The great outdoors

A carpet of tiny Irises covers The Israel Trail near Jerusalem

Tiny iris ( Moraea sisyrinchium)

Recently I met a very interesting person, a tourist from Canada that isn't Jewish and came to visit the area out of curiosity and a sense of adventure.  I got to meet him through a friend we've acquired a couple of years ago on our great tour in Canada. Since the guy arrived just before Passover the DH and I took it upon ourselves to explain our non-suspecting visitor what happens in Israel come Pesach. We met him for beer and conversation in a Jerusalem pub. Although he is Quebecois he speaks very good English, far better than my pitiable French. We had a very nice evening, discussing many issues in history, geography, politics and a lot of explaining about Pesach, especially in Jerusalem. We've also recounted our own visit to Canada. I described to him my awe and wonder from the size of the country. The huge impression all the woods and running water made on me, coming from this arid corner of the world. I tried to explain how liberating it was to be in empty huge wilderness, as I'm not used to so much open space.

He was very attentive but didn't really get what I'm talking about.

He kept traveling here in Israel and in The Palestinian Authority, went to the Galilee and Golan Heights, enjoyed the night life of Tel-Aviv and before he went on in his travels he came to celebrate Independence Day with us. I believe he now understands a lot more about the complexity of the situation here and comprehended better the reality of life here for both Israelis and Palestinians. But what he understood best was the size of the country.  He was amazed that his hike in The Tel Dan National Park ended in an hour and was crammed with people. After telling me that, he said: "I now get the way you feel about traveling in Canada, you live in a very claustrophobic country, no great outdoors."  I just smiled.

Our guest has left for the great Turkey and its splendor. 

We're still here. Yes, it's crowded and there is not much open space left but we are trying to make the best of it. Those past months we went outdoors as much as possible. Not doing great hikes or challenging treks but rather picnicking, relaxing, and taking lots of pictures even in the weirdest of weather. 

There is great beauty even in the smallest of places as hopefully you can see in some of my photos.

Not to mention my DH who is a wonderful cook, in and outside the house.   

Having a picnic at Hirbat Saadim in The Jerusalem Mountains- we were freezing so a nice fire kept us warm

Carpets of cyclamens near Jerusalem

Green almonds

Anemones blooming 

Sunset on Lachis

Strider -Walking Wadi Barak, in the southern part of Israel

Happy campers-having breakfast in Wadi Barak camping site.

A new year with snow

2012 passed so quickly. There was so much to do, so many new things to learn and new people to meet some of which were amazing but not all unfortunately. There were a lot of dead-lines to meet till it seemed sometimes I just moved from one project to the other. There was a lot of good food this year that was mostly home cooked.  The current economics kept us mostly dining home and less in fancy restaurants, even though here and there we treated ourselves to some old favorite places. It was a year filled with happy moments with family, friends and work. I had many challenges to face this year but I think I handled them quite well. I circled the world this year and was in many places abroad not in all of them for recreation and fun. These are experiences that I didn't have time to process yet even though they were emotionally very taxing. 

A new year brings with it contemplation followed by resolutions.  I want to write more and take more pictures this coming year. And I do hope it will be a good year for us all on our lovely blue planet.

The Israel Trail in The Meron Region 

The Israeli symbol- Sabre (cactus) covered with snow

Since the first week of the New Year has begun with a spectacular storm I thought it is a good omen. Not only my hopes for rain were fulfilled but as a bonus it snowed on the top of the mountains here in Israel. As snow is extremely rare in these parts we skipped work and school took the kids and went for our won snow day in the North of Israel. It was an amazing experience, and the first snow my 4.5 old boy ever saw.  
Happy new year.

Rainbow over The Golan Heights

The Golan Heights in the storm

How I spent my summer vacation (and a recipe)

Akziv Beach National Park

When I was at elementary school the first day of any school year started with writing the assay: "how did I 

spend the summer holyday".  I want to share with you a bit of what we did this summer. In contrast to last year's summer that we spent in Canada, this year we mostly juggled between work and kids on vacation. This year's summer broke records, we had such long heat waves that air-con became as essential as breathing.  In spite the heat we tried to get out of the house and break the routine. We had a lovely five days break in the Greek island of Crete. While at home we went mainly to movies or museums (yes, especially for the air-con not necessarily or culture) and travelled mainly in the car. We had a nice picnic in the Carmel woods with food blogger   Foodbridge and her family. Somehow between the 

 work, the heat and the long endless vacation we had fun.

.Having said that I'd really like to spend next year's August in a very cool place, The North Pole will be nice

View of the Jordan river south of the Kinneret

Picnicking in the woods

Hot day requires some cold juice in Wadi Nisnas, Haifa

Israel Museum in Jerusalem

Keshet cave in the Western Galilee 

Sunset on Akziv beach

  

There is still an abundance of summer fruits in the markets and this cake is a wonderful way to use them.

