Getty Or Not… Here I Come?

This is a photo of butter biscuit hearts from Bettys Cafe in Harrogate. I took the photo the day before Valentine’s Day six years ago. It’s garnered nearly 4,000 views and 92 faves on my flickr site. And, recently, this photo and five others caught the attention of Getty Images. I’ve received an invitation from them to add some of my photos to their stock photo collection.

I’ve received requests before for use of some of my images but never from a stock photo house as prestigious as Getty! I’m off to read the fine print on their invitation. Would be nice to rub shoulders with some of the other fab photos in their collection!

Tags: Bettys Cafe, cookies, Getty Images, Harrogate, stock photography

A Day in the Life of Baxter and Lulu

Baxter leaves his perch atop the cat tree to check in on Lulu who has been snoozing in a sunbeam.

Baxter's attention is temporarily distracted, perhaps by the bird of paradise blooms in the back yard. Lulu tries to get back to sleep.

Baxter: "Hey, Lulu, wake up!" Lulu: "Ger'off!"

Baxter grooms Lulu.

Baxter: "Hey, let's play, Lulu!" Lulu tries to ignore the irrepressible Baxter.

Baxter: "Hey, c'mon Lulu" Lulu: "Leave me and my sunbeam alone!"

Tags: cat behavior, cat tree, cats, cute

Lotsa Matzah

I didn’t learn much Hebrew in my Hebrew class today but I did learn about matzah brei. I’d never heard of this dish before but my Hebrew teacher told us about it while we were discussing Passover customs. She explained that matzah brei is a popular dish during Passover when observant Jews are not allowed to eat leavened bread. Essentially matzah brei is made by soaking matzot in water, crumbling them into a dish with eggs, mixing them all together and then frying in schmaltz (traditional), butter or other oil (but not corn oil!).

Directly after class today I went to the grocery store, adding matzah to my list. One corner of the store was relegated to various and sundry versions: classic matzah, egg matzah, whole wheat matzah, honey matzah – they even had chocolate-covered matzah. I chose the whole wheat version.

My research on the internet revealed scads of variations on the basic recipe. There are savory versions and sweet. One recipe called for adding slices of kosher beef salami. Another recommends adding apple and cinnamon. Still another uses asparagus and cheese. Aside from variations in ingredients, there are also variations in technique. Some people prefer to cook the matzah brei into a pancake similar to a frittata, while others prefer scrambling the ingredients.

I whipped up a batch of matzah brei and a salad for dinner tonight. I opted for the savory, srcambled version. Aside from eggs and matzot, I added onion and, since I didn’t have any kosher salami on hand, prosciutto. I knew it was something close to sacrilege (or maybe worse) to allow matzot to mingle with a pork product, but I couldn’t help myself. I wish I had taken a picture of the dish. It looked very similar to this version.

It was wonderful! B. loved it. I can’t wait to try making a sweet pancake version. And I’ll be sure to take a pic.

Tags: matzah, matzah brei, Passover, Pesach

I’m Mad, Man

This was taken with my crummy camera phone from the parking lot where I park when I go to work. Seeing Don Draper there and knowing I won’t be able to watch the show is agonizing. We’re subscribed to Yes TV, HOT’s rival. At least I’ve been able to watch Boardwalk Empire and The Walking Dead on Yes.

Tags: Mad Men, television

Stormy Weather

View of the Mediterranean from the Cliff Trail

Why does the crummy weather always move in on the weekends? And, since this is a long weekend (Brad took off work today and Monday is President’s Day), the weather is predicted to be particularly nasty: wet, cold, windy, snow in the north, possible flooding. This was the weekend we’d planned for a camel trek in the Negev. Don’t think we’ll be braving the storms for the trip down south. This morning we decided to take a hike nearby before the weather got too nasty. We discovered a wonderful little park just a few minutes north of us: Hof HaSharon National Park. There are four different trails in the park that sits atop a cliff hugging the Mediterranean. We took the cliff trail and nearly got blown off our feet by the wind. The landscape is spectacular there and we plan to return and explore other trails in the park.

