Weiss-A-Roni

New York, NY — Let the artisanal coffee olympics ‘10 begin.

Hebrew Lesson of the Day

Tel Aviv, Israel — Today I will begin to teach you Hebrew. Here is the most important phrase you will need to know upon your arrival to Tel Aviv:

אני רוצה לשבת במקרר

Ani rotza lashevet bemekarer.

I want to sit in a refrigerator.

back in action

Tel Aviv, Israel — Today a few things happened to me that truly inspired me to begin again on Weissaroni. Two incidents that bookended my day, in a very unbelievable and yet typically Israeli way.

11 a.m. I am walking home from the gym. A woman has blocked the entire sidewalk with her body and a stroller, without a baby in it. She sees me coming. She can easily move the stroller, or her body, out of the way so I can pass. Instead she stares at me in annoyed confusion as I continue to approach her sacred sidewalk space. Having budged neither her babyless stroller nor herself out of the way, I stop awkwardly at the obstruction and am forced to shimmy around the perimeter of closely parked cars into oncoming traffic to pass. And then after I am behind her she moves out of the way.

7 p.m. I am feeling guilty that I must change a reservation for dinner from 5 people only to 2. I feel the restaurant will be sad that they won’t have so many customers anymore. This makes me cry in my heart. I pick up the phone to call the restaurant, reach an employee, and begin to explain I must change the reservation. I get disconnected. Odd. I call back, and begin anew. I now realize I wasn’t disconnected before — she hung up on me. I realize because she did the same thing again.  I’m no longer guilty. Thanks for that.

Inspiration everywhere I go in the Holy Land.