The Old and the New

Gustav KlimtMarc Chagall

Yitzhak Rabin memorial
He was the Prime minister to Israel from
1974-77 and then again 1992-95 when he was assassinated.

art work outside the museum

Dr. Shakshukas

Tel Aviv means the old and the new or at least that is what a tour guide told me, so if I am wrong about that I am sorry. Tel Aviv is a really modern city that took me by surprise. I guess I had somewhere in my head images of Israel being like it was during Jesus time or even a third world. Instead, I found streets lined with high rise buildings, upscale restaurants, street cafes, parks, and cute clothing boutiques. On my second day in Tel Aviv, I went to the Art Museum with a colleague of my husband's wife Nancy. It was about a 45-minute walk from our hotel. The Art Museum not only houses some modern collections of contemporary artist, but it has some classical art-which is my favorite! They had everything from the masters of Ruben and Rembrandt and other Dutch artists to Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Chagall, and Klimt. This museum did not have any antiquities. That evening we went to dinner with my husband's group in Jaffa to a restaurant called Dr. Shakshukas that offers the best in Israeli food via Libya. The thing about Israeli food is that it is influenced by many cultures. An example of this is Latkas which are potato pancakes that are served around the holidays. This is very popular in Germany and Eastern Europe. Jelly doughnuts are another example of the food that has crossed the oceans. Everything is fresh and the best of ingredients. Fruit drinks are really popular there, and finding a place that squeezes everything from fresh is not hard to find. I loved Dr. Shakshukas and I could write for days on everything we ate there. The meals are served family size with large loaves of bread and plates of hummus. My favorites were A clear like stew that contained carrots, potatoes, and beef served over a bed of couscous. What made this dish different than American stew was the spices. In fact, the air in Israel is spicy. I wish I knew the name of the spice that is used so often in their cuisine. I know it is one of the spices that is used in curry. The other dish I really liked was a beef stuffed leek that swan in a tomato-based broth with a touch of cinnamon. The restaurant is decorated on the ceiling with hundreds of metal pots giving the feeling of being in an old bazaar. After that, we went to a modern dance performance which I am not even going to touch in trying to explain because it totally went over my head.