these things are for real, kids:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterspout

“there are no limits to my mind except what limits i put on myself.”

— first seen today on a tag inside a secondhand dress i’ve had for the past two years

why does galut have to be so fun and delicious?

welp, i’m stateside again. back in new york, ten months later.

my last week in israel mostly included seeing people for the last time on this trip— loren, from south africa (i love that lady.. she’s the one with the “don’t forget to breathe” blog); chaya from ulpan from perth; mayanoters, isralighters, etc. on the night of tisha b’av (monday night aka my last night in israel), my roomates and nir and i went to the old city to hear eicha, or lamentations. it’s a custom to read it on tisha b’av, to commemorate the destruction of the second temple.

after the reading, we ended up running into nearly everyone i had intended to say goodbye to before i left. it felt like one of the those dreams where you’re in a room and everyone you’ve ever known is there with you. we ran into ari siegel from grand rapids; asher, from egypt- trip fame; yosef dovid, lazily shmoozing in the streets of the old city in his bathrobe; emuna witt (another lady i love!); nili, a former mayanoter who’s getting married in august and our mutual friend, shifka… so many.

it was perfect. 

we left the old city and i packed all night. nir came over to help and it was another lyla lavan (a white night, which in army code means “sleepless night”). we finished packing before the sun rose and arrived to the airport by 5.30. i made it through security easily enough, although they questioned me a little more thoroughly than most— as usual. i suppose my name sends up a red flag in the mind of an israeli security officer. so i passed through, boarded my flight and crashed from tel aviv to london. after a three hour layover in heathrow, i crashed again until we arrived into new jersey. 

i arrived into newark tuesday evening. the flight was relatively uneventful, however, it turned out to be the day of one of the biggest fasts in judaism. i tried keeping it until sundown in new york but after packing and schlepping and traveling and flying, i had to break it early— i was super dehydrated and pretty famished.

from the airport, i trekked to liz’s apartment in the upper west side. it was a relatively easy haul thanks to her detailed directions. we took it easy for the rest of the evening, and i slept like a rock.

the next day, liz left early early for work. i got up when she did and stayed up for the morning. i headed out around ten to walk/ subway it down south near battery park. my friend, manzell, and i met for lunch in a park (green acre park, i think) near the building where he works.

after lunch, i stopped by whole foods in union square to pick up a few gluten free items. spontaeneously, i stopped in pie by the pound, a pizza joint, because they were offering gf pizza AND beer. so i couldn’t resist. it was a little hard because i knew there were kosher places around but i just couldn’t find any.. so i settled for the most kosher unkosher pizza i could find (and eat). needless to say, it was pretty awesome stuff. and the beer! they had at least seven different kinds of gf beers and ciders to choose from! the owner, jeremy, and i got to talking about our shared food sensitivity and i ended up passing the afternoon away over pizza. he showed me art pieces by a local artist he was planning to display on his walls and i told him about my art degree; he had me sample gf cookies he was eyeing to sell (although after my anti-recommendation i don’t think he will— i told him to look into nana’s instead); and, i helped him pick out a benjamin moore color for his walls.  

after a couple of hours at the pizza place, i went to s’mac to meet up with liz (sensing a pattern here? ny is delicious). we had dinner (again with the kosher nonkosher— that’s an entire posting in itself to discuss where i’m holding) and needless to say, it was cheezy goodness. sarita, your mac and cheese has done it again.

liz and i headed back to the apartment after dinner. our friend jen stopped by later later and i felt so bad— i wanted to catch up with her but i was completely exhausted. so we made plans to meet on monday with a few other mayanoters to catch up. she’s so excited about a new boy— looks like marriage materrrrriaaaaal :)

in any case, my time here is filling up quick. today, i met jordana from isralight (we went apartment- hunting) and i’m doing a little housework for a bit of pocket change. tonight, the girls and i are picnicing in central park and going out to comedy cellar for a late show.

it’s sooo hot here… my brains are so sluggish and i’m shvitzing like crazy. thank gd the day’s moving on and it’s getting a least a little cooler. i love it when it hits 5 pm.

welcome to israel. where the summer days are unbearable and laneia turns nocturnal.

in other news… time for the breakdown of the past couple of weeks!

so. isralight.

isralight is an umbrella organization that offers a couple regular programs— one, orayta, a men’s yeshiva, two, international workshops, and three, inward bound, which is the one i participated in. inward bound is a ten day program consisting of classes in the old city and tiyulim (trips) around jerusalem and israel. it’s hard to truly sum up the program in one sentence because it’s so dynamic and encompassing, but in a nutshell: inward bound helps jews to love judaism.

