Renovated building & old water tower (Nahmani Street)
Renovated apartment building (Ahad Ha’am Street)
Habima Theater (Rothschild Boulevard)
Bauhaus Center (Dizengoff Street)
View from “Bet Ha’ir” – former city hall (Bialik Street circle)
Special event hosted by TLV mayor at the former city hall (Bialik Street circle)
“Bet Ha’ir” – former city hall (Bialik Street circle)
the Felicia Blumenthal Music Center (Bialik Street circle)
Nachum Gutman Fountain (Bialik Street circle)
Gruzenberg Street
Isn’t “girlyness” a crucial part of being a girl? From the little girl playing with Barbie dolls and wearing your mom’s make-up and high heels until the woman you become. Society has a full range of girly duties for us: shopping, manicure, pedicure, facials, waxing, make up, creams, what else? I always thought this “girlyness” wasn’t questionable for a girl. If you are a girl, you have to like it all. Until I started wondering, what if I’m not like that? Am I the only one? Is it ok? Does it make me less of a girl? No way! It took me a long time to find out I even had the right to question all these given facts, until it became too obvious: I do not like this. After following my girlfriends for so many times, while feeling bored and empty, I realized this is just not for me, this is not who I am. I have no patience and no money for any of the above activities. So I’m a natural woman. Make up and colored nail polish just don’t fit me. Waxing hurts. Shopping is boring. I’d rather improvize, find my own solutions, DIY, use old stuff, buy quickly or create with my old clothes. As long as it’s faster, cheaper and doesn’t hurt. So I finally accepted my “girlyness” could be defined in many other ways. Hence, my new slogan: “Define who you are by who you want to be and not by society and conventionality”. But for all the girly girls, there are beauty salons. Foxy is a super cool beauty salon in Tel Aviv and it recently launched its own gift store with a super cool Friday afternoon party with free drinks and music. The shop sells the top brands in beauty products for face and hands, self-designed shirts and many more gifts for the ladies.
Foxy Salon, 85 Yehuda Halevi St. 03-5662050 or visit Foxy’s Facebook page
My ambition in this blog is not necessarily to share every TLV hotspot, neither to be the coolest chick in town. But when it comes to aesthetics, taste and lifestyle, it’s my duty to share. Especially keeping in mind the motivation behind my posts: show you how and why Tel Aviv is such a great city, as opposed to what most prejudiced minds might think. Most of you who haven’t been here wouldn’t believe this is daily life. So here it is, another proof of how hip, hot and happening this city is. 
It’s called “Delicatessen” and it’s the latest food concept and more by the R2M cooperation. They already have top restaurants (Brasserie, Coffee Bar), hip bars (Rothschild 12), the Bakery, an exclusive catering business and the boutique hotel “Hotel Montefiore”. Every spot they open always excels in style, design, music and smell. These places are here to stay, which is not an evidence here. “Delicatessen”, combines food and wine, groceries and bakery, breakfast and lunch, wine and spirits and all this with the R2M quality label. Enjoy an Italian cafe on the street terrace, buy some Spanish meat and Dutch cheese in the ‘deli’, eat an Israeli shakshuka in the sun; it’s all part of the experience. Enjoy…
More info: http://delitlv.co.il/
Welcome to Life on Mars. My creative world. What a wonderful world of hobbies: cooking, knitting, sewing, scrap-booking and even some weird freaky hobbies involving witches and miniatures. So besides being overwhelmed I tried to focus on what I’d like to do with all this material. Here’s something I bought:
And here’s the result; what I made with it, the “life on Mars colored pouches collection”
or in details:
And now I just need to sell them and make room for the arrival of a very special sewing machine from Australia, to be continued….
