DIM SUM - East Gourmet Seafood Restaurant, Elite Restaurant and Lunasia Chinese Cuisine - IN SAN GABRIEL VALLEY, LOS ANGELES

(L) Chicken Feet, (R) Sticky Rice Wrap
taken with iphone

Dim Sum is popularly known as a Cantonese dining experience associated with Chinese tea and small food dishes served during brunch-like hours. Dim Sum originated in southern China (the Guangdong province and Hong Kong) as a Cantonese tradition and its history is rooted with traditional tea houses found along the roadsides where many tired travelers and rural farmers would stop and rest. These tea houses initially only served tea, but expanded its offerings to include small snacks, which today has popularized into dim sum. For this reason, the words "yum cha", which literally means "drink tea", are words used synonymously with dim sum. (note: dim sum literally translates to "touch the heart"). Many Chinese families have dim sum on Sundays and use it as a way to get the family together. The traditional dim sum dishes include Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gau), Pork Dumpings, (Siu Mai), Steamed Roast Pork Buns (Cha Siu Bau), Fried Turnip Cake, Chicken Feet and Sticky Rice Wrap (see photos above). Dim Sum service hours vary, but typically is served daily from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., though if you go towards the end you may end up with very limited food items.

Choosing a Dim Sum restaurant is not easy, especially with the proliferation of restaurants in the highly populated Asian areas of Monterey Park, Alhambra, San Gabriel, Rosemead in the San Gabriel Valley (and I'm not going to even mention Arcadia, Rowland Heights or Diamond Bar). But competition breeds better tasting foods and lower prices, which is what you should expect at Chinese restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley.

So how do you choose a good dim sum restaurant? Usually long lines outside a restaurant is a good barometer of how the food is, however, I found one restaurant that proved me wrong. So, when you're unsure, ask a few people who live there to get their opinions -- if you get the same answer from different people, you have your spot!

During my trip in Los Angeles, I visited three Dim Sum Restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley -- East Gourmet Seafood Restaurant, Elite Restaurant, and Lunasia Chinese Cuisine - and have provided my opinions on whether you should visit these places or if there are better neighboring restaurants nearby.

East Gourmet Seafood Restaurant - Rosemead, CA
8118 Garvey Avenue # A, (626) 288-9128
Dim Sum - 7 Days a week - 8:00 am - 3:00 pm

(L) Taro with meat covered with almonds, (R) Sticky Rice Wrap

I'm going to start this review by saying East Gourmet Seafood Restaurant was my favorite dim sum restaurant visit during this trip (and that's why the name of the restaurant is colored in green to indicate you should 'go'!). Why? The foods were tasty, in good portion size, and surprisingly priced inexpensively.

A few things to note:

1. Sticky Rice Wrap ($1.98) - ABSOLUTE MUST ORDER! I loved this dish and as you can tell in the photo above, I had to stop myself so I could take a photo of it. Two takeaways from this dish are -- very flavorful and an abundance of meat. Some places skimp on the meat and leave you with too much rice, but East Gourmet Seafood Restaurant balances it perfectly to give you meat and rice with every bite!
2. Staple items ($1.98) - Har Gao, Shiu May, Spare ribs with black bean sauce, Cha Siu Bau - all very good.
3. Porridge with 1,000 year old egg ($1.98) - Very very tasty and can split this item into three bowls.
4. Taro with meat covered with almonds ($1.98) - It looked good, but didn't taste as good as I thought it would. I would pass on this dish.

Sometimes I like to order a few special dishes with noodles to supplement the staple dim sum dishes (and is a good filler). At East Gourmet Seafood we decided to order the following...

$7.95 Lobster with Yee Mein Special ... "Wow, that's cheap!" was our reaction to this dish. The entree comes with one medium sized lobster cooked in garlic, scallions and yee mein. I had a similar dish in New York and this would easily cost $15 to $20 for one lobster with noodles, but you can order this for $7.95 in San Gabriel (why am I living in NYC again? haha). Since we thought it was a bargain, we ordered one for each of our tables and it turned out "just okay", which was a bit disappointing. The dish needed some more flavor - or salt ... But, the funny thing is, Chinese people can spot a deal when they see one, and that probably explains why I saw this special entree on every other table!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at East Gourmet Seafood Restaurant. All the dim sum dishes were $1.98, yes that is not a typo, $1.98 for all dim sum dishes -- shrimp rice rolls, har gau, shiu mai, stick rice wrap, char siu bau, etc -- all of it! Dim sum is served seven days a week and you can believe that there are lines outside this restaurant! Only negative I would add to this review is that parking is terrible here due to the supermarket and other restaurants in the plaza. But overall, I will revisit this restaurant during my next trip to Los Angeles.

