By: Rebecca

One of the best things about Israel is the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables year-round. Nearly everything is grown here so nothing travels too far to get to our plates. There are vegetable stands all over the place, but for the best variety and prices, we go to the shuk (market). The market is outdoors, but most vendors have permanent stalls. 

Haifa has two shuks - the main one, Shuk Talpiot, is about a mile walk from our apartment - open everyday except Saturday. There are fruit and vegetable stands, bakeries, dried fruit and nuts, fish mongers, butcheries, and olive vendors. The variety of produce is amazing - so colorful. Many things are familiar, but others are new. Every week different fruits and vegetables appear - this week it was peaches and nectarines. The market is always busy and often chaotic. I try to avoid going on Friday afternoons because there are so many people and you can barely move.

The other shuk is in the Christian-Arab quarter known as Wadi Nisnas. This market is about half as far as Shuk Talpiot and much more laid back. There are less people, less noise, and street is wide and shaded. I feel much more relaxed and actually take time to wander around and see new things to try. There is a little less variety, but there are some things that I never see at Shuk Talpiot. Many more greens and herbs especially.

I think the prices are better at the shuk in Wadi Nisnas. Many of the vendors don't display their prices so it is a little hard to tell, but I have one produce stand that I go to all the time and I always expect to pay more than I do. This weekend, Jason and I bought enough vegetables for at least a week - probably more - and a kilo of dates. Here's a picture of what we got for our 64 shekels (about $18). 

Our haul from the shuk

The vendor knows me by now and threw in bunches of mint and cilantro and a head of lettuce for free. Not sure what I'm going to make with the sour cherries, but I'm sure it'll be something delicious!

By: Rebecca

Our latest Fulbright adventure was a half day trip to go wine tasting in the nearby town of Zikhron Ya'akov. The Haifa contingent met the our tour guide, Irma, and she drove us to meet the rest of the group at the Rothschild gardens. The gardens are apparently quite beautiful, but we did not go in. Instead we took a tiyul (hike/nature walk/excursion) in the nature reserve adjacent to the gardens.

View of the valley from the edge of the Carmel Mountains

Pomegranate tree in bloom

It was a gorgeous day and it was nice to be outside. Much nicer than Monday when we had yet another dust storm. There is a very cool aqueduct  which brings water to the nearby city of Caesarea. Irma told us there is a hike that follows the aqueduct underground.  I've put that on the to-do list especially when it is hot out this summer.

After the tiyul, we went to the Tishbi winery. Tishbi – an acronym standing for “a resident of Shefeya in Israel” in Hebrew: Toshav Shefeya b'Israel. We had purchased their wines previously so we were excited to see behind the scenes. We had a great tour of the winery itself. Our guide was excellent and taught us many things about wine making that we didn't know. After the tour was the best part, the tasting. A flight of 6 wines, each paired with chocolate!!! 

The tasting room and store - so many wines!

Oak barrels (made in the USA) in the aging room

Wine and chocolate - what more
could you want

After the wine tasting we had a nice lunch and were on our way back to Haifa. For anyone thinking of visiting, another trip to Tishbi is on our list :)

By: Rebecca and Jason

In the spirit of all things spring, we present to you a collage of the beautiful flowers of Israel. We took these photos over the last couple of months (spring comes early here!). All these were taken in the northern part of Israel, but the south has beautiful spring flowers as well. 

In Israel, wildflowers are considered almost sacred and, aside from a few common ones (roadside weeds), it is forbidden to pick them. We were amazed at the variety of shapes and colors. Hope you find them just as beautiful as we did. 

If you'd like to see these photos individually. They are in our photo album.

By: Rebecca and Jason

We all believe that there are things we will never need to know: algebra, the metric system (turns out that's useful), the capitals of all 50 states, and... how to change a tire on a Ford F-350. 