so for ten days i learned to love judaism with two of my roommates, sadie and rachel. with nearly twenty other participants, we explored insightful teachings with truly amazing teachers— rabbi david aaron, reb mottle wolf, rabbi leibowitz, rebbitzen manolson and rabbi binny. honestly, i can tell you all about the program and the what— but truly, it was the who who made the program what it was. the participants, the teachers, the madrichim (like camp counselors)— everyone played a special part in making the experience uniquely incredible.

every day, we had a different schedule. on the first day, wednesday, we had a wine and cheese party/ registration/ getting to know you event.

on thursday, we had class all day and a tour around david’s tower museum in the old city. at night we hiked to lifta (the abandoned arab village i had hiked a couple weeks ago with friends). there was a bonfire, s’mores, storytelling and so much singing… what a beautiful night. the next day, we prepared for shabbos and davened kabbalat shabbat on the isralight roof— an amazing way to welcome in shabbos.

shabbat was lovely and it flew by; havdallah also quickly came and went in a blur of singing and dancing and union. there were more classes throughout sunday, monday and tuesday and wednesday brought a full- day tiyul to the north. we stopped by a yom kippur war memorial “museum” in the morning and headed to tsfat by afternoon. there, and by hashgacha protis, i was able to catch up briefly with my chabad rabbi and his family from u of o.

we ended the day at a fancy restaurant and grill on the shores of the kinneret in tiverias. the food wasn’t great, but the sea with the red sunset hills was a beautiful sight.

thursday morning we went to the southern wall excavations. i remember going on birthright but this time it seemed much more real– with reb mottle’s vivid stories, it was easy to imagine what the area was like around the second temple period. in the afternoon, we had a few more classes and a kumzitz on the roof (minus the bonfire).

which brings us to my friday morning post. the second and last isralight shabbos was, again, powerful and vibrant— we were all sad to see the program end with havdallah. our group grew so close it was surprising we only knew one another for the past ten days (of course, there were quite a few exceptions for me— i knew many of the particpants from before).

many participants left soon after the program ended motzi shabbos. a few remained. in the past couple of days, i chilled with two girls from ny and nj, rami and jordana, and victoria (from seattle) on another brief program called eco- beit midrash. it was a two- day workshop that combined environmental issues, living sustainably and torah.

now the question is: what to do for the next week, my last week in israel?

i just awoke from the deepest nap ever, to an exquisite guitar serenade and the wafting aroma of steak and onions.

this is friday afternoon at my friend hermie’s place in nachlaot.

this morning, i awoke early to cab it from the old city to a soup kitchen on the other side of town near the shuk. a group of of about ten people from isralight came as well as my friend, yosef dovid.

we went to hazon yeshaya, a center that provides food for low- income people and holocaust survivors  around israel. when we arrived, the kitchen was overflowing with volunteers. despite the crowd, the managers put half of us in the kitchen; the other half of the group was sent to the storage room to organize. i was in the latter group and we made a clean sweep of the room by unloading boxes, organizing shelves of food and cleaning the floor.

by 11 am, our group finished up and we headed to the shuk for a tour of the nachlaot neighborhood with reb mottle. at the end of the tour, i stopped by hermie’s place, where i promptly took an hour nap.

*yawn* good times. this shabbos we’ll be in the old city @ isralight, the last one of the program. more on the experience soon… i’ll try my best to post in chronological order fro now on!

ps. discovered this blog while searching for kosher kombucha: http://ogyid.blogspot.com/

i read somewhere that today, the 17th of tammuz in the hebrew calendar, is “a historic day of calamity.” i guess that sums it up pretty much. one of the big events that we commemorate today by fasting is the breaching of the exterior wall of jerusalem by the romans in 70 ce. in three weeks, we fast again to commemorate one of the most significant events in jewish history: destruction of the second temple. also in  three weeks exactly: i leave israel.

so. today was a fast day. it went as smoothly as any fast can… i slept in, read some torah and vonnegut, watched an education with the ladies and took a nap. before i knew it, i was eating a sweet potato at 8.17 pm.

