What a great pleasure it is to have a hakura, or kitchen garden, next to the house – particularly when its yields peak in mid-winter. Yesterday I stripped the hakura of just about all of the swiss chard to make a crispy filo-layered pie. Washing and trimming the fleshy leaves, I realized how viscerally I … Read More »
bedouins
The Hakura
I recently received a telephone call from a man named Adel, from the nearby Bedouin village of Ayedat. He is in the final stages of submitting his master’s thesis and needed help with editing the English abstract. I frequently edit English texts on you-name-the-topic, but when he told me the subject of his thesis, I … Read More »
The State of Foraging – Winter 2010
This winter started off on the left foot – first there were an endless string of hot dry days that lingered through December. Then came the disastrous Carmel fire. And then while the embers were still smoldering, came the first real winter storm – 3 days of torrential rain. I couldn’t even begrudge the 26 … Read More »
Bedouin Hospitality
Thank goodness some relief has come from the monotony of these long, hot summer days. Ramadan begins today and a few days ago I paid a pre-holiday visit to my good friends Maryam and her sister Emna, in the neighboring Bedouin village of Basmat Tabun. I haven’t seen them for some time – they used … Read More »
Culinary Tours of the Galilee Launched!
How pleased I am that Culinary Tours of the Galilee has been officially launched, and in such an auspicious way. Over one week, I led two groups, both through the US Embassy, thanks to my wonderful new colleague and friend Bob, who is officially in charge of the general wellbeing of the embassy staff, but … Read More »