Wednesday started as a typical field day (maybe even smoother than most). Meeting Amir and Mosheco at the sadna (dive workshop), loading up the gear and boat trailer, and piling into the truck - wetsuits, bathing suits, and the all-important snacks in hand.

We arrived in Akko in record time thanks to the newly opened highway. There was even time for a cup of coffee before heading out to sea. The field work went smoothly and quickly. On the way back to shore, Amir jumped overboard to mark the location of a newly discovered ancient wreck (just another day at sea in Israel). 

We cleaned up, hosed everything down, and 3 of us decided that we should go for hummus in Akko (famously delicious). There was dissension in the ranks. Mosheco was anxious to get back to Haifa so we aborted the hummus mission and started home. He did acquiesce to stopping at an aquarium store for Jason just down the road. 

Right now you're thinking - why blog about this day? 

As we drove away, Amir noticed that the "tire pressure low" warning light was on. When we stopped at the store, Mosheco got out to look at the tire. Turns out, a ghetto repair in the hose (fixed with nails?!) had punctured the truck tire. We pulled into a mechanic shop and they took off the leaking tire. 

I don't know how many people reading this have trucks, but you find the spare, take it out/off the car/truck, and replace the tire. Luckily, the F-350 comes with a full spare. Unluckily for us, we couldn't figure out how to get it off the truck. We seemed to be missing the "spare tire lock key" and without it, could not remove the spare. Picture the four of us and a couple mechanics huddled around the tailgate of the truck with the owners' manual trying to figure out how to remove the spare. 

We finally gave up and the mechanics put the leaking tire back on, filled it with air and we set off for home, towing a trailer, and hoping that the tire would hold on for Haifa. No more than 5 minutes from mechanic #1, Mosheco opened the glove box and after rooting around came up with the missing key. 

Obviously we are better at field work than
reading the owners' manual of an F-350
(even in Hebrew I don't think it would have mattered)

We arrived at mechanic #2, key in hand, and within minutes had the leaking tire off, spare tire on, and were set to go. 

Oh Akko...next time we will go get hummus!!

The Akko waterfront

By: Jason

Not only did I get to finally meet up with my cousin, her husband and her 4 adorable kids (my second cousins!), but was lucky enough to be able do so while exploring the beaches of Israel for a strange gastropod (snail that is) whose internal gland reveal secret colors that have been at the center of ancient civilizations for millennia.  The liquid in the branchial gland contains the dye precursors to the brilliant and sacred blues and purples that these snails were highly valued for and that adorned the robes of royalty in Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. 

In Jewish culture and tradition, these dyes were incorporated into the 'tzitzim' - the specially knotted yarns that make up the ritualistic fringes worn by observant Jews.  In the Hebrew Bible it is commanded (Numbers 15:37-39) to incorporate this blue color dye (Tekhelet) into the tzitizim.

Tzitzim with blue Tekhelet
(photo: Tekhelet.com)

That’s where the fun came in!  After a brief introduction to the story of Tekhelet, it’s origin, and the chemistry behind making the dye, we learned about its rediscovery. Yes, the process for making the dye was lost for almost 1,300 years, and only recently rediscovered by a French Zoologist, an Italian chemist, and multiple rabbis, one of which who wrote his PhD dissertation on the topic!  Then, a snorkel trip to the shallow tidal areas on the beach; imagine, a bunch of mostly religious Jews, a software engineer from L.A. (the guide), a marine biologist (me), and a bunch of kids all like bumper cars in a small little area of the water.  I never found the snail, but others did.

Murex trunculus (photo: wikipedia.org)

After snorkeling, we got to actually dye some wool  using a kit that was set out before us.  Really a fascinating process.  If you are interested, there’s more here:  http://www.tekhelet.com.

Dyeing the wool (photo: Tekhelet.com)

Since I neglected to take any pictures of my cousins at all (shame on me because they are all adorable!), you will have to wait for the next installment of pictures when I see them.   This was a great way to see my family and share a great time with them.  What better way than the beach!