On a recent trip to visit my buddy Frankie over at Cupcake
Crew, he told me of his new friends in the truck next door; Dave and the guys
at Taim Mobile. Taim offers up delicious falafel and everything to go with it.
Since my introduction to falafel a few years ago, I've been trying a lot of
different places to see what can really be done differently than just balling
it up and frying it. I can say now, that I am an idiot. There is so much more
to it that that. Some of the street vendors I have encountered just take their
ice cream scoop to the vat of green stuff sitting on the side and dropping it
into the fryer. It always comes out dripping of grease and is flavored by burnt
oil. Taim does not follow these same rules. But let's not jump the gun just
yet.
The first big option you need to decide upon is whether you
want a falafel sandwich or platter. Being this was my first visit, I had to go
big and get the platter which comes with falafel, hummus, quinoa salad, Israeli
salad and your choice of a white or wheat pita. I placed my order and had my
food in hand in under 5 minutes; which was very impressive seeing that there
were 2 people in front of me waiting. I was handed my bag and set off on my
hike back to work where I layed out my lunch. The guys at Taim really know the
meaning of healthy portions. My eyes opened wide at the amount of food that sat
in front of me as my mouth began to water. And this is when I knew these guys
were not like the other falafel places I had been; set aside in their own
little brown paper bag were the falafel balls. They weren't just thrown into
the platter, they were kept crisp and apart like the true star of the meal
waiting for their big entrance. So it was up to me if I wanted the falafel
dipped in the hummus or place in the pita or just eaten plain. The platter was
broken up into three sections: the large division contianed a pool of
(obviously fresh) hummus, adjacent to two smalled sections of the two salads.
Finally, I unwrapped my whole wheat pita and was very happy to see that this
was no ordinary pita pulled off of a supermarket shelf. It was fresh and teased
with some olive oil and herbs on top.
As a whole, the meal was delicious, but what made this so
great is that all of the individual pieces stood strong on their own. The hummus was so fresh and delicious and
although it looks very oily, it does not taste so. The quinoa salad was also
great. It has dried cranberries, chick peas, herbs & preserved lemon. All
of the textures worked really well with each other. Unfortunately, my aversion
to tomatos kept me away from the Israeli salad but it is tomato, cucumber,
parsley & lemon mint dressing. (The cucumbers tasted good!) Last but
definitely not least is the falafel itself. At first glance, you might think
that they are over-cooked or burnt, but crack them open and you'll reveal a
light (and vibrant) green inside. The crust adds just enough bite and chew and
the flavor is great.
So go out and grab some falafel! Maybe you'll even see me
there, I will definitely be going more often now that the weather is warming up
a little.
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Taim Mobile
For a recent trip to a friend’s house, my wife and I decided
to try out a new recipe we found for Banana Cream Pie. I’ve seen various types from simple vanilla
pudding to more elaborate ingredients which take a long time to put together.
The recipe we went with was a happy medium. It definitely took some planning
but only a few hours.
Finally, remove the plastic wrap and whip up some whipped
cream and apply liberally. The recipe calls for some shaved chocolate on the
top which we skipped since we only had milk chocolate and I’m not a huge fan of
milk chocolate. Voila! A simple Banana
Cream Pie that is apparently delicious…judging by the speed at which it was
devoured by everyone. 
