In the early days of the Cold War the Soviet Union blocked all the Western Allies’ rail and and road access to West Berlin in efforts to force them to hand over control of the entire city.  The Berlin Blockade lasted from 24 June 1948-12 May 1949, and resulted in the Berlin Airlift: the Western Allies flew over 200,000 flights carrying fuel and food to West Berlin that year.

I love this story in particular (via wikipedia):

Gail Halvorsen, one of the many Airlift pilots, decided to use his off time to fly into Berlin and make movies with his hand-held camera. He arrived at Tempelhof on 17 July on one of the C-54s and walked over to a crowd of children who had gathered at the end of the runway to watch the aircraft. He introduced himself and they started to ask him questions about the aircraft and their flights. As a goodwill gesture, he handed out his only two sticks of Wrigley’s Doublemint Gum, and promised that, if they did not fight over them, the next time he returned he would drop off more. The children quickly divided up the pieces as best they could. Before he left them, a child asked him how they would know it was him flying over, and he replied, “I’ll wiggle my wings.”

The next day, on his approach to Berlin, he rocked the aircraft and dropped some chocolate bars attached to a handkerchief parachute to the children waiting below. Every day after that the number of children increased and he made several more drops. Soon there was a stack of mail in Base Ops addressed to “Uncle Wiggly Wings”, “The Chocolate Uncle” and “The Chocolate Flier”. His commanding officer was upset when the story appeared in the news, but when Tunner heard about it he approved of the gesture and immediately expanded it into “Operation Little Vittles”. Other pilots participated, and when news reached the US, children all over the country sent in their own candy to help out. Soon, the major manufacturers joined in. In the end, over three tons of candy were dropped on Berlin, and the “operation” became a major propaganda success. The candy-dropping aircraft were christened ” raison bombers” by the German children.

Also, and in true Berlin form, the lineup for the Berlin Festival is looking like a pretty good time.  Originally constructed in the 1920s by the Nazi Government and apparently once counted among the world’s largest buildings, I would normally make a small list of reasons to visit the now defunkt Tempelhof Airport, including architectural interest, historical significance through the Second World War and the Cold War, and current (extensive) use of the former runways and surrounding open spaces by barbequers, in-line skaters etc.  Next weekend, you can add Santigold, Beirut, the Bloody Beetroots and Diplo to that list.

You might notice, when you make it down the hill, that the rain has now quieted.  It could encourage you to scrap the plans to picnic on sandwiches in the car and, even though you and your three friends are drenched and shivering slightly and your feet are undeniably blistered, to instead find a nice spot by the lake.  And you just might, on your way to the lake, stumble upon a little Volksfest that happens to charm the lederhosen off you.

It could happen.

You might end up grinning from ear to ear, looking around in marvel at the size of the beers, the sharpness of the local dress, and the incredible cripsness and flavor of fish painted all delicious with a mixture of melted butter, beer, salt and pepper and roasted on a spit.  You might just stay for a while.

Hard to decide if the crispy white pieces from Loup Charmant’s collection would be better tie dyed, finger painted, or carefully framed and displayed on the wall.  I would say the price tags on these Indian Organic Cotton garments probably makes the latter most appropriate, although the other two options would certainly be fun.

website: http://loupcharmant.com/

there is a pantry full of seemingly innocent foodstuff just waiting in your kitchen to color and stain your clothing.

protect yourself.  protect your favorite white threads.  do it yourself.

here’s what you’ve got to do.

boil.

in separate pots and heaps of water, boil the heck out of :
-purple cabbage (chop a head into quarters)
-turmeric (2 heaping tablespoons)
-black tea (5 bags)
-beets (4 beets, quartered)

let the soups cool down.

tie.

elastic bands are particularly useful. the goal is to create sections that will later be the nice shapes the different colors make.

dye.

soak different sections in different colored broths.  let the dye soak in and dry completely, then untie to see your designs.  iron over all the dyed areas to ‘heat-set’ – this will keep the colors from fading.

start with something simple:

then try out a few tricks:

if you’re not sure how to get the hippie dream-swirl, the first minute of this video gives a good idea: link. it’s also helpful to try out your designs on small scraps of fabric.

have fun.  play around.  experiment.

just be warned.

