Stop and smell the almonds.

My favorite time of year is here again and will disappear shortly. The winter is ending and already we are experiencing hot dry days. The hills around my house are still green and everything is blooming: the trees, the shrubs, and flowers everywhere, an awful time for the allergic among us.  Very soon it will all turn yellow and dusty. So for this short period of grace I'm in photography frenzy especially of almond trees blossoming. I've wrote before about the loveliness of almond flowers and so has my fellow blogger foodbridge. But every year it enchants me again. Just a mere 5 minutes' drive from my home there are almond orchards that transform to fairy wonderland this time of year with trees blooming in white and pink. It is one of my favorite places on Earth. Even the road that leads to the hospital where I work is laden with almond and Judas trees that make the tedious driving a lovely experience.  Although my daily life is very stressful and demanding I do stop, take out my smart phone and photograph the lush beauty of trees and flowers thus remind myself every day that it is a wonderful life and I am fortunate to live them.

My working place

Pink almond tree

The road I drive daily

Stop to smell the almond flowers

 As opposed to most of my posts the photographs here were taken and processed using iphone4. Unfortunately there is yet no way for me to document the lovely scent of the almond tree or other flowers.  

I'm only happy when it rains

After a very long summer finally we were blessed with stormy weekends. As my loyal readers know, my favorite season is winter. Unlike most Israelis I adore gray sky, thunder storms, wool scarves and sweaters. Most Israelis love the beach at summer but I on the other hand try to avoid it as much as possible. When winter arrives I love to take long strolls on empty beaches taking pictures of the roiling sea. Since weekends are the only time left for hiking and photographing, I wasn't deterred by weather forecasts and went traveling with the family. One weekend was spent in the old Crusaders fortress of Apollonia (near Herzelia) and another in the city of Acre.  I'd like to share with you some of the lovely images of sea at winter.

From Herzelia to Hedera

Tel-Aviv and stormy sea

Acre marina

Cloud over the Old City of Acre

We discovered a small but charming national park in the North. Ein-Affek is an attempt to restore the original marshland ecosystem of the Haifa Bay area. The dried up water holes were filled with water and the fish, birds, and turtles followed. Even buffaloes which once were abundant in the area and disappeared were restored. It's nothing like the rivers and lakes we saw in Canada but it's pretty and it's ours.

Cormorant, buffaloes, water lily and herb tea in Ein-Afek National Park

Sun sets over the Mediterranean 

Going home

The bluest blue-A little break in the Island of Crete

View of Mirabello Bay

The heat is on. Israeli summer this year went overboard. The sun is scorching and temperature rises as everything here seems to come to a boiling point. It is never easy nor peaceful in this corner of the world so a heat wave doesn't have any cooling effect.  This year's family vacation was in perfect timing. We all needed to get away for a little while and cool off. We spent 5 days in the lovely Greek island of Crete.  It is a short flight from here and yet feels like a different world. Although it's the same Mediterranean Sea we have at home, in Crete the views are different. 

The Island of Spinalonga

The Aegean Sea comes in shades of deep blue and turquoise and the water is crystal clear. Only the tiniest part of the Israeli coast line looks like this and it is under constant threat of disappearing under hotels built by greedy contractors. 

Tiny European cars

After a couple of days of just lazing by the poolside we hired a car and went to explore the island. Driving a ridiculously small automobile we went to lovely places like the Mirabello Bay ("the beautiful bay" really deserves its name), there we settled for a few hours in the picturesque village Plaka and ate a wonderful fish dinner.

Great food in Plaka

We took the boat to the former leper's colony Spinalonga which is now a huge tourist attraction. We went to see the remains of the amazing ancient Minoan Culture at The Palace of Malia. We even went to the beach, the sea was calm, clean sand and no jellyfish were lurking in the crystalline water. Perfect.

Although we had a wonderful time the effects of the economic calamity in Greece couldn't be ignored. Many places were closed for business even in the height of the season.  It was sad. I hope things will improve for the Greeks.

We spent 5 short days on Crete, a very short time that left us with a lot to see next time. 