i had a tasty last-meal-before-fast last night: nir and i went out to sushi @ sushi rechavia and then had a fatty frozen yogurt. and i mean old- school fatty, like i haven’t had this kind of frozen yogurt since i was twelve. vanilla and lemonish “large” yogurt (nir said it was acceptable to get a large since we were sharing) with two toppings of my choice (carmel sauce and mini brand- x m&m’s) and two toppings of nir’s choice (coconut and chopped candied pecans). craaaazy sweet and crazy good, i hadn’t felt so indulgent in a long, long time. it was fun :)

tonight’s break fast dinner (no, not breakfast dinner) was also memorable— a meal @ the village green, my favorite veggie restaurant in jlem, with the boys and jaki. and she brought guarana, a brazilian soda that reminded me of a sweet ginger ale. nom nom!

afterward, ari, yehuda and i chilled @ the comedy club . sadie was working tonight so we kept her company. (incidentally, this is the same comedy club in which the poetry slam occured.. and i just realized i had not posted about this. more on it soon). it was open mike night, which i loved— cheap drinks and hit or miss entertainment. you never know whach’you’re gonna get! the boys didn’t love it as much as i did and they left after a beer or two. yosef dovid stopped by later with a friend of his who critiqued each performer as they left the stage under his breath. i guess he felt like he could do it because he’s a “professional” muscian. or whatever.

the night ended slowly… sadie returned home late and here i am, typing away. 

the last few weeks on the horizon bring out the most contentious parts of me— me who wants to stay, to not awaken from this sur/real/ity, and me who wants to see family i haven’t seen since september.

perhaps my time in isralight will offer clarity to it all.

——

in other news, sadie organized and hosted another poetry slam on sunday. following suit with the last one, it was a success! a big turn out with well- spoken poets and lotsa supporters in the audience. so. much. fun. :) it was very enjoyable, i wish i could be here for the next one… but alas, it’s not meant to be. hopefully, it’ll continue as a tradition and still be around when i return. whenever that is.

tuesday morning had us up bright and early.. well, sort of early. jaki, yehuda and daniel came over to the apartment and we distributed things like food, camp stove, dishes, tents, etc in our backpacks. around noon, we left for the tachana merkazit and caught bus 963 to head up to kiryat shmona.

the ride was long, uneventful. i got a little car sick from being in the back so i moved to the front. napped, snacked, napped again. by five, we had arrived at the cbs in kiriyat shmona.  since it was a short drive to the campsite, we asked for directions and hitched to the general area. once we arrived, we walked and wandered and attempted to find aforementioned campsite… unsuccessfully. we found a campsite, but it had closed at 4. this is, by the way, pretty typical for a hike in israel. you don’t really know what to expect except for whatever sparse details you can get from online sources and guide books and by word of mouth. we did, however, pass a man selling cherries. they were overpriced but daniel decided to swap a cigarette for a handful of them. we munched on the cherries on our way back to the main road, pondering how to get to an open campsite…

we asked people for directions along the road and before long, we found a sprawling site with green green grass… and an exorbitant entrance fee. the guys chatted up the staff there but they kindly said they couldn’t change the entrance fee for us. thank gd i was with the people i was with— laidback, flexible, and didn’t complain one bit. the high entrance fee was a bummer, but we sucked it up and moved on. the staff said there was she’ar yashuv, a moshav close by on which we could camp for cheap.

yehuda stayed behind to find a minyan to daven for his grandmother’s passing anniversary, and the three of us walked on towards the moshav. the sun was setting at this point, and as we found the road leading to moshav she’ar yashuv it became dark. daniel made a few phone calls to the number on the moshav entrance gate and the guy on the other end, eilon, said we could camp at his place. we ended up taking the looong way to his place (due to *ahem* poor directions) but we found it nevertheless.

around 9 pm, we arrived to eilon’s property. his family’s home was near the back of the property. the front half consisted of a hangout corner— with picnic benches, a funky trailer, a stereo system and a refreshments bar, everything mosaic’d in everyway— and a spacious grassy area for campers.

(photos in this post brought to you by the letter J… for jaki!)

yehuda met us not long after our own arrival. eilon came to greet us and turned out to be a jovial young man who was recently released from the army. he reminded us of chris farley… so we nicknamed him farley :)

——-

on wednesday we awoke long after the sun came up, around 9 or so. we picked up a few things at the makolet (convenience store) on the moshav and made a pretty hearty breakfast— eggies, bread, hummus and yogurt with fruit. soon after, farley drew up a map for us and away we went to the banias!

we took a quick taxi ride to the park entrance north of the moshav, and started out at the origin point of the banias spring @ pan’s cave. from there, we walked down the trail that paralleled the river. we saw the remains of a water-powered flour mill in the park, at which point the boys bought a quick sweet pita snack (that resembled a lafa) from a local druze. we sauntered down to the waterfalls… along with crowds of beis yakov seminary girls.

