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My brisket butcher

I’m in the midst of a cleaning frenzy and a brisket study. It’s the pre-Passover phase and while some are sunning in Sinai, touring Italy (friends of mine) or skiing in Switzerland (another friend) during the Passover school vacation that began today (teachers have to clean their houses too), I’m completely caught up in the spring cleaning version of cleaning for Passover and planning our seder menu.

For me, this is the fun part of hosting the seder this year, getting to plan a menu that involves checking out the various recipes out there, consulting with my friend Adeena, a food writer in New York, and thumbing through my collection of cookbooks to see what I may have missed over the years. I’m confirming that we are having brisket, the question is, which recipe?

As a dry run, we made a brisket this past weekend, buying our hunk of meat at one of the local supermarkets. That’s where the story comes in. Daniel went to buy the brisket, and as he likes to do, asked the advice of the meat counter butcher. He’d gone in with his Hebrew word for brisket all prepared, ‘chazeh’, which is also used for chicken breast meat, but the butcher convinced him that what Daniel meant and what he, the butcher, wanted to give him, were two different things.

“How do you want to cook it?” asked the butcher, an Arab guy.
“In the oven, for about two or three hours,” answered Daniel.
“It’s for Shabbat?” asked the butcher.
[This conversation was taking place on Thursday morning.]
“Yes, it’s for Shabbat, but we’re cooking it tonight,” said Daniel.
“That’s good, because once you cook this, it can be frozen and still taste good in 40 years,” said the butcher.

Who knew? He then proceeded to make small cuts in the meat, telling Daniel to stick cloves of garlic inside. The rest of the recipe including braising it, adding water, and then baking it for another hour at the most, with vegetables and onions. I modified his recipe slightly, braising it in oil, removing it and then sauteing onions, carrots and celery in the same pot, adding crushed tomatoes at the end, and then baking the whole lot for at least an hour and a half.

I have to say, it was stupendous, particularly when you were lucky enough to get a slice with pieces of the slow-cooked garlic inside. I’m debating between this recipe and a wine-based brisket for the seder. But we will definitely be returning to our Arab butcher and his patient, garlic-loving hands.

Haman rears his ugly head

Maybe because it’s Purim, and we Jews are obsessing with bad guys trying to annihilate us, but didn’t the photographs of Syrian President Bashir Assad, Iranian President Ahmadinajad and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah sitting around a goodies-laden table at the end of the week in Damascus evoke a shiver down your spine?

It was like one of those scenes Batman or Austin Powers where the idiosynchratic but well-costumed villains stage an evil summit to hatch new plans for world domination. There’s some eerie synchronicity going on – we’re gathering to hear the Megilla reading in Israel and around the world, being reminded of Haman’s plan to wipe out the Jews. And generations later, these anti-Israel professionals – one, Nasrallah, actually in his best Penguin meets The Joker garb – are gathering around humous and eggplant salad to discuss the very same thing.

We’ve sat down at the peace table with some unsavory folks in the past – Yasser Arafat anyone? But even that was within the realm of possibility, as he talked about making peace with Israel and living side by side, even if his actions didn’t resemble his words. And King Hussein and Anwar Sadat always seemed like level-headed leaders, even when they were our enemies, so it was no great leap to find commond ground with them when the time came.

But what about the terrible trio of Assad, Ahamadinajad and Nasrallah? Are we ever going to be able to sit around the humous table with them? Or is it going to play out like a Purim story, where one side has to triumph over the other? Stay tuned, same Bat time, same Bat channel.

Nostalgia Sunday – Pressed Wildflowers

Last week’s freakishly warm weather sent the almond trees into bloom. Although it was a false spring, residents of the entire country went out for their annual wildflower trek.

Yes, Israelis love their wildflowers. Well, at least they know not to pick wildflowers. In fact the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) did such a good job of brainwashing the past few generations of schoolchildren that you will never catch an Israeli picking a wildflower. They’ll throw garbage on it, pee on it, build an ugly edifice next to it, but pick it?! Never.

When I was a child, a bookmark with pressed wildflowers was one of the more charming tourist trinkets you could pick up (hard to find but still charming today).