No light or my new ND filter

Banisas stream from the Hanging Trail

June has been hectic. Our lives are quite hectic all year long but June is quite different. The abundance of school ceremonies, farewell parties, birthday parties and general deadlines are overwhelming. The last 4 weeks were a blur of perpetual celebrations. These are of course good things but can be more than a little tiring. With all the festivities going around I didn't photograph much expect for my own kids at this or other merriment. 

Banias stream

It's a bit of a shame because I now have a much coveted piece of equipment: neutral density filter. It's a filter that reduces and/or modifies intensity of all wavelengths or colors of light equally. The purpose of a standard photographic neutral density filter is to allow the photographer greater flexibility to change the aperture, exposure time and/or motion blur of subject in different situations and atmospheric conditions. In other words I can photograph waterfalls! Israel isn't rich in water sources or in great waterfalls but we have some and they are exceptionally beautiful.

Banias waterfall

I had the opportunity to spend a short vacation in the North of Israel where most of the abundant water sources happen to be. I've walked the Hanging Trail over The Banias stream in Banias National Park. This year's winter was kind and rainy, so the northern streams were full of raging water, as you can see. Although the lighting was very intense since it was late morning and Israeli sun is very harsh, the ND filter enabled me to reduce shutter speed in a way that captures the effect of the moving water. The next day I took pictures of the Tanur Waterfall in Wadi Ayun National Park, and shot some "smeared" photos. I like the water effects very much, it creates magical landscape.

I am posting a few photos of my very primary attempts. I need to go out more to practice, maybe summer holiday will provide the opportunity. 

Tanur waterfall in Ayun Wadi

  

Cherry season

Pitting cherries with my DH posh tourne knife 

Summer is here. Spring was exceptionally beautiful this year but as usual in this place short lived. Very quickly the green lush turned yellow and dusty. Pretty delicate flowers were replaced by thorns.  It's getting hotter everyday as well. The temperature hits 30 centigrade by 10am. Although I am not a fan of Israeli summer, there some nice sides to it like cherries.

Cherries for sale in the Banias National Park

We've just returned from a vacation in the North of Israel, and everywhere we went they sold cherries. We couldn't resist their lovely color so we bought more than a kilo of cherries. They were in good price.  Getting home we discovered that not all tasted that good but even sour cherries are great for dessert.

We've decided to make a French classic: "clafoutis aux cerises" namely cherry pudding. Since the amount of flour is minimal in this recipe we had no problem to convert it to a gluten-free version. The recipe is based on the one published by Benny Saida. With our northern cherries the dessert turned out just perfect.

Ingredients

 6 egg yolks

3 egg whites

2/3 cup sugar

2 table spoons of brandy or cherry liquor

1/4 cup soy flour + 1/4 corn starch

1 cup milk

1/3 cup whole cream (38% fat)

1/2 kg pitted cherries

 1 bag of vanilla sugar

A 26cm diameter pie tin or personal soufflé dishes buttered.

1.       Heat the oven to 180 centigrade. Mix the eggs in a large bowl while adding the sugar till a light fluffy mixture is formed.

2.       Add the flours and liquor mix till unified. Add the milk and cream in slow stream while stirring the mixture.

3.       Mix the cherries with the sugar and vanilla sugar and spread at the bottom of the tin.

4.       Pour the batter on the cherries and bake 50 minutes till the pastry is browned.

Clafoutis- such a cute word.

Sping break

One of the many religious families taking advantage of the holiday to go hiking. Strangely they wore their best cloths for the dust and mud.  

Pesach holiday is over. As usual there were many hikes, picnics and family get together.  We visited sites North and South of the country along with most of Israel's population. The kids homework and school assignment were left for the last minute so we could have a bit of family fun. Though some of the days we  managed going to work, the past couple of weeks were mostly dedicated to our favorite amusements namely lots of great food while enjoying Nature. We had a lovely weather and spring brought with it an abundance of flowers which some I've photographed. Here are a few for your enjoyment.  

From left upper corner: Judas tree, sage, Jerusalem sage, cyclamen, cistus, orchid, chrysanthemum, buttercup, orchid, anemones and buttercups. 

