Israeli pasta in Italy?

I know it has been a while, but I'm back.

The last month I made a couple of trips to Milan Italy for work. Apart from the success of the event and meetings we had there it brought also some unique experiences.

First I wanted to share the picture below. Can you tell from this picture which one is the famous designer and which one is the world renowned blogger?

 

Milan is a nice city, I got a chance to visit just a little. Italians were friendly and I think a couple of weeks more there and I could speak Italian. And the food... well that exactly the point I wanted to write about.

Have you ever felt as if you are being tested in terms of your loyalty, faith or something similar?

For those that don't know, pasta is my favorite food by far. However being out in an unknown city might be challenging for someone that keeps kosher. I was able to see it, smell it, even hear its sizzling as it past around the table on a pan held by the waiter, however, I just chewed my raw veggies. Man...that home made paste looked sooooo goooood.

I fortunately was able to visit a couple of Kosher restaurants in Milan: Pizza E Carmel (Pizzeria Carmel) - eat an OK pizza slice, some delicious ricotta raviolis and some fettuccini too, yes it was all for me. On another opportunity our host in Italy was kind enough to take some of us in my honor to another kosher place called Denzel where we ate some juicy hamburgers, it felt weird to be eating out in Italy hamburgers but it also felt good to eat some meat for a change.

As I learned from my first trip to Europe, it's necessary to come prepared and bring some food just in case, so I took with me some food this time just in case. It was kind of funny to bring packets of dried instant Israeli pasta (Osem bags) into Italy, don't you think?

All in all...it's good to be back home.

Israel turns 62!

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s independence day). 62 years ago we established our own country and today we have a lot to celebrate. Yom Ha’atzmaut brings a great sense of pride among all, and for some of us it even has religious significance.

How did we celebrate? We started the night before first with prayers and singing at our bet hakneset (synagogue), after that we went out together with thousands of Modiinians to the celebrations by the park with fireworks a concert and other great performances.

Speaking about concerts and as my loyal readers know about my passion for music, I must comment on the one we attended at this Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration in Modiin.

About a year ago I was introduced by an Israeli friend to a new singer (well new for me and actually very old for the rest). Zvika Pick, was huge in the 70’s here in Israel with his pop music, and he has gained popularity again after being part of Kochav Nolad (like American Idol, let’s call it Israeli Idol :)

For the last couple of weeks I have been putting some of his music which sticks to your brain without being able to get rid of it, so Batya and I were very familiar with his songs during the concert. It’s interesting to mention that even though I only have a greatest hits CD from Zvika Pick, he did not include any song that the CD did not have. I’m not sure what that tells you about the rest of his songs. Enjoy the Zvikavideo below from a piece of my favorite Zvikasongs, the video is not that good was is great is hearing us sing in the background, it’s Batya, Liora and me.

 

If you are interested in reading more about concert experiences in Israel you can take a look at:

The historical Paul McCartney in Tel-Aviv concert

The Woodstock Revival in Jerusalem

A Night at the Party – Mashina Unplugged !

D’s Salve a la Reina en Mexico (even though it was not in Israel)

From Toyota to Alan Parsons Project 

(by the way, in addition to the Alan Parsons Project concert I was able to go to for free, another good thing that the Toyota recall brought was a nice gift certificate sent by the car dealership which to be consistent, I spent on a couple of CD’s)

The day after we celebrated by going to a military airbase were we saw the airplane exposition. We have gone a long way in 62 years.

See some pictures below:

Shabbat Shalom and sorry for the slow blogging but the computer was down for repair for a week and then I was out of the country for some days (some posts about that trip soon perhaps?)…