More rain

Shawarma breakfast

Rain continued to fall today. While electricity has been restored in many parts of the country, still some 60,000 have no electricity. The powerful winds had knocked down electric poles or fallen trees had pulled down the wires. In the Old City, electric outages occur because the wires are underground ... but since there are many cisterns underground, when the water fills up, it touches the electrical wires and short-circuits occur. Till now even the Internet is not working. Dreadful.

The Torch Grill replaces Shualeh

But the dark skies and cold winds make it feel really that winter has finally arrived. This makes eating a warm meal such a great experience. This morning I had a swarm for breakfast at The Torch Grill Restaurant ... fancy name but it's actually renaming of the old Shualeh Restaurant in Salahaddin Street which once served the best shwarma in East Jerusalem. Don't know why the Shualeh closed since it was always crowded and its shwarma was very famous. I had beef roasted on a spit (shwarma) in pitta bread; with a spread of hummus, turkish salad (spice), pickles and amba (Iraqi sour sauce). Tasted really great ... but as usual I had cramps and diarrhea 15 mins after eating. But I still enjoyed it ... something warm on a very cold morning.

Terror attacks continued today ... but mostly in Hebron. Jerusalem is quiet and tourists are flocking back. Let's hope the rains will not dampen their trip.