Goodness, Gracious! Great Gluttony in Gerusalem!

Ahh, October 10th. Erev Yom Rafi (The eve before Rafi’s birthday.) Allison and I woke early to take a trip to the Israel Museum…and we took the right bus, but in the wrong direction. The driver yelled at us to get off at the Malcha Mall, so we got off at the mall. We ended up running a bevy of errands and seeing a movie, “License to Wed,” of which my favorite part was the appearances from many of the cast of “The Office.”

After our day at the mall, we came home for a brief rest before the gluttony. Rafi had been planning to have a birthday dinner at Vaquiero, since, um, he got into Rabbinical school. Sadly, he had a full-day trip on the 11th, his actual birthday, so we decided to have the big meal-party the night before.

Vaquiero is a meat restaurant. And when I say meat, I mean MEAT. Vegetarians (Mel, sorry), avert your eyes...Vaquiero serves 10 courses of meat. TEN! ESER! DIEZ! [Insert fist with thumb pointing up, shaking left and right -- the ASL word for ten -- here.] I wasn’t so excited, because when I went in December, three of the courses were turkey, and I hate turkey. But, after inviting rabbinical students east and west, rounding up two only-Davidsons, and completing the 11-person meaty minyan + 1 with an Israeli, we sat down for a lovely meal together. This meal was better than the one we had for my birthday. Here is a list of the ten courses:

1. Chicken wings – I dedicate these wings to Rafi’s early childhood.
2. Empanadas – I dedicate these meat pies to Rafi’s extensive travel in Latin America. (JK, he’s never traveled to SA.)
3. Chorizo – I dedicate this sausage to Rafi’s awkward teenage years.
4. Veal Finger (I called it Kufta kabob!) – I dedicate this veal finger to something something (he made me stop the dedications.)
5. Corned beef.
6. Goose drumstick.
7. Entrecote.
8. Veal wrapped around cinnamon-spiced apricots.
9. Beef stew.
10. Something else that I can’t remember, as I seem to be in a meat-induced stupor, one day after.

There was also lots of salad, bread, and some really sexy potatoes, but we all psyched ourselves up to consume all of the meat with gusto. We did swimmingly, with everybody enjoying seconds of this meat and that meat. Some of us even enjoyed a warm chocolate cake after all of the food! I want to wish Rafi a happy 26th birthday, with many returns of the day. Thanks to everybody who joined us for dinner, and put out for the hefty price tag of a gluttonous meat meal.

Rafi and I smile because of all of the food. Note the shirt I am wearing. I always wear it the day Rafi wears his green polo. Because dressing alike, is, well, not my thing.

Robbie and Rachel didn’t do all-you-can-eat, but they still are totally fabulous!

Eliav and Jeremy are both smiling because Jeremy has REALLY fallen off of the vegetarian derech. Welcome to the club, Jeremy! This dinner is like going from being a teetotaler to doing kegstands before class.

Dan and I love Rafi and stuffing our faces!





Gideon is the champ of the meal, putting away the last little chunk of chorizo.

Allison, Ita and Gideon all smile wide for the terrific dinner.

Alon and Sarah sincerely enjoy their hot (and spicy) meals!

Rafi totally blows (out the sparkler). Happy birthday, Raf!

The Perfect...Pick Up Trip

The girls and I went today to the Sukkot Shuk (Feast of Tabernacles Market) outside of the regular shuk, Mahane Yehuda, to purchase lulav and etrog sets for ourselves, our friend Ita and my boyfriend Rafi.

Growing up, I loved Sukkot. I loved the one day, during Hebrew School, when we would all go to the Sukkah (temporary hut with palm fronds for a roof), cover it with our decorations -- paper chains, pictures of fruit, plastic fake fruit, streamers and glitter -- and then we'd have dinner there. Hot dogs, chips, and apples were always the menu. To this day, I have a love of hot dogs that stems from Sukkot at Temple Beth Am in Margate, FL. Until very recently, in fact, I associated hot dogs 100% with my childhood synagogue and would only eat them once a year, on Sukkot. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe the reason I like glitter and art projects (like AEPhi's clue week) is because of the sukkot decorations. Wow, pretty much everything I do is 100% Jewy.

Anyway, I still love sukkot. Another tradition at my shul is that they would purchase about 8 sets of lulav (a bound palm frond with myrtle and willow branches) and etrog (a yellow citron with a special stem-like tip called a "pitom.") for the congregation to use during the holiday (there's a prescribed way to shake the lulav and etrog (really)). I never got my own set, never felt like I needed it. In NY, I did feel a little left out, but always managed to share with my friends. But when you live about 10 minutes from the sukkot shuk, you go to get your own set. Because we got 5 sets, we got a crazy deal: 5 sets for 400 sheqels, and a little extra for the carrying cases. $10 a person! (Kudos to Rachel, read her blog entry on the Sukkot shuk here.)

But buying your lulav in the Sukkot Shuk isn't like getting the pretty, complete set in NYC. Oh, no. You pick out your individual myrtle branches, your preferred willows, your perfect palm frond. You handle and sniff a table of etrogim (plural for etrog) until you find the right one. It's a lot like JDate for religious items...the dati men in the shuk (we were the only three women I saw in the place, and we were told not to try the most religious neighborhood because women aren't allowed in the store there.) were inspecting every single myrtle leaf. I guess the holiest of myrtle branches must be picked from the rough, but I was happy with anything that was cut from the tree. I'm not picky...a lulav, for example, is not as important as a backpack, or a boyfriend.



Welcome to the Sukkot Shuk!



Nice shot of a table of Etrogim.



Ita teaches Rachel and me how to tie our lulavim correctly. Thanks, Ita!





Speaking of picking out a boyfriend, I went to Tel Aviv today to pick myself up a boyfriend. There was quite a selection at the Arrivals entrance, but I found myself a nice rabbinical student. Not too tall, not too religious, not too secular, this one's got red hair, is ridiculously smart and has an amazing smile.



Rafi eats the Shwarma he promised to enjoy for a family friend, who loves Adir Falafel/Schwarma on Emek Refaim. Rafi says, "Hi, Art!"










And best of all, like the perfect lulav, he arrived just in time...and just for me.

(I know that was cheesy. Try to clean up your barf and let me be cutesy for once. I'll go back to being snarky soon. I promise.)