Travel

The Most Terrifying Tiyul

October 28, 2010

Plunging into the abyss I am not generally considered a timid man. I have jumped out of an airplane (without it being part of a mandatory army exercise) and fondly recall my youth hurtling down the tallest of roller coasters. But I don’t plan to go back to Nahal Og any time soon. It was […]

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Meet Me at the Mugrabi

July 8, 2010

Mugrabi Cinema in its Heyday When I was hired to record a series of conversations to accompany a course on teaching Hebrew to English speakers, I didn’t know I’d be getting a lesson in Tel Aviv nostalgia. The project was to edit a 500-page curriculum originally developed to prepare U.S. diplomats posted to Israel. Along […]

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Search for the Perfect Knafeh

June 25, 2010

Must-have knafe I’ve never eaten it, but I’ve just got to have it. Kanafeh, that is. It’s an Arab pastry somewhat like baklava, but with the addition of soft goats cheese, an orange coating and sprinkled pistachio nuts. I first learned about kanafeh from a friend who was guiding us through East Jerusalem. He pointed […]

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Vacation Tips for the Passover Holiday

March 31, 2010

It’s vacation time in Israel – the week of hol ha mod Pesach (the days in-between the Seder and the the seventh day of the chag) is a time when schools and many businesses close down and half the country seemingly takes to the parks and general great outdoors. Our family traditionally heads north to […]

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Room 124

January 7, 2010

Israeli bureaucratic institutions have been slowly but surely modernizing over recent years. You can get in and out of the infamous Interior Ministry in less than a day…and you don’t have to line up at 8:00 AM just to shove your way in through the heavily guarded front door. The health funds now have computerized […]

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The Lost Jews of Jaipur

September 7, 2008

I was walking across the street in the Old City of Jaipur on the third day of our trip to India. I had just bought a bag of ladoo, a sticky Indian sweet shaped like a small yellow golf ball. As I focused my attention on searching for a store sign in English in order to bargain my […]

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Off to Tanzania

August 14, 2008

This Normal Life is taking a two week break. The Blum family is heading off on a trip of a lifetime: 12 days of safari in Tanzania! I’ll write about it when we return, so keep checking the blog, your RSS feed or email inbox.

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