Galilee the Wine County

During this trip I have been reminded again and again that Israel is truly a beautiful and a magnificent country. It has it all. Beautiful nature, people, food, art, attraction of all sorts and mostly brain. Everybody here loves to say, that Israeli brain works all the time and will manage everywhere. So, it manages very well in the upper Galilee, creating one of the best wines in the world. Not many of you know, but Israel has a very substantial wine making market and Galilee is the heart and soul of it. Situated 1000 meters above the sea level, Galilee has a rich history of cultivating grapes and making wine as long as 2000 years ago. It has the climate, the soils, the slopes, the elevations and everything necessary to create the unique tastes and qualities that can easily compete with Napa or France. Dalton, Yarden, Gamla, Barkan etc., are the famous commercial  brands, that export millions of bottles every year world wide. Among them there are also medium size wineries and the boutique ones. You will need at least a month to visit all of them, we had only one day.
I was lucky to find a map of all Israeli wineries in the blog of somebody called Yossi. Comes out Yossi is a wine lover, who made an outstanding job of mapping all the wineries of Israel with their websites, addresses and phone numbers, on one simple Google map. "What a great man this Yossi"- I thought thanking him from the bottom of my heart for doing this. From now on I'm faithful Yossi's blog subscriber. Consequently, based on the map we started to head North to the Upper Galilee.

As expected the panorama was absolutely stunning. We couldn't help, but to stop every 20 minute to photograph again and again. Just breathing the air and enjoying this nature alone was already worth the trip. All I wanted was to pull out a blanket ,to lay down on the hill, to watch the sky and to get lost in it.

JerusalemILoveYou

It was erev Shavuot when we decided to go to a day trip to Jerusalem. The weather was beautiful, savta* didn't work and could babysit Galushki, visiting Kotel on erev hag* was a given. Everything seemed to work our way and what a great day for driving. 

One Day or Tel-AvivILoveYou#1

This weekend has started with a sunny shishi boker* at Kerem haTaimanim (vineyards of yemenites), in Tel-Aviv with my dear newly married friends Debbi and Yonnatan(whose few wedding pictures you can see here). We sat at a lovely hole in the wall eatery "Shimon Melech haMarakim"(Shimon the king of soups) and ate an authentic Yemenite zoharaim* with Lahoh, Hilbe and Yemenite chicken soup. 

Bubik takes Tel Aviv!

After eating a huge bowl of pasta at midnight, I've got inspired to start writing. This post I would like to dedicate to Galushki, as all in all our trip is well concentrated around her and around her discovering Tel-Aviv. Tomorrow she is turning 9 month old and it comes out this is the first time that we are spending together as a family. Needless to say that Bubik seems to be in heaven to be with her both parents on vacation, and doing that in Tel Aviv just completes the picture. As I mentioned in the previous posts, she is all smiles. She seems to like it here a lot. But of course, how can it be any different if she is a center of attention everywhere she goes to, even on the street. Everybody loves Bubik. If we would count all the compliments she gets in a day, it would probably get even to1 in every 5 minutes. She sings in the stroller a-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti and waves to by-passers like she is a princesse of Wales. This is her first summer ever - 'sun is shining, the weather is sweet' in Tel-Aviv, which is a very bachelor and kid oriented place, at least as it seems to me ( aside of its narrow sidewalks that some of them do not allow to pass with a tractor stroller as ours). There are plenty of playgrounds, and jamborees, (where Galushki loves to make new friends) and they are free, unlike in New York. Another highlight of being in Israel is that Galushki goes crazy about the food! She loves pita bread, hummus, kuskus, falafel, 'ptitim'* and Bamba (thanks Eli & Carmela) along with variety of fruits and vegetables and yes, we are past the allergy warning- she eats everything! 

This is a very special time, when there are only us. I love to observe her,to learn about her and to bond with her. Seeing her as happy as she is right now, makes me wonder if this time could last forever and it also makes me think that we are a damn pretty happy family and this is all that matters tfu tfu tfu hamsa hamsa hamsa!

She is still our cutest little terrorist and when you get on her bad side she will scream your ears out, but I hope this is just a sign of a strong character and persistence. Below are the images from different days in different places, that I will elaborate on a little later. In a meanwhile enjoy Bubik in detail.

notice of renewal

So the computer is finally fixed and my leg is doing much better:) I can walk again and post again! Very exiting, as I haven't post once since our arrival because of the mentioned above. I genuinely hoped to write every day, but it seems like somebody has laughed at my plans and did it veeery aggressively :).

Now I'm facing a challenge of packing tons of pictures, stories and recommendations in a few posts. So get ready everything is coming.. and at once!

Debby And Yonnatan Mazal Tov!

May 9th, 2013 was a special day, as my dear friend Debby got married to a wonderful guy Yonnatan.
The wedding was a true simcha*, I have never seen my husband dancing so much and also pulling me after him to the dancing floor :). Everything was beautiful starting from the Hupa at the sundown to the venue itself, the food and the music, which was unexpectedly eclectic, but fun at the same time. People were dancing to yemenite music, 70s,80s,90s, tango, salsa, rock, disco, french, spanish and even to russian songs(in my honor :) even i didn't have one on my wedding ). It was everything the wedding should be and I think it says a lot about the couple. We have enjoyed a lot and I can not describe how happy I am, that they found each other and make such a beautiful union. I wish you guys the best of the best and and hope to see you soon in NYC.
Unfortunately our camera and phone died right before the wedding so I have only few poor shots. But it is still better then nothing!

Galushky's flight to Tel-Aviv

We are in Tel-Aviv! I'm seriously excited and finally feel home! The weather is great , the people are cool, and the food is wonderful as usual. And oh my! finally good coffee! I feel blessed! We are just over the jet lag and are planning our time.
Our accommodation turned out to be perfect, we rented a beautiful, renovated two bedroom apt near the Rothschild-Shenkin corner, so everything is near and convenient. I think we got really lucky. By the way this apartment is available for rent through out the year...

KIng George St, Tel Aviv

To all who were wondering and scared for us travelling with the baby :), our flight was painless :). Galushka slept all the time, ocasionally waking up with a smile on her face and going back to sleep. She literaly didn't make a sound! In general she has been a very happy baby since we left NY. She smiles at people, waves hi and gives hi-fives and of course cannot be unnoticed due to her chubby pulkes and cheeks!

Bye Bye NYC, Hello TLV

Our lovely family is going to be on the airplane to Tel-Aviv in half an hour! We are so exited, especially Bubik. She laughs with her 2 teeth every time I'm telling her "Bubik nosaat le Tel-Aviv!"*.Finally we are going to have some new scenery to get inspired from. As much as we love New York City, this is a place where we work and lately there was too much of it! Kind of draining. But oto-to**, we are going to be recharging and partying our heads off in one of the most welcoming cities in the world, while savta** is babysitting :) Those who never been to Tel-Aviv and are not familiar with this city, will be able to learn all about it in my further posts. 

In a meanwhile lets talk a little more about NYC. There are two places I have recently visited that I would like to share. The best sushi in NYC, period, is Sushi of Gari.  402 E 78th St, NYC (212) 517-5340 (the original location). 

This place well deserves its Michelin star together with a wide recognition from many of Manhattanites. Chef's sushi 

omakase is probably the best choice you can make to get your overall impression.This will consist of 12 pieces of 

sushi out of this world.Though it wasn't our first time we still like to order omakase and to be surprised. No soy sause 

is used at this place, as one of the rules of the chef, and you will have no regrets.