Felafariffic!

Luggage is still not here because the lost baggage people are dysfunctional. They should give me another bag of toiletries to make up for it.

This morning I went to Samir's, a restaurant in the kind of slummy part of Ramla. Samir discovered during a renovation that his restaurant was in a twelfth-century crusader building, so the old stonework is now on display and is very attractive. We arrived for the last pre-Passover pita, so he didn't have any meat products ready, but we did have plenty of salads (which means something different in Israel than it does in the US - more like dipping options), hummus, and felafel, all of which was tasty. The felafel was properly green inside and there were a variety of hummus and chickpea products for each chickpea-related desire.

The best news I've heard recently is that Burger Ranch, an Israeli fast food chain and one of the few companies to realize the ultimate deliciousness of adding hot dog bits to french fries, will have kosher for passover food. This is the exact reason why I am in Israel right now, and I am, as the English say, chuffed.

Across the Ocean...

Here we are in sunny Israel, having survived the fourteen hour plane ride. Our luggage is not with us, as our flight to Madrid was delayed, and Iberia Lineas Aeras refused to give us boarding passes for Tel Aviv in DC, so we had to stand behind some very irate Israelis at the Iberia customer service counter who would not let anyone else try to get on a plane until they had badgered the Iberians into making a connection for them to Miami. As a result, we were VERY late for the plane, and the El Al security officer told us that our luggage had not been cleared to fly with us. It will be delivered tomorrow.

Instead, we got two sizeable toiletry bags from El Al. These almost make up for not getting our luggage. They come in two genders; one has more shaving stuff, one has more moisturizer. They both include pyjamas, although they are size "M" at the largest. There are also socks with little nubblies on the bottom. I am very amused.