Take Back The Streets (Y.K. 2009)

Yom Kippur happened a few weeks ago. It is the most interesting combination of the solemn and the zany. The country shuts down, and one can walk wherever one pleases, but one cannot buy anything, or be too boisterous.

This year, in Tel Aviv, the quiet buildings stood like sentinels. It felt like after hours on a movie set or a post-apocalyptic alternate reality. Here is a small photo-log of this singular day for 2009:





This kid was going about 20km/h on his little scooter.



A squad of kids races each other down Eliezer Kaplan to the Ayalon freeway:



I saw this Vespa parked in the same spot 12 hours later:



The Kaplan interchange. Easily the busiest intersection in the city. Here we have a rare emergency vehicle.


Obligatory "I was here" self-shot, seated on the Ayalon freeway.


HaShalom train station. Deserted, but eerily lit.



This little guy on the right was brought to a Yom Kippur service, but wandered across the street.


A shot from the Gesher Ma'ariv flyover:


And the same flyover. This guy was doing photography of the buildings in the distance.


The next day -- again, at the Kaplan interchange. Spot me in each photo:

West Bank 3: Separation Barrier

Once again, to the West Bank trips last Spring...

The most affecting thing I saw in Palestine was the "other side" of the cement separation barrier (the wall erected on various portions of the Green Line) turned into an enormous scroll of vernacular art and commentary. Some funny, some tragic, some ironic, some poetically touching and hopeful. This is a rare and powerful instance of cultural awareness turned into a living artwork for all to see. I'll write notes for some, but the pictures speak the best. Enlarge for the best detail.

This section actually has the menu for the restaurant across the way on the left-hand side.








Kennedy's words on this portion:



The wall circumnavigates this house. I saw a young girl playing in the back yard here.



Below the tower:


And above:


This is the main road:

And this is where the road ends up, 180 degrees from the above shot:



Close-up of the vertical checkpoint door, which is suspended about six inches off the ground:






This gives you an idea about the scale:







Finally, two dissimilar quotes with similar ideas:

Shana Tova

Today marks the eve of Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish new year. It commemorates the creation of Man, and begins the high holidays or the "Days of Awe", a ten-day period which concludes with Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. This is the time to take stock of your deeds for the last year and "mend fences" -- according to the Talmud, God makes all judgments on Rosh Hashanah, but people have 10 days to turn a bad year around until the judgments are sealed on Yom Kippur.

In Israel, this New Year is a much bigger deal than the calendar "new year" of January 1st. Everyone says "Shana Tova" (A Good Year) to everybody else (I even got it from the ticket booth worker at the movies yesterday). This evening, I'll be at a traditional New Years' dinner at our middle school secretary's house, which I greatly look forward to, even with battling traffic to and from Kfar Saba.

So, I wish each of you a Good Year, and I'll close with a slice of an essay from one of my favorite writers, who investigates the idea of the new year from his perspective of a cabin in Vermont:

-----

September, this is when the year begins. So say we Jews, and so say we theatricals and schoolchildren.

The year begins when it turns cold. This is the start of intellectual activity.

The day, as in the Bible, begins at dusk -- it begins not with birth, in the spring, but with conception. In the autumn. The leaves fall from the trees, expelled by the first beginnings of the new bud. That is when the year begins.

Just as the day begins with rest, with reflection, with knitting up, as the Bard said, of the sinews for a new thing.

The day, the season, life, begins with a dream, in quiet and cold.

...

What greater perception of peace than the depth of the woods at twenty below, when the power of rest, the beautiful completion of death, infuses one with an overwhelming sense of order.

David Mamet - "The School Year" from South of the Northeast Kingdom

World-Class Home Fries: A Primer

There is nothing like a fried potato.

I make the following recipe for home-fried potatoes at least once a week. The success of home fries lies in the technique and timing, not in any fancy-pants ingredients or accompaniments.

Ingredients:

Olive Oil for frying
Red potatoes (2 medium potatoes yields a good serving)
Salt
Prosciutto or other thin cured meat (optional)

Preparation:

Wash and dry the potatoes with the skins still on. Red potatoes work best because they're a "waxy" kind of potato instead of a "starchy" kind like a russet. Cut them up into cubes a little bigger than dice (3/4" or so).

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, and pour in enough olive oil to just coat the entire bottom of the pan.

Once the oil starts to really get going (a bit of rippling and smoke) add the cut potatoes, tossing them a few times to coat, and sprinkle on some salt. Every potato piece should fully touch the surface of the oil as they sizzle.


Now, the important technique: LEAVE THEM ALONE. No flipping or stirring for several minutes; this allows the magnificent gold crust to form, which is key to successful home fries.

Once you see a golden brown color coming up on the potatoes from the bottom of the pan, it is time to turn them. Use your implement to flip each potato so it's resting on a different side than before. They should have shrunk a little bit in the last few minutes, making this easier. Salt again, and let them be!


After several more minutes of frying on a different side, the potatoes should be close to done. Stab one out and taste it -- it should be crispy on the outside and have a kind of creamy consistency in the center. If they're still not done, let them go a little more.


Once they're where you want them, add the slices of cured meat (or a bit earlier, if the cured meat is thick-sliced.) This will heat the meat up and cook it a bit, but just slightly -- You don't want cured meat with the consistency of shrapnel in your home fries.

Slide the fries onto your plate or bowl, lightly salt once more, and you're done!


A note about seasonings: the flavor of a just-fried potato is, by itself, a glorious thing. Maybe a touch of ketchup or Tabasco if that's your scene, but try them by themselves first to see what you're missing.