I know, I've been slacking lately. I really need to start making consistent posts. I'll try to aim for at least one new recipe each week. It's been hard recently because I just moved back into my dorm after being on winter break for 5 weeks- two of which I spent in Israel volunteering with a group of students from the University of Maryland and Binghamton University. At first I was a bit skeptical about the whole experience, but overall, I'm really glad I went on the trip because I met a lot of awesome people, saw some things I've never seen before, spent time with my family, and ate some great food.

While on the actual trip with my group we stayed at sub-par places, and ate rice and schnitzel almost every night for dinner. One night, however, we were taken to Ben Yehuda- one of the most well known streets in Jerusalem. I decided to explore with a few friends. We shopped around for a while, but when it came time for dinner, one of them decided to take us to a Yemenite restaurant a few streets over from the main area. I didn't have high expectations because it was a tiny place and there was only a few things on the menu. I decided to order something called Jachnoon, which is this really flaky rolled up piece of dough, served with a hard boiled egg. Surprisingly, it was delicious and really fun to unravel. I never expected to get good Yemenite food in the heart of Jerusalem.

Throughout the trip I ate a lot of the traditional cheap Israeli foods such as shawarma, falafel, and hummus, but I also had some really top notch home cooked meals. After the scheduled trip with the group was over, I stayed with a few different family members for a couple extra nights. While staying with my cousin Mazal, we had a lunch with my aunt and a few of my other cousins. She made homemade couscous. Yum. Nope, this is not the stuff that you get in a box and add water to. It is completely homemade. Pretty cool, huh? I don't really know what to call the fish dish that is sitting on top of the couscous, but it was amazing. All I remember from asking about the recipe is that it has coriander and turmeric. Helpful, right?

Immediately following lunch, my cousin decided to whip up a microwave chocolate cake. I watched as she quickly mixed the ingredients in a bowl, and literally no more than ten minutes later it was done. I was shocked. I've seen recipes for microwave chocolate cakes in mugs, but never ones for a whole cake. I definitely want to experiment with this technique in the future. I wrote down the recipe, but I left it at home so I'll post it later.