On Saturday we headed north to Mt. Gilboa which lies right on the border of northern Palestine and Israel.  Paul and I, and Dave and Emily set off at the crack of noon in search of Shirsh Zallouh, also known as Ferula hermonis Boiss…wild mushrooms!

A group from the Embassy went about 3 weeks ago.  We hoped to mimic their trip, simply put:  find and collect mushrooms, sauté them with onions, and enjoy with a great bottle of wine.

This is what we were looking for...not what we found.

The mission was….............a complete failure. 

We got to the site (or what we thought was the site – Mistake #1) at about 130pm.  We were all hungry so we had our gourmet picnic lunch before the hunt.  (It was delicious and a lot of fun.  We had roasted red pepper tapenade, caramelized onions, Jerusalem bread, goat cheese, fresh dates and a bottle of Spanish rioja!)  The guide said to take a basket (like little red riding hood) to put the mushrooms in so the dirt and spores fall back to the ground.  Well we aren’t professionals or anything like that – so Dave carried a reusable grocery bag and Paul has a glow-in-the-dark pumpkin bucket.  Haha.  We spread out and searched the field, all four of us staring at our feet looking for fennel.  Yes, fennel.  Wild fennel.  (These mushrooms grow ONLY at the base of wild fennel plants.)  Mistake #2 – you shouldn’t be looking down for wild fennel.  It is about 5 feet high with bright yellow buds on top and wispy leaves all around.  You can’t miss it.  So if we didn’t see it in the field in the first 5 seconds we should have moved on.  It was like the hunting for sunshine in a cave.

We decided to drive a little further up the road and 5 minutes away Emily spotted a fennel plant (and remembered what they looked like.  The rest of us were basing our search on a google image displayed on a BlackBerry with no concept of scale.).  We quickly parked the car and ran into the field with renewed spirits!  No mushrooms.  This was the last weekend of the season and the Bedouins had probably already been through to collect these mushrooms close to the road…so we pressed onwards into the field.

Israel is usually very brown and dry and dead – but this is winter, or the rainy season, so things are as green as they get right now.  The fields were knee high with random weeds and grasses, some of them prickly, but despite this challenge (and my fear of snakes or other small creatures crawling in the grass where I wouldn’t see them) we persevered.  Emily and Dave and I found an orange tree and – happy to have some fruit to show for our 2 hours of efforts – we picked 6 or 7 oranges.  Mistake #3 – you should try one before you pick the next 6.  There are more varieties than we see in the grocery store and this isn’t Florida.  These were sour like lemons with really tough peels and lots of strings and seeds.

Anyway…no mushrooms in this field so we pressed on to a hill covered in fennel.  Rewind – the fennel in this field was only as tall as the other brush, so you couldn’t see it until you were on top of it.  So we press on.  To conquer this hill which we are sure will have mushrooms, we split up and scour the base of every fennel plant we can. 

Nada.  Nilch.  We are losers.  In my mind, the Bedouins won.  As we turn to leave, giving up our hopes of wild mushrooms, Paul yells out “I found one!”  (So it wasn’t a failure?!)  No…still a failure.  The mushroom was big…and slimy and wilting and full of little bugs. 

Okay…on a more positive note.  The mushroom part was a failure, but we had a great lunch!  It was a lot of fun and now we know where to go and what to look for next year.  And we know that we have to go at the beginning of the season.  The best part – as we were leaving it was close to sunset (but not yet dinner time) and a friend had told us of this great restaurant which happened to be right across the street from our little field.  We thought we’d try it out. 

We walked into this cute cabin with low ceilings and wood all around (which is odd for Israel given the general lack of trees.  Most construction is done with cement.).  After about 10 minutes they seated us outside on the patio, overlooking the valley.  Before they served the food, the sun set.  Beautiful!  The waiter put down a large placemat on our wood table and in English it explained how they use local food that is in season and try to let the flavors of the food shine (not covering them up with sweeteners or sauces) – perfect!  Despite not finding mushrooms, it was a very fun day filled with delicious rich food!  I can’t wait until next year when we can do it again…AND find mushrooms!

"Holiday Celebrations"

One of the best things about being posted in Israel is that we get to celebrate all of the American holidays (for us), the Israeli/Jewish holidays (for the host country) and the Palestinian/Islamic holidays (for our colleagues). While this usually works to our benefit - like for example in September when the clash of Labor Day, Ramadan, Yom Kippur and Rosh HaShanah collide giving us a grand total of 7 1/2 work days off. That is almost half the month!!!

But the down side of this is the "Holiday Celebrations." Part of my job is to make sure the office follows protocol. Now I am no expert, but I'm reading about the actual protocol and trying to take into account my coursework on culture and religion, etc. I LOVE to plan parties and social events so I was very excited to plan the welcome picnic for the new director and collect money for champagne for a toast for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year). And then....

Rosh Hashanah is Sept 9th - so we have half a day of work on the 8th. The plan was a toast on the 8th...but some people get really offended at the idea of ANY alcohol at work, even a toast. Fine - sparkling grape juice in desserts. No...that is during Ramadan so the Muslims celebrating Ramadan (one month of fasting - no eating or drinking ANYTHING from sunrise to sunset) would be offended. Okay, so Ramadan ends the 11th of Sept, we'll do it the following Monday - nope, they take off the 3 days after Ramadan ends - so we're looking at the 15th. But the director will be out of the office that day and the next - so the 17th. Ooh, that is Yom Kippur. 

So maybe instead of a toast for Rosh Hashanah on the 8th we'll have a holiday celebration at the end of the month....

Similar complications arise with planning the picnic as some of the staff lives in Ramallah (almost 3 hours away with traffic), some in Jerusalem (1.5 hours away) and some live in Jaffa (15 minutes). Where do you have a picnic? And since they have to get home after work, when do you have it? During work? Okay - then you are back to Ramadan and days off...and the end of the fiscal year.

So it looks as if our new mission director will arrive in mid-August, and we'll have a very neutral inclusive welcome picnic on October. :(  Is it better to be neutral and not offend ANYONE - or have many small celebrations and make the director feel welcomed and the staff more relaxed?  Hmm...