Another Wedding!

Last night we got to go to another wedding!  (Yes, Monday night.) And this wedding was nothing like the last one!  I guess no two weddings in the States are the same either, but this was very different.  The wedding party in 4 words:  dancing, lights, singer, dancing.

The actual wedding ceremony was a while ago, this was the "Wedding Party."  The invitation said 8pm, and we were told to be there at 9pm (the bride and groom would show up at about 930pm).  Driving and parking is always a hassle, but we made it just before they walked in.

I have never seen a grander entrance!  "Lets go welcome the bride!"  The bride and groom came up the stairs, following the drums and tambourines.  The guests were crowded all around clapping (and I think singing, but I didn't understand a word of it).  So they come into the main entrance and go straight to the dance floor.  The lights in the ceiling and flashing (something something Disney Laser Light Show), the live band and singer are on stage, one video camera is in their faces and the other swoops over the crowd (a la NFL football camera).  In case you can't push past the other 499 guests to get a glimpse of the couple, just look up at the big screen where the live video is playing (MTV would happily show this quality film).

Dance, dance, dance...some food is served.  More flashing lights and singing.  More food.  (I put my fork down to take a drink of water and rest a minute and the waiter snatched my plate!  He was ready to bring me the next plate.)  Then the bride and groom walk around and greet everyone (while dancing and we're all clapping..my hands are pretty sore by this point).  The band takes a break and things calm down for a few minutes. More dancing, more dancing, dessert....we have to leave. (This is like an Arab music video!  The singer, the clothes, the lights, the cameras.)  We stayed until about 1230 - which was early.  But we had to get to work.  So much fun!  The ceilings were about 15 feet, white pillars and architectural details, marble floors, and scenic views of a beautiful garden (it was a picture, but wrapped around where the windows would be...to make you think you're in a garden?)

Final note:  The picture is us and our friend at the wedding.  There was a wide range of clothes worn.  A very few had on really casual clothes.  Another handful had on formal gowns and a few wore all out glittery beauty pageant outfits.  Another group had on sparkly Muslim dresses and hejabs.  Then there was the small group from our work that was in American style dresses.  It was such a mix.  But I guess that is to be expected when you have 500 guests!  Yes, 500!  And that was a small wedding!!  Wow! 

Experimenting with Israeli Fruits

 

It is part of life in the foreign service, but a part that we haven’t yet experienced.  Our first departure.  Not ours, but our friends.  They were the first friends that we made here and they are moving on to Afghanistan.  I don’t know if it has fully set in that my friends are moving away, but the “normal” reaction to a friend moving away is slightly different.  For one, we knew when we met them that they’d only be around for a year.  Two, they are going to Afghanistan and there is a chance that we could overlap with them there by a month of so next year.  Three, they are also Latin Americanists, so if we all had our way we’d be serving in Latin America in the future (there are many posts there and they all know each other pretty well…so we could likely be neighbors again).  And finally, there were our neighbors in DC!  We didn’t know them then, but they only lived 1 block from us, and there is kind of this general feeling that someday all of us will be living in DC again.

So they are really great people because they are always happy and optimistic.  No one here (besides Paul) has encouraged my cooking and baking as much as Liz because she is so complementary of everything I make.  It may not be amazing or professional, but she thinks it is!  I will also always remember the eloquent soliloquy Liz gave on a long car ride professing her love of all things Israeli.  And so, for one of their final nights here we are having them over for a dinner including our best Israeli dishes.  It will pay homage to Liz’s passion.

Paul is making his delicious hummus – and though the Israeli’s don’t put additional flavors in their hummus (that is an American thing), we are probably going to make it a roasted red pepper hummus.  The red peppers are from Israel…so it is still pretty Israeli.  For dinner Paul is making shakshuka.  Friends and family that have come to visit have had this great dish!  It is a spicy tomato base with poached eggs on top.  We serve it with this great olive or onion bread from the “bread guy” in the market. 

Dessert – that is my specialty.  But I don’t do Israeli desserts.  Primarily because they aren’t good .  But the theme of this dinner is Israeli so I thought I might do a modern (improved) take on an Israeli dessert, or make an American dessert with distinctively Israeli ingredients.  So I went to the market and got two fruits that I’ve never even tasted before.  A challenge!

My safe starting point for dessert is a cheesecake.  I have a great recipe and I happen to have cream cheese, thanks to my recent visit to the States!  (You can buy cream cheese here, it is just $7 or $8 for a 6oz box.)  I’ll not describe the cheesecake process to much except to say that a.) I don’t understand the Israeli dairy isle and I may have used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and I forgot to read one VERY important line of the recipe.  Nonetheless, the batter tasted amazing when I cleaned the beater so I’m sure it will taste amazing!  (It is just slightly more golden brown on top.)

While making the cheesecake I kept feeling these tiny but very painful pricks in my hands!  I wasn’t too surprised because (as Paul likes to say) “everything in Israel has thorns.”  So the first fruit I choose is from a cactus.  It is sometimes called a prickly pear.  With some quick internet research I discovered that you are supposed to wear gloves until you’ve peeled it – that would explain the teeny tiny white splinters in my hands!  If you look closely at the glove in the picture you can see the finger is full of them.

