Tiyul #3 - Machane Yehuda

Getting ready for Shabbat is always a wonderful experience in Israel. Especially in Jerusalem where you need to plan ahead because shops close and things go quiet for over 24 hours. Despite the lack of sleep, we ventured to Machane Yehuda, the outdoor Shuk (marketplace) with all the kids to get fresh things for dinner.

Machane Yehuda is a myriad of stalls that sell fresh meat, bakery items, candy, a few knick knacks, and fresh fruit and veggies. It’s a haven for feeling like you are farm picking your items and getting them from the supplier instead of the grocery store.

How can you beat fresh chocolate rugalach oozing with warm filling? Hot in the bag made them stick together but did not ruin the taste. Fresh tapuzim (juice) is the most amazing thing there. While we can make it at home, we so never do and there is nothing like watching the oranges get squeezed and drinking it down.

It is here that we began this conversation about the differences in our cultures diet and health factors. It’s so easy to be already prepared foods and run out for a bite to eat, but we really don’t realize what we are missing in terms of taste and what we are doing to our bodies. Here we go to the market every few days in order to keep up with the milk, water, and other small items. We buy just what we need in terms of fresh fruit and veggies and we go back for more when we need it. We walk everywhere and that alone helps our bodies.

We have also found that we eat lots of different salads and pita bread but we are eating way less in terms of starches. No rice. Few potatoes (except for the chips with falafel!) and hardly any meat, since the double whopper at Burger King does not happen every day. It’s a diet rich in fruits and veggies and definitely healthier than what we do at home!

Hadarya spent most of our time in the market asleep, as become her nap time from 11 – 1 and so we enjoyed the hubbub without her! We then walked to Ben Yehuda street for lunch at Burger King where she woke up and laughed and played. She loved the soldiers on the street singing songs and she loved running around. We walked to the Kipppah Man and bought new Kippot for Yiftach and then to the bookstore to collect some book in Hebrew.

We’re getting out slowly…for short time spans and hoping that the sleeping increases at night.