12 In the Spice Store

There are certain items that I never buy in the large stores where buying is a neon illuminated "experience" accompanied by background music and loud speaker announcements of sales in the meat or bakery department. Spices and peanuts, for example, I buy in a spice store located in the center of the moshava (village). You can see the peanuts I bought laying on the scale. I like to take a break at noon time and go for a walk. On my way back from the post office (where I receive the books that are sent to me for evaluation) I stop at the bakery and buy good bread (I slice it myself, place the slices in a number of small nylon bags and put them in the freezer). Afterwards I pass the Cash Dispenser, the toy shop – and reach the spice store.

From my daughter I learned to buy dried tomatoes and soak them in olive oil. For my mother I buy crushed oats. For myself I buy peanuts and roast them at low temperature in a toaster oven without salt or oil, as well as various types of Herbal Teas that are in jars which can be seen in the lower left hand corner of the picture. I buy black pepper as well, either whole or crushed, which I grind in a table mill at meal time. And za'atar as well. At times I also buy a jar of honey. The honey from our region is delicious and it can be found here (but also in supermarkets which provide shopping carts for the price of five shekel as well as background music).

After that I pass the wholesale beverage store, the computer store, the pizza parlor, and the picture frame shop. Finally I return home. Today the skies were clear and the air was fragrant with the smell of the earth and trees after the rain. The walk was invigorating. I put my purchases on the kitchen counter, went up to the second floor, sat down opposite my computer and wrote these words before going back to work.