Paradise, in open eyes.

Anchorage Bay from above

I love the new Coldplay album and one of my favorite songs is "Paradise". It's about a girl that her 

dreams didn't come true. I've always considered myself very blessed in that sense, I've realized most of my dreams and I always have new ones to fulfill. For years I aspired to travel to New-Zealand. I know the travel route by heart. I have a clear map of the islands in my head after staring at it for so long. I have 3 different travelling guides to New-Zealand; sometimes I read them before I go to sleep. I always knew that someday I'll get to New-Zealand. Last February I got there alright but in very miserable circumstance that made me think of cosmic jokes. I didn't see much of New-Zealand since most of the time I was needed in the town of Nelson (as you can see in my former post). Although my help was very much required I was convinced to take a day off and go traveling even for a short while. The beautiful Abel Tasman National Park is an hour's ride by boat from Nelson. It is the smallest national park in NZ but one of the most travelled. I took a water taxi tour to the park, where the taxi drops you off at one point and picks you up in another while you hike in nature. I was picked up from the motel by the taxi company and driven to Nelson port where I embarked with a very diverse group of people the vessel that took us into the park. Although I'm not used to be alone and very rarely if ever I hike by myself, I had a most wonderful time. I hiked from Bark Bay to Anchorage Bay, a mild 16km walk in the most wonderful views. The weather was ideal; partly cloudy with light breeze from time to time that dried the sweat. I got back to Nelson tired but happy I managed to fulfill a tiniest part of my New-Zealand dream.

In the Coldplay song the poor girl sees Paradise every time she closes her eyes. I was very lucky to be with my eyes open and with my camera to see a slice of Paradise.   

Eating Sambusak at the edge of the world.

I've missed my blog. It has been a month since I last wrote here. All sorts of things happened in this month most of them not so good but I'm trying to make some sort of lemonade of the lemons handed to me. The life lesson I learned once more is that good health is everything. If you and your loved ones are healthy than all else is manageable. I've been to the far ends of Earth this past month and I'll share some of my impressions with you in my upcoming posts.

Sunday is market day in Nelson, New-Zealand, just behind the town's main road, in the parking lots. I wasn't in Nelson on a holiday, far from it. Not very pleasant circumstances led me to this part of the world but on that Sunday I allowed myself to relax a little and went exploring the town's market. It was beautiful and sunny, after a streak of  cloudy wet days, (the locals said it was a very unusual summer, too chilly and wet). The market was a collection of stalls: some selling fresh produce, some selling food and there were many garage sales that sold anything under the sun for example a used pair of pink bicycles only 25 NZ$. I endeavored tasting ethnic local food and bought a loaf of Maori bread. The bread resembles a doughnut as it is deep fried. I liked it very much, reminded me of the Tunisian fricassee that I usually eat in Ramle Shuk. 

Maori bread

As I munched on my steaming loaf I suddenly noticed a food stall with a name that rang familiar: "Melamed", not a common name in NZ. I approached the stall and happily noticed it sells all the foods I like best: Middle-Eastern delicacies like pitta with za'atar and sambusak (filled savory pastry). Since I was far from home missing it terribly it was both surprising and comforting meeting a fellow country woman that managed the food stand. We chatted a bit in Hebrew. Of course we bought za'ater pitta very happily. It was a bit of home after a week without any decent hummus or tahini salad.
It never cease to amaze me how one finds Israelis everywhere in the world. Even in the town of Nelson, NZ.

I've recently read a fellow blogger very different experience in NZ, check out "Eat like a girl" impressions.

