Tidbits

The TevOf chicken and chicken legs I served my family and guests were a big success, and everyone unanimously declared this chicken to be much tastier and juicier than a "regular" chicken.

By EVA BEN-DAVID
The TevOf chicken and chicken legs I served my family and guests were a big success, and everyone unanimously declared this chicken to be much tastier and juicier than a "regular" chicken. TevOf claims its chickens are healthier, since they are fed with better food, don't get antibiotics and contain about 33 percent less fat, compared to regular chicken. The price is on the high side, but it's worth it to spend the extra money; a whole chicken is NIS 25.90 a kilo, chicken legs are NIS 40 a kilo and schnitzels are NIS 50 a kilo. Purim is around the corner, and you can get hamentashen in many different varieties. Lehem Erez has absolutely delicious ones, especially those that are baked with organic flour and poppy seeds; the other varieties sold at this chain are made from chocolate dough with chocolate filling, and halva dough with date filling. The price for one kilo is NIS 79. Something that will look special on your festive table is the bread in the shape of a hamentash, complete with poppy seed filling; the price for this bread is NIS 24 at Lehem Erez. The Hexter bakeries also have yummy hamentashen, prepared with butter and almonds. The different fillings are poppy seeds, nuts, dates, and chocolate; a 350-gr. box is NIS 24. The English Cake bakeries sell many sweet, oriental pastries you can choose from to assemble your mishloah manot, as well as hamentashen with traditional fillings and mini-hamentashen, filled with plum, apricot, cherry or cashew nuts. Regular hamentashen are NIS 40 a kilo, and the mini-size sells for NIS 22 for a 250-gr. box. Also available at English Cake are hamentashen made with whole wheat flower and without added sugar, and hamentashen made from yeast dough. At the Supersol chain you can find the Gidron hamentashen, filled with dates, chocolate, plum, poppy seeds and nuts. These cakes are not as delicious as those you can find at your local bakery, but the price is reasonable: NIS 13-NIS 14 for a 500-gr. box. Nestle' has come up with something that is a combination of the traditional Crembo and ice cream, and this novelty is called Lekbo. My kids and their friends absolutely loved the Lekbo vanilla ice cream on a biscuit bottom, covered with a layer of chocolate. A box of six is NIS 26.90, and the price for one Lekbo, wrapped in foil and sitting in a little plastic cup, is NIS 5, so this is not exactly a cheap treat. Beit Hashita sells spicy olives or olives with herbs, for those who want something else than the plain variety. The olives are pitted, so they're convenient in use; a can is NIS 8.90. Persimmon is a wonderful, sweet fruit that is in season right now, but the dried variety is also a tasty snack. Mor Perot Hasharon markets dried persimmon, and you can find them in Co-op supermarkets and other selected stores at NIS 9 for 100 gr. Baraka is now offering tehina with different flavors, besides the traditional variety. The available flavors are tehina with parsley, tehina with za'atar and tehina made from whole sesame seeds; also new are two types of tehina sauce in a squeeze bottle. The jars of Baraka tehina are NIS 14-NIS 16, and a 300-gr. bottle of tehina sauce is NIS 12.