(Para Para) פרה פרה

 On our way back from Haifa, we took an alternate road that runs from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem called Route 443.  It runs through the Palestinian territories (West Bank) for a bit, thus our view included a lot of fencing and barbed wire.

  We stopped at a little roadside place called Para Para (Cow Cow) that consisted of a fully-equipped kitchen on a truck (EVERYONE has cappuccino machines here:  gas stations, roadside food stands, etc.), a picnic bench and some interesting black-and-white decor that reflected the operation's namesake.

We ordered a schnitzel sandwich on a pita.  Which, my host later informed me, was not truly schnitzel as the chicken wasn't breaded.  It wasn't bad, but nothing special.  Schnitzel, generally defined as a meat cutlet pounded thin, lightly breaded and pan fried, seems to be a popular dish in Israel.  I didn't think it was too exciting myself.    

 The awesome part was the proprietor of Para Para, who was very proud of his culinary work and claimed that at 8am each morning, people lined up outside to get the best cappuccinos around.  Given that the sun was setting, we opted out of coffee so I can't say whether he spoke the truth...But he did give us a punch card (see the hole puncher hanging in the picture at right) and told us that we would get a free coffee after so many purchases.

It was somewhat surreal eating our schnitzel while looking out over the vast view of the West Bank with the fiery sun sinking below the mountains, the barbed wire running along the fence, the kids play area decorated in the spirit of cows and the Israeli flag flapping in the hot breeze.