further down the trail and past the park entrance, we stopped at a defunct, bellied- up syrian tank that took a fall into the river during the six day war. its treads were missing on one side but the other side where the treads were still intact made a perfect place for sitting. we took a dip in the fast river currents and ate lunch on the belly of the tank.

we hiked along the river until we found our roundabout way back to the moshav by late afternoon. the boys headed out to find a minyan for yehuda while jaki and i went to the makolet to pick up dinner fixins. we chatted over preparing dinner and ate before the boys returned; they ended up having to hitch a ride to the first campsite we visited to find a minyan.

yehuda and daniel came bearing gifts when they returned— beer and wine, to be exact. we had it with a stellar dinner of teriyaki tuna over seasoned rice and pasta. the boys told us that a guy they had hitched with invited us to a jam session on nearby kibbutz dan, so after dinner we took up his invite and walked along the main road to dan.

a pub in the center of the kibbutz hosted this “jam session”— it was more of a casual performance/ open mike, where one main band played with other guys from the kibbutz coming up on stage every other song or so. they played covers and proved to be pretty entertaining. we even saw farley there! the jam rocked with american and israeli songs and by the end, the four of us were exhausted from a long day and an equally long night. we cut out and returned to she’ar yashuv, to rest for another long day ahead of us.

——

thursday = flying by the seat of our pants!

we had no idea what we were going to do for the day when we awoke. since we finished off the banias and the surrounding trails on wednesday, we decided to go to the coast. we talked to the people on the moshav and they suggested hof dor— a small place by the beach, a bit north of qessaria (caesarea, in english?) and free after 4!

we tramped from she’ar yashuv to the cbs in kiriyat shmoneh, then bussed it west to a stop @ faredis and caught two tramps to the hof dor beach, going two by two (it’s harder to get one hitch willing to take four people). yehuda and i arrived in no time to the beach but, unfortunately, we discovered there was an entrance fee… and it was after 4pm! so yehuda chatted up the guy at the beach entrance about schooling in america vs. in israel and, in the end, the guy shook yehuda’s hand and said to him in hebrew, “you’re a good guy,”… and procceeded to kindly let us in, free of charge. sometimes that’s the way it works in israel— you talk to people in hebrew, you show them you’re amicable and they’ll often provide you with what you want. sometimes not. but as the guy welcomed us in to the beach, he told us there was a place for us to camp down the shoreline, up and over on the other side of the tel (there are some words that i can’t seem to remember if they’re english or hebrew— in this case, it’s like a finger of land that extends from the coastline).

as yehuda and i started to make our way to the tel, jaki and fleisch (daniel) caught up with us. we snagged pita, hummus and israeli salad from the beachside restaurant and walked to the camping area on the other side of the tel.

see where that white tent is in the first pic? we walked ten minutes down from there and set up camp.

fleisch constructed a makeshift dinner table out of rocks and a plank of wood. we pitched our tents and had dinner on the beach: hummus, tuna, pita, salad… and sand! nom nom nom.

jaki and i held down the fort and talked as it became dark. the boys headed out to crash a beach wedding (which, incidentally, they could’ve pulled off if a) it was a religious wedding, or b) they were dressed in clothes that hadn’t been worn for the past few days straight). they were successful inasmuch they scored some *more* pita and hummus and returned with a grapefruit drink and coke zero for me and jaki. it started to rain off and on so we retreated to the guys’ tent to play cards. after a while, jaki and i returned to our tent (which had plastic baggies attached to it for lack of a tent fly.. i kicked myself for forgetting it) and fell asleep to the sound of rain and the ocean.

——

friday, friday, the end of another week.

we packed up, had a quick dip in the ocean (jellyfish- free this morning, as far as we could tell) and hitched to our junction @ faredis. we grabbed a few snacks at a nearby makolet and waited for the bus. one stopped, we passed it up because the driver misinformed us, and then as he left we realized that was the bus we wanted.

we waited longer, and ended up getting a friendly hitch before the next bus arrived. our driver, a kind young man, eager to speak english, took us into tel aviv. i fell asleep in the back seat on the way… as usual. from there we bussed it to one of the two central bus stations and from there finally returned to jerusalem.

upon returning to the apartment, i discovered sadie in a state of calm yet chaotic shabbos balagan! as usual :) we quickly went to work— i went to the shuk, picked up items for shabbos and spent the rest of the day cooking with sadie. there was so much to get done and we cut it so close to sundown… but we made it!! shabbos settled in and soon after candle lighting, i made my way over to jaki’s new apartment for dinner.

