Gather Ye Rosebuds

Irit and I took a few days off from our soul food kitchen, a rare break, to tour up in the northern part of Israel in the Golan. The timing was exquisite. Everything was in bloom, and we seemingly had the place to ourselves.

The thing that I was most struck by in a not so positive light was just how much like my mom I had become: Incredible: what most entranced me during our 3-day trip was smelling all the various herbs growing wild along the pathways of our treks. Really? That’s what grabbed my attention? What the fuck.

We stayed in a Mongolian Yurt on the heights above Lake Kinneret and were told by our hosts that we were welcome to pick whatever we wanted from the ample supply of wild herbs popping up everywhere in our vicinity. Holy shit. There was enough there to supply our kitchen for years, years! I didn’t pick a thing.

But stop and examine and rub my fingers against innumerable leaves and smelling the aroma: that shit I was doing non-stop. And — I couldn’t believe it — actually enjoying it.

There really is something magical about experiencing your entire culinary spice cabinet in nature. Then again, maybe I need to get a life.