Theater in The Rough, Shakespeare in Jerusalem

Last night night I joined many at the performance by Theater in The Rough of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It was fantastic despite the heat. Actually they started it at 6pm, a half hour later than usual, for the comfort of the actors and audience. 

The location is the Blumfield Park, which is "under" King David Street, closer to the Yemin Moshe end. The scenes are in a few nearby parts of the park, each a short walk from each other. Most people bring folding chairs, stools or blankets for sitting, though you can rent a very comfortable folding chair for only NS30, which I did. There are still more opportunities to see the play: 

Julius Caesar: in motion – August 8-24, 2023

There is no required ticket price, though NS40 is recommended, and they're grateful for any donation, more or less.

Here are a few photos I took at last night's performance. Public transportation and parking are nearby.

לפרטים נוספים – For more information 052-559-4257 info@theaterintherough.co.il

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #39, Wonderful Surprise-- WC at Bus Stop

 

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #38, Gan Sacher Room for All

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #37 Jerusalem's Safra Square's Renovated

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #36 Cinema City- Not Just for Intermission

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #35 Pleasant Surprise at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #34 Binyan Clal Public Toilets Renovated

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #33, New Public Toilets Downtown

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #32, Har Chotzvim, Not The Gas Station

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #31, Good Deal in "Supersol Deal," Givat Shaul

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #30, Speedily Out of Order at New Train Station

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #29, Kotel WC, Prayer Come True

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #28, Machane Yehuda WC, Fright at First Sight

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #27, CBS Revisited, Worth The Shekel

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #26, New Kraft Stadium, Complaining May have Helped

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #25, New Park, New Loo

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #24 Horse Park WC Staff Horsing Around

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #23 For One Shekel in the CBS

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #22 "High Tech" Loo, Not for Use

Pishers Guide to Jerusalem #21, Perfect "Pit Stop" on Emek Refaim

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #20, Gan Hasus, Horse Park, Like Russian Roulette

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #19, Center 1 Has Gone Downhill

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #18, Shuq Loo for You Ladies

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #17, At Least It was Clean

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #16, Iconic Location-- Nauseating WC

Pishers Guide to Jerusalem, New Loo #15 Up Close

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #15, New Guy in Town

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #14, Mega Yuck!

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #13, Hadar Mall: What Public Toilets Should Be

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem # 12, Center 1, Usually OK

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #11, Never Fear The Rami Levy WC

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #10, At Least There were Toilet-paper and Soap

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #9, Watch Out for Peep Holes!

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #8, Kupot Cholim to The Rescue!

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #7 A Supermarket to Avoid. Plus WC Tips

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #6, Bring Your Own Paper

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #5, Mamilla Mall Where Modern Stinks

Don't Be Afraid, A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #4

Historic Jerusalem Building, A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #3

A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #2 

A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #1

Bus Changes, Again, Finding a New "Pit Stop"

Earlier in the week, while on my way from Shiloh to Mevasseret via Jerusalem, I was torn. On one hand I was happy that I had made a quick and easy connect between my bus and the one enters Jerusalem near where I had to catch a bus and the fact that I didn't have time for a "pit stop" between buses.

After crossing the wide, complicated main road out of Jerusalem, I found myself admiring the lovely shade that seemed pretty new. Actually, the whole bus stop across from the road into Givat Shaul had looked unrecognizable. Then I turned around and suddenly saw the prefab public toilets that looked rather new. I quickly checked the efobus app and saw that I had five minutes, so I ran into the "ladies." It was clean smelling, equipped with paper and soap, but I was afraid to spend time photographing. So you'll have to take my word for it.

We must thank Mayor Moshe Lion for having so many new public toilets installed in Jerusalem and also making sure they're kept clean.

If you have some additional ones I should know of, please tell me in the comments, thanks.

