Pick Your Own.... Paprika

In Boston this time of the year we used to go to the Marino Farm in Natick to pick apples, pears or peaches. Yesterday we drove 2 hours North to a little spice farm near Haifa to pick our own paprika. Much lower scale and less organized but much cheaper than Marino Farm, The Spice Farm, was holding a 10-day Paprika Festival. Here are paprika bushes that we picked the ripe red peppers from:

This is a paprika bath where a few green peppers were hidden among thousands of red and everyone was invited to sift through for a prize. Nadia found one.

I am standing in front of the festival's poster and proudly holding a bag of picked paprika and a dry paprika wreath Nadia and I assembled.

Scarecrow.

This farm is a popular tourist attraction and frequently holds some tours or cooking classes, in addition to an excellent spice market. Worth a visit if you are passing by.

The view of Bahaian Gardens from the main Haifa street.

Then we met a local Arab friend for a coffee in the Fattoush restaurant in Haifa. The atmosphere and food in the restaurant were so good that we almost stayed in the nearby hotel overnight in order to enjoy the dinner. Alas, the hotel was all booked and we will have to return back to Fattoush one day.

With the coffee, I had a pistachio ice cream with tahinni and honey, which was so delicious I forgot to take a picture before it was gone. Little Nili swallowed her share helping herself with a spoon and both hands.  But then when Moshe's order of kanafeh arrived, I was ready with the camera:

It is a traditional Arabic cheese pastry served with a sugary-sweet syrup.

Here is the link for Fatoush if you ever find yourself in Haifa: TripAdvisor Fatoush

A sign at the entrance to the restaurant welcomes people of all colors, cultures and religions and the mix of languages, colors and friendly laughter on this main Haifa street leaves some hope that peaceful coexistence in this part of the world may be possible.