Book & Cook

If you were looking for a romantic place where you can take your girlfriend or wife at night, or even a place where you can take you your kids for a quite relaxing afternoon on the water you would go to “ Na h al  Alexander.” A river named after Alexander the great. It was a bout ½ hour bus ride north of Netanya. A short walk from the station would bring you to an interesting restaurant on the northern bank of the river. It had a big aquarium filled with a shark in formaldehyde. Yes, a real dead shark. I remember looking at it mesmerized every time we stop there and wonder; how can anybody eat with that smell of formaldehyde in the air. Next to the restaurant was a nice wooden dock with wooden rowboats lined up for rent. Some were for two and some for four or even six. Depending on the size of your group. Further away at the end of the dock was a smaller extension where fishermen stood and tried to catch some fish. Mom, Dad, Avi and I went to Nahal Alexander on one afternoon. We re...

  "Purim is coming soon," Leah my favorite teacher announced. "We are going to put on a play for Purim  with the second-grade class. Now I want you to behave yourselves like an older class is supposed to." She was so pretty. I think that I fell in love with her right from the beginning at the second grade. She was tall and slim. She had dark hair and green eyes, and she spoke so softly and nicely even when I was bad. In time, I got used to it, but at the beginning I was so in love that I couldn't concentrate in class. I daydreamed about how we would walk on the beach and how she would hold me in her arms and how... "Wake up Haim! You are not paying attention again!" She said to me, and I looked at her with this sorry look so that she would forgive me. Sometimes she would ask, "What are you dreaming about all the time?" Now really, what can I tell her? Put yourself in my place, what would you do? "Sorry teach! I was dreaming about you and...

The big day for Tova Okev has come. She was getting married. I remember, just a week before, they had the “Henna” party for her, something like an engagement party, so the parents can agree that the couple may marry and so they can wish their children good luck on their wedding day. Sometimes I think, a Yemenite Henna party is a bigger party than a wedding party. For Orthodox Jews, (and this Yemenite neighborhood was mostly orthodox) a co-ed party is not permitted. The men must be separated from the women. As for us children, it wasn't important. We were allowed to be anywhere we wanted. First, I spent some time with the men. They had some musicians playing Yemenite and Arabic music, all the men joined them and were singing together while drinking their favorite Araq – an alcoholic drink made of barley. At the women's side of the party, on a big chair sat Tova the bride. I couldn't recognize her. Her face was covered with thick makeup. She was wearing a long red silk dress ...

Mom has been working with dad for a few months.  Tata  Beya has fallen sick, and we had to stay home alone. “Only 4 hours a day”, mom thought, “I'll ask our neighbor to look after the boys to make sure they won’t get in trouble”.  “As a big boy”, she told me, “I would love you to do something for me. I am starting the pot for dinner I will bring it to boil and lower the heat before I leave. You will need to watch over it every hour I want you to stir it for me. Don't cook your brother's elephant like you did last week.”  “He deserved it,” I said, “he didn't let me play with it and he even broke my wooden toy car I made and hid the drummer monkey.”  “Yes, I know, but you are the bigger boy, and you should act like one.”  “OK Mom, I will.” Beans and onions are what mom made every Tuesday. She would sauté the onions, with salt and a little sugar. She would add the overnight-soaked beans and cook them for many hours. Usually by lunch time it would be ready for ...

"Aunt Marie will be here this afternoon for the weekend," my mother announced one day when I came home from school. I didn't like Aunt Marie very much. She always called me "young boy" with that commanding tone of hers, and then she would tell me what to do or not to do. But I did like Vivi her older son, Ines her daughter, Avram, and little dumb Motke. Vivi is three years older than me. He was strong, and he knews things that old people know. Ines is one year older than me. She is very pretty, and she loved to tell scary stories at night after Mom shut the lights. Avram is Avi's age. He is nice. And little dumb Motke is only two-and-a half years old. One day when they came to visit us, Aunt Marie put Motke in an orange crate to play, (we didn't have a crib for him, and he was little anyway), Avi gave him peanuts. The poor thing almost choked. He stuffed them all in his mouth and didn't know what to do with them. Luckily for him, Aunt Marie walked in...

  Our landlord Mr. Okev had 3 daughters. His older daughter was married to Mr. Gamil, she had the 2 boys Itai and Gabi and was about to have a third baby. Mr. Gamil had a sister who lived up the street. She had 3 kids One boy older than me (don’t remember his name) and twins my age. A boy Arnon and a girl Arnona. Arnon wasn’t very friendly, but his sister Arnona was very friendly and very pretty. I loved playing with her, but her brother always interfered, and it was no fun. The only time I could play with Arnona without interruptions was when we were at the kindergarten. I am not sure how to explain what I was feeling; all I wanted was to cry. It isn’t that I wanted to cry, it is just that I couldn’t stop crying. I felt weak and shaky, my chest was hurting, and it was hard to breath. Both the teacher and her assistant were all over me. One was sticking a thermometer in my mouth and the other was patting a wet towel on my forehead.  “Arnona!” called Yehudit my teacher “I have ...