Kiko, New Meat Restaurant in Armon Hanatziv near Arnona

Kiko Meat Restaurant, 

15 Daniel Yanovsky St, Armon Hanatziv, Jerusalem, 

Tel: 0778836883 Kashrut: Rabbanut Yerushalayim Mehadrin

Last week my friend and I decided to eat out, and she had recently read Eluna email and noticed a write-up about a new meat restaurant not far from where where we were. Yes, Kiko is the restaurant. It's right next to the Armon Hanatziv Promenade (the Tayelet), a major tourist destination in Jerusalem.

As we walked over, we decided that if it didn't look acceptable, then we'd go someplace else.

Lucky for all, Kiko seemed clean and comfortable, plus the prices were reasonable.

We went over the menu, Hebrew only, though the guy working here insisted that he could explain it in English if needed. 

 

There's a nice variety and choice of foods and presentations, sandwiches in different breads, platters and salads. 

We both ordered salads with meat. Mine was the kabob salad. After ordering, our meat portions were put up to cook. 

We were very pleasantly surprised to discover that we could have our bowl filled with whichever salad ingredients and dressings we wanted, like at a salad bar. All we had to do was to indicate to the young man working there what we wanted.

Once the salad bowls were full, we waited for our meat to finish cooking, and then we were called to get our dinners. We brought them to the table and ate. Both meals were perfect. We weren't offered any pittot or bread, which was fine with us.  Yes, we look forward to returning.

Rosh Chodesh Tamuz Women's Prayers

 תפילת ראש חודש נשים בשילה הקדומה בתל שילה

Join us at Ancient Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh the same location mentioned in the Bible. Yes, it's the place where the Mishkan Tabernacle stood for 369 years, Chana Hannah prayed for a son and later brought her precious son, Shmuel Samuel to be trained for leadership. Today there's a wonderful archeological site with activities and explanations for all ages to enjoy. Contact 02-578-9111, visit@telshilo.org.il. Accessible by public transportation.

Beer Tasting, Four Different Beers

The "Beer Tasters" got together early last week to try out four beers that Doug the Beer Maven had received for reviewing.

These are what we drank in the following order:

1- Alexander's Fest 

2- Schnitt in a joint production with Lervig of Norway,  How's- It Hanging -- 

3- Shikma's HaMishteh, which used traces of  3,000 year-old yeast. This is a special edition, which can't be purchased in stores.

4- BeerBazaar Brewery's OMG Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout from 2019 

The format and atmosphere of this tasting session were very relaxing; we sat around a dining room table instead of wandering in a noisy festival. 

Unlike our tastings at festivals, here we had the bottles, and the one can from Schnitt, with us to examine, so we were able to check out things not usually known to us. We discovered a connection between the alcoholic content and the calories per 100 ml. They were amazingly (for the ignoramus -like me-) similar. I wasn't all that happy in discovering that. Apparently there is a need for more sugars/carbohydrates to produce alcohol. So if you're concerned about calories and carbohydrates, the alcohol content is easier to discover than the calories on the bottles; the print is usually larger. 

We started off by sharing the bottle of Alexander's Fest Lager, which we all agreed was pleasant, fruity and light. It's the beer you can drink socializing on a summer evening without eating a real meal. Only afterwards did we discover that it had the least alcohol and calories.

After the Alexander, we tried het collaborative effort, a beer by Schnitt and Lervig of Norway, which we all enjoyed. It had a stronger aroma and taste than Alexander's Fest. Plus it has more alcohol and calories. Now that I've become aware that the more alcoholic kick the more weight it adds, I'm not very happy, but this beer was worth it.

We suggest more of a meal or snack with the Schnitt-Lervig beer.

Shikma's HaMishteh had more flavor and darker color, as you can see, than Schnitt-Lervig though it has the same alcohol and calorie contents. Combining ancient and modern technology there are traces of  3,000 year-old yeast. Ancient yeast is more like the natural yeast of sourdough bread. Yeast is needed for fermentation which turns the hops and other vegetation into alcohol/beer.

HaMishteh is definitely recommended with some food. 

So far, we agreed that we enjoyed the first three beers we had tasted. Now, would the fourth be better or worse?

Then Oh My Gd! 