 The other…interesting…thing about the prickly pear is the taste.  I knew to stay away from lychees (which aren’t in season now anyways) because they taste like a cross between a grape and a watermelon.  Well, the flavor of prickly pear is described as a.) pear, b.) watermelon, and c.) green beans.  I don’t know.  I really don’t know.  After I peeled the prickly little sucker the fruit was juicy with lots of little hard seeds.  So I decided to make prickly pear syrup – sans pricklies and seeds.  The final product turned out well…but I probably won’t be buying them again.

 The second fruit was much more enjoyable and I only learned the name of it this morning:  eskadenia (in English I think it is a loquat – which is actually Japanese, so we’re going to stick with the more Israeli name).  Since I could find no information on “small Israeli peaches” last night, baking with them was a total shot in the dark.  Let me jump to the conclusion:  they are delicious!  Or at least:  my eskadenia Bordeaux glaze is delicious!!  On their own they look and taste like mini peaches with a slightly softer, lighter flavor.  They are slightly firmer, so I figured they’d hold their shape if I diced them.   

Then, I decided to make a syrup/glaze topping, but they aren’t really juicy.  I didn’t have juice on hand, so I threw in some Bordeaux (a tangy slightly dry wine).  I topped this off with some sugar – it is a dessert – and reduced the concoction (intensifying the flavors of the wine).  It was pretty good, but to really knock some socks off, I added a splash of vanilla.  Oh…my…gosh.  It was so good I made a second dish of it.  (6 pitted and diced eskadenia, ¼ cup sugar, ½ white wine – bring to a simmer over medium heat and reduce for about 20 minutes until there is about ½ of the original liquid left and it is slightly syrupy.  Let it cool and then add a dash (3 drops maybe) or vanilla.  Stir and use as a topping.)

The Baptism

During our first full weekend in the States we headed to New Jersey to see Paul’s family and attend the baptism of our nephew.  Though I missed the Brazilian dinner Paul’s brother and fiancé made on Friday night, I heard great things about it.  We’ll have to have a cook-off one of these days!  Saturday brought more time with family and more great food.  “Pah, pah, pah, Paul” – It didn’t work.  The baby is still too young to pronounce the letter P, much less say Paul.  Maybe next time.

The reception for the baptism was before nighttime the Mass and once all of the guests were there, Paul’s sister told us she wasn’t 100% sure the Mass was going to be in English! Ha ha.  It was…and it wasn’t.  Half of the songs and half of the readings were in English.  The gospel and homily were done in both English and Spanish.  And the baptism was only in Spanish.  I was translating for Paul’s cousin which is pretty difficult given that I haven’t spoken Spanish in a year.  The church was packed and the mass was…long (3 hours).  After the part and the after-party, we went back to the hotel to hang out with Paul’s siblings.  As I write about this all now I don’t know how we had the energy to do it all, but when you only have limited time back home with everyone you just subtract and hour of sleep and add a cup of coffee, and somehow it all works out.

Home Sweet Home - Part One

Paul gets to go on lots of trainings and attend conferences for work, but this time, I got to go on training too!  Paul was studying the nitty gritty of managing contracts and I was studying the basics of U.S. assistance to other countries.  Our trainings were conveniently both in Washington, D.C. (so we got to spend some time in one of our favorite cities, eat at our favorite restaurants, and see our friends!) and conveniently timed around our nephew’s baptism and my Grandfather’s major award!  Although we promised ourselves after Christmas that we wouldn’t do it again, we crammed 4 states, 7 flights, a train, and 2 buses into 2½ weeks – and it was totally worth it!  We were pretty useless at work the first day back so this weekend is the recovery consisting of sleep, water and vegetables.

So the trip starts out with us, as always, super excited to be back in the States.  Because we were on official training, work told us a dollar amount that we can spend on the hotel and we find our own hotel.  And if you know me, you’d know that I will get the best deal – so we stayed in some of the most famous 5 Star hotels in the city!  Fabulous!  We got to see a lot of our friends which was really really great (and the main reason we were excited to get back to D.C.).

Just like every time before, I loved D.C.!  The food, the architecture, the smiling people!  What better way to start off your day than a man saying “Good Morning!  Have a great day!” and handing you a free newspaper as you enter the metro?  The training was really interesting and we got in as much time with friends as possible while being introduced to three new great restaurants:  Founding Farmers, Grill Fish and Hill Country.  The first is all local food with amazing cocktails (like the specialty cocktail at our wedding.  The second was delicious fish – also ecofriendly!  The third wouldn’t make my list of favorites, but Paul liked it so much he ate there twice in two weeks.  We also checked out a few houses but they were just slightly over (4xs) our budget.

The highlight of Part One for me was my short trip to Miami!  I’ve heard many people compare Miami to Tel Aviv – nothing alike.  Okay, very much alike, but to compare them is to compare McDonald’s to Ray’s Hell Burger…or Wal-Mart to Nordstrom’s.  The best part about it?  Alexandria!!!  If you haven’t seen us together, we are quite a pair.  Not only do we ALWAYS get asked if we are sisters, but there is always an interesting or funny story about the people we meet or the things we do.  She is great, her friends are great, the food was great, the weather was great! My only complaint is that I never have enough time!