Elite Restaurant - Monterey Park, California
700 S. Atlantic Blvd, (626) 292-9888
Dim Sum: Mon - Friday 10-3 pm , Saturday-Sunday - 9 to 3pm

(L) Deep fried bean curd skin wrap (taken with iphone)

My opinion on Elite Restaurant was okay. There is not too much memorable things to say about this restaurant, other than it has taken over the old Diho Supermarket space. The only dish I enjoyed there was the deep fried bean curd skin wrap. The other staple dishes were okay and not oily. Elite Restaurant would serve as a quick and easy place to go if you have a craving for dim sum and if don't have much time on your hands. I prefer NBC Seafood restaurant up the street.

Lunasia Chinese Cuisine - Alhambra, CA
500 W. Main Street, Suite A, (626) 308-3222
Dim Sum: Monday - Friday 10am - 3pm, Saturday, Sunday and Holidays 9am - 3pm

(L) Egg yolk bun, (R) Macao Roast Pork Belly - taken w/ iphone

Lunasia Chinese Cuisine was one of my least favorite dim sum spots during my trip (and I have colored it red to say "stop, don't go"). So I am wondering why there was a line outside? Is there only one dim sum restaurant on Main Street? That might be the reason since I thought most of the foods were saltier than usual, while other foods were tasteless! And to top it all off, the food was pricier than usual with small dishes at $2.38, medium dishes at $3.38, large dishes at $4.38, Speciality at $5.98 and KIT $6.98. If you didn't notice, the price increased incrementally by $1.00. For a look at the menu, click here.

Two interesting things to point out:

1. Egg-yolk buns ($3.38) - I usually love this dish, however, Lunasia's version of this stands out from its competitors, and not in a good way. The cream inside was 'wet' and the fluids started oozing out of the bun once it was opened -- which proved to be an extremely messy dish. Taste? Sweet as it should be, but again, the textures, or I should say fluids streaming out of the bun was a big distraction from the taste. I would not order this again.
2. Macao Roasted Pork Belly ($6.98) - Pork belly has become a trendy item to order and I would say this dish is similar to the roast pig orders from the Chinese bbq places. The crunchiness of the skin is great, however, the dish was over-salted and was too salty for my taste.

Overall, I would skip this restaurant if possible. The food does not justify the prices here. You're much better off traveling to Monterey Park for better dim sum options.

Side Notes: As I briefly mentioned above, there are a lot of Dim Sum Restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley and it is quite difficult to visit all of them during a trip. The aforementioned names are new restaurants that I tried, but in the past, there have been a few restaurants that have been good and I listed their names and addresses below.

1. NBC Seafood Restaurant - 404 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA, (626) 282-2323
2. Ocean Star Seafood - 145 N Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA, (626) 308-2128

Happy Eating in LA!

Eating my way through LA ... coming soon!

I figured since I was going to stay in Los Angeles for an extended period of time, I was bound to try the same genre of foods over and over again, so why not create a summary of the places I've been to and tell you which ones I've liked best among the restaurants I've tried. That way, its easier for YOU, as a traveler to best select which places you want to try while here; and easier for me to write about them in a category (or at least I think this would be easier than writing a daily journal - ahem notice the lack of daily journals since I was in LA?).

So my preliminary thinking is that I have enough ammo to cover DIM SUM, HOLE IN THE WALL PLACES, FAVORITE OLDIES BUT GOODIES and maybe just maybe tell you about some places I wished I had visited while there. Since LA is rather large, the areas I will mainly cover is a 30 mile radius from San Gabriel Valley.

I almost feel like this will be an episode of Man vs. Food, but its not -- I think it will be more like Anthony Bourdain, with the hopes of influencing thousands of people to try the foods that I eat. Ah, it would be a dream to be working with Anthony Bourdain ... but that is a lofty goal... so, until then, over the next few days, I will journal my "eating my way through LA " with the first installation centered around DIM SUM ... until then, as Julia Childs would say -- Bon Appetit!

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE IN LOS ANGELES... DAY 2

Day 2 ... What does this day have in store for me in Los Angeles?

12:00 p.m. KIRIKO - I met Eric, a high school friend, for lunch at Kiriko Sushi in Santa Monica... It was Eric's second time ordering real sushi, so we decided to splurge as we ordered the omikase, a specially prepared meal by the chef that has a combination of sushi, sashimi, specialty appetizers, etc ...

