Tastes from Home

  A great Cappuccino and lots of
feta cheese on my salad are all I wanted

Just like with scents; that have this special almost magical ability, to take you through time and familiar places, there are tastes that can take you through glimpses of your past and even awaken some old memories. On our first visit to Israel, almost two years after we came to the U.S, I was excited, I couldn't wait to feel home again, reunite with the whole family, and I was really looking forward to these tastes of home, those familiar tastes that I grew up on and like so much. But now I can finally say that some of these tastes can be found here, in the DC area, at a small coffee shop called CremCaffe, located next to the Regal cinema at the Rockville, MD town center. The great coffee, the wonderful cakes and pastries, a refreshing selection of items on the menu, the amazing management and staff (and I am being objective) and the atmosphere, that just make home feel a little closer.

Diagonal Crosswalk

As a child I was always taught that Diagonal=Disaster (well, it sounds much better in Hebrew plus it rhymes...) and that roads should always be crossed in a straight line merely because this is the shortest, fastest and safest way, and whenever possible use a crosswalk.

A bird's eye view sketch
of the actual junction

So one day I ran into this strange Diagonal crosswalk, also known as Pedestrian scramble or X crossing, only this is no X, it extends to only one side. The original thing was mainly used in the past for major traffic Intersections of both cars and pedestrians but this one is just a crosswalk from a parking lot to a small street. I am not sure what benefit it provides for the person crossing it but it is quite confusing both for drivers, that have to look for pedestrian crossing from different directions and the person that actually uses it to cross the road has to look for cars coming from 6 different directions instead of the traditional 2 and wait until they all stop. Yet people use it even though the old fashion short crossings are still there. Does it shorten the time it takes one to cross the road? Not really because you have to wait until more cars stop at the crosswalk. Is it safer? NO, the risk is even higher, at least in this specific junction. So I am still wondering what was the initial purpose, at first I thought it was a joke, but I have seen more than one, they seem to reproduce. So, if I find an answer for that I promise to write an update. Until then I am avoiding using the diagonal crosswalk and am choosing the old fashion one that is right next to it.

The real thing

Winter Wonderlands

Places like these make me just LOVE the winter. There is something heart warming, almost magical in the winter atmosphere; the snow, post holiday lights and decorations, heavy coats, cool breeze, hot chocolate, closings and delays that give you additional hours of sleep on weekdays while it is snowing outside and then some free time to play in the snow with the kids or slide down the neighborhood hill... But then there is also ice on your windshield, snow that must be plowed, digging out your car from the parking, bone freezing cold, half an hour of getting the kids dressed with all those layers to protect from the cold every time you leave the house, to name just a few, winter fun. My daughter always reminds me:"if you want to enjoy the rainbow you have to like the rain" so after coming from a place that barely gets rain, where the temperature rarely gets below 50F and 60 is considered COLD, I do appreciate some rain though not so much and not in the summer, and am learning to deal with the cold until the next summertime.

Photograph by Arik Eyal

Positive Thinking

The power of positivity and positive thinking can have a huge impact on our lives and on the way we choose to live them, and yet in many cases I tend to underestimate this power. Seeing the half full is much more than just a phrase, it's a way of life, a nicer one if I may add.
I was driving to work this morning and decided to choose a different route than the one I usually take, thinking that I could save some road time and get more work done if I get to work early (doesn't happen too often but I constantly try). Only I found out too late that I had made a terrible choice and the road was blocked, with no way to escape for the next hour. I could of course choose to get angry and upset, blame myself for being irresponsible trying a new route without checking the traffic first, get stressed up thinking of all the work waiting for me and have a stressful and dreadful rest of a day. But there was great music on the radio and I sang out-loud to just myself, some of my favorite songs just happened to get on air one after the other as if someone hand picked them for me and I had a blast. Then I also got a chance to think through my next project at work and had some productive insights. Amazing what being stuck in traffic on an early (well, it wasn't so early anymore) morning can do. I arrived one hour late to work but I had no regrets for taking that route (well, I didn't have much choice now anyway). Thinking through my project outline actually helped me save some time and labor and I couldn't help but wonder whether the whole thing was just meant to be that way or was it the positive thinking that helped me get a good thing out of a really non ideal situation...

Carb Factor Schools

For us, those affected by diabetes, it's all about the carbs or carbohydrates. We don't care about the calories nor the fat content of the food (well some of us do but not for the insulin purposes). In order to calculate how much insulin is needed to cover for the food, and ultimately keep a balanced blood sugar, we mainly need to know how much carbs it has per what is eaten. That can be pretty complicated but with simple tools and some experience it can become almost automatic. Some of the suggestions can also be used for those counting calories as well, but in many cases the calorie content doesn't give any insights about the carb content and vice versa; a certain food can have a very high fat content and so very high calorie index and yet might have no carbs. Other foods might have a low fat index but still be very reach in carbs. In general there are several approaches for carb counting. Some prefer educated guess work based on portion sizes and food groups, that can make life easier for some but I find it quite confusing, others prefer memorizing carb content or eat fixed dishes at fixed content (doesn't work so well when it comes to kids or if you are a spontaneous type). And some prefer a more scientific approach, I find myself within this group most of the time, maybe it's the scientist in me that takes over. It requires some preliminary work but it really helps you get a very accurate carb count for the food.
A great tool that can be used for eating outside and can be great for all of the schools above (and also for those counting calories) is the app 'Nutrition Menu' by Shroomies, I have it on my Iphone and one can find most of the known restaurants on their list and check out their menu and the nutritional value including carb content for most food items, very user friendly and certainly a well spent $0.99.
Another nice app that I often use, that was actually recommended to me by my dad, is 'My Fitness Pal', it has a great list of many store bought food items from many different brands with their full nutritional value. This app also helps you keep track of your activity levels, food consumption and content and even weight and exercise plan and management for those interested in that feature.
Now the other thing I have found to be very useful is the carb factor. Every food has its own carb factor that can be calculated by dividing the carb content of a portion by it's weight. For example: on a box of cereal you can see that 28gr of these cereals equals 24gr of carbs. Now 24 divided by 28 equals 0.86, and let say you eat 50gr of that cereal brand then 50 multiply by 0.86 equals 43 gram of carbs. By the same way I calculated the carb factor for cooked pasta 0.279 or for most bread like baked goods 0.5, or for any other food my daughter likes. This way I can weigh the portion she eats and calculate exactly the amount of carbs it has. I used to also carry around a small scale in my bag, but I decide that sometimes one needs to let go, so for cases we are not at home I use one of the previously mentioned apps and that usually works pretty well. Now, interesting enough, my husband actually doesn't use any of these fancy techniques, he prefers the intuition way, or the hunch. He looks at the food and gives an estimated number, and when compared to the other ways, his guess is usually more accurate than mine, but I guess it requires special skills that I am yet to acquire.

