Israeli Breakfast

Hi, friends! Apologies for the lack of posting in the past few weeks- with work, GRE prep, and trying to go out and have fun in the middle of all of this, i haven't had too much time to sit down and write.

Looking through my posts, I realized that I haven't blogged about food-related matters in quite some time.  For me, this is absolutely crazy.  The foodie in me is dying to tell you about all of the foods that I've tasted and fallen in love with this summer right now, but i'll have to space them out over the next few weeks.  I have done some serious eating this summer (here's hoping those jeans still fit!), and taken a lot of pictures of food to boot.

So, I thought we could start with the first meal of the day, a typical Israeli brunch/breakfast! A few weekends ago, with a friend's recommendation and some good online reviews, my friend Michele and I went to Dylan's Art Cafe in Tel Aviv.   I can always count on Michele for an insightful, lively conversation, and this time it was accompanied by equally awesome food!

The breakfast started off with two drinks for each of us- we picked hot tea and orange juice.  This was closely followed by an assortment of breads accompanied by cheese, yogurt spread, olives, roasted red peppers, and eggplant. I could have made a meal of just the bread and cheese, but we hadn't even got to the main event yet!

In true Israeli fashion, our meal came with classic Israeli salad, which consists of tomatoes and cucumbers, dressed with lemon juice, olive oil and sometimes parsley. I've had Israeli salad many times this summer, and it's definitely a staple that I'll hold on to when I go back to the United States.

Just as we had caught up on each others' summers and began talking about our respective plans for The Future (sob, sob. Luckily, Michele is a year older than me and gives out great advice), our main dishes arrived.  I ordered Shakshuka, and Michele ordered eggs on toast.

Shakshuka is this great tomato-based egg dish, which is basically a few eggs cooked into a savory tomato/vegetable sauce.  In a word, YUM. Talk about starting your day with a bang! Shakshuka is delicious, and this was one of the best I've had in Israel :)

After eating all of this food, we rolled out of the restaurant feeling pretty damn good.  We walked around Tel Aviv in that post-meal coma that I love so much, until I headed back to Rehovot on the train.  I can't wait to do another Israeli breakfast one of these weekends before I head back home :) Also, thank you Michele for a great day!  Whether it's in Israel or the U.S. or anywhere else, I hope we get to meet up again soon!