It may have been a bit "much" for lunch -- but we left the place completely satisfied with the decision. Below are photos of the chef's choices for the day, along with a photo of a celebrity we saw there... :D

Photos were taken with my iphone 3Gs ...

Top to bottom:

- Mango wrapped in smoked salmon topped with caviar

- Monkfish liver with shiso (and plum pasto?)

- Homemade tofu


** all three dishes were very good; I would have thought the monkfish liver would taste strange, but it oddly tasted like foie gras






Left to right:

- Grilled soy marinated sword fish (not a fan)

- Halibut tempura with shiso & plum pasto (AMAZING)








- White Blue Fin Tuna (yum...)

- Yellowtail (typical)

- Amber Jack (delish)






Assortment of Sushi:

- Can't recall
- Red Snapper
- Spanish Mackerel
- Scallop
- Toro






And... to end the meal, they gave us a blue crab hand roll. :D


yum yum yum...








Do you recognize this female actress? If not, you can catch Nicolette Sheridan on Desperate Housewives. Who would have thought I would see a celebrity in Santa Monica.






After lunch, I spent the rest of the day with my family ... When it came time to eat, we decided to visit LOS BURRITOS in Echo Park. This restaurant, aka shack, provided some of the best burritos I've ever had while growing up in Los Angeles. Yes, this 300 square feet structure has some kick-ass burritos... I highly recommend the Combination Burrito or the Bacon and Egg Burrito with a medium sized Horchata (rice milk)... If you order the combination burrito, beware, its a juicy burrito and the wetness is bound to spill over onto your hands, so make sure to grab some extra napkins!

And that was day 2 - another day eating around LA and feasting on foods I had when I was a child -- ah, good ole memories!



KIRIKO, 11301 Olympic Blvd #102. West Los Angeles, CA (310) 478-7769
LOS BURRITOS, 1312 Echo Park. Los Angeles, CA (213) 977-9102

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE IN LOS ANGELES - DAY 1

Every time I visit LA, its just too short! The days are filled with seeing family and friends, while leisurely visiting some of my favorite foods while growing up. This trip (I am still here) is no different, but I hope I get some sleep. :D

Day 1 ...

1:00 p.m. LAX AIRPORT - I land at LAX and instantly notice the 50 degree weather differential from NYC to here. Its 80 degrees and I ceremoniously begin to take my winter jacket off and enjoy the sun rays. My friend picks me up and we head to the suburbs of Los Angeles!

SPAM WALL OF FAME (left); 442nd Street Combo (right) at Shakas

2:30 p.m. SHAKAS (Monterey Park, LA) We are at Shakas's, one of the first Hawaiian restaurants around our neighborhood, and this was one of the many "chomping" grounds during my high school years... I haven't been here in two years? maybe more? But I am here now because life is not complete without the sesame chicken and spam musubi here! So I ordered the 442nd Combo ($8.95) w/ a side of spam musubi ($1.95, should have gotten the classic Shaka plate -- however, I didn't want the teriyaki beef -- but i forgot I could substitute it -- man, I am rusty!!!)... As I open the box, I learned that they changed the classic sesame chicken drumstick with chicken pieces ... :( ... as I take a bite of it, I knew it tasted all wrong - the flavorings were the same, but the texture and feel of it was not what I had salivated and longed for ... :( However, the spam musubi was as good as I remembered it... sad... :( Would I come again? I think the likelihood just diminished because my favorite sesame chicken is no longer a favorite with these chicken chunks ... however, if I DO come again, I am ordering the Shaka Plate and will have them substitute the beef for chicken cause their teriyaki sauce is yummy! p.s. They have Hawaiian Sun drinks here (my fav is the Strawberry Guava and the Pass-o-Guava) and Hawaiian Shaved Ice!

4:30 p.m. I visit my parents at Rose Hills Mortuary and enjoy the LA sunset with my brother.







6:30 p.m. A MOTHER'S COOKING (Suburbs of LA) -- Now, I'm at a friend's house, where her mother has prepared a classic Vietnamese dish. I can't recall the name of it at the moment, but it was delish... Vietnamese noodles, Crab mixed with dried shrimp and egg, half-sliced tomatoes -- all cooking on the stove for about 2.5 hours... There is nothing like home (click my heels), there is nothing like home (click my heels)... HA HA. I miss a mother's hand in good ole' home cooking.... Thank you for mothers! (btw, I got the recipe for this, so I can cook it at home!)

