Here’s to you 5A… The Inaugural Shawarma

I want to dedicate this post to my old roommates in New York, who as I understand it through a large “We Miss Yoel” dinner over the past holiday in my honor. Thanks guys. You are the best roommates a guy could ever ask for.

We arrived at Hashamen at around 6 pm after not having eaten since breakfast in the Dead Sea. It was so on. We ordered 6 Laffas and went to town.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Shawarma process here is a short tutorial:

1.       Salty mystery meat usually called “Turkey,” “Dark Meat Chicken” or “Lamb” rotates on long skewers as pieces of fat are melted over the meat from burners that surround the meat.

Cuttin the meat

2.       After you choose your meat, you must “choose” your bread. I put this choose in quotes because it is not really a choice – theoretically, you can choose a lafa, a soft delicious round piece of bread that encompasses all that is good in a Shawarma or a pita. Not to knock the official bread of the Middle East, but when you are sitting down for a kilo-calorie feast of fat covered meat, a pita just doesn’t cut it. Pitas are always cheaper because they hold less and are just not meant for Shawarma. Ordering Shawarma in a pita is like bringing a fork to a hot dog eating contest – it just doesn't belong. Now before I rant for too long about pita vs. lafa (again not a contest – its like a male figure skater vs an NFL linebacker – just different purposes), let me get on to step 3.

3.       Order the fixings. There are certain go-to things that are put in a Shawarma. You start with choosing hummus, then hot sauce, then chips (French/Freedom fries). I am not sure if it is like the Soup Nazi that you have to start that way, but I have never seen someone ask for chips, charif (hot suace) and hummus – the order always goes “Chummus, kitzat charif, v’chips” (hummus, a little hot sauce and fries) or in my case “b’liy chips” – without chips.

4.       We then move onto the salads. There is classic Israeli salad - cucumbers, tomatoes and onions, pickles, cabbage, onions and depending on the place a few others.

5.       Then sauces – everyone knows tehina and then there is its lesser known cousin – Amba, a spicy mango sauce that is mad good. If your falafel/Shawarma place does not have Amba, it is likely not legit.

Itay is not pointing at the Amba - its on the bottom left

6.       There is also the salad bar which had choices of other classic – mostly pickled – salads and toppings that you can either enjoy on the side or put on top of your Shawarma bite by bite. A good place like Hashamen will let you go to town on the salad bar, realizing that the cost of salad is marginal.

 

7.       Enjoy

The Residual Grease... Yummy

All in, we ordered 6 Shawarma Laffas and some drings for just over $70 bucks… it was a delicious bargain. We feasted. Here is to me not eating Shawarma every meal since I arrived, contrary to my supportive roommate’s predictions. After writing this, I am going to have to have another soon.

And We're Back

Firstly, an apology to all my loyal readers who had many a sleepless night over these past nearly two weeks rolling around in bed wondering if there would ever be another blog post. Fear not, I am returning from my hiatus (vacation with my family) with a fury of posts. A special apology to a special reader that constantly asks for more – without him I would be convinced that no one reads this thing. I’d still post none the less. I would thank him by name but don't want it to go to his head.

So it was Monday afternoon and my short 3 day week was even shorter. After having worked four whole days the week before, I was able to take off a day early and take off Tuesday. Off I went on the train to meet Atara and Daniel (older siblings) at the airport. Our destination was the Dead Sea where we were to meet the rest of the family that had arrived earlier that day. We rented what looked like a modern, chic clown car and off we went. A little over two hours later we arrived in En Bokek, a nirvana in the middle of the desert that is likely more man-made than natural. It is none the less, beautiful (see the pictures below). We ran into the family as we were pulling up to the hotel; they were off to the sea for a night swim. We quickly changed and joined them.

The Dead Sea from my balcony

Ein Bokek - the resort area on the Dead Sea

View of the hotel pool and Dead Sea

Floating in the Dead Sea at 11 pm under a star light night with a warm desert breeze blowing the pungent Dead Sea smell past you is a great way to kick back after a long two-day work week. The next morning day was more of the same – after a huger breakfast, we headed to the “beach” and floated more in the Sea. The most notable difference in the day from the night before was the temperature. By 11 am, the thermometer clock next to the pool was reading 45° C, or 113° F for you non-metric Yankees, really hot. The sea began to feel like a pool and it was time for the mud. Almost as though it were a ritual, my siblings mom and I covered ourselves in Dead Sea mud and baked out in the sun before washing our skin in the salty, nearly boiling water. 

Earlier in the day when it was only 42 degrees C

The trip down to the Dead Sea was magnificent, until it was time to go. My parents, sister, brother-in-law and little brother came down in a plus sized version of our clown car… there was no way I was squeezing in. Atara and Daniel were off to see his aunt and uncle in the north… Yoel got to take the bus. When a bus is 15 minutes late in 113° weather, you feel each minute. When it stops at every tiny sign of civilization on the should be 1.5 hour drive to take 3 hours, you are sure you are sure to get off the bus with a nice dehydration headache and a big hunger.

I called my family and told them to meet me at Hashamen (The Fat is back)… it was time for my long-overdue first Shawarma.