Family :)

This past two weeks our family came to visit us!  It was so nice to be able to show people we love where we live now and share our experiences with them.  It's also a great feeling to have family with us at our home and in our daily environment - somehow it makes things a bit more grounded if that makes sense.

Zach and I also got the chance to go and see things that we hadn't seen yet - Dead Sea, Eilat, Petra, exploring around the Sea of Galilee a bit more, Jaffa and Bethlehem.  Eilat is a resort city that borders Jordan and Egypt on the Red Sea and was a perfect spot to relax on the beach and get some sun - finally!  It was also a good starting point for seeing Petra which is so ridiculously cool it is impossible to describe it.  Those people could sure carve a rock :)  Floating in the Dead Sea was also as fun as it looks - so weird!

One of my favourite times was when we got some lunch at the grocery store and then took it up for a picnic on the Mt. of Beatitudes (basically a hill on the northern edge of the lake that is still relatively undisturbed and untouristified) It was perfect weather - sunny, blue skies, slight breeze, flowers everywhere and bees starting to venture out again. From our spot on the hill you could overlook the lake and we even hiked down it a bit and found some old shrines in the middle of nowhere - Israel is cool like that :)

Here is a picture that my brother-in-law Jon took:

The last place we saw was Bethlehem - the day was rainy and cold which dampened the experience a bit, but it was also interesting to see a village inside the wall.  I would like to understand it more because it is difficult, even living here, to really get what is going on.  Just purely from the surface, as an outsider, I see a large concrete wall with watchtowers every now and then that reminds me a bit of a prison, or of the Berlin wall.  I know that the issue is complicated - you hear about how the number of attacks and the terror has declined in Israel since its construction, and you also hear about the misery of the people who now have to live with this monstrosity in their backyard, separating them from their workplace, experiencing racial profiling everytime they leave the West Bank.  I know that there are strong political, security and religious forces behind everything - but the large majority of people affected (on both sides of the issue) are people.  People like you or me. Our tour guide at the Church of the Nativity (in Bethlehem) was explaining to Zach that he would like to get married to a girl who lives on the Israel side, but thinks her family will reject the match since he lives on the other side.  It's a weird thing.  Made weirder by the fact that by living in Tel Aviv and only speaking English, we are pretty much isolated from ever thinking about it.  The whole Iran issue has dominated the news and the Palestine issue is not often discussed.  But if you ask, everyone has a strong opinion.  It's kind of funny to read the Canadian news on Israel, and then read the comments on the articles that are often quite passionate but (sometimes) lack any sort of grounding in reality. I don't think it is an issue that can be understood fully, especially if you haven't grown up here and experienced it personally.

Regarding the Iran situation, an interesting thing that has been in the news here lately is an initiative by an Israeli to use social media to express his opinion on the Iran issue - people posting pictures expressing their desire for peace and seeking and receiving Iranian responses.  Reading through some of the comments and seeing some of the pictures gives a good look (I think) at the human side - the side that isn't interested in whose ego comes out the strongest at the end of all of this.

It is definitely an interesting place to live!  Makes all the robo-call drama seem a tad foolish.

Who wants to come visit us next?! :)

Mini Apple Pies

Yesterday I got a little bored and was very cold (currently Winnipeg is warmer than Tel Aviv).  This combo always = baking!  So I made some pie crust dough, but then realized that I didn't have a pie dish.... so I made mini pies! in a cupcake tray - they were so cute:

The recipe I used for the crust had vinegar and an egg in it which I though was weird, but it actually turned out pretty tasty and flakey ..and a little buttery because I got bored of cutting in the butter and left it in slightly larger chunks than usual.

Note - if you make these put something underneath the tray to catch the filling that bubbles out!  I tried to put the edgeless cookie tray under, but it did nothing and let's just say I'm glad we don't have a kitchen smoke detector, and that we can get a good cross-breeze through our apartment!

Sunset and Zebras

 Proof that a sunset looks better through sunglasses :)

 To me this seems like a posh sign (read it in a posh accent);or else something from Monty Python, "we want... a Rockery!"

Warm tide pools - these made me want to swim so badly!

This is the reclaimed artwork from the other day I like to call:  Bashful Zebra.
Also in the collection: Moshing Zebras, Sultry Zebra.  If you want to see them you'll have to come visit.
N.B. These beautiful flowers :)

So that's why...

A couple of things that I've noticed recently:

1)  They round everything to the nearest 10 cents (well agorot) here (so you never have smaller change than 10 or 50 agorot.  I can't believe I didn't notice this earlier - like 4 months ago.  Conversation between Zach and I last week:

me: "whoa! did you know that they round everything here and that is why the smallest change we ever have is a 10? "

Zach: "............."

Yes I'm so observant -everyone knows that.

2)  The dial to set the temperature on our oven is slightly misleading.  When you turn it to the number you want, it actually only turns the real dial about 1/3 of that amount (sometimes - other times it seems to work).  This explains why it was taking me 45 min to bake 1 sheet of cookies and 3 hours to make bread......
Note - this observation is the inspiration for the post which makes it also the only one for which the title makes any sense. Don't worry about it.

3) There was a stash of framed Zebra pictures in one of the closets in our flat that we had never opened (!)  I am currently finding a place for them - you can never have too much zebra.

4) There was also a toilet seat and tank in the same closet.  I guess our landlords like to be prepared - you know, in case we destroy the toilet tank or something is that even possible???

5) When I realize that I am locked into something for much longer than I was anticipating (what is: "living in a strange and foreign land"?)  I :
a) say -nope! not happening; b) realize that's a stupid reaction and so decide to deny what's happening instead; c) denial >acceptance > panic d) decide that panicking is unproductive (and realize that panicking is spelled with a "ck" but panic is spelled with only a "c"??)  e) think - ok, this is awesome!  what a great adventure!  now I really can learn a new language and fully experience another culture! f) panic again while memorizing "do you have drip coffee?...do you have filter coffee....do you have ANY GOOD COFFEE????? " in Hebrew.
How you are supposed to handle this sort of thing without coffee is completely beyond me.