Back in the pre-TV days, before the ban on picking wildflowers took hold, Israeli schoolchildren were encouraged to not only to pick but also to collect and study the different kinds of flora native to this land, and press them between the pages of a book.

Later on, commerce got into the act and albums were made available as promotional items like this one from margarine manufacturer Telma Gold Band.

And of course, the Israel Postal Authority (today’s Israel Post), did its part by issuing stamps of our most popular wildflowers.

Competing margarine manufacturer Blue Band also took on the cause as part of an advertising campaign bossily entitled (in the command form) “Know Our Country’s Flowers”. This ad is for the caper (Capparis spinosa L.). I’m not sure why all these margarine makers were so interested in educating the young people about wildflowers but I’m guessing it had something to do with safflower oil.

Today, you’re more likely to find cultivated flowers, rather than wild ones, pressed and waxed or laminated into bookmarks, candles and jewelry. I’m not sure, however, what the SPNI would make of this set of nails, but you’ve got to admire the work put into these tiny purple petals, lacquered and bonded onto synthetic tips, the handiwork of manicurist Ronit!

Nostalgia Sunday – Kikar Atarim: What’s up with that?

I have family visiting Israel this week and they are staying at a very nice hotel in Tel Aviv. Unfortunately, like most of the nice hotels in Tel Aviv, theirs is located adjacent to a local embarrassment known as Kikar Atarim (Atarim Square, also known as Namir Square). And like most visitors, they are curious as to the origins of this concrete and stone monstrosity whose sole purpose seems to be to block the view and the route to the sea. Oh, and to serve as a giant pissoir.

Google the phrase “kikar atarim” and what you’ll get is a series of items terming it everything from “the single most disappointing and embarrassing tourist attraction in the city” and “[a] prime example[s] of what can kindly be called ‘errors in urban planning’” to “a colossal failure”, “concrete atrocity” and “something I crawled over and got away from as quickly as I could.”

In her Haaretz article, A white elephant from outer space in the heart of Tel Aviv, author Shani Shilo relates that during the first Gulf War, then-Tel Aviv Mayor Shlomo (Cheech) Lahat “remarked that he hoped an Iraqi missile would land on Atarim Square and destroy the thing.” I had it on my Saddam Hussein wish list as well.

The square, built on a cliff leading down to the sea, was designed as a multifunctional structure and tourist attraction by one of Israel’s most dominant architects, Yacov Rechter, as a prime example of Brutalist architecture in Israel. When it opened in the early 1970s, it was very successful for a time: the Kolbo Shalom department store had a branch called “The Drugstore,” modeled after Le Drugstore, (a famous Parisian 60s hangout); people flocked to the Shahaf Cinema and sat in cafes under the concrete mushrooms. Here’s a lovely picture (above) of screenwriter Moshe (Pommy) Hadar and his wife Bella Levin in front of Drugstore Shalom.

In 1978, the municipality changed the name of the square to honor the late Mordechai Namir, who was mayor from 1959 to 1969. But the square had already begun a downwards spiral from which it has yet to emerge.

Tel Aviv lore has it that Kikar Atarim is a sort of No Man’s Land run by shadowy underworld types who take astronomical amounts in protection fees, thus preventing any businesses from being able to sustain, let alone flourish. And, according to Wikipedia (in Hebrew), this is probably true: “Towards the end of the Seventies, it changed entirely. Criminal elements took over the shops and a police station was established on the premises, the stores on the lower levels closed or were turned into gambling clubs. The Kolbo Shalom branch closed and the round structure stood abandoned for a number of years.”

And then, in 1982, Kikar Atarim experienced a sort of revival when the round structure was turned into a disco called the Coliseum (sic). Grace Jones, pop’s original and true diva, performed at the club opening and for years it was the place to go, see, be seen and get picked up. The surrounding area, however, continued to deteriorate to the point that Ora Namir, Ambassador, MK and widow of Mordechai Namir – and no slouch when it came to PR – requested that the municipality disassociate her late husband’s name from the place. And that, children, is how Haifa Road came to be know as Namir Road.

