Tel Aviv Diary - July 18, 2009 Karen Alkalay-Gut
July 18, 2009
Didn't I promise you restaurant reviews this week? Friday night the wonderful club Zappas became the host to a 70th birthday party of a friend. At his age he wanted to hear music of the fifties and sixties and his friends rejoiced. I forgot to ask who the DJ was but I looked over and was surprised to see he was in his twenties. How did he know? But of course you want to hear about the food because most people go there for the performances and not for jitterbugging and dinner, and probably don't even notice what they're eating. The food was incredible. The woman next to me, known for her gourmet parties, whispered that this was the first party where she actually ate , and I saw her go back for seconds. My favorite was the mushroom gnocchi and so was hers. Just now she called me to say her stomach hurt, but who knows if it wasn't just overeating or a virus. With the heat daring us to go outside, we met some friends for breakfast at the gay cafe in Gan Meir. All the dogs were running around happily(except of course Shusha, who sat under the table and growled), and all the families were chilling out in the heat (until a lady got them together for story hour) and except for a thousand mistakes in the orders, we had a perfect morning. Most of our breakfast companion were walking around in Jerusalem last night, and Orit even went to Mea Shaarim, with the excuse that she's interested in recycling, and all agreed that it is much better to be in Tel Aviv.
July 20, 2009
I'm on the radio today, live at five (US time midnight) Click on here and press the big blue square (It says radio in Hebrew). the program goes on and on so never mind if you're late. I will be on my way back from the Knesset in a car reading poems and answering questions. Lucky you didn't listen. There was some interference with the live program - so now you can listen to the podcast at http://www.icast.co.il/default.aspx?p=Podcast&id=329343&all=1 I can't seem to get a direct link so you'll have to cut and paste. And respond.
I went with Daniel Galay, the chair of the Israel Association of Writers in Yiddish, to ask Knesset Member, Lia Shemtov, to help the Yiddish Writers. Since she's in charge of the Yiddish lobby, it was a logical visit. And she's a nice lady. But any visit to the Knesset makes me feel like Kafka in Wonderland. There is nothing about that place that makes sense to me. Especially the building. But because it is too unbelievable to relate i will skip it. July 21, 2009 The labyrinth that is the Knesset remains in my physical memory all day. We began with instructions from the information desk, ran around from building to building and up and down stairs, finally found the room, were told that the office had moved, went back to information, got a new address, and ran around again. This physical situation was only different from the intellectual one only in the fact that we found the room at last. So today I had to find the address for Panic Ensemble's rehearsal in south tel aviv, an area that had seemed like a maze to me years ago when I had to find defferent rehearsal rooms. After yesterday it was a cinch. July 22, 2009 Have you ever been in a souffle? That's what it feels like today. I took 6 wrong turns in Tel Aviv, going to a place I know well. It is so hot (how hot is it?) that I am forgetting everything. I'd better stay home tomorrow.