Le Azza

So on the first Saturday of the trip, we went to Gaza. Well, sort of. We got really really close. With my uncle Amir driving, my grandfather, parents, sister, cousin and her bf (and me, of course), loaded up into big van for a "spin" around the Negev Desert. We started off driving through a town called Rahat, which is the largest established Bedouin city. Now, I know, that sounds like an oxymoron. Bedouins are naturally nomadic people so how are they living in a town? Basically, they were doing too much wandering and there were too many land disputes that the government built up a town for them to keep them contained. There are still small villages but about 60,000 people live now in Rahat. There were parts of it that were very run down but the mosques and minarets they were building were definitely strong and new.

Next we drove through Beit Kama, a kibbutz that houses a pharmaceutical plant where my uncle works. Although technically, it's a kibbutz, it's a lot smaller than it used to be. The younger generation grew up and eventually left the kibbutz so in order to keep the kibbutz running and relevant, the members sold the land next to the kibbutz to build up a new town that would be privately run but these residents would have access to the services of the kibbutz. Many former kibbutz members returned and became to work back at the kibbutz. So that's one way to keep in business. The area surrounding the kibbutz was full of pea plants and a few poppies and bright yellow and red flowers. My cousin and his fiancee took their wedding invitation pictures here a few weeks ago and it was just a sea of red. Wish I could have seen it!

Next we headed past the town of Sderot (famous for being the target of many falling rockets) until we reached the viewpoint next to the border with the Gaza Strip. Yep, no biggie. We were able to see the towns of Gaza but also the bare area where the Israeli settlements had once been. Their houses were all destroyed but nothing had been rebuilt since. It was pretty sombre but at the same time, fascinating to be so close to an area that's known for such violence. We saw none of that on our cloudy Saturday afternoon.

Our second to last stop of the day was Kibbutz Be'eri. We did some driving around first because Aharon had a specific place he wanted to take us but couldn't quite remember. Finally we got it figured out and drove to an old water tower next to an old almost castle-like structure. Here we received a history lesson from the historian's mouth. After Yom Kippur, 1946, the Israeli Youth Movements settled 11 kibbutzes in one night. One was Be'eri, where we were, and another was Hatzerim (represent...) At the time, the British mandate prohibited the establishment of new Jewish villages but Turkish law, the law that had governed Palestine before the Brits, stated that as long as there is a roof on a house, it can't be demolished. The IYM decided to set up the settlements on one of the High Holy Days, taking the British by surprise. Aharon was in the group that established Be'eri and built the watchtower we were standing by as he was telling this to us. These kibbutzes would later be areas of defense during the War of Independence. The big question though was why Aharon ended up in Hatzerim instead of Be'eri. According to him, Be'eri was a bit too Marxist for him. According to my uncle, he moved because there was a pretty girl from Haifa who had only been allowed to move down to Hatzerim. I guess it's a good thing that he moved because otherwise none of us would be here!

Last stop of the day was a restaurant in Be'er Sheva that had the BEST fried cauliflower, the BEST sweet potato ravioli and apparently really good liver.... It was sooooo windy though, so much so that halfway through his pizza, my grandfather got up, picked up his last slice and went to go sit inside while the rest of us stayed outside. Not surprising.

And now.... pictures!

TLV

On my first day in Israel, I decided to hitch a ride with Rotem into Tel Aviv to spend the day exploring. I really didn't have anything in mind as she dropped me off at the Harbour on a glorious spring morning. The sun was out, the coffee was good, the waves were crashing against the shore and people were milling up and down the boardwalk enjoying the Passover holiday.

At one point I had an interesting conversation with a man who sat down on a bench next to me. That's one thing about Israelis- there is no compunction in just sitting down and chatting with a total stranger. We talked about the weather and then about why I didn't live in Israel. He used a lot of metaphors. His name was David. He was nice. But it was still awkward. I'm not used to just random conversations with random people.