6) Allow me to paraphrase... "even with coffee this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Matthew 19:26.  I took it out of context, but whatever - I think Matthew would understand.

7)  My beautiful roses lasted forever!  The magic flower powder really worked this time.  Also, my husband is amazing (ok I lied, I didn't notice this recently, I noticed this a long time ago :)  )

Shabbat Shalom!

Home

As we were driving home from a day spent in Galilee, it finally hit me - we were driving home.  This place that I have thought of as temporary, or as perhaps an extended vacation, now feels normal (well, relatively at least).  I am no longer counting down the days until our next Canada home visits and feel much  more content to just be.

 ♥  This is my favourite food ever, cooked by my favourite person ever :)  Happy Valentines everyone ♥

Getting a job (of sorts) has of course added to this I think.  It's funny how when I'm working I wish I could just sit around and do nothing all day...but then given that opportunity (for almost a year!) I realized that I didn't really want that after all :) Given my personality, it is extremely challenging for me to wait around and feel like my life is happening out of my control, and not knowing when or how it will start to change - or if that is just what it is supposed to be like.  It is a great learning experience, and definitely important in terms of learning how to live as part of a pair, and learning how to give up control - sometimes :)

Volunteering with the Israeli Hydrological Service is going to be pretty cool I think - I'm already learning new things and getting to exercise that lump of grey mush that has been getting fairly lazy in there ;)  After we got here I thought that the only volunteering I would be able to find would be teaching English or something like that.  So it is really great to be able to volunteer in my field and keep learning things that will help with the job hunt back in Canada (or wherever we end up next...).

In light of my new research - some pictures from two of the major water sources in Israel....

Banias Falls and Springs:
(fun fact - Banias comes from a mispronunciation of Paneas which was the original city name devoted to the Greek god Pan)

At Tel Dan Nature Reserve -this is the ancient city of Dan (where Abraham went to rescue Lot - bronze age, and where Jeroboam ruled - iron age) and a major source for the Jordan river.  This is a wading pool (but we didn't have our towels...)

Zach and a giant pistachio tree

Speaking of counting down the days.. only 16 more days until our Taylor family comes to visit!!!  Can't wait to see you guys!

Ezekiel 1:28

"Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him..."

Driving through the Jezreel Valley

Cinnamon Rolls with Coffee Frosting mmmm

I recently got a tad bit addicted to Pinterest.  Among other things it has many delicious recipes - and I found an amazing one for sticky buns - so amazing that we may have eaten an entire pan in a few days (good thing I divided the recipe into 3)

The original recipe can be found here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/  I divided it into 3 because I decided that making 7 pans of buns was just slightly more than 2 people can eat before falling into a sugar coma.

This recipe (below) makes 1 13x9 glass pan worth of buns - but you can  make them in those metal disposable pans too (and bonus, you don't have to clean them after).

The final product, I want to eat one again right now.

Buns Ingredients 1 ⅓ C milk ⅓ C veg. oil ⅓ C sugar 1 tsp active dry yeast 2 ⅔ C flour plus ⅓ C extra ⅓ tsp baking powder (heaping) ⅓ tsp baking soda (scant) ⅓ Tbsp salt (heaping) Filling (you can estimate here): ½ C melted butter (ish - enough to cover dough -I didn't actually measure this) ⅔ C sugar cinnamon

Frosting 300 g icing sugar ⅔ tsp maple flavour or vanilla extract ⅙ C milk 1/12 C melted butter (1/3 of ¼) 1/12  C brewed coffee eyeball the icing - this just gives an idea for ratios and the approximate amount - makes a bit more than you really need - the ridiculous volumes are due to dividing the original recipe in three, so just estimate - you can't really screw up icing. It always tastes good - the coffee makes this one especially good

Scald the first 3 ingredients (milk, oil, sugar) then let rest until lukewarm (not hot) about 45 min if your home is as ice cold as mine is. Scald=heat until just before boiling point

add in the yeast, let sit for a bit to proof (if it's too hot you're going to kill all the yeast)

stir in the 2 ⅔ C flour, cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour

add the ⅓ C flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and stir together (use the handle of the wooden spoon if neccessary)

at this point you can use the dough right away or store it in the fridge for later.

Note - the dough may be super soft and sticky - just go with it and use lots of flour for rolling out.

Flour a large surface and shape the dough into a rough rectangle, then roll out into a rectangle that is about 1/4inch thick or so.

Pour the melted butter over the surface and sprinkle with sugar and LOTS of cinnamon.  (you can subsitute some brown sugar too for the white sugar), roll up the dough into a tight snake, starting from the long edge, don’t worry about the filling oozing out - eat it :)
pinch the seam, and then cut into rolls about 1inch thick with a sharp knife.  
Pour enough melted butter to cover the bottom of the baking pan (about 2tbsp for a large glass pan), and arrange the rolls inside (they will probably look really gross at this point if they are anything like mine - mine never ever look like the blog pictures that I'm trying to follow).

Preheat the oven to 400F and let them rise for about 30min (covered - use seran to save your towels from a sugary/buttery disaster) then bake for 15-18min until light brown

Frosting:
Mix all ingredients together - adjust icing sugar and milk as neccessary to get the desired consistency.  It should be thick, but pourable.  When the rolls come out of the oven, cover the entire thing in icing - all over and make sure it goes down the edges too - this makes them delicious!

Re-typing out these ingredients made me realize just how much sugar I've eaten in the past 3 days. Yikes.