Orginally built by Herod the Great about 25 –13 BC, its a fortress, palace, harbour beautifully located on the coast of the Mediterranean. Between Romans, Crusaders, Jews and Muslims various peoples conquered and reconquered this fascinating place.
(According to the Daily Telegraph)
Loose Change (www.loosechange911.com)
One of the most popular internet documentaries yet created. Dylan Avery, Korey Rowe, and Jason Bermas edited this 9/11 conspiracy argument on an aging laptop - it's now been downloaded over four million times. Watch the riposte, Screw Loose Change, at lolloosechange.co.nr.
My Second Life (www.tinyurl.com/2798o2)
A documentary shot entirely on location in the internet's most popular virtual world, Second Life.
Skiing in
An American skier and his family challenge our preconceptions about
Michael Jackson's Sonic 3 (tinyurl.com/kv22d)
Rumour has it that Michael Jackson was originally asked to pen a score for this classic Sega game - this documentary argues that some of his work still remains hidden in the soundtrack.
One Inch Punch (tinyurl.com/fqur8)
A look at Bruce Lee's famous "one inch punch" technique and how it shaped martial arts.
I had the interesting opportunity to wake up at the crack on Saturday to head out to the ancient city of Hebron with a couple of journalists who were invited to see the Physicians for Human Rights (an Israeli NGO organisation) perform their medical clinics for Palestinian patients who do not receive any medical treatment. Approximately 20 volunteer Israeli and Israeli Arab doctors set up a make shift treatment centre after the medicines were carted into rooms within the Old City while hundreds of people waiting there to receive medicines and consultation.
A quick tour of the Old City showed how sections had been blocked off due to tensions and clashes between Palestinians living in the area and a group of Jewish settlers who live dispersed around the area. Locals were saying that 10 years ago, the Old City was threiving while today no tourists or business was noticable while half the shops were also closed.
However, we were hosted to some cafne (rich, sweet, cheese desert and tea) while the shopkeeper tried to dress me up as a shephard.
(I did not have the stomach to try the two shekel falafel.)
Following that a small crowd swelled (pun intended) next to a stall in the Shuk (market) and the talk of the town was a surgery. Doctors started performing a minor surgery on a patient's head to remove a growth right in the middle of a stall selling cleaning products, the man lying on a simple matress was sedated while the journalists enjoyted this photo opportunity and bystanders enjoyed the gore factor. A surreal scene to see and encounter (see picture below)
A Panaromic view of Hebron from a rooftop in the Old City
Its not often there are "big" sporting events in Israel and it is not often Israel excels and causes a whitewash and it is not often that rain stops play in Israel. So I had the privilege of seeing all of this as Israel took on Luxembourg in the Davis Cup tournament in Canada Stadium at Israel's main tennis centre in Ramat Hasharon. Luxemburg is by no means a tennis nation they have one player ranked in the mid 100's of the ATP equivalent to the two Israeli single players and the rest of the team are ranked way out in the 1000's. So the excitement was there as a few thousands supporters packed the stands. Off it went, the powerhouse and Israeli number one Noam Okum cruised past his opponent losing one game only in the third set. Then it was the more evenly matched Dudu Sela (who was in good form from the Australian Open) taking on the Luxembourg number one. By that time, like two hours into the day the crowd was restless, either the Israeli crowd were so excited to have some good live professional sport or they just did not know how to behave or letting in lots of unsupervised youths is a bad idea. You be the judge! But I have never sat at a tennis game where the crowd throws paper jets onto the court and get up and walk around during points! Quite the experience, anyway, Sela was in good form and had the upper hand when rain stopped play, the next two days Israel won all their other games setting up a convincing whitewash victory!
Staying on a similar topic from my last post that being of Africa, I went to see the Last King of Scotland - a movie based on a novel depicting the life and rule of Ugandan President and horrific dictator Idi Amin.
The following recipe is for curing approximately 10 pounds of beef. Do not use any metal during the initial curing of the meat as the salt will react with the metal leaving a bad taste. Use plastic, glass or earthenware containers. Assemble all necessary ingredients before starting.
Step One
Scorch the coriander:
Heat a large iron skillet to a medium heat and add 1 1/2 cups of coriander. Stir and mash the seeds with a potato masher until seeds are brown.
Take off heat then place coriander in a cloth and use rolling pin to crush the seeds further. Or use a mortar and pestle
Step two: Use a 10 pound piece of Top Sirloin Butt. Wash meat and Remove excess fat, sinew and connective material
Step Three: Cut sirloin with the grain into 10 inch strips that are around 1/2 to 1 inch thick
Step Four: Spray strips of meat using a mister/plastic spray bottle that is filled with solution of pure apple cider vinegar mixed in with a shot of Worstershire sauce (say 1 teaspoon per 2cups) . Make sure to completely cover all the meat surfaces. Squeeze meat to remove excess vinegar.
Step Five: Immediately following the misting of meat roll the strip into the Biltong curing dry spices. Make sure you cover meat completely
Curing dry spices
| 2 Cups of brown sugar (Well broken up) |
| 2 Cups of Rock Salt (Kosher) |
| 3 Teaspoons Salt Peter |
| 4 Teaspoons of Baking Soda |
| 1/2 of the scorched coriander (Husks and all) |
Step 7 Heat up your tap water as hot as it will get. Fill another large bowl with this hot tap water and add approximately (works for the size of bowl I have) one cup of apple cider.
Step 8: Immediately take a strip the meat and plunge into the hot vinegar solution. Wash off all the salt and spices and then squeeze meat to dry - remove as much of the cleaning solution as possible. Once the rinse becomes to dirty to use make up a new batch. (2-3) batches per 10 pounds. After rinsing spray the meat once more with a 100% vinegar spray. Leave the meet on a paper towel to soak up the extra liquid.Insert untwisted paper clip to hang meat. Hang meat in biltong box. Make sure each bit hangs free and does not touch the side or any other piece if they are touching mold will follow soon.
I made this one out of plywood. Cut holes in the bottom where the lamp is and at the top to help air flow. These holes I double covered with a plastic screen to keep out insects. I put doweling in at the top to hand the biltong on. I put a removable shelf in to protect the lamp. Dimensions 27 x 17 inches. Shelf is 8 1/2 inches from bottom. I live in the humid south so in summer I need to keep a open bowl of baking soda to help keep the box dry. I use a 75 watt bulb. Cost of plywood and other hardware around 40$. My brother in law has a similar one with a fan in the bottom.
Wait 3-7 days 
When the biltong is dry cut up and eat.
Smaller bits take less time than the larger thicker ones. If unsure cut one up and check.
Storage: Keep biltong in brown paper bags in fridge or store whole or cut up in plastic bags in freezer.
Jerusalem. Now everyone has their humus favourite but Abu Shukri is always in the top three. The famous story of Abu Shukri is his fallout with his partner who opened up "Abu Shukri Number One Original" right opposite the first one. The legend and story goes that they stand outside and shout at each other while also shouting at customers to come into their store. Needless to say both hummusiot (houses of humus) were fairly busy and I being a traditionalist stuck to the original one.
9 Sept - Picture taking in Jerusalem the day before the much protested against (by the ultra orthodox community) Gay Pride Parade which took place in the capital.