Before I knew it, I had reached the Carmel Shuk and was kind of hungry to made my way up and down the narrow path, eventually picking up a HUGE bottle of water (gotta stay hydrated, folks), some super, super, super fresh fruit, delicious pitas and other goodies to make a delicious lunch. I also found a used book store with English books and picked up a Deborah Crombie mystery. How I love her stories!

I had lunch in a little park, finding a bench in the shade, before making my way over to the new art museum. They had just built this beautiful new building and I went there first, as it was mainly Israeli artists. It was certainly more of a modern feel to things and I was surprised to see the metal faces on teh ground liek I had seen in the Jewish museum in Berlin! Unfortunately there was no explanation. The new building also had five stories and an open layout so that on the walls going up and down, there were phrases and comments painted. It was captivating.

The older branch of the building had the more typical artwork, especially lots of impressionists and post-impressionists. My favorite section though was an exhibit where local designers had made dresses inspired by famous works out art. My favorite is the picture below. I love the bright colors of the face reflected in the dress.

I eventually met Rotem back up at the University and then got to spend the afternoon with her kids, Amit and Ivri. Obama was speaking to a group of students at Hebrew University so we watched his speech and then watched Amos's interview on the news afterwards. I LOVE these two kids and could spend hours with them without getting bored. I already miss them tons!

Oops...

Um, so I could have SWORN that I had posted at least one blog about my trip but clearly I did not. I'm sorry, few but faithful blog stalkers. I promise to be better. My goal for April is to blog at least once a day for the entire month. I know, I know, I can hear you laughing all the way from here. But I'm gonna do it!

So for my first post, let's talk about yesterday. I'ts only fitting, I suppose, to write about the first day of the trip as well as the last day. Then everything in between can be taken care of at a later date...

Yesterday started at 3:45 am when my alarm went off. I groggily got dressed and Amir drove me in the dark up to Ben Gurion. When you fly out from Israel, you have to show your passport no less than five different times, as well as be asked questions about whether you packed your own bag and if they were in your sigt at all times, etc. On the plus side, I could do everything in Hebrew, so that was nice. I got through passport countrol and security in no time flat and so had an opportunity to watch an episode of "The Wire". How I love Dominic West.

Because it was only 7 am by the time we took off, I dozed on and off, waking up for some matzah and omelet. I was blown away at how polite and respectful all the passengers were. Clearly this was a different crowd than those who were coming into Israel two weeks prior. I also missed out on watching "Life of Pi" because I was asleep.

We landed in Zurich and had to go through security again... I had just gotten off the plane- did they think I picked something up in the two minutes it took to get from one gate to another? We also had to go through another type of passport control, which seemed a little ridiculous, but who am I to question the inner workings of an airport. I watched another episode of "The Wire" before finally getting a gate assignment and then heading to where my flight was leaving. SwissAir didn't board by rows- it was just kind of a free-for-all- and there were some Americans behind me who were not pleased. Oh Americans.

Although the flight attendants were lovely, the food on SwissAir sucked. I watched "Won't Back Down" which was pretty good and "Lincoln" which I liked but dozed a bit towards the end. The flight also felt endless. The girl sitting next to me was a TOTAL wannabe model/fashionista, from her aviators worn inside to her weird high-tops and Vouge magazines.

I was starving by the time I got to Chicago so after going through customs and back through check-in and security part 2, I grabbed a Mediterranean Chicken salad that I paid $10 for. It was awful. Buyer's remorse for sure. I had five hours to wait around and again didn't have a gate so I found a computer plug, watched some more "The Wire" and eventually stretched out and napped on and off on the floor. At that point, I didn't even care. I had lost all desire to be socially acceptable. When I finally got a gate assignments, I trekked over to the other concourse and waited. I was hoping to see "Life of Pi" but it turned out that we were on one of those teeny-tiny planes that made you gate-check your roller bags so I ended up trying to nap as much as I could.