Israel’s second city and cultural and commercial capital, Tel Aviv was named “The Mediterranean Capital of Cool” by the New York Times. It’s a city that makes you feel alive. It’s constantly changing, moving, developing itself. Only a 100 years old (which is young for a city) and still, so much to be done. Luckily we have a lot of entrepreneurs here bringing in the things a city needs to sustain its adjective “hip”. The hippest thing in Tel Aviv lately is called F.A.D. It is a 30-day curated pop-up shop of limited edition fashion, art and design.
Created by Design Space* and Shoplifters**, this creative space is a multidisciplinary art project featuring all sorts of creative fields. A refined 1000 sqm space dedicated to Design / Contemporary Art / Fashion / Books / Music / Technology / Lectures and much more. From clothing to Art and Design, from flower shop to coffee shop, looking for products from israeli creatives, while browsing the library of magazine and art books. All aesthetic grounds are covered, from classics, to creations by young israeli designers, these girls are are precise collection fed by emotions and creativity. The space is hosting 40 industrial designers, and 18 contemporary artists – from Israel and abroad.
There will be special events including an exclusive private Wallpaper evening. In short: if you’re hip and you’re in Tel Aviv, you’ll visit F.A.D. Whether you shop till you drop, get inspired, do your nails, read a book, drink, eat, “mingle” or just be amazed and look around. Thank you girls – Nitsan, Anat, Gilat, Salome and Emmy.
Come visit: F.A.D. – Elfassy street 15 – Everyday: 11h-21h, Friday: 10h-18h
Photography Solal Fakiel. High production.
*about Design Space: Design Space was established in 2010 to encourage artistic innovation and provide a platform for progressive art of all media, featuring both emerging and established artists’ work. The Gallery is presenting various fields of design, ranging from furniture and industrial products to diverse art exhibitions of newcomer artists and designers. Through collaborations with various creative sectors, Design Space produces projects and initiatives, extending its vision internationally.
As a gallery, design space organizes solo, collective, and group exhibitions, alongside presenting special projects and events conceived by outside curators.
**about Shoplifters: Unique conceptual Fashion Events – Aesthetic chaos
my photos:
…Somewhere between yoga and shopping, being and doing, food and fashion, dinner and dancing, boys and boys, knitting and typing, dreaming and worrying, art gallery and hobby-salon, working and drinking, fun and tears, computers and people, they found time to blog… or not:
Pictures by the lovely Dorien Leyers ©
While most of Europe is freezing in these horrible winter temperatures, we had a day of Spring today. Today is Saturday and Saturday is Shabbat; the 7th day of the Jewish week and the Jewish day of rest. On Shabbat, Jews recall the Biblical Creation account in Genesis in which God created the Heavens and the Earth in six days and rests on the seventh. That’s why weekends here in Israel are Fridays and Saturdays. So today, everybody just went out. Walking around the streets of Tel Aviv, there’s always so much to discover and to photograph. In days when blogs attract attention mostly by photos and less by words, I’ll just post this picture of Rothschild Boulevard hoping you’ll understand the sunny day and happy vibe in town.
Saturday also means free time for creations to me. Before reaching the textile and the yarn, I decided to make some Lokshenkügel. Say what? Kugel is a yiddish word and its definition is: “an Ashkenazi Jewish puddin
g or casserole, similar to a pie, most commonly made from egg noodles or potatoes, though at times made of zucchini, apples, spinach, broccoli, cranberry, or sweet potato. It is usually served as a side dish on Shabbat and”. Didn’t know that but hey, fits my shabbes. It’s not a very common dish and not for everyday but once in a while you can really crave for it. I like the pasta tasting sweet. My recipe is a combination of others: first of all, cook about half a kilo of pasta, not necessarily egg noodles, but small ones. In a bowl, mix 4 eggs, +- 250 grams of sour cream (some people add cottage and/or cream cheese too), 1 cup of sugar (I combine brown and white), 4 tablespoons of melted butter, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Once the pastas are cooked (max. 5 minutes) and drained, add them to the bowl and stir. Meanwhile prepare the topping, and here’s when you can use your fantasy: I used Kellogg’s Special K, oatmeal, walnuts, some melted butter and a tablespoon of cinnamon. Then just put it in the oven for maximum an hour, on 180°C. Let it cool for 10 minutes when done and mmmmmm…
And now to the crafty part, I’ve just finished this beautiful worsted cotton raspberry scarf for a friend and I’m about to start a new one on demand – the color is called graphite. So maybe I should go do my sewing class homework? Not now. I’ll quickly finish this little pouch for someone first. And why do I always see something to clean, something to rearrange, something to do? Will I ever be able to relax in my own house on Shabbat?