Sambusack made in New-Zealand

A little bit of sunshine

One of the Zodiac alleys of Old Jaffa, a slit of sea and sun

Have no mistakes, I'm not complaining. I am very happy it rained almost every day the past couple of weeks. It is nice to experience a touch of real winter. The temperature has plummeted so in the ungodly hour I go out to work it's in single digits; a rare phenomenon where we live. The sky is gray with low purplish clouds, my favorite weather. I enjoy the rain even when I need to walk almost 10 minutes to my car while my eyeglasses get covered with steam and droplets. The road leading to the lab is very pretty, twisting among mountains laden with woods mist covered like a scene from "Lord of the Rings".

winter sky

As much as I enjoy the winter gloom there are times that a little sunshine is welcomed, like in our last excursion to the old city of Jaffa. We love once in a while getting lost in the narrow alleys and feel the sea spray. It was a cold day but the little bits of sun that came out here and there illuminated all in a nearly magical way. I had a wonderful time taking photos while inhaling salty cold air.

Sun bath for the seagulls 

Like a picture painted by Turner

There will be a serious post one day on Jaffa, it's an amazing city that is as ancient as human civilization, but for now just let us relish a bit of sunshine. 

Changing and rearranging.

Free as a butterfly? Nor really, but quite pleased. 

I've jump started my career only 3 weeks ago and it already feels like I lived in this lab all my life.  My brain cells are all devoted to the effort of understanding my new environment. I've tried to spare some to writing and photographing but at this point in time it is an enormous effort. I have a big project that is quite complicated. I do not want to leave this blog which is very important to me, in a way it has been a journal of my life. So I need to figure out the shape it will take in the future. I'm processing all the changes and they will manifest in here eventually. I urge you to bear with me and be patient with formatting and design shifts. I will keep writing and sharing my views on science (there will be a lot of science now….), photography, travel and food with and without gluten. I'm concluding this post with a few photos because I might shift the blog's theme from writing to photographing. 

Rainbows are always a sign of hope and optimism.

I'm gonna fly like this beautiful ibis from the Hachula area.

The last day of 2011

Evolution of a photographer: January 2011, Nitzana, Israel, one the first occasions I'm taking the Nikon D90 to my hands. 

It's the last day of 2011. For me it was a very good year. It was a year of revelations and adventures. I learned a lot about myself this year. I was never the type for soul searching. The "new age" spirituality, self-search were not my "thing". But this past year I've questioned many things I assumed I knew about who I am.  I've discovered my ability to write something other people will read. For years all I've ever written was either buried in deep drawers or burnt to ashes. Today I save even the silliest "notes to self" I write, I might use it in the future. I'm not willing to succumb to that horrible internal critique that haunted me for years. 

March 2011-Winter sky on the Judean Hills, Israel

June 2011-Burekas and egg in Yahud, Israel

This was the year I re-discovered my creativity. For years I used to draw and paint, so I've found a new way to use light, expressing myself through photography. At the beginning of this year my photos were hardly worth noticing. Slowly but surely I figured out what the technical terms mean or how to open the menu of my sophisticated yet frightening camera. Now, at the end of this year, I feel I've advanced light years in my photography. Now I know how much I still have to learn but I love it. Photography will never be boring.

July 2011- The Safari Zoo, Ramat-Gan, Israel 

   

I had a very good year due to a number of reasons. The time I've spent with my kids was priceless. I'm pleased I had the opportunity to be a full time Mom, even if it's not for long. I'm glad we could leave our lives here for more than a month in order to travel to Canada. One of the best voyages I've ever took.

August 2011 - Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland,Canada

August 2011, West-point lighthouse, Prince Edward's Island, Canada

Now this wonderful year that was filled with great places, good food, terrific photography and most of all my wonderful friends and family, is ending. Tomorrow my new year will begin with a new job therefore a new way of life. I'm going back to what I know best: lab work and research. I know it will be intense and demand my fullest attention. Before I start I want to share some of my last year's photos. I think you can see in them the evolution of my photography. 

September 2011 - An exercise in night photography, Tel-Aviv Beach, Israel

November 2011- Discovering the many ways you can process Raw formats.  Zichron-Yaakov, Israel

November 2011-A house designed by a friend. 

I hope I'd still have the time to share with you my adventures in this chaotic country.

I don't know what the future holds. I hope it will be another very good year to us all. I wish you only the best. I hope it will rain.

Happy New Year. 

December 2011-Nachlat Binyamin, Tel-Aviv, Israel

December 2011- The only photo in this post taken using my iPhone 4. Judean Hills, Israel