Tags: cliff trail, Hof HaSharon National Park, weather

Jericho, Qumran and the Dead Sea

We took a guided tour to Jericho and some nearby sites. We didn’t really get to see much of Jericho proper; our bus driver drove straight through the town to the ruins of Hisham’s Palace, 5 km north of Jericho. The palace, built in 743, had been quite a magnificent structure covered in mosiacs and stucco but not much remains today. The loveliest feature, a mosaic of the tree of life from the floor of the bath house, was barely visible from an upstairs window.

One of the few remaining architectural details left of Hisham's Palace

From Hisham’s Palace we drove a bit further south to the Mount of Temptation where we visited a Greek Orthodox Monastery that was built atop a cliff in 1895. Access to the monastery was via cable car. We had a stunning view from atop the Mount of Temptation. The monastery was an architectural wonder…with a chapel filled with lovely painted icons. Alas, no pics allowed inside the chapel. From the monastery balcony we were looking into the sun, making photography a bit of a challenge.

Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Temptation

There was a little cafe situated between the monastery and the cable car station where I had a most delicious freshly squeezed glass of pomegranate/orange juice. I wished the group would have stayed there for lunch but the tour guide took us to this horrible little souvenir/cafeteria complex where we had a rather unappetizing lunch.

Continuing south, we made our way to Qumran, an archaeological site with the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We watched a film about the Essenes, the sect that wrote the text on the Scrolls then visited some of the remains of structures from the time of the Essenes. You can go hiking in the area, which I think would be a lovely day out as the scenery is stark but stunning. The best part of our day was when I turned around while viewing the caves at Qumran and saw a rainbow forming over the Dead Sea. The light was magical.

Dead Sea Rainbow

Tags: Jericho, Monastery of the Temptation, Mount of Temptation, Qumran

Jaffa Jaunt

For nearly a year a good friend and I have talked about taking the free walking tour of Jaffa offered by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Association for Tourism. Well, we finally did. And even though we’ve both explored Jaffa a few times on our own, we thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

We started off in front of the Tourist Center, about a half-block away from the iconic Clock Tower, and right away we began learning things we never knew about Jaffa. For example, there is a decent public toilet right around the corner from the Tourism Center! Who knew? We walked past bits of pieces of the old city wall that still remain in the world’s oldest continuously inhabited port city. We wound our way through the Flea Market area, past some interesting shops and cafes and up to the Ilana Goor museum.

We passed this nifty-looking cafe on the walking tour...I hope I can find my way back there someday.

I have passed this museum many a time and I cannot now fathom why I never even thought of venturing inside. We got in free with the walking tour and what a treat that turned out to be! The building is itself an attraction. It was built 250 years ago as a hostel for pilgrims entering the holy land. The artist Ilana Goor renovated the building which now serves both as her home and a museum. Ilana’s eclectic art is displayed in the museum as well as works she has collected by other artists. Our visit was free but time was limited. I will definitely make my way back there another day when I can linger about at my own pace.

Fanciful Chairs designed and fabricated by Ilana Goor

From the museum we made our way to Old Jaffa and crossed over the Wishing Bridge for a spectacular view of the Tel Aviv shoreline. The tour continued on down to Jaffa Port but we were both tired and hungry and decided to go off on our own at this point.

We had lunch at Aladin, a restaurant housed in a 600-year-old building with a terrace overlooking a mosque and with a great view of  the Tel Aviv shoreline. After lunch we stopped off at Ben Zion David, a fantastic Yemenite craft center where we spent some time admiring the silver filigree work and we each purchased a handcrafted silver chain.

Then back to the Flea Market for dessert at my fave cafe in Jaffa, Cafe Puaa and a stop at the shop across the street that sells delightfully designed clothing and baby items made from repurposed fabric.

It was a delightful day out. Is it any wonder I’m in love with Jaffa?

Tags: Ben-Zion David, Cafe Puaa, Ilana Goor Museum, Jaffa