When I finally landed in Boise, it was after 11:00 pm and I was again starving. Niki came and got me and we stopped at Del Taco so I could grab a Del Classic chicken. I decided to drive home after being dropped off at Brooke's to get my car because all I really wanted to do was sleep in my own bed. I was home by 1:15 and after some quick unpacking and teeth-brushing, I was asleep by 1:30. Not bad...

IC Moroccan Night

The IC decided that we wanted to start doing International potlucks and our first lucky country was Morocco! After much planning and deliberating and discussing, we got together at Abbey's house for the inaugural event. One thing we wanted to do was cook together so all of us brought of ingredients and over the course of the evening, started to prepare the various dishes.

We weren't quite hungry at the start of the event so after getting some drinks together, we sat down for a game of Life. This was not the Life of my childhood: there was a lot of insulting, shouting, "douche-moves" and shenanigans that ensued. But mostly a lot of laughter.

Then we got down to cooking. Abbey had marinated some chicken and put together skewers with tomatoes and some peppers that the guys then put on the grill outside. Jon made some masterful couscous with slivered almonds while I prepared a salad made with tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, green onions and a lemon juice and olive oil dressing. Dinner was absolutely delicious. We could have eaten all night.

To work off the dinner, we went for a walk around the golf course. Then also involved some minor snowball throwing and fascination with a weird man standing in his dark living room not doing anything. It was odd and Matt and I were certainly curious. Matt's offering was a dessert of orange slices with drizzled cinnamon and honey ontop. Amazing as well. We ate this while watching "Liberal Arts", a movie by Josh Radnor, our one and only favorite Ted Mosby.

It was a spectacular night. Delicious food, good drinks, endless laughter, and most importantly, eager anticipation for the NEXT IC dinner party!

And I'm off!

The trip started off on a bit of a rough start. Because of what I'm becoming more ad more convinced is minor dyslexia, I read my 11:04 flight as 11:40. I had planned to take Addy out for a run, take a long shower, have breakfast and then grab some lunch on the way to the airport. Instead, I ended up taking a two-second shower, tried to deal with all the contacts being wiped from my phone and racing to the airport with Brooke.

However, because of a delayed flight, there was no way I was going to make my connection in LA. United decided to make up for making me sleep on the floor of DIA nine months ago and rebooked me in a flight through SFO. The first flight was simple and easy and I had plenty of time to grab a sourdough sandwich before my flight to Newark.

The flight to Newark was long, which was not fortuitous because I knew the next flight would be twice the length. I watched Silver Lining's Playbook, which I really enjoyed and then a bunch of other TV shows, including BBT and Chopped. The lady who won annoyed me. My favorite guy was chopped first.

I was siting next to an older lady who, as we were starting to land, started telling me all about these clots she got after a flight a few years ago and how they almost killed her so I should make sure to walk around a bunch next flight. "you never know when it's your time to go." Thanks, Grandma Gert. That's exactly what I needed to hear.

The transfer to the next flight made me feel like I was at Ellis Island. Israelis and Jews are loud and we were kept in this little area, secluded from the rest of the airport, I showed my passport no less than three times. I felt sick to my stomach (I blame trail mix...). They made me check y bag even though there was totally enough room. I was sitting right in front of 20 students who were loud. The people in the plane acted like their teacher had left the room and left them alone. The flight attendants were not nice nor did they serve me dinner. However, I did sleep, which was nice.

And, despite having to wait a few minutes, Amos picked me up at the airport, I had dinner with Karen, I got a shower and spent the evening with Rotem, Roee and the kidlets.

So in the end, it was all worth it...

Wednesday's List of 10

1. The downstairs neighbors (neighbor? I still can't tell if just one person lives there or if the kids that are running back and forth are just borrowed or what...) have a new dog. This thing is YAPPY. It's not a consistent yap so it really doesn't bother me and it's never woken me up or anything but man, sometimes it barks and I just wait to hear the sound of flesh being shredded. And that concerns me because what do you do at that point? It's just awkward.