it was such a feel- good meal— intimate, quiet, relaxed, full of feminine energy. such a difference from the week! our table consisted of  jaki, our friend carol (previously from mayanot), sarah (their friend from brazil), and jaki’s roommate. the food was simple and delicious, and the conversation was colorful— english, portugese and hebrew danced about, and since jaki’s roommate didn’t speak english well, it forced us all to use our hebrew. some of the portugese i could understand because it was similar to spanish, and most of the hebrew i could understand… speaking it was a welcomed challenge. we all tried to be on the same page and every topic required some sort of translation. it was like a game of multi-lingual telephone— fun, sincere and without judgement.

on saturday, sadie hosted yet another epic lunch meal. this time, it was a sheva brachot (one of seven meals after a wedding) and we must’ve had at least thirty people stop by, eat and hang out. of course, in a group this big, it was hard to avoid shenanigans. our neighbor, reb mottle (of isralight fame), brought forty birthrighters over to say “mazal tov” to the bride and groom. it was a fun time, and we all sang and danced in what little space we had. later in the day, a girl from the sheva brachot became seriously drunk, blacked out and passed out on our couch. thank gd, she was able to sleep off some of the alcohol and was able to walk home safely before havdallah.

as for me… i also took a nap. an epic one, at that, because i ended up sleeping through havdallah at sunset ’til almost midnight. stayed up ’til four, and slept again. it’s funny how not having a set day schedule provides no structure for sleeping whatsoever. fortunately (for my adrenals..) come wednesday, i’ll have a schedule for at least the next ten days. i *finally* decided to do the second session of isralight and will be based out of the old city for the program. soooper exciting :)

the days have whizzed by, i honestly don’t know what exactly happened to them since the last time i posted…

last shabbos… was lovely. i went to night meal @ daniel’s; the gang was there plus fifteen. it was the biggest meal he had hosted and, of course, it was sort of a balagan… but, at the end of the night, i think everyone had a good time. a handful of girls from mayanot showed up, too, and we hung out on the porch til the early hours.

for lunch, i hit up a picnic with nir at yemin moshe park near the king david hotel. afterwards, i walked back to nachlaot in the blazing heat to join the lunch @ the apartment. it was another bon voyage meal, this time saying l’chaims and goodbyes to meir dovid. he’s a good friend of sadie’s and, in turn, a good friend of mine. he studied @ mayanot as well and has become more chabad-religious in the past couple of years. he’s young, still, and is returning to kentucky to do outreach, go to culinary school and find a shidduch. he’s truly a solid guy— responsible, considerate and honest. he will be missed around these parts but he’s going out to do great things in america, apparently kentucky needs him more than we do.

anyway, the rest of shabbos flew by again, as is customary, in nap-mode. i awoke just in time for havdallah, and met the gang and a few friends to watch a serious man, a strange and depressing book of job- based story about one man’s struggle with his crumbling life and with gd.

——

on sunday, i hung out with nir for the morning and met up with the gang later to plan for the week. since the meditation retreat fell through for multiple reasons (they didn’t have room for me, daniel’s army schedule conflicted with the dates of the retreat and yehuda couldn’t outwardly daven or put on tefillin while at the retreat), we decided to plan our own trip— camping!! we decided to leave on tuesday.

in the meantime, on monday, a few girls from mayanot, daniel and i went on a tiyul to the mikveh near the central bus station, the one we had wanted to go to last week but cancelled the trip due to a wildfire in the area. it was fun; we started out early (but not early enough— it was already sweltering by the time we got out there) and wandered around the abandoned arab village, lifta.  the buildings were like stone skeletons, ruins from over six decades ago. you could even see the tile work in some of the crumbling buildings that were once homes.

at the end of the hike, we circled back to the mikva, which turned out to be 1) not just for men (kind of..) and 2) a natural spring that had been used for centuries. it was refreshing to dip our feet in at the headwaters after a short but hot hike.

for the rest of the day, daniel and i traipsed around jerusalem planning our camping trip and buying items for it. he got northface hiking shoes and a nice, two person tent that was not terribly lightweight but spacious. we both gathered snacks and food for the trek, talked to resources on how to get up north and what to expect, etc. in the end, we decided to take a trip to the banias waterfalls in the golan near kiriyat shmoneh, quite close to the lebanese border.

