Passover Shopping

This year I decided, through some incredible attack of true craziness to do most food shopping in the famous "Machaneh Yehudah" shuk - (marketplace) in Jerusalem. There are many people that love shopping here, and others who, like me, do not like having to shlep tons of food in bags all over the place. But there is certainly a magic in places like this, and one cannot beat the prices or the selection.

So while buying (in two trips) fruit, veggies, carp (to make homemade Gifilte Fish) a 7 Kilo Turkey, spices, drinking glasses, wine glasses, tea and coffee glasses and on and on and on... I snapped a couple of pictures.

Machaneh Yehudah is already very crowded as you can see, but will get nutso by tomorrow and certainly on Sunday and then on Monday morning. (Towards Monday afternoon the prices start dropping drastically - but only the brave or the very poor wait till then to buy food for Passover.) There is nothing on this planet that could convince me to go back there over the next three days. So this morning I decided to brave it. My daughter and I actually had a pretty good time, though it was all shlepping and buying and looking and comparing prices.

Got 4 Kilo of strawberries for 20 NIS. That is 9 pds. of Strawberries for the equivalent of a bit less than $5. Got some great Kiwis, around 3 pds. for 22 - around $5. The Turkey and Chicken are fresh; the carp I picked out of the tank while those mamma's were swimming; and the melons and parsley and basil and basil - all fresh were a delight to the nose.

I do not know anyone in the pictures below. I just snapped a couple (my hands were holding bags - big heavy bags most of the time!)

This picture is of the main thouroghfare in Machaneh Yehudah. It leads from Agrippas Street straight to Jaffa Street.



One of the many "stalls" to buy Fresh Fish. (Fresh Carp was going for 20 NIS for a kilo. Little less than $5 for 2.2 pds.)




This lady was not all that happy with me for taking this picture. This is one of the zillion "veggie" stalls. Carrots were going for 3 NIS a Kilo. Around $.65 cents for 2.2 pds.



I am sorry I did not take more pics. But I was kind of "bag heavy". My daughter refused to let me try and get a picture of "Rosh Keves" (Head of a lamb) but I am going to do it!

Anyway I did get almost EVERYTHING done today including my oven!

Now that oven is so clean you can see the reflection of the vacuum cleaner in the oven glass!

(The kitchen though is a MESS still...but that will be fixed with an hour or so of cleaning tomorrow.)



Next we move on to the Seder recipes!
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments

Paula and Elwood's Poetic Palace said…
Come on.. shopping for fresh products in an open market! It doesn't get any better than that. I love fresh produce and go out of my way to find open markets whenever possible.

Nice job on the oven.. six burners no less!.. That is for some serious cooking..

Ted
As you celebrate Passover, may your blessings increase and may those who share your seder, know happiness and peace.
3/30/2007 5:36 PM
Deborah Dowd said…
Thanks for taking us along to the market, however if I get to Jerusalem, I will be watching out for the lady who looked less than pleased! here in the US we are relegated to these types of open markets during the summer, but ours don't look nearly as colorful as yours!
3/30/2007 9:51 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baking Powder

Image
This is the last of Paula's recipes for "food & cooking staples" so far. She writes: Sometimes you run out of an item midway through baking. It is fun to be able to make the missing content out of items you have sitting in your cupboards. Baking Powder Ingredients: 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch 2 Tablespoons Cream of Tartar 1 Tablespoon Baking Soda Just whisk together until evenly blended Baking Art Print 12 in. x 6 in. Buy at AllPosters.com Fifty Percent (50%) of all revenue of any product purchased through Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen goes to help feed needy families in Israel. The funds are donated directly to the needy families - regardless of religion, race or creed. The remaining 50% will be donated to a Rape Crises Center for Women in Israel. Paula obviously has a knack in the kitchen. I took this recipe but remember folks it implies you have Cream of Tartar and implies Cornstarch and Baking soda. If I had all this stocked in my kitchen - trust me I would al...
Read more

Shrek Cookbook - Book Review

Image
(***Due to layout of this review, if viewed in an RSS reader, certain sections may seem duplicated.) Before we begin, the normal disclaimer. This book review was solicited by the publishers of the Shrek Cookbook and contains my opinion of the book. For kosher readers of Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen - This is not a "kosher" cookbook though the majority of recipes in the Shrek Cookbook can be used as is, or with just a few sane and healthy substitutions, can be kept kosher. (Indeed as far as I could tell every recipe in this book can be kept kosher.) It is not that difficult to find equivalent and healthy kosher substitutes these days, especially in the United States. Book Details: The Shrek Cookbook , published by Dorling Kindersley ( www.dk.com ) is a publicized as a cookbook for children (ages 4-8). It's 30+ recipes come in Ringbound Hard Cover, so the pages can be turned easily while the book lays on a counter top. The font is large, catering to the child and p...
Read more

Chicken-Rice Roger

Image
Nancy sent this one in. Help! I Have A Fire In My Kitchen seems to have lit the fire in her kitchen! She writes: I have an ancient cookbook titled "The I Hate To Cook Book". It looks like the Dead Sea Scrolls: it's a paper-back with brown, crispy pages which are crumbling at the edges and more than quite a few of the recipes have large grease stains on them (shows you how wonderfully often they were referred to). I checked the publishing date and it reads 1960! I know...I'm as old as Methuselah. The recipes in this cookbook are about as easy as you'll ever find, so if you are in the category of "cooking for dummies", this particular recipe will please you no end. This recipe is one that was so popular that I even took it to weekend get-aways with my husband's cousin and her husband. We two women stayed up all night chewing the fat, and when we saw the morning light sliding through the Venetian blinds in the kitchen, we took the partially devou...
Read more