Dinner and still champion

 A quick update on this, the first night of Channukah.

Happy Channukah everyone. Now let's get on with it.

Maybe it is the fact that I wear my phone in a dad/pocket holster thing that signals that I'm American. Are those pocket cases "dad" or "American" or (dare I say it?) "American dad"?

One reason that I was looking forward to this trip is because I have not been in Israel for a holiday (High Holidays and Passover 1975-6 do NOT count as I have no recollection of them other than a broken wrist and an invite to stay at a hotel, which I did NOT do). So being here for Channukah is a real first for me, at least during the years in which I am encoding memories. I wandered through the shuk in order to see, first hand, how the holiday is manifestival. I saw a large Channukiah and some people dancing in front of it, but beyond that, and the small ones i saw in many stores, I'm not sure if the liveliness of the shul was any other nights. Still, it was fun.

On the whole, it felt very comfy -- I knew I could stop and eat in any restaurant so I wasn't self conscious about the whole situation. A nice sensation. Ultimately (knowing my endgame) I stuck with Fish En Chips and I ordered, you guessed it, the fish and chips (fried foods in honor of the holiday). Because the place is so noisy, you are given a little alarm/disk so that you know when your food is ready, but I got distracted with other stuff and suddenly was wondering "where's that beeping coming from"?

The fries were unimpressive but the fish (4 large pieces of Cod) was hot and very crispy (a breadcrumb based coating, not tempura, 2 pieces with plack sesame seeds mixed in). It wasn't shocking flavorful, but for cod, I didn't want it to be. I had it with a beer and just people watching was relaxing.

I ate, drank and was merry, at least as as much as I can be. Eventually, I forced myself to get up and walked away (after cleaning my stuff up -- I am not a pig, unlike the people who used the table before me, who shall remain nameless because I have no idea who they are). I headed back to Agrippas and turned towards Powerhouse Coffee so I could end the night with a sweet. On the way, I saw the Scharf family but they didn't see me as they were very busy, and that's fine, so let's not tell them.

And I did. I got a black decaf (the gentleman working there said I was the first person to order an decaf pour over) which he made with paisntaking exactitude-osity, and a creme filled donut (vanilla frosting...they were out of chocolate but that's ok). The coffee was quite good and the donut was not at all painful or hospital inducing, so that's a big plus. And also, I was first. Yay me!

I got to spend time on a nice phone call with the Mrs. so that added to the joy of the evening and, on the whole, I give it all an A+ out of 10. Plus extra credit for "donut."