Wine and Hummus

At the end of last week, I went to some more wineries in the region between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. We visited two boutique wineries and although the tours and discussions were enjoyable and more personal given the smaller group size, I didn't really like any of the wines. I was disappointed that we were unable to go to Castel, but it was still a great experience chatting with friends while driving around the hills.

After the strenuous winery visits, we went to Abu Ghosh, an Arab Israeli village not too far from Jerusalem. After driving around a bit, we found Abu Shukri and got what is apparently the best hummus in Israel. It was pretty tasty, though I have to admit that the best hummus I've ever had was made by the wife of a former Palestinian co-worker of mine. There are three Abu Shukri establishments all within feet of each other. This seems to be pretty common here. A place gets famous, and people open up a knockoff that has the same name and serves the same type of food to cash in on the original brand. I guess its not so unusual to try to capitalize upon someone else's brand name, but it takes chutzpah to do it right next door to the original.

Anyways, great day overall - pics are here.

Speaking of wine, I had drinks and dinner with a GSB alum several nights ago. He is originally from France, but graduated a few years ago and works just outside of Tel Aviv. We chatted for a while on a variety of topics ranging from learning languages to the future of medical technology to career goals to travel. Fueled by too much wine, I came home loopy and full of energy, and got into a wrestling match with the puppy. I think she was confused by my hyperactivity at 1am. The next day, I spent a lot of time rehydrating and picking the dog hair off of my jacket.