We finished our tasting session with BeerBazaar Brewery's OMG Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout from 2019! It was like drinking a sweet chocolate-coffee syrup with the kick of a strong beer. We almost fought over the last drops; it was that good. For those who like coffee and/or chocolate liquor, you'll probably like BeerBazaar Brewery's OMG. It's more an adult drink than the sweet liquors, and nobody would expect you to limit yourself to a shot glass. It's beer! And, yes, it does have more alcohol and calories than the others, but it's worth every last one.

To summarize, all four beers were good, pleasant to drink and flavorful. Thanks to Doug for inviting me to the tasting and looking forward to the next one.

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #38, Gan Sacher Room for All

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #37 Jerusalem's Safra Square's Renovated

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #36 Cinema City- Not Just for Intermission

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #35 Pleasant Surprise at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #34 Binyan Clal Public Toilets Renovated

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #33, New Public Toilets Downtown

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #32, Har Chotzvim, Not The Gas Station

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #31, Good Deal in "Supersol Deal," Givat Shaul

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #30, Speedily Out of Order at New Train Station

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #29, Kotel WC, Prayer Come True

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #28, Machane Yehuda WC, Fright at First Sight

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #27, CBS Revisited, Worth The Shekel

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #26, New Kraft Stadium, Complaining May have Helped

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #25, New Park, New Loo

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #24 Horse Park WC Staff Horsing Around

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #23 For One Shekel in the CBS

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #22 "High Tech" Loo, Not for Use

Pishers Guide to Jerusalem #21, Perfect "Pit Stop" on Emek Refaim

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #20, Gan Hasus, Horse Park, Like Russian Roulette

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #19, Center 1 Has Gone Downhill

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #18, Shuq Loo for You Ladies

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #17, At Least It was Clean

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #16, Iconic Location-- Nauseating WC

Pishers Guide to Jerusalem, New Loo #15 Up Close

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #15, New Guy in Town

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #14, Mega Yuck!

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #13, Hadar Mall: What Public Toilets Should Be

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem # 12, Center 1, Usually OK

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #11, Never Fear The Rami Levy WC

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #10, At Least There were Toilet-paper and Soap

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #9, Watch Out for Peep Holes!

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #8, Kupot Cholim to The Rescue!

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #7 A Supermarket to Avoid. Plus WC Tips

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #6, Bring Your Own Paper

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #5, Mamilla Mall Where Modern Stinks

Don't Be Afraid, A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #4

Historic Jerusalem Building, A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #3

A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #2 

A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #1

Bus Changes, Again, Finding a New "Pit Stop"

I was pleasantly surprised to discover the the Jerusalem Municipality has a very large public toilet in Gan Sacher. 

Considering that Gan Sacher is a humongous city park by Israeli standards, it's important to state that the loo is close to the Nachlaot and Cinema City end of the park, if I'm not mistaken. I got there early in the morning with a neighbor by car. It's also near a section "fenced in" for dogs to run and play.

It's very close to where the municipality recently set up all sorts of playground facilities, including some more geared to older, braver kids and agile adults.

I visited the loo very early in the morning, about 6:30am and found it clean, pleasant smelling and fully stocked with soap and toilet paper. You can't ask for more.

This is very good to know. I'll have to see how convenient it is from my usual city haunts. I'm glad to have some good news for you.

If you know of a public WC you think I should review, please let me know in the comments. And, of course, please share this post; it is a public service.

Israeli Craft Beer Festival in Jerusalem First Station

It's rather embarrassing to admit that it has taken me so long to blog about the Israeli Craft Beer Festival in Jerusalem First Station. Considering that I really enjoy attending that beer festival. It offers a great choice of small Israeli craft beers. You're not going to find any of the larger companies, like Shapiro, Jem's, Malka, Shevet or Beer Bazaar.

Considering that it's much more difficult to find these smaller and newer craft beers commercially, versus the beers I've mentioned, I didn't miss the big ones at this venue. 

