... Then down came the rain and soaked the land of Israel, Sploosh!
So our En Gedi campout was cancelled. Something about rain and flash-floods I heard. But tomorrow we are going to En Gedi for a hike, Lord willing. Right before we hike we get to "swim" in the Dead Sea. That will be fun/cleanse all of my pores beyond repair. Dr. Anderson, I will do my best to organize some synchronized swimming :)
Today I got to sleep in again, hooray. After a week of busy and a day of sick it was much needed. And this afternoon we sorted the sissies from the diehards. Before it rained we took a poll of who was going to the Old City. Today when there was rain our numbers dropped by almost half. Go figure.
But I like the Old City in the rain. There are fewer people, more time to see things, and less of the tourist feel when I walk around with my counterparts because we look like we know what we're doing now. I like it. So today was a day of sitting, drinking cocoa, reading, walking, eating falafel and enjoying life as a whole.
Here's something absolutely unbelievable: I am one-third of the way done with this semester. Only a "few" weeks left and we go on two more big trips (like 5-7 days big) and then have a week for travel/study break. There's like no time left, oh how fast it goes.
And oh how much I should get done! I am, shall we say, "behind" on reading. I say "behind" because it's all due at the end of the semester, but there is a lot to do. So I should go do some of that now. Have a good weekend.
Showing posts with label falafel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label falafel. Show all posts
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Long Awaited has Arrived!
Before I get into what you're all waiting for, I have a few other comments.
It's raining over here today. It's like it's February or something, I thought I left Salem behind.
This was a busy weekend to say the least. It's sort of like I'm at real school or something, I'm tired, I have homework, the food is hit and miss, mostly on the hit side, well, maybe a soft slap compared to an actual hit, but either way, we call it success.
Sunday we went on a long hike, it was really fun. To tell a story without much pizazz: There were 24 of us. I was designated one of the map guys. We all were walking along fine. We turned off of a road onto a trail. The guy leading made sure we all saw it. One guy kept walking the ridge road to see what there was. The aforementioned guy leading didn't mention that. We made it down to the spring, it was not too exciting, so we kept walking. We walked for about 10 minutes. We were in a little Arab town. The aforementioned leader says, "Hey wait, we don't have everyone. We're missing Joe." Great. So we figure out that he kept walking the ridge, the opposite way of us. Tyler - aforementioned guy leading - didn't tell us that. We left the spring assuming everyone was there, because everyone who had made it there was still around and with us. But not so.
So Mike and I ran back. Not walked, ran, because one never knows what fate befalls he who walks alone for 30-40 minutes. We ran about a mile (?) back to the spring and then beyond. The road split, up the hill or down the valley. So Mike and I split. I saw Joe about 200 yards up the hill, he was walking up the road to Mike. Good thing we found him so fast, I was tired and that was a long way to run. Then we all got to run back. Mike works out about 5 times more than I do. But he and Joe were both tired, breathing hard, and jogging slow. Thank you life of soccer. So we met the group, it was fun. We found some awesome tombs and cisterns, we split up, 12 and 12, one group going back, the other searching for a spring, that they did not find. It was a good day. I like using maps. We're good friends over here after all of that.
Next, we watched Schindler's List on Sunday night, it was... good. Such a hard movie to watch, but a good one. I, of course, had my hand over my eyes or my knees in the way of the screen for many parts and we skipped a couple of scenes, but I like keeping those types of things far from my memory -S.O.P. for Eli. Then yesterday we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum over here. Yad Vashem literally means "a hand and a name" (yad = hand; va or ve = and; shem = name - funny story about that, I'll tell in a second). But essentially it means some kind of memorial. Yad is commonly used metaphorically for memorials, like where we live, Yad Hashmonah. Anyway, that was a good experience. Not really hard per se, but having been to two Holocaust Museums before and having watched Schindler's list the night before my emotional reserve was gone anyway so it was just different. It's always hard to think about that kind of killing and persecution, but it is so far removed from what we understand that it can seem super-impersonal, unfortunately... I still don't know how I feel after that experience. Not callous by any means, just unsure of what it is I gained from that experience.
Anyway, for the main event.
Today's Fantastic Food Focus:
FILAFELS*: Food In the Land And Food Eli LikeS
Episode #1: Falafels: food for the famished.
(How about all of that alliteration? Thanks Dr. Hills and Dr. Tennant :) - also, Falafels is spelled with the "a" after the first "f" instead of the "i," but for the sake of the acronym, you get the idea.
#1 - A Filafel is delicious.
#2 - What you need: a pita, ground-up chick peas, a deep-fryer, other stuff.
#3 - So the ground up chick peas (garbonzo beans, also the main ingredient in Humus) are made into a ball (like golf ball size) and then deep-fried. The Pita is best when it's warm.
The you can put humus on it, it's best that way.
#4 - Other stuff: You can put all kinds of things, some of it can only be seen in Israel, like pink cauliflower, but that's another story.