And then came the early Nineties and Mayor Lahat’s pronouncement, so reminiscent of the cry raised by the residents of St. Louis’ Pruitt-Igoe housing complex when asked what action could make their residence habitable. They chanted, “Blow it … up! Blow it … up!”. (The authorities complied).

Unfortunately, the Tel Aviv municipality in 2009 has it harder than that of St. Louis in 1971, mainly because of Kikar Atarim’s umpteen property owners and their descendants who, according to Wikipedia, “are not able to cooperate in maintaining the square. Unlike the malls, the square has no maintenance company and essentially there is no entity that manages or maintains it. The cheap construction materials from which it was built, along with its proximity to the sea, contribute to its accelerated deterioration.”

In 2006, the municipality announced that it would not knock down Kikar Atarim and would redo it instead. Apparently, the repairs were only structural so I put in a couple of nice pictures of that dream. Believe me, it’s now a few days shy of 2010, I just spent a weekend walking and running in, out and round about Kikar Atarim, and the only thing that’s changed is that a few new layers of urine have been added to the stairwells.

The good news is that the Coliseum just reopened! It can no longer lay claim to the title, “The Biggest Disco in the Middle East,” but the refurbishment is nice. Too bad about the neighborhood.

Foto Friday – Israel through the IR filter with Yariv Drory

Winter is upon us, more or less. Last week, the rainy season began in earnest, then backtracked for a week of unseasonably warm weather. Now, they tell us, it is now due to return with some serious cold, wet weather. It’s too early to tell if there will be snow this year but this series of images by Yariv Drory brings the thought to mind.

Drory has a particular interest in infrared cameras and his images of the Israeli summer landscape through the IR filter are almost hallucinatory.

In real life, the trees are green and the skies are blue but through the IR filter, the trees turn a feathery pink, the skies are black, the seas white, and spiky brush and weeds turn cottony and soft.

According to Wikipedia, which has a very nice entry about infrared photography, “When these [IR] filters are used together with infrared-sensitive film or sensors, very interesting ‘in-camera effects’ can be obtained…false-color or black-and-white images with a dreamlike or sometimes lurid appearance… mainly caused by foliage (such as tree leaves and grass) strongly reflecting in the same way visible light is reflected from snow.”

Also, according to Wikipedia, “…other attributes of infrared photographs include very dark skies and penetration of atmospheric haze… compared to visible light.”

More photos by Yariv Drory are on view at his website.

Foto Friday – Robert Gorsoun sees Israel’s beauty

Robert Gorsoun is a photographer who takes pictures for the love of it. Wherever he travels, he snaps pictures and Israel is beautiful through his lens…

…the Banias in Israel’s north…

…a rainbow, captured in mid-storm over the Herzliya beach…

…a field of flowers by the roadside, stretching on forever…

…a water lily…

…or flowering cacti at the Utopia Orchid Park…

…and on through to the crater at Mizpe Ramon.

More photos by Gorsoun — including some spectacular panoramas that don’t fit on an Israelity page but should be seen — are posted on Panoramio.

When’s the right time for a rite of passage?

It’s generally accepted that the Israeli perspective on the bar/bat mitzvah ceremony is different from its counterpart in the US.
I remember when Susie and three of her closest friends decided to celebrate their bat mitzvahs together – they were all around 40-years-old at the time.
They had been studying Torah as a group in Jerusalem for a year and a half. It all started when Boston-born Susie, who had already been in Israel for more than 20 years, started to feel that while her Jewish identity was her primary identity, which is why she had moved here, it was time for her to confront her “awe of the Torah.”
Sally, Ruti and Janet had also been in Israel for a couple of decades and for various reasons, none of the four had had a bat mitzvah back in the States. In fact, the first bat mitzvah was held by American rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, a major figure in Jewish thought and the founder of the Reconstructionist movement, for his daughter Judith in 1922.
So the culmination of 18 months of study and learning to read from the holy book was a ceremony at Jerusalem’s Kol Haneshama .
Now the idea didn’t resonate with everybody, but at that June ceremony 12 years ago no one could fail to be moved by the four women’s obvious quiet joy and pride in their achievements.
The bat mitzvahs of those forty-somethings inevitably came to mind when I received an e-mail recently, telling me about another group of delayed bar/bat mitzvah celebrants, en route to Israel.
Some of the participants at the upcoming celebration will be using walkers. Oxygen and wheelchairs will be available for emergencies. Five nurses will be traveling with the group. The average age of the participants in this particular version of the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony? Eighty-five.
Read more

