Indispensable.

The Jellyfish, oh, the Jellyfish. They took over every good spot. A particularly sea-loving friend wrote to me that she had come to the beach, which was entirely strewn with jellyfish, and decided to ignore them and get in, because how could she just settle for sand, the rhythmic tic-tac-tic of the Matkot and pop-sickles with this beautiful great big blue in the background.

(* Warning: The following story contains some challenging names for pronunciation, but since you are reading this on a screen, I trust it will be fine).
A Chinese myth tells about the garden of Xiwangmu (The Queen Mother of the West) who grew magical trees with wonderful properties. One of them, the flat peach tree, was well known due to its miraculous quality - to grant eternal life to anyone who eats from its fruits.

Although I typically complain about the summer weather (I sympathize with my dear friends, the plants, who have roots, who cannot enjoy a moment of conditioned air and have to stand outside under the scorching sun all day), this week I thought it was actually very nice to live in a warm country.

Mango Tommy and Mango Shelly - soooo delicious!!!

This week, I saw a very cute photographic project: a photographer who travels all over the world photographing children, and the background is of the food they eat. The picture shows a child lying on a background of cloth, the floor, or just the ground.

Some operational ideas for August

The last week of July is here. The jellyfish have taken over waters in the sea, the thermometer won’t go below 35 before the sun goes down, and the most dramatic part – the summer camps are about to end.

Some organic vegetables are practically genius. They are not only beautiful, tasty and healthy - they even show us how they would be best prepared and served, and how to make them the most delicious. The corn invites us to hold it with both hands nibble (How else could it be eaten?) Sweet potato, carrot and pumpkin look like they ought to be combined together in an orange colored soup.

We have been so busy (end-of-year ceremonies and parties and a lot of birthdays and bat mitzvahs for all those who had not yet celebrated ... and plenty more activities) and so excited by the cool days that made everything more pleasant, that we did not notice that the official date, the one after which the summer is undoubtedly here, came and went.

There are many signs that the summer has arrived, and is here.

First of which, as we can all feel, it is much warmer. It's so hot that one checks the weather for tomorrow to know what to wear. It's so hot that the dryer at home is now by far less relevant than the fans and the air conditioner - so hot that if you forget to water the plants twice a day (and leave a bowl of water for stray cats) they look very sad.

We are used to the way we see our fruits and vegetables, whether organic or not.

We are used to seeing them in a certain color (has anyone ever seen a red banana?) and a certain size, and it helps us determine what it is we are holding in our hand (and if in doubt, we can always try and smell).

The Arabic phrase "Bukra Phil Mishmish", mishmish meaning apricot, expresses a duration so short that it passes almost immediately, so you can not afford to miss it. 

Something that comes and goes in a moment, like the apricot season, which shows up and disappears very quickly.