It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood (thank you, Mr. Rogers) - the sun is shining and we have a cloudless sky. In fact, by the end of the week, it will be in the high 60's.
Perhaps you would like to see what our neighborhood looks like ...

Mahane Yehuda open air market (shuk) where you can buy fruit, vegetables, spices and just about anything else you want. This is right next door to us so it is very convenient.
Supermarket for the items we don't buy from the shuk.

This is what the surrounding streets look like in our neighborhood.

Speaking of supermarkets, this week I did the Distribution Center shopping solo and this is what I found out:

Those little totebags on wheels that the little old ladies wheel around are really very convenient; Those little totebags have to be packed just right or things can happen; You need to arrange your list so that you get the heavy items first (like canned goods) so they can go on the bottom as opposed to picking up bread first - when you don't follow this first rule, you have to, at some point, stop, unload everything and re-pack; If you have bought too many items and things are hanging out the tote, once you move away from it to add even more items, it will topple over and your oranges will go all over the floor and people will look at you funny; None of the workers in the store seems to speak English even though they tell you in perfect English that they don't speak English - look for a kid to talk to; Cheese is all the same - looks and taste like Mozzarella - except for the Parmesan I found for $18.75 a 1/4 pound - no, I did not buy it; When you ask for a kilo of strawberries, they will try to give you more but you don't have to take it - just watch what the other women do and imitate them; When you go to the check out, BE READY - things move fast - unload the little old lady tote for scanning but since you must be careful about repacking it, you have to wait until she scans the last items (the heavy stuff on the bottom)before you start to pack (no baggers) so the bread and eggs end up on top. Of course you are fumbling with the money trying to get out the correct amount and people are behind you looking at you funny. The Distribution Center is only a few blocks from the store but it is hard to push the little cart through the crowds outside while carrying a large pack of paper towels on one arm and balancing a birthday cake but when you finally make it, it's like WOW, I did it. Actually alot of the items have English on one side with Hebrew on the reverse or there is a picture of the product so it's really pretty easy. Two other really important lessons are that broccoli makes a fine substitute for Jimmy Dean sausage and Israeli chocolate bars do not take the place of Hershey's semi-sweet morsels for chocolate chip cookies.