Butcher and Sundancer, together again

 Just a short note to catch everyone up:

I took the afternoon to do a lot of nothing (or a little of something -- same coin, all sides). I read, I napped, I chatted with Talia and Julie. I watched some "Good Girls" with Josie. It was, as they say, a chill afternoon.

Brian drive in from Tel Aviv so Josie stepped up and called a restaurant called 3 Butchers and made a reservation. Could I have done it in my beyond broken Hebrew? Maybe. But she did it and sounded all authentic and not even a little bit pathetic. She's my hero. He parked outside and we walked and talked. The conversation was about Israel, kids, politics, friends, kids, growing older, schools, kids and then, for a change of pace, football and then kids. We settled in at the restaurant and reviewed the menu. Netanya is not Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. They offered no English menu. That didn't faze Brian and I refused to let it bother me. My Hebrew might be rudimentary but my English is good so I could ask Brian to explain things to me. His Hebrew is fine and my exploiting available resources is legendary.

I started us off with chicken wings in a SWEET chili sauce, emphasis on the sauce. They were good. We also got all the customary salads. There was chummus, and baba ganoush, and beets and purple cole slaw and olives and carrots and some red stuff and some orange stuff and some other eggplant stuff and about 13 other "salads" for us to fill up on before we dove into the wings. Then we each got a steak (measured in grams, like a drug, which is not that far off) and he got a seltzer and I got a Heinekin. My steak was good but (truth be told and I'm telling) not great. It was a bit fatty and lacked flavor. Like me, but more or less. It was of sizable nature but nothing off the charts, assuming you have a large enough chart. It needed salt and flavor. The garlic and other stuff served along with it didn't add much, but the sizzling platter was a nice touch. Brian got an Americano coffee and I avoided dessert for the allergy's sake. We walked back.

That's pretty much it for the evening. Now I shall wind down, read a bit and (I hope) get a reasonable night's sleep. Tomorrow AM includes such hits as "grade papers" and "walk somewhere to grade papers" and then "eat something ill-advised. Then a birthday dinner with Andi!