My subletter left me some food, including a nice bag of dried chickpeas. This is a post dedicated to these special little legumes.
First, a chickpea-carrot-sweet potato-onion stew with lots o' spices, that I happily ate for a few days (apologies for the unattractive photo):
I know. There is something missing: GREEN! Alas, there was no parsley, green onions, etc. available at the time. I ate it in a green bowl to make up for it :). The sweet potatoes and carrots were surprisingly sweet... they rounded out the paprika and crushed black pepper, and the ginger gave it a zing. I often ate it with a few slices of the rye loaf from our bread basket.
Next, a chickpea-tomato-cucumber-red bell pepper-lemon-ginger-evoo salad that I just made:
Mmm... I can set a bowl of this on my desk just to smell the mint, lemon, and roasted cumin. Such simple dishes!
A highlight for me today was having lunch at Azura, a small and much beloved restaurant in the Iraqi Market of Mehane Yehuda. I ordered one of their famous meatballs and a salad. The pita was fresh and so soft. I used it to eagerly mop up the tomato sauce after eating the meatball. The pickles on the side was a nice touch, and the green sauce was pretty darn spicy. I ended up sitting next to a Jerusalemite with guests from the States. We had a chat about New Haven, and they gushed about Azura to me as I pondered the menu. The food came out about 10 seconds after I ordered it. Total cost: 36nis (~$9).
First, a chickpea-carrot-sweet potato-onion stew with lots o' spices, that I happily ate for a few days (apologies for the unattractive photo):
I know. There is something missing: GREEN! Alas, there was no parsley, green onions, etc. available at the time. I ate it in a green bowl to make up for it :). The sweet potatoes and carrots were surprisingly sweet... they rounded out the paprika and crushed black pepper, and the ginger gave it a zing. I often ate it with a few slices of the rye loaf from our bread basket.
Next, a chickpea-tomato-cucumber-red bell pepper-lemon-ginger-evoo salad that I just made:
Mmm... I can set a bowl of this on my desk just to smell the mint, lemon, and roasted cumin. Such simple dishes!
A highlight for me today was having lunch at Azura, a small and much beloved restaurant in the Iraqi Market of Mehane Yehuda. I ordered one of their famous meatballs and a salad. The pita was fresh and so soft. I used it to eagerly mop up the tomato sauce after eating the meatball. The pickles on the side was a nice touch, and the green sauce was pretty darn spicy. I ended up sitting next to a Jerusalemite with guests from the States. We had a chat about New Haven, and they gushed about Azura to me as I pondered the menu. The food came out about 10 seconds after I ordered it. Total cost: 36nis (~$9).
Earlier in the morning, I took the light rail to Damascus Gate (using my monthly pass, which has my photo and name spelled out in Hebrew: קר'סט'נב בק) and strolled around the Christian Quarter in search of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, which is very close to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Thank God I know Spanish, since most of the folks I encountered in the alleys only spoke Spanish. I got there a little early and read some more of Matthew... the bells rang and the service started, but it was all in Arabic... whoops! Wrong part of the church (darn it, I need to learn Arabic!)! Eventually found St. John's Chapel and enjoyed a service I could understand. It reminded me of YDS chapel, esp. once we sang Halle Halle Halle-lujah :). We have a guest pastor from Ohio until the end of the month, and he is a very direct speaker, with abundant references to the historical context of the Bible, which was fab.
I felt so pro, zipping along the light rail and bus systems today. Had my first Biblical Hebrew tutoring session, and it was extremely productive. I anticipate learning a lot from her. While I was annoyed at first, I'm now grateful that my course got cancelled at Hebrew U!
Speaking of food... I ate some Japanese crackers made in Israel last night... kosher!
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