Fish Heads at Ein Gev November 9, 2009
Posted by Jeff Block in Food, Travel.Tags: Ein Gev, humus, Israel, Peter, Sea of Galilee, The Bible
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After our detour in the Golan Heights, we headed south along the east side of the Sea of Galilee to a little port village of Ein Gev, maybe 2/3 of the way down the lake. This was a place that served “Peter’s fish”, we were told. We were also warned that it would be served the way Peter would have eaten it to. So, when I got there, I discovered what this meant… The default order at this restaurant was a whole tilapia. Head. Tail. Bones. The whole deal. Plus a bunch of sides and salads served family style. Of course, that included pita and humus. (What doesn’t in Israel?!) However, if you felt you couldn’t handle the “Peter Special”, then you could get the head and/or tail removed in the kitchen, or just get fillets (which would be frozen not fresh), or even order a burger or pizza if you really couldn’t take it.
My philosophy… When in Israel, do like Peter did. Plus, the Philippines had numbed my senses. So I’m the only person I know of that ordered the default. And it came out whole, starring at me, and soaked in oil. Normally I like Tilapia, but I’m used to eating it grilled with mango chutney (long live Bone Fish Grill). But if pita and humus comes with every meal in Israel, then oil comes with every dish served at every meal. Sometimes I’m surprised I don’t see people walking around drinking the olive oil out of a glass.
So, I was once again the party guy. Everyone wanted pictures of my whole fish. A guy at my table, pretended to bite the head off his already-decapitated fish for a classic picture pose. I couldn’t be left totally out in the cold without a clever picture, so even though it was a distant second, I posed for cameras kissing mine. Yes, the fish. We made a cute couple. Here’s a picture…
After doing my traditionally poor job of cleaning the bones of my dinner and supplementing it with 3 massive pieces of pita slathered with humus, we were back on the road heading for Capernaum.
Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads……..
Humus, Baby! November 7, 2009
Posted by Jeff Block in Food, Travel.Tags: humus, Israel, Mediterranean food
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Location: In my hotel room in Tel Aviv
As we gathered in the lobby for instructions from the tour guides upon arrival at the hotel, they told us that dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning would be a buffet setting at the hotel. Dinner at 6:30PM. As I mentioned in a previous post, between getting settled in the room and dinner, we had taking a stroll along the Mediterranean sea. By the time 6:30 rolled around, I was starving! I was excited that dinner would be a buffet, but I didn’t really know what to expect.
We walked into the dining room and were greeted by a wall of food. I should have taken a picture, but didn’t. (Sorry! Maybe I’ll get breakfast.) There was chicken, fish, lamb, potatoes, green beans, a whole table full of salads, a table of breads, and a table of desserts. And of course, the humus. It was awesome! I had two big pretzel-like rolls and at least two big tablespoons of humus. I could have eaten that stuff for my whole meal.
A group of people from Harvest was good enough to invite me to sit with them, so that I didn’t sit alone. I was the only one at the table without my spouse, but I had a great time listening to all their banter back and forth. It was fun, and I very much appreciated their hospitality. Here’s a picture of our table.
Upon leaving, I had to sample the gelato. I tried the mango and the pineapple, and they were awesome. At the end of my first evening in Israel, I have to conclude that the food is AWESOME. I just wish Faith was here to share it with me. She too would be in heaven.