Upside down gluten-free fruit cake

Ingredients:

A cake tin 26cm diameter.

Fruit lair

1kg fruits (plums, apricots, peaches etc.) pitted and cut into halves.

Zest from half a lemon

3-5 sugar spoon

10-20gr butter

Cake

200gr soft butter

1 cup of sugar

6 eggs

1 tea spoon vanilla extract

2 cups of gluten-free flours dived to 1/3 soy flour, 1/3 corn flour 1/3 tapioca flour.

1 table spoon baking powder

Assembling the cake:

Layer the tin with baking paper, spread butter on the paper. Arrange the fruits densely so that the fruit's inside are upwards.  Spread the sugar and half the amount of the lemon zest.

1. Pre-heat the oven for 160 centigrade

2. Whip together in a mixer the butter and sugar till a soft foamy batter, add the eggs one by one.

3. Lower the mixer speed and add vanilla extract, flour, baking powder till again the batter is unified.

4. Pour the batter on the fruits and bake for 60-70 minutes.

5. Let the cake cool properly and then flip it on a serving dish so the fruits are upwards.

Upside downgluten-free plum cake

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

  

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. 

I'll follow the sun

A lovely sunset on the Jerusalem mountains

These days I spend most of my time in the lab trying to make my humble contribution to science. Unfortunately I'm missing out my favorite season: the blooming of the almond trees. This year the weather has been kind to us and it rained quite a lot the past month. The unusual amount of water brought with it a blossom that we rarely see in these areas. Anemones by the thousands cover the hills behind my hometown creating lovely red carpets. Last year I had a lot of free time to wonder around the hills like Julie Andrews in the "Sound of Music" but now I take what I can get. At present I don't have a lot of spare time except for  weekends that provide me and my family the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and catch up on some photography. The last two weekends were gloriously sunny so we went on some very short hikes in the area not far from where I live. We were delighted to find every place we visited lush, green and adorned with flowers. I want to share with you some of the splendor of this winter. Too bad  it is so short lived. 

Almond tree blooming

A few of the thousand of anemones currently blooming near my house

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

A study in scarlet or is beet photogenic?

Beet ravioli: gluten-free

Less than a year ago all I knew about photography was how to click the little silver button and have the subject more or less in the middle of the frame. Each time a term such as "closing aperture" or "shutter speed" was used in my vicinity my eyes would glaze. Thanks to my best friend the talented Sarah Melamed (Foodbridge) I now see the world as one big photo op.  My latest craze is food photography and so I drive the whole household insane because they're not allowed to eat before I take a picture. I'm now studying diligently Helene Dujardin's "plate to pixel" and practice food styling and lighting.

 I was thrilled when my DH decided to buy beets for cooking. Beets have such a gorgeous color therefore must be very photogenic. I needed to find something to do with them and to form something eatable I can photograph. Again it was the DH that came up with the idea: beet ravioli. We had that dish a long time ago when we had only two kids, in a very luxurious restaurant. We didn't have the recipe of course but we recruited our memory and creativity.

Not a new nebula but an almost transparent slice of beet 

We used very few ingredients: beet, hard goat cheese such as a tomme de chevre, walnuts, olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and of course salt and pepper. The trickiest part is cutting the beet in thin slices that will form the ravioli. We used a mandolin slicer that does a beautiful job and is safe to use. Safety is an important issue when using this device, there're models out there that the term guillotine slicer describes them better. I must confess that all the pretty slicing was done by the DH while I simply chopped the cheese and walnuts. We marinated the beet slices in lemon juice and olive oil for half an hour and then proceeded to form the ravioli. Between two slices of beet we've put a chunk of cheese and chopped walnuts, trying to make it look like a closed pocket.

DH hand modeling how to close the ravioli

On top of the raviolis we sprinkled a bit of kosher salt and balsamic vinegar. The fun part was styling the whole thing, it was rather amusing since not me nor is the DH professional, so improvisation was the key to the photo session. When I finished taking the pictures we just ate the lot. They turned out great.

salad

The rest of the beet was cut julienne style and tossed into a salad with the cheese leftovers, walnuts, chopped parsley, dill, olive oil and lemon juice. We served the salad to my parents at the Shabbath dinner, and they admitted it was the first time they had ever ate raw beet. My mom liked it but my dad diplomatically said he preferred to eat it as borscht.

crocuses blooming in the Judean Hills. 

Though winter is stalling and the days are still mostly sunny and clear, some flowers start to bloom after the long dry summer. We found not very far from where we live, in an archeological site dating to the days of King David, these carpets of crocuses. Sheer beauty.