Blog/July 2013/Jul 5th

Jul 5th sorry, no devar torah this week

Hi, again!

Esther and I are worn out from our vacation! Because it was our wedding anniversary this week, we took two days vacation and "went north". Not very far north, just as far as Zikhron Ya`aqov, where we spent one night in a tsimmer (guest house).

Zikhron is a small town, about half as big as our home town Ma`aleh Adummim. We expected that it would be half as noisy as well. But our tsimmer was on a main street, and there was truck traffic until late in the evening. Aside from that, Zikhron is a very picturesque town with a lot of "modern State of Israel" history. We went to the Aharonson house, where we learned about the Nili. Both Esther and I have large gaps in our modern-Israeli-history knowledge. Okay, this is from the era of World War I, but still. It was really very interesting, and there was only one other couple on our tour.

While in Zikhron we looked for a place to eat. There are a lot of restaurants, but very few whose hekhsher was one we liked. Anyway, we settled on a hummus place, a real Mom 'n Pop eatery. We were the only ones in the place, and I began to feel sorry for them. Then, after about fifteen minutes, an entire troop of army officer-candidate-school guys shows up. Sixteen hungry men. The proprietress took all their orders, and in ten minutes she had served every single one. It was pretty amazing service, and the food was tasty as well.

On our way out from Zikhron we stopped at the Carmel Winery, which was only a short distance from where we were staying. Since we were going on a tour of a different winery shortly after, we only went to the wine shop. The salesman there was very nice and pleasant, and we came out a few bottles richer.

We continued to the Ramat HaNadiv park, which is incredibly beautiful. The guy at the Carmel shop told us we should be sure not to miss the film showing there, since it is "heart-wrenchingly emotional and inspiring". So we looked around, saw a sign which said "סרט מעבר לגנים", which we took to mean "the film is beyond the gardens". The place is one big garden, so we assumed -- naturally -- we should traipse to the other side of the gardens. But as we started out, Esther had the foresight to ask one of the staff just where the movie screening was. He told us it was around the corner from where we had come in!

So we go that way (thoroughly confused), and see a guard, of whom we ask the same question. He tells us that this (pointing at the building) is where the film is, and the film is called "beyond the gardens"! I told him they should change the signs! We were the only ones watching the movie. Presumably any other interested parties were still traipsing across the gardens in search of the theatre.

After that we went to the Tishbi Winery, where we had a guided tour given by a young slip of a lass who didn't look old enough to drink wine. We were (again) the only ones on the tour, which was nice. But Esther can't keep her curiosity under control, and had to flip a lever -- opening some huge grape-crushing-screw-device. Fortunately, no grapes were injured by her thoughtless carelessness. After the tour, we had a wine tasting, and again -- came a away a few bottles richer.

From there we went to the seaside city of Netanya, where we stayed at the new Ramada hotel. Our room was a suite; it was huge, and very nice, and the view from the balcony was incredible. Really spectacular. For dinner we decided to walk to the area where the restaurants are. "It's not very far", says Esther. "Just over there", she said. After half an hour, I began to regret not having brought camping provisions. But onward we marched, past wandering Russians and Frenchmen and -women. Past joggers and doggers. Finally, when my strength was at its last, we made it to the "restaurant row".

There we had a meal. Not a good meal. I wonder if the chef had actually learned how to cook in a garage ... he seemed to have the idea that lots and lots of sauce makes everything better. Or perhaps the many Frenchies there like Lots of Sauce. I had ordered "home fries" to accompany my fish, since I figured "that's a safe choice, and I like 'home fries'". Well dip me in Thai sauce if the chef didn't royally screw them up! For some incomprehensible reason, he thought that taking good potatoes and covering them in hot-sweet Thai dipping sauce prior to baking them was a good idea. The resultant "fries" were sticky and soft, and though I actually like both Thai sauce and potatoes, I can't say I like them together.

And last but certainly not least, Sarah's friend Dinah made aliyah this week, and she'll be staying with us (at least for now). We are very excited about her making this move, and look forward to having a professional chef living with us ...

Enough for one week! We've got to finish preparing for shabbat, and unwind from our vacation. We were invited out for dinner this shabbat, and because of our vacation we weren't here to prepare food; but Sarah and Dinah stepped into the breach and prepared:
two different kinds of quiche, salatim and pastries (ok, we bought the pastries).

Until next week,
shabbat shalom!

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