Shuk HaCarmel

I went to Shuk HaCarmel (the market not far from my place) on Friday morning and as expected, it was a scintillating multi-sensory experience: clothing of all styles, top-notch produce, fresh cheese direct from the dairy farm, butchers in action with their massive carcasses on meat hooks in the open, Jewish paraphernalia and trinkets, colorful Russian candy shops, music stores blasting their wares above the sounds of relentless haggling, and toy shops for the kiddies.

Started with a fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice.

Bought some zucchini and tomatoes. Then salami, parmesan, and lettuce of which I made a nice salad. The figs were impossible to pass up so I got a basket of those and ate a few on the spot!

I bought an Israeli Army cap for Rebecca to replace the one she lost several years ago. The thieving wind swiped it off her head while on the ferry and dropped it hopelessly into the chilly waters of the Puget Sound.

Then procured some dead sea face creme, sampled some wine from Galilee, and ended with a dark chocolate hazelnut bar, just for good measure.

Then the rains came. First of the season--downpours! Everyone was excited as it was a long awaited cleansing. I was happy about it too, but sadly I was wearing the wrong shoes; one has a giant chunk out of the bottom, about 2 inches in diameter. I don't know why there's a hole in the sole, but these shoes came from the Goodwill one time when I needed some black shoes quickly for a catering job a few years ago. Last week I was stoked to find some caulking in the box of goodies that our building manager left here after renovating, and filled up the gap in the rubber. Unfortunately, it didn't make a good seal and the sock became saturated and the foot drenched. It was a squishy right foot all the way home as I watched the aftermath: a collective effort to sweep water off balconies, stoops, and even swish it down the street to the drain. The scene of all these happy working people in the neighborhood could make a compelling communist propaganda poster; that and the thought of all the new tasty treats put a smile on my face and made the shoe problem largely irrelevant.