For those of us who like beer and are adventurous, enjoy tasting relatively unknown craft beers, this festival is like a gift from Gd.

It may be hard to believe, and even I'm very surprised, but besides one beer which I found rather tasteless, they were all drinkable to excellent.

How did I manage to sample a very large percentage of the beers?

On the right you can see me in my "beer tasters T-shirt." At various Israeli beer events, you'll probably see Doug Greener of Israel Brews and Views in a similar shirt. I'm one of the crew. Some of you may be familiar with his beer reviews in the Jerusalem Post.

Doug and the beer tasters at the 
Israeli Craft Beer Festival, Jerusalem First Station

At last year's Israeli Craft Beer Festival in Jerusalem First Station, the odd man out was an Israeli Whiskey, which we had also sampled. This year I was disappointed when I couldn't find them at the fair. It was excellent, so no surprise that soon after the festival we heard that it had won first prize in an international contest. Milk & Honey (M&H) has been awarded the title of ‘world’s best single malt’ by The World Drinks Awards.

In the end there was something VERY different. This year there was mead. What's mead? You may ask; I sure did. It's a liquor made from honey. It's a traditional alcoholic drink in areas where honey is much more common than grape vines. Here in the Land of Israel, grapes are much more common; even I have a mini-vineyard in my garden. They are that easy to grow. But in other parts of the world there are many bee hives for honey. They make and drink mead, while wine is our traditional drink. 

If you have the opportunity to drink/buy mead, go for it. I prefer those I tasted at the festival to many wines.

I'll repeat that this year's selection of Israeli craft beer provided lots of tasty beers of all types. I'm not going to list a favorite or say which was the one disappointing beer, since the same brewery also had a really good one.

Don't be afraid to try the various Israeli craft beers if you have an opportunity, and if you can make it to next year's craft beer festival, go.

Following are more photos from the festival.

Honeyed Challah Rolls! Great Results

 

my latest batch of challah rolls
baked with the cheapest honey
rather than sugar

For decades I've been making challah rolls with whole wheat (now 70%) flour, never white. In addition I use brown sugar, which has a stronger flavor, much more suited to whole wheat flour than white sugar. Click here for the standard recipe. Since we're not big bread eaters, I bake challah rolls and freeze them. This way each batch will last for over a month. Last week my local store still hadn't gotten its new supply of brown sugar, and I really wanted to bake a Post-Passover supply of challah rolls. 

step 1

Since the honey I had bought before Passover was relatively cheap, probably not the greatest quality, I decided to do an experiment and use honey instead of sugar.

Now the dilemma was how to measure honey without wasting a lot or eating/licking what stayed on the measuring cup.

Luckily I remembered a trick/technique I had once read about. As you can see in the photos, it's really pretty easy.

First I put flour in the mixing bowl. Of course I had to calculate how much honey to use instead of sugar. I checked with Pâtissie (Pastry Chef) Google. Some experts said use half the quantity you'd use for sugar and others said three-quarters. 

step 2

My standard recipe calls for a cup of sugar for approximately two kilos of flour. So I placed a half-cup measuring cup in the flour and made sure that the flour indentation matched the measuring cup. I had a plan....

Finally I had a plan. I poured the honey into the indentation and let it overflow a bit, as you can see in the photo. Since there's disagreement among the expert Pâtissies, I figured it would be wise to be "generous."

My research also said to decrease some of the water, since the dry ingredients were less than usual, and honey is moist, but the truth is that I used almost the same amount of water and oil. And for some strange reason, I didn't need more flour. Just so you know, I knead by hand, since I don't have a mixer.

step 3

No doubt you are curious as to the success of my experiment. The challah was much lighter and rose a lot more than usual. Granted that I had a fresh package of dehydrated yeast, but over the decades a new package hasn't made any real difference in the density of the baked challah. 

In another couple of months, when it's time for a new batch, I'll try baking with honey again. Let's see if I get the same results...

