Tiger sunglasses

I needed a new pair of sunglasses and, while Katie was in town, picked up a cheap pair of tiger striped sunglasses. Sadly, the plastic has already cracked in two places and I think they're irreparable. So, in memoriam, here's a picture of me the night I bought them. We had fun times, tiger sunglasses, even if they were few.

Incidentally, this was the night Katie took us out for dinner at Caffit at their new location...very tasty dinner including two large salads and haloumi cheese in Asian sauce with mushrooms, served over mashed potatoes—which was surprisingly delicious.

Michael's visit

An old friend and running buddy from my Div School days, Michael, who now works in microfinance (if you're curious, see more about how you can make an interest free loan to help out a poor family at Kiva) came through Jerusalem this week. Haven't seen him in years; lucky I caught his facebook post saying he was in town!

Passover in the Grocery Stores

By special request, I am posting some pictures of the Jewish grocery stores transitioning for Passover. First, some pics from the week before Passover in which some shelves contain kosher food (note the shelves are wrapped in foil or paper), and then some pics from the holiday, in which entire shelves and cases of hametz-y food are curtained off.

PRE-HOLIDAY PICS:

The bread corner. Top two shelves have been cleaned and restocked:

Kosher-for-Passover potato chips over non kosher-for-Passover potato chips:

Kosher-for-Passover "healthy" "cookies":

HOLIDAY PICS:

The pasta and canned vegetables aisle:

 The baking aisle has been reduced to salt, sugar, and jams:

Healthy Quiche

I haven't had a chance to download all my Passover photos yet, but in the meantime here's a recipe for an eggless, healthy quiche Mordu and I have been working on this year. It's Passover-friendly if you eat kitniyot (calls for rice and tehina). Also a great way to use up leftover brown rice.

Healthy eggless quiche

Ingredients:

2 c. cooked brown rice (leftovers work great)

1 med. baked sweet potato

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, grated

1 red pepper, diced

2 c. cottage cheese

6 sq. inches of feta, diced

1 tbsp. tehina

2 tsp. parve soup mix (I like Osem brand mock chicken)

salt

cayenne

extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 175C/350F.

2. To make the crust: Peal the baked potato, reserving skins, and mash the insides. Mix the mashed sweet potato with the brown rice. Oil a pie dish and press the rice/potato mixture into a pie crust shape (can be done with fingers or a spoon). Bake for about 10 minutes to set and remove from oven.

3. Sautee onion and crushed garlic in olive oil over high heat for about five minutes, then add carrots and sweet bell pepper and continue sauteeing until onions are carmelized and the other vegetables are tender.

4. Mix sauteed vegetables with cottage cheese, feta, tehina, soup mix, salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Also, one may dice the leftover sweet potato skins and add these to the mixture (they will add texture and a little starch to help this hold together).

5. Pour the cheese/vegetable mixture into the pie crust you have made and bake uncovered at 175C/350F for 45 minutes.

6. Allow to sit for a few minutes to set. Can serve hot or room temperature. Mordu likes it cold, as well, but I'm less of a fan.

Variations:

Like any quiche, you can vary the vegetables that go inside. I have also had luck with sauteeing various combinations of leek, mushrooms, fennel, celery, and zucchini, though I would not recommend tomato (too watery). You can also add any other herbs that strike you to the filling. Go with parsley/basil/oregano if you want to go in an Italian direction. Cumin/coriander goes nicely with the hint of tehina to give a more eastern flavor.

Jessica and David's Wedding

On the night before Katie left, we all attended the lovely wedding of Jessica Sacks and David Century. It was a British-Israeli wedding with delicious dairy spread and lots of festive dancing. Because it was at night, the pictures aren't very good, so I'll only share a few here:

Outdoor evening huppah. 

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (a.k.a. "the Chief") officiated. His drash began with a lovely mention of Jessica's translation of Song of Songs, reprinted in their wedding benchers.

A cat dashes across the aisle. He later hung out at the reception, soliciting petting, until some kind people fed him leftover salmon. 

The evening was chillier than we anticipated so we bundled up on the bus on the way home.

Muslim Quarter of the Old City

On her last day here, Katie and I spent the morning exploring the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, including the Temple Mount. We downloaded an audio tour we found online to ipods. The last year I lived in Israel (2005-2006), non-Muslims were not allowed on the Temple Mount so this was my first time up. We couldn't go into the buildings, but took some pictures from the outside.

Damascus Gate:

Medieval fountain:

Now, up onto the Temple Mount. Dome of the Rock:

A prayer niche next to the Dome of the Rock:

The Al-Aqsa Mosque:

The Golden Gates. There are 8 gates in the contemporary walls of the Old City and this is the gate that faces east and Jewish tradition teaches that it is the gate through which the Messiah will enter Jerusalem. It has been sealed for centuries.

Leaving the Temple Mount, now, some market pictures:

(I particularly liked the hot pink cauliflower)

Spice mountain

A cup of sahlab, a hot, spiced milk drink thickened with orchid starch.

After making the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, Jerusalem Muslims often paint their houses to commemorate the trip. We saw many paintings like this in the Muslim Quarter:

Ein Gedi

Named for the ibex that populate the area, Ein Gedi is a beautiful desert oasis near the Dead Sea. There was not shortage of ibex or hyrax to be photographed, and we got to take a refreshing dip in some of these beautiful waterfalls.

Canyon shot:

Ibex that didn't seem to mind being photographed; they seem used to people tromping through their oasis:

We had to look up the name for these critters which seemed to be everywhere. In the meantime, we referred them simply as the ROUS's, but the correct name is apparently "hyrax":

Side hike toward some caves in the cliff face:

Artsy shots of the water:

Couple enjoying a quiet spot in the oasis:

Hope that rock doesn't fall!

Tallest of the waterfalls:

Lunch time by the waterfall:

A couple of guys filling their water bottles from the spring:

Another ibex resting on the hillside:

Toppled tree:

A well-deserved coffee slushy ("ice cafe"):

Sunset over the wadi:

When we got home, it was more showers all around and then we made a regional favorite for dinner, shakshouka:

We didn't take photographic evidence to document all the foods Katie sampled while she was here, but in addition to shakshouka and "ice cafe," they included: falafel, shwarma, date spread, date honey, halvah, labane, dried dates, dried figs, sahlab, pita with zatar, pop-rock chocolate, and nearly every kind of pastry made by Ne'eman bakery.

Qumran

Since we saw the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Israel Museum, it made sense to explore the excavations at Qumran, a community that lived just below the hill caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered (naturally, also right next to the Dead Sea). Since this was a marginal desert community obsessed with purity, our tour looked something like this: ritual bath, ritual bath, dining room, ritual bath, ritual bath, storehouse, ritual bath, ritual bath, cistern.

Our tour was preceded by a short informational video. We saw it first in German and then partly in Spanish before we gave up on waiting around for an English language screening. So, basically, all we learned from the film is that 1st century Essenes living at Qumran likely looked like Gandolf.

Cistern:

One of the many aforementioned ritual baths:

2,000-year-old toilet:

View of some of the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. It's not difficult to see why they went untouched for almost 2,000 years:

Beginning of a hike to one of the caves. Unfortunately, closed due to threat of rock slides: