Hummous 2010
Filed under: Art, Business, Food, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, coexistence
Well, we were there at Friday’s presentation of the largest platter of hummous at the Abu Gosh Restaurant. Jawdat Ibrahim, the restaurant owner — who has earned his own share of fame as the winner of a $17.5 million Illinois state lottery back in 1990 — got some 50 Jewish and Arab chefs to contribute their share of the smooth chickpea spread, and as is his wont, saw it as another kind of coexistence effort.
Along with Jewish businessman David Hochner, CEO of SatLink Communications, which provided the a six-meter satellite dish that served as the receptacle for the four-plus tons of hummous, the pair and various sponsors were seeking to break the current Guiness World Record set in Lebanon.
According to Guinness adjudicator Jack Brookbank who was in Abu Gosh on Friday, the Abu Gosh crowd did set a new record at 4,087.5 kilos (8992.5 pounds) of hummous.
The crowd was jubilant, cheering at Jawdat’s image on the giant screen perched outside the restaurant, and at the series of a local singers and speakers who addressed the crowd in Arabic, Hebrew and English.
As for the hummous, which was decorated by Bezalel art students with the usual accompaniments of olive oil, paprika and zaatar, I was told that no one was going to get to eat it, because the sponsors were fearful that it had been sitting in the sun for too long. But if you were lucky enough — or pushy enough — to get into the restaurant, they were handing out free hummous, and we got ourselves two pints, along with some pitot. Good stuff.
Picture of the week: I’ll have it on ice please
Filed under: Food, General, Picture of the Week, Pop Culture
I don’t really get the attraction myself, but since my kids first read the Guinness Book of Records, they’ve been planning various record-breaking attempts. Person to kneel on a fit ball longest – that’s one idea, or what about person to eat the most chocolate at one sitting (they haven’t reached the age when they realize how awful that suggestion actually is), or even person to make the biggest ball from elastic bands.
None of these seemingly ludicrous ideas are actually any more ridiculous than some of the record-breaking feats actually being carried out by people for the book itself.
Hence Israeli magician, Chezi Dean is now attempting to break the Guinness world record of staying in ice. Dean, who served as a magician for the IDF during his military service, hopes to break the record set by David Blaine, then 27, who encased himself in a block of ice for 58 hours, right in the center of Times Square.
Dean, wearing just trousers and a hat, entered the ice structure right in the heart of Tel Aviv on December 29th, and plans to leave the ice on New Year’s Eve – six hours longer than Blaine. Photo by Roni Schutzer/Flash90.
This isn’t the only record-breaking attempt going on at the moment. On January 8th, Juadat Ibrahim, owner of the Abu Gosh restaurant in Abu Gosh will be trying to break the world record for the biggest platter of hummus – a record that was just broken in October this year by Lebanon.
Then 250 chefs got together to create the dish using 2.976 pounds of chickpeas and 13,525 ounces of lemon juice. The final dish weighed in at more than two tons, beating the previous record, which was held by an Israeli company.
At Abu Gosh, the goal is to create a four-ton platter of hummus and some of the country’s best chefs will be on hand to do it. The event will be attended by government ministers, ambassadors and Jewish and Arab professionals, who will no doubt be feasting on hummus afterwards.
The people in your neighborhood
Filed under: General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, coexistence
The longer I live in Israel, and in Jerusalem — 14 years and counting, this June — the more I’m certain that much of my life here is about the people, and certainly not the political, social or religious situation that exists here. Perhaps that’s because there is such an assortment of people in these parts, particularly in Jerusalem, which can be such an ingathering of exiles, and I don’t necessarily mean that in a positive light.
At the same time, living in one of the world’s holiest cities — even though that’s not why I live here — means that you live among a simply astounding assortment of people. I mean, hey, they don’t call it the Jerusalem Syndrome for nothing. Unusual people are clearly drawn to this place. But seriously. Living here has meant that I’ve met and become friends and acquaintances with all kinds of folk, and what I love is how we intersect in one another’s lives.
Consider Danny, my framer. He recently added an annex to his framing shop, which, mind you, is little more than a shack on Caspi Street, considered one of the ‘better’ streets in the city and lined with villas, overlooking the Old City and Mount of Olives. When I was last there, he had installed his framing colleague, Dudi, who used to be my framer, back when he had a shop on Bethlehem Road. Anyway, Danny and I were discussing my five-month-old twins, and this hippy, white-crocheted-kippah-wearing Israeli who used to be secular told me that I really need to have a pidyon haben for Ziv, my older twin. “Talk about it with your rabbi,” Danny tells me, “but hey, it’s a siba l’misiba.” (A great Israeli phrase which means a reason for a party.) So now we’re thinking about it.
Or Yossi, our newly installed gardener. As we chatted about the weedy post-winter state of my garden, and what succulents could be planted which wouldn’t need water, we connected on where he lives — the suburban/moshav enclave of Beit Zayit, which I’d written about recently. We then moved on to the issue of orla and whether we can yet eat the fruit from our lime or nectarine trees. He didn’t want to commit to whether I could or couldn’t according to Jewish law, but I like the fact that I can chat about it with my gardener, and that we both have a sense of what we’re talking about.
There’s also Sarah, who works at the dry cleaners and lives in Abu Gosh; Yossi, who owns the local lighting store and pickles lemons in the back, and Tali, who owns another nearby gift store with her sister, and also has twins. There are days when I spend more time talking to them than to closer friends and family, and you know what? Not a bad thing at all.
Day tripping
Filed under: Food, General, History and Culture, Travel
I had to head out to the Maale Hahamisha hotel yesterday for a meeting, and was reminded as I drove through Abu Gosh, passing Yad HaShmona and Neve Ilan along the way, what a great little tour this area makes for a day tripper.
Abu Gosh is an Arab village that is named for the Abu Gosh family and which has remained friendly to Israel throughout 60 years of statehood. Known for its annual music festival and Christmas Eve services, Abu Gosh also has a slew of Middle Eastern style restaurants and hummousiya stops, serving grilled meats, salads and hummous. Two of the most famous are the Lebanese Restaurant, built around a mulberry tree and known for its popularity among Israeli politicians and the Abu Gosh Restaurant, which is owned by Ibrahim Jawdat, an Abu Gosh native who won $17 million in a Chicago, IL state lottery while working as a mechanic. Legend has it that Jawdat used his last $50 to buy a bunch of lottery tickets at a 7-11, and, well, got lucky.
If you keep on driving through Abu Gosh, you’ll see a signpost pointing up toward Maale Hahamisha, a kibbutz that has its own hotel — with a great indoor pool — and the orchid hospice, part of the kibbutz orchid greenhouse, for those possessing an orchid obsession. For another alternative cooperative community, stop at Yad Hashmona on the way out of the area, a moshav of Finnish Christians who offer lodging, food and a biblical village in the Judean Hills.
Finally, before heading home, stop at the Elvis Inn for a necessary viewing of the incredible collection of Elvis memorabilia…It’s one thing to see this kind of adulation in Graceland, but it’s fantastically out of place for the Judean Hills.
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