9:30 p.m. I am driving towards Korea Town to meet my brother and his friends at BCD Tofu House. Is it me? Or does Lady Gaga's song "Pokerface" feel different while listening in a car? It was almost electrifying -- yes, imagine me bopping my head to the song and then singing -- ma ba ba ba POKERFACE ... You and I...da da da ... POKERFACE ... :D

10:00 p.m. BCD TOFU HOUSE (KOREA TOWN, LA) -- um, a little bit of "siu yeh" - aka Late Night eating in Korea Town in Los Angeles. I thought it was funny that we went here This is one of the 14 franchises around the world, with one in New York and another in Japan and Korea! I didn't order the typical Soon Du Boo, as normal people would, instead, I ordered a plate of steamed dumplings - 7 for $3.99 - what a steal! The sauce was delicious! (sorry no iphone photos)


11:30 p.m. CRAZY HOOKS (Korea Town, LA) -- Um, anyone see The Pirates of the Caribbean movie? If not, come to this bar and you'll feel like you're in the hull of one of the ships -- pirates abound (hung from the ceiling), posters of the movie decorate the wall, and the typical skull and bulls (flagship sign of a pirate boat) flag is swaying in the room. This place is not short of "corn-e-ness", but its a chill spot to relax and have a conversation with friends... which is what we did as my brother's friends and I talked about our memories in Hong Kong, our different timed travel adventures in Argentina... and just about life... We ordered a Tower of Beer and since I was driving, I had a luxurious $7 Virgin Pina Colada... (man, food and drinks are expensive in K-town -- and that's not just NYC)


1:45 p.m. HOMEWARD BOUND IN THE DENSE FOG... And, just like I started the trip to Korea Town with a song from Lady Gaga, I ended it with a song from Far East Movement -- Like a G6 ... Like a G6 ... now, i'm feeling so fly like a g6 ....

FOOD ENVY at La Ribaudiere in Jarnac, France

photos resized for web

I think that's all I have to say or show you... I was recently in France for a friend's wedding and the photos you see above are from her rehearsal dinner at La Ribaudiere in Jarnac, France (south of Paris)...

I have to admit, my friends are foodies, so they know what they want. For our menu, the couple tested a lot of different entrees/appetizers the night before and even came up with their own dishes ... so they had the perfect menu (well at least in my opinion)...

This is a sampling of what we had:

- A bite of lobster wrapped in cucumber (compliments of the chef) - a dim sum looking item
- A cantaloupe puree with champagne (cleansed the palette)
- A chestnut soup served with bacon, foie gras and a perfectly boiled egg (DELICIOUS, refer to photo)
- Squab wrapped in bacon with chanterelle mushrooms
- Ice cream covered with a chocolate flambe (amazing... and i may be titling this dish incorrectly (refer to photo)

We had a few other items as well, but wow, just thinking about this dinner is making my mouth water ... not sure how much the dinner cost, but I can safely say it was not cheap.

So if you're ever around Jarnac and celebrating a special occasion, I would highly recommend this restaurant.

Our last day in Cairo and we're scrambling to eat all of our favorite foods for the last time...

January 20, 2010 -- Our Last Day in Cairo Scrambling for some Good Food! --

Its our last day in Cairo and Wilson and I are enjoying a few things we love to eat here. Call us crazy, but once we find the things we love to eat, we're serious creatures of habit and have to have it over and over again!

In no particular order, here are a few food items we enjoyed eating / drinking and having in Egypt (and some we found again on our last day in Egypt)...

Wilson and I stumbled upon El ABD, a dessert shop located on Talaat Harb street in Cairo, and among the sweet cakes and breads, there was also ice cream. The fruit flavors -- mango and strawberry -- are OUT OF THIS WORLD. It was so fresh -- you could taste the fruit! It was sooo good; I wish we could have fresh fruit ice cream like this in the States... We also tried two other flavors, chocolate and vanilla. Chocolate was a close second, but finishes third between the four flavors. And, well, Vanilla -- there was nothing exciting about that. Cost 3 e.p.

