Tel-Aviv Love

The day we were in Tel-Aviv was one of my favorite on the trip. We spent a lot of time walking the streets, hanging around the markets, strolling near the beach, and haggling at the flea market in Jaffa. I loved the whole day (minus the 11:00pm flight back to Philly. That wasn't so awesome).

{(Flea Market at Jaffa)}

{(The Beach in Tel-Aviv)}

But one of my favorite parts of the day was lunch. Our tour guide, Irad, is one of those people who knows everyone, and everyone knows him back (he's also a ninja, but who's counting?). One of the perks of those relationships is that he can tell you the best little places to go for anything that you want; so when we got off the bus near several market areas and were set loose for lunch, a bunch of us asked for recommendations.

"Go down this street, take a left at the gas station, walk past the spices, and there will be a little Egyptian-Jewish restaurant. Its very small, but the food, its the best."

{(A cute little side street in Tel-Aviv)}

Yep, those directions seem VERY specifc, Irad. But, we went, and found the cutest lady selling some great food.

{(This is my background on my computer)}

{(She's so cute!)}

"You get two meats," she said, and "rice with hummus." {(side note: hummus, in this case, was whole chickpeas, not mashed chickpeas with tahini)}.

{(Yum!)}

Her English was impeccible, and she was very concerned that we had enough to eat.

"You look like a good eater," she told me, "so you can have more rice." {(does that mean that I'm fat?)}

I was definitely a good eater that day. Excellent seasoned rice, zucchini stuffed with some sort of ground meat, and meatballs in a spicy sauce. Her son {I think} waited on us and brought us pitcher after pitcher of water with mint and lemon slices.

{(Refreshing!)}

Every now and then she'd pop in and ask, "why aren't you finishing? I like it when you finish my food!"

The topping on the cake? Worried that one of our group wasn't eating enough, she fed him the last few bites of his rice. No matter where you go in the world, Jewish grandmas are always the same.

{Smile and say hummus!}

Until next time, friends.