It is dry here. So dry. By this time of year, we could have expected several serious bouts of rain, and at least a stirring of growth in the brown earth. Instead we get the vaguest of clouds and downpours of thirty seconds that barely darken the sidewalk. On a walk last weekend in the … Read More »
foods of the bible
Long-lost Relations
Last week I got a call that was entirely unexpected, from a man inquiring about a culinary tour. Nothing unusual about that. But then he went on to explain that we are, in fact, related – that my mother’s grandmother and his father’s grandmother were sisters. My mother does not have a large family, and … Read More »
Gone Gleaning
Leket (or the verb Likut) is the Biblical Hebrew word for gleaning. Leket Israel is a non-profit that collects produce and food that would otherwise go to waste from farms, restaurants, stores and caterers, and distributes it to those in need. The organization contacted me recently in connection with a new project they have initiated– … Read More »
Green or Black?
Living by Galilee Seasonality is full of ritual – with the same tasks carried out year after year under a delightfully never-exhausted series of circumstances. Now, after the drenching of our first substantial rain, it is time to harvest olives. The first green olives are for curing, and later on, when the fruit ripens and … Read More »
The Garden of New Year
How confusing to celebrate two New Years each year. Can I pledge allegiance to one of them, or at least find some resonance beyond the occasion for a holiday meal or a midnight kiss? Because I live in the Galilee, from whose agricultural landscape the practice of declaring a New Year at the end of … Read More »