Lafa, Latrun & Swag

I had a "morning after the mega hit by a truck" feeling today. It took until about noon to really get going. I worked for a while, watched some bad tv, and got really hungry. There's no food in the fridge. The three cucumbers were woefully shriveled, and other than 1/2 a bottle of Pepsi Max and a pitcher of water, there was nothing to eat. Which takes us to Lafa.

On my way to hear Avraham Infeld speak, I stopped at a little shop to get a sandwich. I didn't really feel like falafel, the salads only looked sort of fair, but it was 3pm, and I was really, really hungry. I saw something I didn't recognize behind the counter, and I'm still not sure what she called it, but it was basically a vegetable pancake - about the size of a paperback book, only round. I figured, why not. And then the woman behind the counter asked the fateful question - lafa or baguette. I sort of wanted a baguette, but I evidently hesitated long enough (there was no one else in the shop), and so she told me I was going to have a lafa. Think pita on steroids. Like an enormous tortilla, but thicker, like pita. She asked what I wanted on it, and I told her whatever she thought should go on it.

I have no idea what was there. I recognized and/or tasted: hummus, salad, fried eggplant, harif (hot sauce), amba (a really yummy sauce that's sort of like curry mustard), and chips (french fries). There were also things (probably vegetables?) that I didn't recognize in their wrapped state. This whole thing was wrapped up semi-burrito like, with a falafel ball plopped on top. And just for the recond, the falafel fell on the floor as I was trying to pay. Going with the 30 second rule, I ate it anyway. The whole thing was excellent - whatever it was.

Later, we went back out to Latrun (where we'd been for the mega-event the night before) for a closing dinner for three of our buses. It wasn't as fancy, but the food was better than it had been at the VIP reception last night. The music was good, the night was cool, and students had a good time. We stayed away from the desert because we recognized it from last night.

Which brings me to swag. The closing dinner was for three of our Jewish Agency buses. They (the Jewish Agency) gave the bus staff cool backpacks, and I got one too. And I probably should have mentioned I also got a good backpack from Da'at (one of our other land companies) a few weeks ago. It's not an Oscar's gift bag, but I'm good with it.