[Israel] Part sheni: erev Shabbat
Mar. 15th, 2007 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidSince I took the train, I got to Beit Shmuel rather later than originally planned. After I caught my aunt and uncle up on the travel saga, I got more details about upcoming plans, including Shabbat dinner at a hotel and seudah shlishit in the apartment we were sharing. Not just seudah shlishit for the five of us, but for most of the people around for Shabbat, so there'd be 17 of us crammed into the place.
A detour to describe the rental apartment: there were two bedrooms, one with a queen bed and a private bath*, the other with two twin/single beds and a bathroom* just outside the bedroom. In between was the living room/dining room, plus a kitchen area.
The kitchen had a fridge and a gas stove/oven, the kind that requires a match to start (not used partly because of the layers of grease found on things like the handle of the oven, partly to keep things simpler), a sink and drying rack, plus many cabinets holding not much stuff: some plates, a cutting board, glasses, and flatware (including a little sharp knife for veggie prep), plus something to heat water in. Oh, there were some pots we never used, too.
The living room had a sofa and my cot, a coffee table and a large TV. The floor was stone throughout, of course. The windows were large and seemed to both swing in from one side or swing into the room from the top. There were trisim to pull down at night since the gauzy curtains wouldn't keep out any sun.
* eta The non-private bathroom included two taps about halfway up one wall that I assume are for filling buckets to do sponja; I couldn't figure out anything else. I thought it interesting that there were different ways of flushing: one had a round knob in the middle of the top of the tank to pull up, while the other had two parts that formed a circle together to depress (choose the larger part of the circle if one needs more water to flush ...stuff.... away).
So the first order of business was getting food for seudah shlishit, also breakfasts and such. The nearest supermarket (also the only supermarket I really know the location of) was the Supersol on Agron, so we walked over and got a bunch of stuff from the list we'd compiled, from matches and plastic plates to hummus and challah, tea and milk. I'd said that produce would be cheaper at Machaneh Yehudah, but my aunt wanted to have as much gotten already as possible, so we got a lot there, even though it's pricey. Then we carried it all back (I had four heavy bags; it took a while longer than the going).
Once that was put away, I walked to Machaneh Yehudah (alone, this time, the aunt and uncle wanting a bit of a rest, and I knew I'd be much faster going alone, if only because my walking pace is much more than theirs), going up Shlomtzion to Yafo, all of it wonderfully familiar (which was particularly good given how much other things had changed). All I had to get at Machaneh Yehudah was vegetables for the Israeli salad and pita, which gave me plenty of time to enjoy just being there in the mad rush before Shabbat, vendors yelling (especially about strawberries this week), people with huge bags of produce bustling about, people stopping off on their way home, kids with their parents. I finally ate something (I hadn't been hungry before): yay for borekas!
By the time I walked back, I realized how tired I was; I'd been awake since early Thursday morning, with lots of travel and walking. Luckily there was time to lie down before Shabbat started. And there'd been a message that the parents would be arriving soon. Yay!
So I lay down, and woke up with a start an hour and a half later, alone in the apartment and worried I'd not left enough time to make it to the minyan I wanted. I took a very fast shower (burning my foot a bit on the way; I hadn't remembered how hot the water can get when there aren't temperature regulators), lit the tealights I'd brought, and walked past Gan ha-Pa'amon (Liberty Bell Park) to Emek Refa'im. Luckily, number 12 is on the end of the street closer to where I was coming from, and there were other people going, so I followed them to the school building off the street where minyan Shira Chadasha davens.
Once I figure out how to get the photos off the camera, there will be more visual posts.
A detour to describe the rental apartment: there were two bedrooms, one with a queen bed and a private bath*, the other with two twin/single beds and a bathroom* just outside the bedroom. In between was the living room/dining room, plus a kitchen area.
The kitchen had a fridge and a gas stove/oven, the kind that requires a match to start (not used partly because of the layers of grease found on things like the handle of the oven, partly to keep things simpler), a sink and drying rack, plus many cabinets holding not much stuff: some plates, a cutting board, glasses, and flatware (including a little sharp knife for veggie prep), plus something to heat water in. Oh, there were some pots we never used, too.
The living room had a sofa and my cot, a coffee table and a large TV. The floor was stone throughout, of course. The windows were large and seemed to both swing in from one side or swing into the room from the top. There were trisim to pull down at night since the gauzy curtains wouldn't keep out any sun.
* eta The non-private bathroom included two taps about halfway up one wall that I assume are for filling buckets to do sponja; I couldn't figure out anything else. I thought it interesting that there were different ways of flushing: one had a round knob in the middle of the top of the tank to pull up, while the other had two parts that formed a circle together to depress (choose the larger part of the circle if one needs more water to flush ...stuff.... away).