Foto Friday – A Walk Down Nachalat Binyamin

Every Tuesday and Friday, there’s a crafts fair on Tel Aviv’s Nachalat Binyamin Street.

There’s no end to the coverage about it, because it is a very good event that has managed to maintain high standards of quality for over a decade and a half — no mean feat, as so many other so-called crafts fairs start out in promising fashion, then sink quickly into a mire of cheap crap from India and China. But the TA municipality keeps close tabs the Nachalat Binyamin artisans and artists, many of whom staff their own booths.

Most visitors pay more attention to the products than the sellers, as is only natural when shopping. And that’s where the photographer’s eye comes in.

Photographer Jessica D. Korman, a recent new immigrant to Israel, took a stroll down Nachalat Binyamin and — aside from snapping shots of the wares for Tchochkes.com, where she is a regular contributor, she also took a look at what goes on around the booths.

Korman, who studied interior design, says she looks for architectural elements wherever she goes, “to present a different view of an object or event.”

“I like photographing everyday scenes,” Korman says, “always looking for a different angle or perspective to the mundane or even the ‘ugly’ side of things.”

A former picture editor for publications such as Scholastic, Star Magazine and Woman’s World Magazine, Korman now works as a Visual Communications Consultant in Jerusalem. “What I love about [photo editing] is that it is the marriage of written content with images. The proper choice of image will enable one’s work to have the greatest impact. Besides, what better job is there than getting to look at pictures all day?”

There’s inspiration everywhere. More of Korman’s work is available on her website, The F Stops Here.

Nostalgia Sunday – Machboim

Israeli director Dan Wolman is best-known for his film version of My Michael (1974) but another of his films, Machboim (Hide and Seek), made its own mark in 1980 as the first Israeli film about homosexuality.

If there was ever a reason to pick up a copy of Machboim, the shooting last night at a Gay-Lesbian youth drop-in center in Central Tel Aviv is enough. There have been other gay-themed films made since — from the late Amos Guttman’s film Nagua m which was hailed in 1983 as a groundbreaker for bringing AIDS to general awareness, to Yossi and Jagger (2002), about two soldiers who fall in love, which was all but mainstream at the box office.

But Machboim, which is set in 1946, was first to address the conflict, denial and ugly aggression against male homosexuality that is part and parcel of any macho society. That same machismo, the film suggests, was perhaps necessary to forge a national identity and bring the State of Israel into being, but is still rooted in the Israeli psyche. It is an uncomfortable thought.

A fairly short if uninformative interview with Woman can be found on YouTube. It’s not about Machboim. Probably just best to rent the film.

Foto Friday – Sexy Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv nights are sultry and sexy. Or muggy or humid to the cynics. But for those who love summer in the city, going out clubbing on a Thursday night is just the right thing to do. After all, what’s a little sweat between friends?

Tel Aviv abounds with dance clubs, bars and night spots. According to the Gay Tel Aviv website, “For a great vacation, you’ve found the right place.”

The municipality also actively supports that view — and one expects no less from a city hall with a street number of 69! — and will host the annual gathering of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association this coming October. Given Tel Aviv’s gay-friendly status — and the fact that October in Israel has the loveliest weather — registration should be brisk.

This photo series was taken by citizen journalist/blogger David Shankbone, who wrote about Gay Tel Aviv, his night at the TLV club, and DJ Ofer Nissim (pictured), as follows: “One of the most excellent spectacles to behold in Israel was the amazing high energy of famous Israeli deejay Offer Nissim as several thousand men and women went insane. The entranced audience must have been what Jonestown looked like before the Kool-Aid…”

Click here for more about that night out on the town.

 

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