Monday, August 27, 2012

What We Ate on Our Hike in Nachal Shiloh

Last Friday the Israeli branch of the immediate family hiked in nearby Nachal Shiloh.  This hiking (and bicycle) path as close as you can get to Shiloh being just across the main road from us.  There's a parking lot where you can leave your car.  We didn't have much time, since it was a Friday, and we had to start very late morning, more like noon, because the almost five year old had had a "meet the Kindergarten teacher" event in Ofra.

One of the advantages to living in Shiloh is that it's in the heart of Bible Land, full of history and agriculture.  So the kids had no problem finding a place with an easy trail, picnic tables and swings.

Just a minute's stroll from the parking lot we discovered the perfect place for all the food and cooking equipment etc.  There were fresh figs for the taking, as long as there was someone who could hang on to a tree and pick them.


Kids of all ages (under a certain weight) enjoyed the swings which were hanging on the trees. 


And you can see the welcome shade, considering that we only got started at high noon.  Back to the food....

The kids were in charge; I didn't have to bring anything.

 
We did not nosh on the grapes, commercial grapes growing all over.  There are serious vineyards here in the traditional Biblical grape-growing country of the Shomron, Benjamin and Efrayim.  Quite a few local boutique wines have won prizes.  Our sons told stories of how they spent their teenage summers planting some of those very grapes.

The main course was "Bedouin pittot." As you can see, lots of hands pitched in for the kneading.

It took some practice, but the cooking went well. I don't think that real Bedouin add tomato sauce and olives...
 

Lots of salads were brought, too. It was a feast!  I have a great family!!!

2 comments:

Jennifer in MamaLand said...

I saw those in the hike pictures and wondered what the heck they were. They look yummy!! (I do mine in a cast-iron skillet, and by the way, pitot / naan, whatever you call them, they're a nice way to have fresh "bread" on yom tov if you're fussy about fresh bread ;-))))

Batya said...

It looks like a giant wok. The kids did the work; they're great.