Ah... the Egyptian rice. There must be butter in there... cause, its ridiculously good here. There are these noodle like things (in the photo, its the brown strips) that adds an interesting texture and flavor to the rice. We usually had the rice with grilled chicken, which was also one of our other favorite food finds on the trip. However, I'm not sure if we ordered the chicken only because of the rice; or did we order the rice for the chicken. Either way, both the grilled chicken and the rice were extremely yummy!

grilled chicken was always very juicy and flavorful -- full of lemon and salt and pepper seasonings. The best chicken and rice dish we had was in Bahariya Desert (our desert chef cooked up some amazing chicken and rice; and the other was on our way back to Cairo -- and I couldn't even name the restaurant if I tried). If you're in Dahab, Funny Mummy and King Chicken are pretty good! But seriously, you can't go wrong with chicken and rice in Egypt (or in Jordan!). Chicken and Rice Price: 18 - 35 e.p. Rice, if sold separately costs approximately 4-7 e.p.

Mixed Sandwich -- Fuul (essentially refried beans), french fries and felafel. Man, this sounds disgusting, but its just the perfect mixture of salty, sweet and crunchy. Don't knock this until you try it. This is easily found at Felfela Take-Away (which is where we had our last taste); or if you are at a local vendor, you will most likely have to pick and choose to put this into the sandwich. Price: 2-5 e.p. (though not pictured here, fuul with egg is also a great combo!! or fuul with mostly anything would be wonderful mix)

Ah, Koshary. From the first time we had this in Khan Al Kalilli, we were in love with it. Its a simple dish -- rice, macaroni, chick peas, lentil, those brown noodle like things covered with a light tomato sauce. So simple, so easy, yet so yummy. There is also a lemon-garlic sauce that you can pour over it if you need some extra flavor. This is available everywhere -- street vendors, Felfela (our favorite quick eats place and where we had it last), and their own stand-alone stores. This is an extremely popular dish in Cairo! If you're in Luxor, DO NOT MISS out on El Zayeem near the Nefertiti Hotel. Price: 2 - 5 e.p.

Not sure exactly what the name of this was. Muhabiyya? Its a sweet dessert - if I would venture a guess at what it was made out of -- rice, milk, sugar water, maybe some coconut ... and then it was topped off with pistachios. Oh so delicious -- and you can find it or a variation of it at a dessert shop. Price: varies on the size -- 0.50 to 1 e.p.

You may find this hilarious, but these cookies are no joke. Mcvitie's have been one of my favorite brand of cookies ever since I studied abroad in England and it just so happened that we found some while in Egypt and Jordan. HobNobs -- the Original -- Oatmeal type -- damn, good. Great for road trips, great for hiking, great for anything you do! And... I don't even remember how much it cost cause it wasn't important. Price: 4.5 JD / 7 EP somewhere around there?

My two favorite drinks on the trip were the fresh fruit drinks and the tea. If the fresh fruit drinks were not available, these bottled juice drinks were fantastic. Guava and Mango were my two favorite fresh fruit drinks -- it also had the fruit pulp, which made it taste real and not concentrated... The bottled ones are packed with a lot of sugar, but wow, were they good (maybe it was just the sugar!)! But if you could have your choice of coca cola or this fruit drink for the same calories, I'd choose the fruit drink all day long. Price: 5-10 e.p. depending on where you purchase the drink.

You can't leave Egypt without having a cup of tea. While here, you'll notice a lot of people walking around with trays filled with tea only to be hand-delivered to the workers at the butcher shops or even shop vendors.... you'll even find loads of people in coffee shops having their morning/afternoon/dinner tea... why? because tea is like water to them. That is, tea with sugar is like water to them. Yellow Lipton tea was what they served mostly everywhere; or there own mint leaf tea. Whatever form of tea you ordered, you almost always needed some sugar in it. For me, I learned two spoonfuls of sugar did it for me (for wilson it was one) ... and that was the drink -- tea with two spoonfuls of sugar (...makes the medicine go down, makes the medicine go down). Price: 1 e.p. to 12 e.p. (more than some foods!)

Diet Pepsi or Coca Cola Light was Wilson's beverage of choice. Everywhere we go, up Mt. Sinai, down the pyramids, at the Valley of the Kings or at a restaurant ... Wilson is never without a nice cold refreshing diet pepsi or coca cola light. In addition to this, I will include his cigarettes -- yes its not food -- but its sustenance for Wilson, or so it seems since he finishes a pack a day! wow! who knew! L&M Blue label, made by Philip Morris -- what tobacco isn't made by P.M.? -- was Wilson's cigarette brand in Egypt (Marlboro Light was too strong here). By the way, if you're buying Marlboro's in Egypt, make sure they aren't the fake ones. The fake ones you'll notice will "burn" through quickly, so I'm told. Price of Diet Pepsi/Coca Cola Light - 3.0 - 7 e.p.; Price of L&M: 5-20 e.p.