Wildlife Crossing

Yes, even in places like this, the wildlife gets respect! I have been seeing this sign every morning on my way to the office for the last 3 years and it still makes me smile. I like what it stands for and I can testify that the people working around this sign truly take its meaning seriously. And indeed, the geese that have chosen to live around it, know it. One morning, one of the geese, of all places, decided to lay her egg inside the construction area, only a few feet away from the sign. We were all certain that it wouldn't take more than a few hours for that egg to become a giant scrambled egg, but the construction workers had a different idea. They installed a small fence around the egg that went all the way from pavement into the construction site and left a small hole in their fence to allow the happy parents access to their newly laid egg after hours. This lucky family became the talk of the day. We all followed our own private National geographic show until the new goose was finally born. The family moved out from the construction zone to the front lawn and have been living happily since with the rest of their troupe. Thanks to those nice and considerate construction workers!

Warm sunny winter days

Warm sunny days on a capital winter are precious and should really be well spent. However, it is somewhat unfortunate that if at all, they turn up on weekdays, though if you are lucky enough you might be able to watch them go by from your office window. If your office is not equipped with a window, like my previous office, you might be able to enjoy some of it's left overs when you get inside your car at the end of the day, especially if it was parked in the sun instead of the underground parking lot for this exact purpose. But on days like these, not having at least your lunch outside should be considered a crime.
I was staring at the bench outside my window, wondering whether it would still be sunny when it becomes a reasonable time for me to have lunch. 11:45, I decided not to take unnecessary chances and have my lunch early, while it's still sunny and warm around my pre-reserved spot outside. It was a little too early for most of my colleagues to join me and so, even though I rarely have my lunch alone, I walked outside with a silly smile on my face and took a deep breathe, inhaling as much warm air as I possibly could. It wasn't as warm outside as it seemed from the inside but I didn't really mind, it is the feeling that counts, and as long as you stay in the sun it is pretty nice. I didn't actually get a chance to take the first bite of my sandwich since the sun decided to fade away without further warning, and the typical cool grey depressing atmosphere took over. I don't have anything personal against grey colors, especially if I wear them, but when it comes together with a drop of 10 degrees in temperature, and in the middle of my outside lunch, it really becomes personal. So I finished my lunch pretty fast, couldn't give up the concept of having my lunch in the sun, well, at least what was left of it. Then went back disappointed to my office only to find out the sun was back up in the bright blue sky again. Maybe I'll have more luck next time.

Minivans

I had never thought that I, the tiny cars lover, fan of the Mini Cooper, would find myself driving a minivan (even though they both might have the word 'mini' in their name), not to mention owning one. Back in Israel, minivans are usually owned by families with multiple kids usually not living in big cities, since finding a place to park this thing is pretty tough. Even when we came to the U.S and parking was no longer a big issue (well, only when we visit Manhattan or if I happen to arrive after 9:30 to work...) I still didn't see any reason I should get a minivan and was really happy with our nice looking SUV. But traveling with two kids and sometimes a dog too, a stroller, some bags, games, books, portable DVD player and food supply (one should always have food handy when traveling with kids, even on short trips), we realized that after getting all that into our SUV we could barely spare some space to stretch out our feet. Yet our friends with the minivans seemed to be having a great time on long trips and had plenty of room to sit and even to some extent walk around! Could that be the end of my cool cars phase? Well, I guess many things change once you have kids, including some of your preferences and your views, minivans all of a sudden didn't look like a big balky car anymore, and my kids were really pushing for a car like most of their friends have, for them at this specific phase in their life, a minivan seem much more attractive than say a BMW, go figure. So now, I am proud to say that I am a happy owner of a minivan. A car that was tailored for families, everything you need is just there. I no longer have to squeeze my feet between bags, I can open the side doors with my remote and let the kids in before I even get to the car, our total time to get everything in and have my kids buckled up in their seats is now reduced from 5-10 minutes to less than 1 minute (pretty significant when the weather is bad, and that is unfortunately not rare around here), we can take friends along without exceeding the passengers limit and still have enough space in the car! And most importantly, our minivan comes fully loaded with an LCD screen, a remote control and two sets of cordless speakers, so the kids are busy watching movies instead of asking 'how long is this drive going to take?' or 'are we there yet?' before we even leave the parking lot. On the contrary, they now think that driving around is fun! Yes, even if you're not trying to get anywhere... And we can finally enjoy a quiet and relaxed drive, which adds a great safety factor.

5Z4ZXHYBCMHF