Rosh Chodesh Iyyar ראש חודש אייר

 Women's Rosh Chodesh Prayers at Tel Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma

תפילת נשים

ראש חודש אייר

בשילה הקדומה

Rosh Chodesh Iyyar 5783 is two days, Friday and Shabbat. We'll be gathering at Tel Shiloh, Shiloh Hakeduma on Friday 21/04/2023 at 8:30am. For more information shilohmuse@gmail.com

ראש חודש אייר תשפ"ג יומיים, שישי ושבת. אנחנו נפגש להתפלל ביחד ביום שישי 21\04\2023 ב8:30. לפרטים נוספים shilohmuse@gmail.com. 

There's plenty to see and do at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh. It's a well developed archeological site at the location of Biblical Shiloh, where the Mishkan Tabernacle stood for almost 400 years. You can contact them directly at 02-578-9111, visit@telshilo.org.il .

At The Hour Between Dog and Wolf, A Book Review

 

At The Hour Between Dog and Wolf, A Novel, by Tara Ison is a most amazing book. It's of the Holocaust genre and also Coming of Age, but at least in my reading experience, it's like no other. 

Ison writes about a wealthy preteen Jewish girl from Paris who is brought to live with a poor rural Catholic family. Danielle must do her best to hide her true identity and live as Marie-Jeanne, orphaned niece of Berthe on a small farm and even milk the cow every morning. Danielle's red hair definitely helps mask her Jewish identity. With them are Berthe's husband Claude and their son Luc, who makes Danielle feel rather uncomfortable.

We follow two parallel transitions, one the growth of Nazi dominance in a quiet farming town near Limoges in Vichy France and second, Danielle's growing comfort and identification in her new identity as Catholic Marie-Jeanne. She's into her teens by the time the story ends.

The various characters are amazingly well-drawn/developed, and it's nothing is very predictable. The more I think about it, the harder it is to decided on the hero of the story. It's very complex and has some surprising twists.

I highly recommend At The Hour Between Dog and Wolf. The characters find themselves in situations in which it's hard to distinguish between a dog and a wolf, as the title states. It's an excellent book for discussion in a Book Club or even in a classroom of older adolescents. 

Product details 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ig Publishing (February 21, 2023) 

Language ‏ : ‎ English 

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 286 pages 

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1632461455 

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1632461452 

Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces 

Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.75 x 8 inches

Book Club Update, Monthly Genres, Successful

Last night was the monthly meeting of our Book Club, which we also turned into a Surprise Belated Birthday Party for the member who started this wonderful group.

I'm not quite sure how long we've been following this program. After a very rocky start, we added a potluck dinner to the evening, which seems to be the magic ingredient, at least for us. In the beginning we got together around 8:30pm, which meant that some members hadn't quite had dinner and were hungry, while others were tired and ready for bed.  As a creative solution we decided to meet earlier and eat dinner together before getting to the business of books. Potluck dinner in different homes made everyone happy, except for the hostess's husband, but later on we found a solution to that, too.

Another problem was the logistics of getting enough copies of the chosen book...

After the forced COVID break, which we unsuccessfully tried to compensate for via zoom, we changed the program even further. Instead of everyone reading the same book, we choose a genre/author and give each other the freedom for what we'll call individuality. One of the members told me that she had been a member of conventional book clubs and found it boring, listening to repetitive opinions from members at each meeting.

Last week the genre was "animals," which, when suggested, elicited a groan from me. I don't like animals; reading about animal lovers/stories isn't my thing. The only "animal book" I've ever enjoyed was Seabiscuit, because it's more about the people, but I couldn't find my copy.  Instead I saw the movie on DVD, but then I realized that the title of the book I had just read is At the Hour Between Dog and Wolf which does mention two animals. The title is a metaphor, and the book is fantastic. It belongs in the genre of Holocaust (which we have done) and coming of age. So, I decided to present it and recommend it highly. I still have to review it, but I'll say right here that it's definitely a book that can be the subject for a conventional book club that chooses one book to discuss. It's a novel by Tara Ison, and if you're looking for a great book, it has my vote. I hope to get the review done before Passover, if not...