Jerusalem - Now a Real City!

So I just got back from spending my morning at the National Wine and Alcohol Discount Center on Haoman Street in Talpiot and it was awesome (no, i'm not being paid a dime to write this ;-)! I dropped around 1,000 shek on 3 cases of wine, booze and beer. With 600 square meters of wall to wall booze, this place is like nothing I've ever seen in Israel - and very little I've seen out of Israel (advertising does work - I saw the ad in the JPost this weekend and decided I had to get there and soon).

In addition to the usual wine deals (which in many cases are on par with the best deals in the shuk but not better), I scored some serious deals on liquor and beer. A bottle of Baccardi was only 80 shek (it's routinely 110 in other places). I got a bottle of 12 year old single malt for just over 200 shek - also a great deal for Israel. But the beer prices were far and away the best. Leffes are only 7 1/2 shek. I got a six pack of Grolsch for 32 shek - that's cheaper than Goldstar. And I got a 4 pack of San Miguel for just 24 shek. The one beer I didn't see there was Taybeh (from Palestine) - it's an excellent beer and usually well priced. I mentioned this to the storekeeper and he told me that since they opened less than a month ago, they're stilling filling out their stock.

I also snagged a bottle of New Zealand's Goose Bay Chardonay (included in wine lists in the WSJ and NY Times) for 89 shek - a bottle I have yet to find anywhere else in Israel. Also got some Baron Herzog from Cali for 33 shek - definitely a good price considering it's an import).

All in all, a morning well spent. Israel, you've come a long way - you should only go from strength to strength.

Rockin Dentist Mix

So I was at a new dentist this morning after I had a filling fall out last night while flossing (not the first time that's happened) and I decided to try someone in the neighborhood as opposed to driving into the center of the city, finding parking or waiting for a bus and that whole hassle. He was pretty good on the whole with one caveat - he started drilling way too soon before the novacane shot (I think it probably takes several minutes to fully kick in). It hurt like a bitch - like he was right up against the nerve or something. Also, he was a new French immigrant and his Hebrew was no bargain and my French was even worse but we still managed to communicate somehow and he didn't drill the wrong tooth or anything.

So anyway, when I got home, sitting here at my desk with the whole right side of my mouth still numb, I decided to throw together this little Dentist Mix. Feel free to make suggestions for more tracks in the comments section - I think I have a good start here...

click to enlarge