I love Pistachios. I didn't know this but the Pistachio is a small tree that is either male or female. A male tree can pollinate up to 8 female trees. It takes about 20 years for a tree to reach complete maturity and it will bear fruit every other year in larger amounts. The first Pistachios were cultivated in Western Asia primarily in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Greece, Egypt and most of the "stan" countries. Recently they are being grown in California, New Mexico and the Western U.S.
My first real encounter with Pistachios was in Israel and Egypt where in the souks I saw huge burlap sacks full of green and red pistachios. Then at a tea shop in Cairo I saw 4 men sitting around a table playing dominos, drinking tea, smoking from a hooka and eating Pistachios.
Dates
When I was young I thought dates only came in bread (which my mother made) and then as I grew I found out that they were really very good even if they were stickey. Then on my first trip to Israel in 1968 I was driving (I wasn't actually driving but was riding) south from Jericho toward Massada along the shore of the Dead Sea when we passed a huge grove of palm trees with bags hanging from them. I found out on the way back that they were date palms being grown by the local kibbutz. We stopped and bought some and these weren't anything like the dates I had eaten at home. They were delicious, soft and sweet and still stickey. I ate what I had over the course of the next few days and then bought some more to take home. I gave some to my mom to eat and she MADE DATE BREAD instead of enjoying them in their natural state!
Lockers
As the start of school approaches I will share with you my big fear when I was in high school. I feared that I wouldn't remember my locker combination.
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