Tel Aviv - With Sweet J. and A.

I went Tel Aviv the other day to meet A. and Sweet J.

We met at the shuk and then went to our favorite restaurant in the side streets. We went to the clothing shuk (lots of ugly, ugly clothes and not enough motivation to look through it all) and my new favorite crafty store - full of trim and belt buckles and lace and pretty things!

We walked up Sheinkin Street to look at the boutiques and test Sweet J.'s patience and then walked A. over to Dizengoff Square to get her bus. On the way be found advertisements for our school. They are photos of Israeli leaders with babies' faces. We hear there is a Golda Meir one too. We will find it!

Sweet J. and I pondered out next step at a cafe, where I ate/drank sahlab  for the first time. We went to a tea shop and I bought some gorgeous loose leaf tea.

We decided that we wanted to see TRON at a theater in Dizengoff Square. We had dinner (huge, delicious, inexpensive burgers, see below) at the cinema's restaurant.

The results of my shopping of the day:

Material for two high-waisted belts.

Yummy tea: Earl Grey with Sencha (I drank three pots of it today. That's why I am still blogging at two in morning, I think).

OOTD: The One Where YGirl Looks Like Christmas

I went to a Christmas cocktail party. I decided that this was the perfect occasion for a themed outfit.

Check it out:

Red dress, green tank top, gold brooch and necklace, green earrings, gold shoes with bows (like a present!).

I am a Christmas elf!

See! No tan!

The power of Yael's pale, pale skin and lots of sunscreen.

I am baffled by my hair. It is so long (for me) and yet too short for actual updos.

(Work that updo!)

Israel has America beat on...

...Mall Food.

I will do another post about this soon, with pictures, but I just have to say, I can go to the mall for good food.
Delicious, nutritious, well-priced salads, frozen yogurt (it's just about as popular here as in Seattle, but usually without the candy-colored stores), cafes with delicious cakes and coffee, chocolate fountains, sushi, etc.

Oh, and PASTRIES!!!

I must have mentioned Israeli pastry shops before, but if I haven't, umm... they are everywhere. Mamash (Really, Seriously) Everywhere. Don't be surprised if I come back to Seattle a little squidgier. Not any tanner, but definitely softer.

You're not getting squishier, it's just Israel!

Delicious: Yemenite-Spiced Stuffed Baby Bell Peppers

They were even more delicious than they sound.

I was walking home from school one day when I happened upon a gorgeous pile of bell peppers at the vegetable stand. They were small, irregular, wobbly and inconsistently colored. They were on super-duper-extra sale.

Everyone knows how I feel about super-duper-extra sale!

I bought them with Friday night potluck dinner in mind. The host of the dinner requested that I bring a meaty dish and so I started googling recipes. As a side note, it gets hard to cook when you have filed away recipes in your head and then leave the cookbook at home in another country.

I decided that I would include rice in the filling so that it wouldn't just be ground meat.

So I got started:

I settled on using the vegetable man's cooking suggestion, but with some extra spiciness thrown in. He recommended poaching the peppers in tomato sauce in the oven. I said "Why use tomato sauce when I have wine?!?" He suggested using salt, pepper and onions. I said "Sounds awesome, veggie man, how about the Hawaj I bought on a whim from the spice guy?"

I cut off the tops of the peppers, and thankfully didn't have too many seeds to remove.

I made rice with sauteed onion, Hawaj and bay leaves. I fried up the meat with more onion, salt, pepper and more hawaj. Then I mixed the two.

I filled the peppers with the rice and meat mixture. Then the peppers had a photoshoot.

The finished product:

Frummy Fashions

Check these out!

Oscar de la Renta

I love the high neckline and yellow belt!

Diane von Furstenberg

Elie Tahari

My Mimo is the BEST!

I receive a package from my marvelous mother.

I documented the occasion (though not the part where I had to schlep to the post office and wait in line to pick up the package while Israelis discovered that Thailand and Taiwan are not the same place).

Package for YGirl and E.: Chocoholics Anonymous!

See the chocolate?

E. putting her presents on the tree.

I will post more pictures once google process my purchase of extra picture storage.

Yay for more storage!

ZIPLOCK BAGS!!!

My lovely present! Potholders, kitchen towel and placemats inspired by Seattle's Pike Place Market!

Thank you, Ema!

Missing you lots!

What I have been reading

Check out some of these lovely things to read:

A gorgeous post from a gorgeous blogger about not needing make up, new shoes or stuff to be beautiful and complete:
http://www.alreadypretty.com/2010/12/repost-the-big-secret.html

A review of an Eritrean restaurant in Tel Aviv. I have got to go there!
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/pleasure-hunting-eritrean-encounters-1.323099

A French gluten-free (!) pear and hazelnut tart:
http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/2010/12/pear-and-hazelnut-tart-and-more-holiday.html

A fascinator made of silk using a quilting technique. I'm going to make a similar one from fabric I bought in Tel Aviv for a wedding:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/53900896/cassis-silk-dupioni-yo-yo-plume

An easy (kind of common sense recipes) e-cookbook with video segments!
http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2010/12/why-ecookbooks-are-the-way-forward-5-ingredients-10-minutes-evolves/

Thank you, thank you, thank you

I am out of my dark place.

All it took was complaining to lots of people on two continents, a hot shower, a nap, a tub of chocolate spread, many many pretzels and E. and A. giggling in the apartment.

Phew!

Exhaustion

I apologize for not posting more, I've been exhausted and not really in the mood for chatting.
I feel like I am isolating myself, but I am just so irritable! I feel like it's better for me to be alone if I am getting crabby with people around me.
I'm tired and I feel like I am just not doing enough. I feel like there are so many opportunities here that I am not taking advantage of.
As I cheer up I might blog some more.

Chrismukkah Comes Once A Year

We had a lovely Chrismukkah party!

We spent the day getting everything (including my hair battle) ready and then had a lovely time until early in the morning!

A. and K. chatting while sweet J. smolders in his suit.

Roommates! YGirl with teased flippy hair!

Two handsome fellas!

Yours truly and the divine Miss M. under the mistletoe!

Wow! Good Day of Procrastination!

I think someone made it "Make YGirl Feel Awesome Day!"

I am apparently:

-The perfect woman
-Well dressed with a tailored and feminine look
-Awesome

It was a good reminder that I need to learn to accept compliments rather than qualify them.

Thank you for the good energy, friends!

YGirl's Israeli Winter Fashion Show

I know most of your reading this blog are probably bored stiff by these types of posts, but deal with it.

It's my blog and I wanna post OOTD's!

Bear in mind that these are from November, and I didn't wear jackets with them. Awesome winter, right?

Now these, fair readers, are from the past two days. I had to wear my trusty North Face coat with these.
Now that's a proper winter!

This is close up of how I wore the brooch that Kimbo bought me!
(People really liked the brooch, by the way. Good taste Kimbo!)

I really should do my reading, but....

... I really need to have lunch with my friends!

.... I really need to buy a hot water bottle. And take pictures of myself with it!