Feb 7 - Negev Tour Day

Aleh Negev's hydrotherapy pool

Dear Friends,
Another busy week with sunny skies! Today we traveled south to the Negev.  The landscape has changed so much over the years - new highways, expanded communities, more shopping malls but still the evidence of green fields, budding orchards giving meaning to making the desert bloom!

Our first stop was Aleh Negev- Nahalat Eran, a rehabilitation Village for Israel's disabled, located in the southern town of Ofakim.  This AMAZING facility was established in 1982  and is a JNF- USA Project.  Needless to say, we were so impressed with the facility, the dedicated, committed staff, both professional and those that volunteer.  All of agreed that Israel is far ahead of North America when it comes to this kind of facility.

On to lunch at one of the older kibbutzim in the Negev, Kibbutz Gvulot!  Neil gave us a 'bird's eye' view of Gaza from an overlook before our tour of  the JNF Indoor Playground at Sderot. What a fantastic place.  We were quite proud of what we say - but sad that this type of place has to exist.

Home (at our hotel) for dinner and our favorite speaker, Miri Eisen who spoke about Syria from the Israeli perspective.  We knew it was complicated and now we really understand why.

Long day, but so inspirational!
CAARI 2017

this is fun?

Community Service and Forest work

This morning Monday February 6 we began our day with community service.  We left the hotel in our taxis for our destination.  The group that goes to Balfour school, walks and gets a different perspective of 'life' in Tel Aviv.  Others work at the Botanical Gardens, located on Tel Aviv University Campus.  Today was a perfect day for weeding.

After community service we boarded the bus for a drive to Park Canada.  Neil pointed out the highlights along the way - the new rail line that is almost finished which will connect Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in 28 minutes.  We passed Laturn, famous battles were fought here during the War of Independence and of course, the lush Ayalon Valley steeped in biblical history.

At Canada Park, we met Meir Malka, the founder of the CAARI Program, who brought lunch and gave us some tips  on pruning the olive trees.  We concluded that day with a drive through the picturesque park. Spring has arrived in Israel - the almond trees are blooming!

Meir Giving CAARI pointers of pruning in the forest at Park Canada

Harriet at work teaqhing

Diane at Balfour Elementary School

Mother Connie and daughter Judy weeding at Botanical gardens Tel Aviv University

Elaine enjoying work in the forest at Park Canada

Easther & Howard at park Canada

Mary & Harriet at Park Canada

Sheila enjoying the sun at Park Canada

Ellie Pruning at Park Canada

Burt at Park Canada

'Oh Canada!"

The CAARI Canadian delegation

Sheila and Ellie check names of donors on the walls at Park Canada

CAARI Cooks With Dan Gourmet

Our second visit to Dan Gourmet Cooking School. We donned our CAARI aprons and meet our chef who explained and demonstrated what we were to do.  It all seemed overwhelming, but we did it with east!

 This  week we cooked Chinese foods including dumplings, beef and eggplant stir fry and "Chinese pickles"!  Making the dumplings were a favorite!  Not much different than making kreplach!
This week again we used the  pasta machine for making the dough.

Our chef made the sauces, and we fried the beef, eggplant and the 3 important ingredients - chopped ginger, garlic and green onions!

 After the preparation, we all enjoyed the tasty food with some wine!  A winner!

Here is one of the recipes for our friends to try!
Chinese Pickles
1.Cut up vegetables (carrot, cucumber, cabbage, fresh hot chili) to chopstick size
2.Salt vegetable for 15 minutes
3/Bring the marinade: rice vinegar and sugar to boil and pour over vegetables
4. Let sit for one hour before serving
5. for serving: remove vegetables from marinade, toss in sesame oil and garnish with roasted sesame.
6/ Keeps for a week refrigerated.
Enjoy!