"BIGA" Meal in The Grand Kenyon, Beersheva, Waste of Food

I wrote here and on Shiloh Musings about my trip to Beersheva last week. Besides a bit of touring around we had a late lunch in the BIGA dairy restaurant in the Grand Kenyon Mall.

The menu had a great variety of salads and other dishes. They also had a choice of luncheon specials, "business lunch," which offered a first course, main course and a drink, for either ns49, ns59 and ns69. I went for the ns59 and took beet and kolrabi salad as first course with a nicoise aka tuna salad as my main course. I took the selzer as my drink. The coffee here was ordered by my friend.

beet and kolrabi salad

The truth is that I really should have shared the meal. The portions were so large, even I couldn't finish it. And both salads were delicious, really. Or I should have ordered a smaller meal and not the business lunch.

I had so much left over of the nicoise salad that I asked them to pack it up to take home. That's very common for me. It was going to be my dinner.

nicoise aka tuna salad

You may have noticed that I wrote "It was going to be my dinner."  If you're good at English grammar, you may have realized that by using that verb form, I'm telling you that it wasn't my dinner in the end. That's right.

A few hours later, when I got back home and opened the bag to serve it to myself, I discovered a big disgusting mess. No, I didn't take a picture of it. Unlike every other restaurant from which I've ever gotten leftovers to take home, instead of putting the food in a closed plastic container, BIGA used a cardboard box. The cardboard may be fine for bread and cake, or even pizza, but the liquid and oil in the tuna salad turned the cardboard to mush. It was no better than papier-mâché made out of wet, soppy newspapers. So, I had to throw it all out. Kapora, it certainly wasn't worth endangering my health trying to eat any of it. At least what I had eaten in BIGA was tasty, and I had food at home to heat up for dinner.

Now, I've learned that it's worth checking the container of leftover restaurant food. Make sure that pack it safely.

A Visit f2f to Beersheva

photo by Yocheved Golani,
https://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/

Over the past few years, I've blogged about a group of friends I have who communicate on Facebook, secret group, and get together f2f periodically in all sorts of locations. This time we decided to visit Beersheva, since quite a few of our members live there or nearby.

At this Beersheva f2f, besides a couple of locals, we came from Netivot, Netanya, Maale Adumim and Shiloh. Yes, that shows you how spread out we are over the country. I traveled from Jerusalem by bus with my friend from Maale Adumim after spending the previous night in Jerusalem to enjoy some of my progeny.

photo by Yocheved Golani,
https://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/

BTW, about the public toilets in the Beersheva Central Bus Station, the "pay a shekel" entrance didn't work well, and many, including yours truly, squeezed through with a friend, not to cheat, but because it only opened every two sh'kallim. 

The 470 express, which had a bare minimum of stops, was a great way to travel from Jerusalem to Beersheva and back. As a "senior" it only cost me a total of ns20 for a day's trip including buses in Beersheva.

We met in the older part of Beersheva in the Allenby Park, near the old "mosque," municipality building and British Commonwealth ANZAC Cemetery. One of our friends gave us a fascinating overview of the history of Beersheva and the two old buildings we faced. Then we entered the nearby British ANZAC Cemetery and placed stones on the one Jewish grave there.

Then we squeezed into a car and drove to the "Grand Kenyon" Shopping Mall and had a very pleasant late lunch together. A few of us then shared a cab to the bus and train stations, which are conveniently side by side. Following are a few photos taken in Beersheva.

photo by Yocheved Golani,
https://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/

Thankful that there has been rain so far this winter, but we were also very happy that it was dry during our visit to Beersheva. Except for the fact that some of us looked like crazy old bag-ladies, schlepping our coats, pocketbooks and additional bags, it really was perfect weather for a walking tour.

On the bus back to Jerusalem, my friend and I succeeded in charging our phones via the overhead outlets. It's one of those modern conveniences one needs nowadays. We are so dependent on electrical communication devices. The outlets didn't work on the bus going to Beersheva, so we were very relieved to discover that these did work. She had an extra long cord, but mine was just minimally the right length. It wasn't all that comfortable to use it and keep my phone safe. If I find myself traveling a lot on such buses, I'll have to buy a longer cord.

Photos included here were taken by me, except for those identified as by https://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/.