a mongol is free to choose his khan

this past weekend was complete with films, fun, friends and a roast. last night ezra, luis, lucas and myself watched the movie mongol and made a beef roast. it was interesting - the movie that is. visually - amazing; though we all felt it was lacking something with regards to the actual content and thematic flow of the film.

the roast, which we had figured to take 1.5 hours, ended up cooking for about 3. we looked up the directions on the internet and went ahead. we had the roast slowly cooking and dripping away into a pan of diced potatoes, bell peppers, onions, garlic, tomato, carrots and one lonely sweet potato - seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano and cayenne pepper. all with a lovely gravy to top it off.

the meat was a little dried out, but still edible and delicious.

it was a long walk home from leon blum down to my house while the roast slopped around in my stomach. remnants of the onion that i cut still on my fingertips, and the garlic, well, everyone ate it. we left ezra drowsy, happy and full and we offered to take the discarded portions of the night's meal preparation down to the dumpster. as we exited the building, we hoped to be greeted by a strong cool wind that had been passing through for the past couple of days. the night was stagnant - though a breeze, or rather a tendril of a breeze, ambled by just above our heads.

we set off at a good pace. the interesting thing about haifa is that it naturally leads one to walk with a posture of humility or self-deprecation. this is...misleading. everyone simply walks with their head down and shoulders stooped, especially at night, just so that they can equip themselves to better dodge the periodic mounds of animal defecation that are strewn across the sidewalks. some areas are better than others.

three men, collectively aging 72, discussed the perils of their age. discordant steps mimicked beatnik snaps, and we expressed in our singular mind and voice the disjointed thoughts that have for so long tripped up our generation -

love is for the darker flower
shoes...shoes...leaving no stain
i look to find that my body ran away
TACITURN!
who am i when i pretend to be me
my father - my mother?
the lonely cat never licked his paw
ashes to ashes...to ashes


snap snap snap snap snap snap snap

********************

saturday morning breakfast with ezra and the nights bus ride earlier that week