We met at the Mazzarine café on tree-lined Montefiori Street. It’s a Parisian-style patisserie, decorated in a style that recalls the settings of novels by Colette.

The private room we  reserved had a gorgeous crystal chandelier, big, comfortable, cushioned chairs and an ample wooden table. The food (kosher dairy) is fresh and appetizing. The usual quiches, salads, and pasta were on the menu, the difference being that they were obviously hand-made, with care,  each with its little innovative twist.  The pastries looked rich and amazingly decadent. A good setting for six foodies getting to know each other.

The participants were:

Yaelian, of the Finnish Oranges and Honey blog

Irene Sharon Hodes

Liz Steinberg of Café Liz

Sarah Melamed of Foodbridge

Michelle Kemp-Nordell of Baroness Tapuzina

…and myself.

Several other bloggers who had hoped to come couldn’t make it, but we hope to see them at the next meeting, in early March.

We became comfortable with each other quickly, and conversation, irrigated by Dalton Fumé Blanc wine,  flowed uninterrupted till when our orders arrived. Then we fell silent, concentrating on the flavors of the dishes set down before us.

I had gnocchi with artichokes and grilled cherry tomatoes.

Liz had Caesar Salad.

Irène had seared tuna with a scallion pancake and Jasmine rice.

Baroness Tapuzina had consommé with chunks of grilled tuna and strips of pasta.

Yaelian’s quiche and Sarah’s order, which I don’t remember, didn’t photograph well (my little Cannon A750 doesn’t do well at night). I’m hoping that the other bloggers will have better photos.

But we did have a hilarious time photographing each other taking pictures of the food. Well, it was a foodie meeting, what can you do?

The management was amused and intrigued by the flock of noisy women and the bursts of laughter coming from our reserved table. Over the evening, they kindly sent over  a dish new on their menu, gnocchi stuffed with prune preserve and covered in a techinah-based sauce. That dish wasn’t the best of what we tasted: I personally found that the flavors jarred. But my gnocchi with artichokes was very good.

Then the chef, Sharon Artzi, came over to introduce himself and explain the dishes we had ordered.

At dessert time, the management gifted our table with a little extra:

Myself, I had an eclair split open and stuffed with strawberries and cream. An elegant variation on strawberry shortcake.

As much as the lovely setting and delicious food, we enjoyed the exchange of ideas, stimulation, and mutual support. It was a fun, fun evening. I look forward to the next event, and hope you Israeli food bloggers out there join us.

Kosher Cooking Carnival #46

Israeli Kitchen is hosting this month’s KCC, a creation of Batya at Me-Ander.

Recipes, restaurant reviews, and the food thoughts burning tracks through the Jewish blogosphere. The Kosher Cooking Carnival leads you to all of that and introduces you to blogs with which you were, mayhap, unfamiliar. Open up some links and see for yourself.

Vegetables

Abbi at Confessions of A Start-Up Wife improvised a noodle-cabbage dish that turned out a hit for Shabbat…with her husband.

Leah at Ingathered guest-posted a tempting recipe on Cooking Manager’s blog: grilled eggplant and bell pepper dip.

Restaurants

Jet-lagged Batya at Me-Ander found comfort in a NY resto.

Soup

Leah at Ingathered shows us a cross-cultural chicken soup, with an added recipe for the Yemenite hawaij spice blend.

Sweet Things

Frum Cuisine calls it cherry crumb kugel, but it sure looks like a good cobbler recipe to me.

Pesky Settler offers a cinnamon chocolate-chip cake that wowed her family on Shabbat.

A pareve strawberry-cashew pudding features on Leora’s Here in HP.

Shimshonit offers a naughty recollection. And a jam tart recipe that made me want to get up and bake it, right now.

In Mol Araan says a mouthful about chocolate honey cake in her erudite, entertaining English/Yiddish blog.

Jamie on the Kosher.Com blog writes about a huge apple harvest,  puff-pastry apple purses, and candy-coated apples.

Annette at Craft Stew gives us the world’s easiest lemon pie.

Meat Dishes

Mrs. S. at Our Shiputzim re-created her grandmother’s recipe for sweet and sour meatballs made with cranberry sauce. (Thanks for the hat tip, Mrs. S!)

Hannah at Cooking Manager cooked up the most savory stuffed cabbage.

The Russian/English food blog Cooking with Yiddishe Mama / offers elegant recipes with a Russian flair. This recipe for home-made kishke is far healthier than any you can buy.

Zahava of Kosher Camembert went overboard with her brisket. Find out what she did with 10 pounds of meat!

Baroness Tapuzina did a gorgeous Georgian chicken in garlic/walnut sauce a while back.

Speaking of chicken, Israeli Kitchen bought some poussins (baby chickens) and stuffed with them rice and pine nuts.

What Kosher Folks Are Saying

Batya of Me-Ander is shocked to discover that meals on El Al flights have gone ‘way, ‘way down.

Soccer Dad laments the demise of his  favorite kugel-maker.

Baking

Ilana-Davita’s easy recipe for lighter pastry dough is meant for savory fillings, but I think it would work for sweet, too.

My  sweet, light challah recipe is an easy pleaser for Shabbat.

I hope you enjoyed KCC #46. For me, it was a pleasure to put together. Huge thanks to Batya and to each blogger who submitted a post.

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Liked it?

* Why not submit your own recipe for next month’s carnival? Just chose one of your own blog posts and go to the carnival submission form. It’s easy to fill out.

* And since part of the idea is to help publicize each other’s blogs, please link to this post on your own blog. Spread the good word!

* Batya’s always looking for someone to host a KCC. Email her with your hosting offer here: shilohmuse at yahoo dot com.

* Next month’s KCC will be hosted by Pesky Settler.

* So much good food! Browse through the archives of the KCC here:

Do you know the Kosher Cooking Carnival? If you don’t,  it’s time you did.

It’s a collection of links to blog entries discussing recipes, food traditions, stories, Jewish law, restaurant or cookbook reviews – anything related to kosher food. For example, this month mominisrael shows us a cooking ingredient spreadsheet; Pesky Settler presents a psychedelic tie-dyed cheesecake; and I submitted my cholent entry.

Batya at me-ander is hosting this month’s KCC, up now. Be sure to visit and get the full story on what the kosher foodies are talking about and cooking.

And next month’s KCC will be here, at Israeli Kitchen. Submit your link here to show the blogosphere your food thoughts. Deadline for submission is October 25th. Hope to see your link soon!

…on Cooking Manager, a great new blog about efficiently managing your kitchen resources and time. My post is all about chickpeas.