Memories and Music in Gedera (of all places)

Gedera holds pleasant memories for me. When I came to Israel after the Six Day War in June of 1967 our group ended up right near Gedera. There wasn't much to do after we finished work, so we ended up going to Gedera a few times, mostly on foot. Once we got to Gedera we usually had a felafel and a drink at one of the two places on the main road. For lack of much else to do we watched the traffic on the road. What we saw was mostly tanks and other military vehicles many of which still bore the Egyptian markings. These were the spoils of war being transported.  

Gedera was founded by members of the Bilu movement in 1884 and was one of the first settlements of the modern period. The main street in Gedera is Biluyim street after these first settlers. It is tree lined and is home to some very nice restaurants and galleries set up in these renovated old homes.

Badolina is a cafe and bakery in Gedera. We celebrated my daughter's college graduation there a few years ago so I have particularly warm feelings about the place. The food there is very good and they have really excellent cakes. Badolina has a new branch in the restored Port in Tel Aviv which was the first and for a long time איקonly kosher restaurant in the area. 

This week we spent a lovely evening in the yard listening to the brothers Ehud and Shachar Ariel sing accompanied by guitar and harmonica and a drummer who drummed on a wooden box. They performed mainly songs by their father, the late Meir Ariel.  

Meir Ariel (from the official site)

Meir Ariel was a paratrooper in the Six Day War and helped liberate the Old City of Jerusalem. He later recorded a song to the tune of Naomi Shemer's Jerusalem of Gold called Jerusalem of Iron. It was considered at the time very cynical because he mentioned smoke and blood and the black of mourning the soldiers.After that he lived in the US for a while where I guess he picked up his own style. His songs are in the vein of Bob Dylan in his folk-rock period and some of them lean toward blues. You know, the kind of music that appeals to those of us who came of age in the sixties. (Remember don't trust anyone over 30? sigh) The evening was very successful. We arrived early and heard the performers warming up. The weather here has been warm so sitting outside was very pleasant. (We are praying for rain, should I feel guilty for enjoying the mild weather?) and in honor of the occasion I even had a drank a glass of sparkling wine. David had beer. We also ordered some light food to nosh on which was very good. I had salmon in teriyaki on skewers served over a salad and David had penne noodles with mushrooms and cheese.
The music was great. Ariel's two sons have become religious and sometimes it seems a little incongruous because this is not what you would associate with Breslever Hassidim. Well, that's not totally true because Shuli Rand does music in this style but his lyrics are of a more religious nature. Ehud is a very talented guitarist. The drummer Omer Seri was amazing because instead of a set of drums he sat on a box and drummed on it. They did add a medley of Jewish songs and the audience sang along enthusiastically. (It is much easier to sing along with these songs than with the folk-rock - at least for me.) All in all, we agreed that it was a very special evening and look forward to doing this again some time.

Tel Aviv, Learning to Love It

L'chaim!
It's no secret that it's been a very hot summer here (and it appears elsewhere too) but still this is the time we traditionally spend discovering 4  new 'amot' in the Land of Israel. 
An amah (pl. amot) is a measurement used in the Tora and the Talmud and is generally accepted to mean the distance from your elbow to your finger-tip or about 1/2 a yard. Four amot is a phrase used to denote the space around you. For instance 4 amot is considered personal space so going 4 new amot is going somewhere you've never been before.
I took David to the Tel Aviv Port. The port was set up as an alternative to Jaffa port when the Arab workers in the Jaffa port went on strike in 1936. That gave the Zionists an opportunity to build their own port and they did. It served the country during those years leading up to the statehood and especially in the War of Independence. It fell into disuse in the 1960's with the building of the brand new Ashdod port. For many years it was the home of warehouses and building supply companies and not very pretty.
That's all changed now as the area has undergone a major makeover and become a major shopping and entertainment center. There is a lovely boardwalk which is also part of Tel Aviv's bike path. The boardwalk is home to dozens of restaurants and cafes and the warehouses have been taken over by shops and galleries. There is often some kind of event on the boardwalk like the twice weekly Farmer's Market or the children's games festival. There are two kosher cafes on the boardwalk. One is Cafe Cafe and the other is Badolina.
We chose Badolina, which is the second branch of a cafe-restaurant in Gedara (just south of Rehovot) where we have eaten several times. We had fish dinners which did not disappoint us. The food was well made and artfully presented. It was early and still too hot to sit outside but the view from inside was lovely.
We have been living a 25 minute train ride from Tel Aviv for almost 15 years and this is the first time we went there together on a 'date'. We decided that we really should do this more often and put Tel Aviv back on our map! 

Italian in Jerusalem

I have always felt at home in Jerusalem, having spent many wonderful years there. It is where David and I met and married and set up our first home. Life has taken us elsewhere but it's always nice to come 'home'. Last week we spent a day there and among other things we had lunch at the lovely Pera e Mela in Piazza (Pear & Apple in the Square) אגס ותפוח בכיכר. The restaurant is located in Kikar Safra on Jaffa Road where the municipality has its offices. It is just a hop skip and jump from the Jaffa Gate and we were on our way to the Kotel so we stopped in there.

This is an Italian dairy restaurant run by an Italian couple who used to live in Ramat Hagolan. We came mid-afternoon so the lunch crowd was already gone. The restaurant is tastefully decorated. The wooden tables and chairs give it a warm homey feeling and the pictures on the walls are tasteful.  I had baked potatoes with topped with broccoli and cheese which came with a salad and pesto dressing. David had spinach ravioli in tomato and mushroom sauce and a Greek salad (not shown). We liked what we had and it looks like there are many more interesting things on the menu including whole meals with fish. We will definitely be going back for a more leisurely dinner some time.