Also, their Spring/Summer 2011 campaign is strange, excellent, and full of the prettiest underthings.

Looking through photos from the few weeks I just spent in Israel, I noticed a good chunk of them were taken on the road.  Photos taken out the window of the passenger seat of my friend’s little car as we zipped up and down and across that fascinating little country.

I have more photos from the drive up north through green rolling hills than of camping on the Sea of Galilee when we got there and more photos of the curvy desert road down 400m below sea level than of the Dead Sea itself.

I took a photos somewhere near the Lebanese border where we pulled over for a picnic before the driving back to Tel Aviv, but none of the hike we were driving back from.

Albums from other trips are overtaken by fluffy cloud formations admired on a flight or the reflection in the windshield of my feet resting on a dashboard. When I’m travelling, its so easy to see that the getting there is half the fun, that the sights on the road are often as beautiful as the destination and that every moment is worth appreciating in some way or another.

Back home, I find this feeling too easily slips away if I don’t make an effort to hold on to it, to stop focusing on where I will end up for long enough to enjoy the moment.  The last few weeks have found me particularly caught up in planning and thinking, so much so that I’ve started to forget to enjoy where I am right now.  I am in one of my favourite cities and knee deep in one the best seasons but can’t help but lose my thoughts to details of what lies ahead.  Bright red strawberries and green and white stalks of asparagus overflow out of the market stalls, and I no longer get weird looks for wearing sandals well before sandal season.  Sandal season is here (!!). Sunscreen, bare legs, and ice cream season too.  And as much as I am a believer in planning, to-do listing, thinking ahead and getting excited about the future, I am also a believer of the importance of putting all worries of where you are going and what you are doing on hold to allow space for thoughts of ice cream.  Ice cream has a very strong ability to tug a person back into there right-here-and-right-now.

I tried halva ice cream at a little gelateria on Ben Yehuda street in Tel Aviv after a day of relaxing + overheating + swimming at the beach.  Halva is a hard sesame based sweet from the middle east that I have never completely been a fan of.  It was often the only dessert on offer at family gatherings we would go to as kids, so I remember really trying to like the stuff.  The flavor is rich, nutty and delicious, but I never really enjoyed the rough, dry texture that left my mouth feeling strange after a few bites.  So I was intruigued when I saw it made into an ice cream, and delighted to find that it was all the flavour but none of the texture.

Back home I wanted to recreate the stuff, but decided to get the flavor by mixing honey with tahini, a paste of ground sesame, instead of buying prepackaged halva that is full of preservatives and sugar.

Halva Ice Cream

This ice cream is rich and nutty and though delicious, it’s definitely somewhat unusual tasting and less sweet than most ice creams.  So if you’re looking to satisfy a sweet tooth, this might not be your best bet (toasted marshmellow ice cream, on the other hand, would satisfy any and all cravings for sweetness).

Next time I might play around with adding a spoonful of roseflower water and some crushed walnuts or pistachios.  A swirl of chocolate would also be delicious.

1. Pour tahini and honey into a saucepan and warm over medium heat. When small bubbles start to form,  allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent sticking.  Remove from heat and slowly add milk and cream, stirring  until well combined.

2. To temper the egg yolks, put them in a small bowl.  Add a spoonful at a time of the tahini mixture, stirring constantly until you have added 5 spoonfuls.  Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and return to heat, gently cooking on medium-low for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool – this should take about 45 minutes.

3. Give it a taste.  Add sugar accordingly, keeping in mind that things taste less sweet when they are frozen – so you’ll want to make it a little sweeter now than what you ultimately aim to end up with.

4.  If you have an ice cream maker transfer the mixture there and follow its directions. If not transfer the mixture to a container and place in the freezer.  Take out the container ever 45 minutes to an hour and mix it up with a spoon to break up any ice particles.  You will probably need to do this 2-4 times until the mixture has frozen completely.

5. Enjoy!

eat fruit.

first photo via Nadinoo
second photo, vodka soaked watermelon, instructions here