Israeli “Singer of the world”
A country has its own musical styles, trends and roots. You would think Israel (also known as “Ingathering of the Exiles”) would offer a lot of interesting world music export products as it is a melting pot of cultural diversity – from Ashkenazi Eastern European Jews till Sephardim or Mizrahim from the Maghreb and surroundings. One of the secrets of making successful music is digging deep in your own and your surrounding roots. As much as Israel is a musical country, with a lot of talent and plenty of musicians; unfortunately, too many local artists these days are busy sounding ‘like’ others instead of creating original and authentic music. Only very few Israeli artists have had international careers – no, the Eurovision contest doesn’t count. One brilliant man called Idan Raichel (12/09/1977) has successfully combined all his influences, his talents and his fascinations into something unique and managed to break down all musical boundaries with his musical project: “The Idan Raichel Project”.
I’ve known Idan since 1998 right after his military service in the army’s rock band. He was then active as a counselor at Hadassim (a boarding school for immigrants, mainly from Ethiopia) and a successful keyboardist with Israeli popular singers. In 2002, from his home studio in the basement of his parents house in Kfar Saba near Tel Aviv, his experiments fusing Israeli pop music with Middle Eastern, African, Indian and other global sounds resulted in what would become the biggest-selling record project in Israeli history and propel Idan to a role as a major figure in the international global music scene. The songs are sung by guest singers and by Idan himself. This project has changed the face of Israeli popular music through a message of love & tolerance and original sounds coupled with sophisticated production techniques.
In 2006, after many number-one hits and a spectacular live show throughout the country, the project got signed to a world music label and embarked on an international adventure. Firstly known in circles of Jewish, Ehtiopian and Israeli communities, the Idan Raichel Project now regularly sells out concerts in large performance venues. Wherever they perform, the Idan Raichel Project unifies the audience into a celebration of what is unique about the cultures of the world, as well as that in which we are all alike.
“This one-man Middle East peace accord makes music that is an ambitious celebration of multicultural diversity. The ethnic elements are cleverly rewired with modern grooves to create an ambient journey that thrillingly bridget the traditional and the modern.” – The Times (London, UK)
Idan Raichel will be performing an acoustic set at the Centre Culturel d’Uccle on February 16th at 20h30.
Website: www.idanraichelproject.com/en
Videos: http://youtu.be/kmW2yAYhMmM (“Mim’amakim” meaning “From the depths)
Videos: http://youtu.be/CtpCGfRRToo(“Im telech” meaning “If you go”)
Is there a better way to start your day than with a fresh fruit juice? My favorite combination is banana, melon and dates, but it sounds better to say it in Hebrew: “banana, melon, tamar”. Dates come from the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) and they have been a staple food of the Middle East for thousands of years. Dates provide a wide range of essential nutrients, and are a very good source of dietary potassium. The sugar content of ripe dates is about 80%, or in other words, a perfect substitute for sugar. My juice in one hand, blackberry and Ipod-touch in the other (do you wonder how I manage that? Well, both have broken screens from falling), I go on to my next step: textile searching.
