Turkey Day Love From The Land Of Shawarma

I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and I hope you are all enjoying your time at home with the family. Thanksgiving is probably the only major American holiday I really enjoy, so it is also probably the only major American holiday I will miss. Independence day always means crowds and bees and humidity at Navy Pier, and New Years day was always just a part of my winter break from school. Of course I do not even want to mention the wretched 3 month Christmas season in the U.S., and does anyone outside of Chicago even know what "Pulaski Day" is? Thanksgiving is different though. Thanksgiving means eating and hanging out with the family, arguing about football with my dad and enjoying the fact that we get three days to sleep off the meal before everyone goes back to work on Monday. In my absence, I request that everyone eat even more turkey and stuffing, watch even more football, and fall into an even deeper after dinner coma. Remember guys: This is one for you plus one for me, and no one has to pour a 40 on the ground.

On to my wheelings and dealings of late. My presentation in Terrorism and Responses went quite well. We were eloquent and thorough and probably earned an A on the whole thing. That night in the moadon, there was a class on how to make hummus and shakshuka. About 20 people showed up and we made a big dinner for everyone, complete with salad and pita, fresh tehina, red wine and chocolate balls for dessert. I made tehina.

Stirring the fresh tehina.

I am starting to feel like my days and nights revolve around food. Wednesday night was מועדון בישול (cooking club) as usual. We went southeast Asian this week. I made chicken stir fry and a huge pan full of vegetable fried rice. I've never made fried rice before and I didn't bother to check a recipe or even look at directions. I just winged it, as I am wont to do. It actually turned out pretty well, which will just reinforce my laissez faire approach to following directions in the kitchen. Late last night, some of the guys in the dorm threw an apartment party, so I was there for a few hours last night. I still love pubs, but house and apartment parties can really be a lot of fun, especially if you are there with friends. I had a great time.

There is a 40-something couple in my Hebrew class. The husband, Shlomo gave a presentation today on the carob tree. There were a few fun moments I would like to share. First of all, I got to class a few minutes early this morning, where Shlomo was setting up. For those who haven't experienced it firsthand, the male carob tree has a very 'distinct' smell. To put it lightly, this 40-something professional biologist smiled at me as I walked in, and told me he was doing his presentation on the 'sperm tree.' The laughs didn't end there though. He handed out carob fruit in class for people to try. Eva, the girl sitting next to me bit into hers, shrieked in horror and ran out of the room. Apparently, she looked at the bite and saw half a bug inside. Even our teacher Mina was laughing. Eva took it in stride once she came back so no real harm done. Needless to say, people stopped eating the carob after that.