the next question

Typically, the second question people ask about the trip is, "How was the food?" Everything we had was good! Honestly, though, the hotels we stayed in catered to tourists, so I can't tell you how authentically Israeli the food was. Nonetheless, there was very little we were offered that wasn't well prepared and presented.

If nothing else, we could depend on there being lots of color available. Condiments and vegetables of all kinds adorned the table, whether the hotel buffet at breakfast and dinner, or the street restaurants we stopped in for lunch. Most days for lunch we were offered falafel or shawarma wrapped in fresh pita. While I enjoyed the shawarma, shaved roasted chicken (or beef), I fell in love with the falafel -- a tasty mix of Israeli chick peas and parsley, deep fried to look an awful lot like a meatball, then smushed into pita. Just the right amount of crisp crust, and a really fun shade of green!

Breakfast is always a delight for me. I love to start the day with a cup of coffee and something delicious on a plate or in a bowl in front of me. The fresh yogurt bar became my only breakfast stop by the end of the week. (At first, I was determined to try a variety of breakfast offerings, but I could only do fish once, and there was simply no bacon at all -- a whole week of hotel breakfasts without even smelling bacon!) Fresh dates, dried fruit, seeds, granola and kashi waited as toppings for fresh, creamy yogurt. And always an assortment of jellies, jams, and syrups to add a little sweetness and flavor. My toppings of choice: honey, granola, sunflower seeds, and dried dates. Nearby sat the light pastries. Light as in very airy! My favorite were the chocolate croissants.

Coffee. I love coffee. At home, I sit with a big mug of it, and nurse it for as long as I can. In Israel, the cups were smaller, and the coffee different. Our first lunch out at a nifty little local place, our tour manager advised us not to drink the Turkish coffee that came after our meal! Too late! We had already drained our Dixie cups of the stuff! "I can't stand the stuff," he declared. But I really liked the unusual flavor. There was something added that I couldn't quite place. On Tuesday, in a shop in Jericho, I learned that the mysterious flavor was cardamom. Mystery solved, and I bought three bags of coffee to bring home. It's not the same grind as our drip coffee, so I have to mix it with regular coffee, but then I get the best of both -- a big mug, and the taste I remember. On an unrelated note, I learned to savor a nice 3:00pm espresso while in Israel.

And then I'm asked about the wine. My roommates and I were happy to find some lovely Golan Heights wine in the gift shop at the River Jordan. Dry and red, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not being much of a wine snob, I won't even try to say more about it, except that it tasted equally good whether served in a wine glass or a coffee mug, and with three of us in the room, it seemed to not last very long!

The absolute best, I would have to say, were the little treats from street vendors. Always enough to share (which is how I got a taste) and always just the right amount of sweet, salty and satisfying, from the nutty nougaty roll to the bagel. Fantastic!