2. I tried out a new recipe (thanks spark recipes or whatever you're called....). It was SUPER easy. Saute onions, peppers and carrots in oil over medium heat. Add some cubed chicken and let it cook all the way through. Then add some canned tomatoes (with the juice) and some veggie or chicken stock. I used veggie since there was already an open carton in the fridge. When that's bubbling, throw on some couscous, turn to low and let it simmer, covered, until the couscous is cooked or the liquid is gone. Done. One pan to clean. Speaking of cleaning dishes, somehow, my dishes pile up QUICKLY. I did dishes on Sunday and then two days later, the sink is filled with them. How does this keep happening?

3. Book club on Friday turned into an awkward-dating story night. We also may have seen Trent's high school dance picture and spent some time on OK-Cupid. What does YOUR book club do?

4. Target is dangerous. But cheap. Here is what I bought for under $50 last week. Don't hate.

5. I've been watching a lot of great movies lately from Netflix. I'll do a post about them in a bit. This movie is not one I've watched but it was on sale at Target. I almost got it...



6. Holy-moly, that was some heavy thunder and massive gust of wind. Except it's not raining. At least not outside my house. Also, even though I just opened the blinds, it got ruuuuul dark in here... Here's what outside my house looks like...

7. Recently, I've decided that I'm only really going to go to the office on Tuesday and Thursdays when I have class and then office hours. Monday, Wednesday and Fridays have become a routine of working out when I get up, having some coffee and breakfast, watching my Netflix if I have one (so I can get it back that day... time is money, people!), and then spending the rest of the day doing homework. This consists of lots and lots of reading, note-taking and bibliographical annotating. But I enjoy it.

8. My sister (http://austrianshiri.blogspot.com/) posted about a youtube video she watched and is now keeping a calender where she writes down one thing she did each day. I have the Hawaii calendar Yosh gave me and have decided to do the same. I've very excited about the prospects of this. Thank you daily journal and i-phone calender for reminding me what I did these last two months (except for two Tuesdays in January and one Wednesday in Freburary... clearly I have no recollection of what I did on any of those days.)

9. Guys, what the heck is the Harlem Shake? I'm seriously asking.

10. The fact that I'm planning three trips over the next seven months makes me happier than most things.

11. (BONUS!) HOLY MOLY THUNDER!

Baking, Tarentino Style....

So, because I initiaaly was blogging this one my phone, the pictures all came out in backwards order. But who says you can't bake like this! 

So, if you want to get THIS (see below), here's how we backtrack..... These blondie brownies (the child of a cookie and a brownie) just came out of the over set to 350 after about 15 minutes of baking. Of course, oven heat and time will be different so just keep an eye on it.

Make sure that before you start the dishes, you lick the beaters. This is the best part. Hand's down.

Also, while you avoid doing the dishes, feel free to relax with a glass of wine and the "Say Yes to the Dress Crew". It makes the experience more enjoyable.

Before you put the mixture into a greased 8x8 or 9x9 pan, make sure that it is well-mixed. Also, throw in a crap-load of chocolate chips. Yes, that is a technical term.

There is NO order to the following ingredients. This is what makes this a great backwards recipe. This is 1/4 tsp of salt.

And this is 1/2 tbsp of baking POWDER (not soda... although I don't know the difference)

Only one cup of flour necessary. I'm sure you could use wheat flour but I haven't had the best luck so I just did regular white flour. And then wrote down a reminder to get more flour.

A tablespoon of vanilla seemed a little cray, so I did a little less. Probably doesn't matter. The vanilla silk made up for this later.

I realized that I had used the last egg for breakfast earlier that day so I substituted a egg for a 1/3 cup of applesauce. Also a 1/4 cup would work. It doesn't really matter that much.

I didn't have any milk on hand so instead I added a tablespoon of Vanilla Silk Milk. It didn't seem to make a difference. Do it.

Make sure that your stick of butter is melted in the microwave before you add it.

And a cup of packed brown sugar.

And that is how you make blondie brownies backwards! Enjoy with a big glass of milk.