Even if there's no such thing as good hummus in America, we Israeli food-o-philes try to make the best of the diaspora with the limited ingredients at our disposal. Last weekend in Santa Barbara, my friends Yoav, Harry, a bunch of Israelis and I threw together an Israeli barbeque as best we could... well, mostly Harry and I watched in blissful awe counting down the seconds til we can make aaliyah while Yoav and the Israelis chopped, blended, fried and threw together the most satisfying meal ever. The kind of meal that can only be better when washed down with a Goldstar beer. Pictures can't really do the meal justice, especially because I am obviously a klutz with the camera and my shadow is in the front of every photo!
Yoav handled the grill: beef and turkey kebabs. The beef kebabs were round, and had pine nuts, parsley, and cumin mixed into the meat. The turkey kebabs were "the long kind" (as Yoav called it), and were a sweeter, with cilantro, cinnamon and nutmeg.


Both turned out AWESOME, especially when dipped in the homemade tahina (sesame paste, lemon, garlic) and hummus (chickpea, paprika, olive oil).
We heated the pita on the stove, to make them soft and warm:

The hummus:

Israeli salad (for which I did not chop the vegetables small enough, says Yoav), along with the tahina and onions for the meat.

SHNITZEL! Yoav's favorite. Pounded chicken breasts, covered in bread crumbs with sesame seads and zatar seasonings. We thought we made enough so there would be leftovers for a straight-out-of-the-fridge-dip-in-hummus- midnight -snack, but we clearly finished them all no problem. Oh well.

Yoav makes a sandwich with his:

And, just so readers get a sense of the table, here is one side:

And the other:

Our side of the table ate more, clearly!
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