So the first order of business was getting food for seudah shlishit, also breakfasts and such. The nearest supermarket (also the only supermarket I really know the location of) was the Supersol on Agron, so we walked over and got a bunch of stuff from the list we'd compiled, from matches and plastic plates to hummus and challah, tea and milk. I'd said that produce would be cheaper at Machaneh Yehudah, but my aunt wanted to have as much gotten already as possible, so we got a lot there, even though it's pricey. Then we carried it all back (I had four heavy bags; it took a while longer than the going).
Once that was put away, I walked to Machaneh Yehudah (alone, this time, the aunt and uncle wanting a bit of a rest, and I knew I'd be much faster going alone, if only because my walking pace is much more than theirs), going up Shlomtzion to Yafo, all of it wonderfully familiar (which was particularly good given how much other things had changed). All I had to get at Machaneh Yehudah was vegetables for the Israeli salad and pita, which gave me plenty of time to enjoy just being there in the mad rush before Shabbat, vendors yelling (especially about strawberries this week), people with huge bags of produce bustling about, people stopping off on their way home, kids with their parents. I finally ate something (I hadn't been hungry before): yay for borekas!
By the time I walked back, I realized how tired I was; I'd been awake since early Thursday morning, with lots of travel and walking. Luckily there was time to lie down before Shabbat started. And there'd been a message that the parents would be arriving soon. Yay!
So I lay down, and woke up with a start an hour and a half later, alone in the apartment and worried I'd not left enough time to make it to the minyan I wanted. I took a very fast shower (burning my foot a bit on the way; I hadn't remembered how hot the water can get when there aren't temperature regulators), lit the tealights I'd brought, and walked past Gan ha-Pa'amon (Liberty Bell Park) to Emek Refa'im. Luckily, number 12 is on the end of the street closer to where I was coming from, and there were other people going, so I followed them to the school building off the street where minyan Shira Chadasha davens.
Once I figure out how to get the photos off the camera, there will be more visual posts.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-03-15 06:59 pm (UTC)One of my recurring memories about my year in Israel is going to Machaneh Yehudah on Friday morning and hearing "Arba shekel kilo tooooot!" over and over.
I took advantage of that price frequently (it was 3 shach to the dollar when I was there).
no subject
Date: 2007-03-15 07:12 pm (UTC)I didn't get any, because my aunt had gotten some at Supersol (definitely pricier, of course); I think she was worried about me carrying lots of stuff back.
And it's about 4 shach to the dollar now (well, 4.2, but 4's a lot easier for estimating purposes).
no subject
Date: 2007-03-15 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-15 08:13 pm (UTC)I also find the street signs fascinating, like the trilingual "slow" sign with each language on a different side of the triangle, or the signs about parking on the sidewalk (or where to get parking tickets, which is not what I'd want to do here.... :-)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-16 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-16 02:18 am (UTC)off-topic
Date: 2007-03-16 02:05 pm (UTC)Re: off-topic
Date: 2007-03-16 02:37 pm (UTC)borekas
Date: 2007-03-18 04:08 pm (UTC)Have you ever had malabi? There's a tent on the highway just north of Beersheva where some really nice Bedouins who work on an Israeli farm, right next to the Sharon farm, sell it. Amazing stuff. And using a recipe online you can almost replicate it at home.
Re: borekas
Date: 2007-03-18 05:01 pm (UTC)I know that Rami's theoretically has borekas, but I don't know that I've ever seen them. Maybe once there was a sugar-dusted apple one, but that's it. I can't buy them there, though, because the potato ones are supposed to be rectangular. The big triangular ones don't have the right dough to filling ratio.
I've never made borekas; I assume it's filling in something like a puff pastry dough. I have made individual spanikopitas, which uses phyllo dough (always a pain). I've never had eggplant ones, though: the usual types are potato, salty cheese, spinach, or mushroom.
I've never had malabi. Does this look approximately right?
(At first all I could think of when reading "malabi" was "mellawach," which is also wonderful doughy stuff that's not at all good for the waistline...)
Re: borekas
Date: 2007-03-19 03:59 pm (UTC)They are a pain to make! I've never worked successfully with phyllo without wasting at least half the package.
Yep, that's malabi. But we used almond jello and that way it's parve. All the different textures, smells, sweetnesses, well, it's very nice.
Re: borekas
Date: 2007-03-19 04:14 pm (UTC)I remember making baklava in junior high home ec class. Mom and I decided to make it at home, so we got the phyllo, opened the package, and started unwrapping it, and unwrapping it... we finally did figure out it was all dough!
I don't use it frequently, but when I do, it's usually with things that don't have to be picture perfect, so most of the package gets used.
I'm not particularly fond of jello, but maybe after Pesach I'll give it a try (I have minimal kitchenware for Pesach, so anything unusual that can't be cooked in foil is pretty unlikely).