Its sort of interesting that we didn't include schwarma in the list of things that we absolutely had to have again before we leave. For some reason, I wasn't a fan of the schwarma here and I think the reason was largely due to my distaste of the beef and lamb. Those two meats just didn't taste good. The best type of entree to order in Egypt is either chicken or fish. Quail/pigeon is also a great alternative to beef and lamb. If you're stomach is ready for vegetables, the cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes are wonderful here. Extremely fresh and healthy for you! Overall, the food throughout Egypt was not as bad as I expected; though, I do admit, a lot of food served in Egypt is largely quick eats. There were some decent sit down restaurants that we tried, but they were mostly full of tourists, and the food was okay. There are many other foods that I enjoyed while here in Egypt and I'm just happy that I ate everything and am ending the trip without Pharoah's revenge. Until next time my Pharaoh, I shall bid a due and see you in the future!

-- Happy eating!

Cooking While Away from Home in Haifa

January 15, 2010 -- Cooking on the Road at Port Inn Guest House -- Haifa, Israel

Cooking on the road was something I didn't think I'd do, but Wilson was tired of paying $15 for crappy spaghetti bolognese, so we decided to cook it ourselves! haha. We probably should have paid the $15! just kidding. Surprisingly, our spaghetti bolognese didn't turn out that bad. I mean, everything came out of a jar or plastic packaging, so how could we go wrong? We were the Sara Lee cooks in Israel! All we did was boil our pasta and make the sauce... For the sauce, we added in ground beef cooked with onions, oil, salt and pepper ... then, boiled the bolognese sauce (totally Sara Lee style), mixed in the meat and wah-la ... bolognese sauce! Yummy, spaghetti bolognese for dinner and breakfast for the price of $12! (and we probably got ripped off since we were buying the ingredients at the AM-PM like store)... but cooking while away from home with my brother -- PRICELESS!

Happy Cooking!

p.s. I can't even remember the last time I cooked with Wilson -- probably while we were still in grade school, back in the California days... Now he's in Hong Kong and I'm in New York! cray-zzzz!

Gotta Love the Food Markets (Mehane Yehuda Market) in the New City of Jersualem

January 13, 2010 (Wednesday); Mehane Yehuda Market

Every city I visit, I always make a trip to the supermarket, street markets/food stalls, bakeries and fruit/food markets (see any connections?? its all related to food!). I love to see what the locals eat and I'm usually not afraid to try anything new (well, as long as its not insects or some rare meat/fish that will kill you if not cooked properly). So, in general, I find it fascinating to see all the local foods -- what is fresh for the day (though, don't expect an honest answer from the vendors) or most importantly see where all the locals are standing so I know its a good spot to buy something from. In Jerusalem, Wilson and I sought out the Mehane Yehuda Market, which is located north of the center of the New City (or just ask any local and they will point you in that direction). Its an easy 10 minute walk from the New City Center, and if you feel like the market should be there already, walk a little further. You won't miss the one long alley of fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, nuts, and freshly baked goods.

Wilson and I of course splurged a bit -- I bought some freshly baked mini-cinnamon buns and blueberry filled croissants (D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S) and both are highly recommended! I have to say -- the bread in Jerusalem is out of this world... Reminds me a lot of Chinese bakeries in Hong Kong -- once you take a bite, you want another and another and another... Oh so good!!! So, let your nose take you to the bakery (there are a few inside the long alley and another two outside of . The two outside have more variety and you can just smell your way through the store ... and is where we grabbed our share of carbs!). Btw, we didn't learn this until later, but you get more bang for the buck if you purchase a lot versus one or two (its like Costco -- you get the volume discount! But, since I'm traveling, I probably don't need a few months worth of bread.)

Wilson also bought some nuts and discovered how expensive it was. For a kilo of cashews it was 64 sheckels (NIS), or approximately $16. Yup! Where is Planters Nuts when you need it! Surprisingly, Israel has been an expensive country to travel in. The food market and restaurants are comprarable to New York prices and sometimes more expensive for less tasty foods ... but welcome to Jerusalem where the dollar is weak and the price is high! Or, perhaps, the prices are just high here!

We also bought a few other goodies -- strawberries that cost 20 sheckels per kilo, or about $5; tangerines that cost 8 sheckels per kilo, or about $2. If Mehane Yehuda Market doesn't spark your food interest, there is also another alley of goodies about two streets up from this market. So enjoy your travels in Israel!