But here's what's good: Lettuce and/or coleslaw of sorts. Bell peppers, shredded carrots and cucumbers, salsa-like stuff (tomato, onion, spice, etc.) and then this inexplicable and delicious spicy sauce that varies by vendor.
Overall I would call a falafel a "party in your mouth," for when one gets a bite that contains all the delicious ingredients, one can hardly keep their mouth closed for the joy and explosion that goes on within. Now not all are fans of this food, to them I say, "such a shame, you miss so much in life." All that to say, here's a link to give you more info if you care: falafel
Thus we have concluded our broadcast hour. It's a long one, I'm sorry. It will likely be Thursday before you hear from me again, I am trying to use my time in a more productive way. Like I need to spend more time reading the Word and talking to God than I do with you guys, no offense.
Thanks for the prayers.
It's raining over here today. It's like it's February or something, I thought I left Salem behind.
This was a busy weekend to say the least. It's sort of like I'm at real school or something, I'm tired, I have homework, the food is hit and miss, mostly on the hit side, well, maybe a soft slap compared to an actual hit, but either way, we call it success.
Sunday we went on a long hike, it was really fun. To tell a story without much pizazz: There were 24 of us. I was designated one of the map guys. We all were walking along fine. We turned off of a road onto a trail. The guy leading made sure we all saw it. One guy kept walking the ridge road to see what there was. The aforementioned guy leading didn't mention that. We made it down to the spring, it was not too exciting, so we kept walking. We walked for about 10 minutes. We were in a little Arab town. The aforementioned leader says, "Hey wait, we don't have everyone. We're missing Joe." Great. So we figure out that he kept walking the ridge, the opposite way of us. Tyler - aforementioned guy leading - didn't tell us that. We left the spring assuming everyone was there, because everyone who had made it there was still around and with us. But not so.
So Mike and I ran back. Not walked, ran, because one never knows what fate befalls he who walks alone for 30-40 minutes. We ran about a mile (?) back to the spring and then beyond. The road split, up the hill or down the valley. So Mike and I split. I saw Joe about 200 yards up the hill, he was walking up the road to Mike. Good thing we found him so fast, I was tired and that was a long way to run. Then we all got to run back. Mike works out about 5 times more than I do. But he and Joe were both tired, breathing hard, and jogging slow. Thank you life of soccer. So we met the group, it was fun. We found some awesome tombs and cisterns, we split up, 12 and 12, one group going back, the other searching for a spring, that they did not find. It was a good day. I like using maps. We're good friends over here after all of that.
Next, we watched Schindler's List on Sunday night, it was... good. Such a hard movie to watch, but a good one. I, of course, had my hand over my eyes or my knees in the way of the screen for many parts and we skipped a couple of scenes, but I like keeping those types of things far from my memory -S.O.P. for Eli. Then yesterday we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum over here. Yad Vashem literally means "a hand and a name" (yad = hand; va or ve = and; shem = name - funny story about that, I'll tell in a second). But essentially it means some kind of memorial. Yad is commonly used metaphorically for memorials, like where we live, Yad Hashmonah. Anyway, that was a good experience. Not really hard per se, but having been to two Holocaust Museums before and having watched Schindler's list the night before my emotional reserve was gone anyway so it was just different. It's always hard to think about that kind of killing and persecution, but it is so far removed from what we understand that it can seem super-impersonal, unfortunately... I still don't know how I feel after that experience. Not callous by any means, just unsure of what it is I gained from that experience.
Anyway, for the main event.
Today's Fantastic Food Focus:
FILAFELS*: Food In the Land And Food Eli LikeS
Episode #1: Falafels: food for the famished.
(How about all of that alliteration? Thanks Dr. Hills and Dr. Tennant :) - also, Falafels is spelled with the "a" after the first "f" instead of the "i," but for the sake of the acronym, you get the idea.
#1 - A Filafel is delicious.
#2 - What you need: a pita, ground-up chick peas, a deep-fryer, other stuff.
#3 - So the ground up chick peas (garbonzo beans, also the main ingredient in Humus) are made into a ball (like golf ball size) and then deep-fried. The Pita is best when it's warm.
The you can put humus on it, it's best that way.
#4 - Other stuff: You can put all kinds of things, some of it can only be seen in Israel, like pink cauliflower, but that's another story.
But here's what's good: Lettuce and/or coleslaw of sorts. Bell peppers, shredded carrots and cucumbers, salsa-like stuff (tomato, onion, spice, etc.) and then this inexplicable and delicious spicy sauce that varies by vendor.
Overall I would call a falafel a "party in your mouth," for when one gets a bite that contains all the delicious ingredients, one can hardly keep their mouth closed for the joy and explosion that goes on within. Now not all are fans of this food, to them I say, "such a shame, you miss so much in life." All that to say, here's a link to give you more info if you care: falafel
Thus we have concluded our broadcast hour. It's a long one, I'm sorry. It will likely be Thursday before you hear from me again, I am trying to use my time in a more productive way. Like I need to spend more time reading the Word and talking to God than I do with you guys, no offense.
Thanks for the prayers.
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