Tejaswi's Blog

I am reading a book called Left to Tell by a very courageous and inspiring woman from Rwanda called Immaculee Ilibagiza. Immaculee survived the genocide that killed her parents and all but one of her siblings by hiding with 6 other girls in the tiny bathroom of a kind hearted Hutu for 91 days while the slaughter raged around her. Her Chrisitian faith and intense prayer carried her through the terrible ordeal and has allowed her to move forward and forgive those who killed her family in the most brutal fashion imaginable. I was fortunate to briefly meet Immaculee and I was struck by her tremedous poise and compassion. The book is written in a very straightforward and simple prose and her dveotion to God and her inner strength shine through.

I live in Jamaica, Queens, very close to Flushing which is one of the bigger Jewish neighbourhoods in New York so there is no shortage of great falafel joints to choose from. My favourite place, however is a little bit of a secret even among long time locals and I suspect it has more than a little to do with the name: Hapisgah Steak House - I can only assume that the name has put all the vegetarians in the vicinity off because the food at this restaurant is outstanding. The clientele of the restaurant are almost unanimously Jewish and largely Israeli judging by the lack of English conversation. At lunch time you can get a falafel sandwich for around $5 with your choice of humus, tahina, fried mushrooms, turkish salad, baba ghanouj, israeli salad, french fries - whatever. The bread is made fresh on the premises as are the falafel and they are sensational.  In the evening, the Special Combination Salad Platter is my pick and it is enough to serve two. Finish up with some turkish coffee - delicious.