after shlepping around jerusalem all day, yehuda eventually met up with us. we joined nir and his friend, kaylee, to go to a birthday bbq forty minutes outside jlem. it was on a moshav, near a wadi- river thing… it was honestly hard to tell where we were due to the dark. all i knew was it was humiddd! even at nine at night, we couldn’t escape the heavy heat. the bbq was a good time— there was a jump house (bounce house? trampolina? trampoline castle? one of those inflatable things you jump in), a bonfire, homemade pita and poyke goodness (like a dutch oven). all in all, a splendid time.

mk, more later… time to hit the hay *yawn*! g’night and.. 24 days! and counting! :)

last night, i went to the wedding of shaul and shayna judelman right outside of the settlement, bat ayin. i was on the fence about going all day but somehow everything worked out— ariella, one of the roommates, had an extra seat on the reserved bus and gave it to me at the last minute.

the wedding was in a desert forest. the chuppa was near a high spot on the hill, and the reception was spread out below, with a mat- and- pillow’d area for children, tables for a simple, healthy buffet- sytle dinner (mostly different kinds of beans, rice and salmon), and a matted dance floor with live band and a mechitza to separate men and women. so many guests attended, more than a hundred i would guess, and i had the chance to catch up with so many friends i hadn’t seen in a while— shifra and gavi (i hadn’t seen them since last week but it seemed like forever); ahuva from many shabbos meals held at the apartment; herme, self- proclaimed computer nerd, guitarist, and knife aficionado; joel, who travels back and forth from the states to israel, and his brother ira… so many. and then, to top it all off, i realized that i went to school with the sister of the groom!! so crazy, it all makes sense.. they look alike, they have the same last name… and so i approached her and we talked about u of o times :)

photo courtesy of gil tanenbaum

——–

today was an awesome day. i had the honor of spending the better part of it with my housemate, sadie :) she is such a tzeddekis, i love her! she made french toast and i cleaned the kitchen and all was well and productive. i met a few mayanoters and daniel to go on a hike around an abandoned arab village, but there was a wild fire at our destination so that hike was out. for plan b, some of us went to the rose garden outside the knesset; others of us went home to shower and refresh ourselves from the heat of the day. i was in the latter group— i freshened up, bought a few drinks and a watermelon for two mayanoters, jaki and chava, and daniel to come over after their haul to the rose garden. daniel and i made guac with sadie’s over ripe avos and he treated us to tortilla chips… and terra!

later in the evening, we went to a vort, an engagement party, down the street and gave and received brachot for a good while. traditionally, the bride and groom will give blessings to their vort guests due to the auspicious time and, if the guests feel to do so, they also give blessings to the couple. a man gave a brief yet sweet dvar torah, in which he related a  story of a sage to the couple’s engagement.

after the vort it was already getting late. somehow, we (“we” being a group of  seven)thought it would be a good idea to walk to the old city to catch the last of the light show, which turned out to be quite the adventure. we even picked up a friend, benyamin, on the way and he came and came and came with us… he originally thought to only join us part way, but he ended up coming along for the entire walk.

the light show was still going strong when we arrived. people filled the narrow streets; lights sprouted from the ground like giant cattails and strung along ancient walls to guide you down display paths, six colored coded routes in all.

the group of us ended up in the main square of the jewish quarter, down a ways from the kotel entrance. there, we loitered like i haven’t loitered since high school, and time passed and passed… we caught up with friends who happened to be passing by (coincidences that occur far too often in jerusalem to be considered coincidences), drummed up conversations with the local vendors and children… and generally shot the breeze. philosophy, halacha and poetry weaved their way into our conversations as the night rolled on. i ran into joel again (from the wedding) and we talked for a good couple of hours. as the night wore on, we slowly lost most of our group to other friends or to the pull of a comfy bed— in the end, only sadie, daniel, ari and i walked home together.

after these last few days, i ask: who knew “doing nothing” could feel so satisfying?

thanks to shauna’s post on the first meal i ever cooked, i discovered eat the love. not only is he a witty writer, his answer to the assignment, “what was the first thing you ever cooked?” echoed my own answer to the question: SNICKERDOODLES!

i remember this simple sugar- and- cinnamon cookie was one of the first things i baked with my mom. well, either that or banana bread (i’ve seriously revised the recipe during my time in israel, where substituing tehina and zanthan gum for flour works surprisingly well). the firm, sweet and spiced outside and the chewy inside seems irresistable to me now, but i can’t remember the last time i even had a snickerdoodle, let alone baked one.

if anyone comes across a solid gf snickerdoodle recipe, please post— much gratitude!