It’s only recently that I found myself interested in or should I say passionate for creating, crafting and D.I.Y. My latest? Sewing. I started a sewing class, ‘borrowed’ a real old-school Singer sewing machine and started discovering another yet amazing world. So I walk to Nahalat Benyamin Street, the textile center of the city, only a few minutes from my house on Rothschild Boulevard. This historic street was established even before Tel Aviv was born in 1909. Formerly a run-down province of the textile and haberdashery trade, recent years have seen it redeveloped and rejuvenated as a busy pedestrianized precinct full of fashionable cafes and arty shops. Today I’m looking for denim-like textile for a shirt for the next class, but as I discover a tiny store with so many colors and fabrics, I of course end up buying more. In my head it goes like this: here, this fits for pyjama pants, this for a scarf, this for a pillow, this for the inside of a pouch and so on.
Later today, after procrastinating for months, endless repeats in to-do lists and phone reminders AND one car ticket too many, I will get to the municipality for some parking stuff (do you guys have Easy-park in Antwerp?). The Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality (http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/english) is really very active, efficient, young, involved and hip. Today there is some art on the stairway.
No way I’m taking my car there, so there are 2 choices left: my bike or the “monit sherut”. FYI: my bike is a Belgian bike of over 35 years that I brought with me when I moved here in 2007. My mom used to ride it with me in the back. It’s an old school bike and people stop me in the street to ask me where I bought this retro cool bicycle. A “monit sherut” is a share taxi that falls between a taxi and a bus. Sherut meaning service, these yellow vans follow fixed bus routes and you can stop them anywhere. Payment is done by passing money to the driver in a “human chain” formed by the passengers seated before. The change (and the receipt, when requested) are returned to the person who paid by the same means.
As this being my first blog and just a fragment of my life and of this day, how do I end it? I’ll just share my last ritual of the day: my favorite Yogi tea in my favorite cup.
“Layla Tov” dear readers – meaning sweet dreams in Hebrew…
Marilyn
Together with about half the world’s population, I wake up excited for one of many morning rituals: coffee. Where? Which? How? With whom? And if you can add something sweet: lamalo (lamalo meaning ‘why not’ in Hebrew).
It’s been over a year since I quit smoking and I’ve developed this pseudo-need for sweet. I used to not even like chocolate, and now I feel this urge for sweet taste in the mouth. So my favorite pastry of the moment: chocolate yeast cake. Doesn’t sound as good as it tastes and no it’s not a fungus. In Yiddish it’s called Babka, for all of those with Yiddish skills. Even Martha Stewart has a recipe for it, but it’s not the easiest to bake: http://www.marthastewart.com/312994/chocolate-babka
My favorite Tel Avivi coffee place of the moment is called Ben Ami (www.benami.co.il) and it’s very well located. First of all it’s a two-minute walk from my home. It’s located on a junction of 3 streets: Nahmani Street, Melchett Street and Montefiore Street. What’s in the middle? King Albert Square and yes it is named after our Belgian king that came to visit in the early 20th century. The view from the cafe is on one of Tel Aviv’s finest buildings and it’s called the Pagoda. Built in 1925, it is one of the most typical constructions of the eclectic style, combining oriental and occidental motives. It was originally built for a rich textile negotiator from New York called David Moshe Bloch. The architect, Alexander Levi, originally from Berlin arrived in Palestine in the twenties but went back to Germany in 1927 and died in Auschwitz in 1942. No one really knows if someone is living there, but it’s very well maintained. Rumor has it, it’s owned by a Swedish jewish family that owns Puma.
When wondering what it is that I and so many others like so much about Tel Aviv, there are many answers. How can we describe this vibe to those who never came to visit? To those who don’t get to see this side of Israel in their media? Enter my blog! Tel Aviv gets so many adjectives; it’s young, vibrant, happening, cool, hip, in, hot, fresh but why? Some say it is because it’s the city of contrasts, clashes and paradoxes. The mixture of old versus new. Orthodox versus secular. East versus West. Europe versus USA versus Middle East. Tradition versus innovation. A synagogue versus a gay bar. An old colonial house versus a Philippe Starck tower. It’s this clash that gives the city its surprising and slightly uneven gait.
Let’s keep blogging and unravel the secrets of my dear city. Till later, Marilyn
