cakes to bring in the office every Monday. She discovered, (as we all know), that coworkers will eat anything, even crappy-boxed cake. But coming from a line of bakers (and Southern ones at that) Melissa knew she could do better, so she challenged herself to bring in a different cake every Monday—no box mixes, no margarine, no faux sugar and no repeats. The result of many “cake Mondays’ is this delightful book, with all the personality, wit, charm and smarts of NPR. Every recipe has a story, and the recipes come from just about anywhere—from her Grandma Gray, to professional baker Dorie Greenspan to Martha Washington (George’s wife). Melissa describes her exploits along the way in such fun, it makes you want to bake or read more. Here’s her Man-Catcher Cake….” I call this cake the Man Catcher, because really, no man can resist it. Oh, he might be able to resist YOU, but not this cake. “ Hysterical and sassy, I’ll keep this book just for the stories…and maybe for a few recipes too—like the Salty Oatmeal Cookies, which I plan to make this week.