The Search for Lavashak

So my sister asked me if I could find this thing called lavashak, which seems to be the Persian version of a fruit roll-up.  I’m always up for a goose-chase / adventure, so off I went today in search of this mystery item.  Before I left the house, I armed myself with a picture on my phone to show the locals.

I took my new favorite bus #3 down into the Arab market called Talpiyot, which is your typical outdoor market with fruits, nuts, trinkets.  But first, I was on the hunt for some lunch, so thankfully I found a little place in between the main shops.  I had a chicken pita, which filled me up – 32 NIS (~$9).  Not too bad.

The chef reminded me of Mel Brooks, his face and the way he spoke.  So, I asked the woman, who spoke better English than him, “Are you two husband and wife?”  And she said “yes”.  Then I tried to figure out a way to explain to her that her husband looked like Mel Brooks.  They probably don’t even know who that is!  Anyways, I couldn’t get my point across, so I instead asked them about the mythical lavashak.

There was a guy in the store who spoke English and he pointed me in the right direction.  He told me to find this guy in another store that only sold nuts.  So, I found this Nut Man and asked him and he said he didn’t know.  Great.  So, I tried another shop one block up and they told me to find this one store that only sells nuts.  That’s it, I’m outta here.

I go back to another store a few blocks away where I know the people speak English and I got the break I was looking for.  The guy said he didn’t have any lavashak and that the only place you can find it is in Jerusalem.  Fabulous.  But, then he said in Israel it’s called “qamardeen”.  Woohoo!  Now we’re cooking.

Qamardeen

Armed with this new information, I spied a bakery across the street which had all kinds of baqlava.  This looks promising.  So, I asked the baker if he had any qamardeen.  Immediately, he knew what I was talking about, and immediately he told me…no.  Thankfully, another good samaratan shopper who spoke great English gave me the exact information I was looking for.  Now, I can’t make this next part up.

He told me to find a guy named Abu Muhammad in Wadi Nisnas, one of the Arab hotspots in Haifa.  He said to ask the people in the market for a currency exchange shop, because naturally that’s where the qamardeen would be found too.  So, I find this market and walk into the first shop and ask the owner for Abu Muhammad.  Right away he points me to a corner where I see “Currency Exchange”.

I found the guy!  And he was really nice!  He explained to me that this qamardeen is only made of apricot and that he was out of it, but would have some on July 20 — surprisingly, very specific.  He gave me his phone number and told me to call him before coming down.  Wow, that kind of worked out.  It reminds me of how things often get done in Colombia.  Let’s see what happens.

One last thing — before I did my goose chase, I paid a visit to my old friend in the post office.  After my initial visit, I honestly thought my package was lost.  But miraculously, and I don’t use that word lightly, the very next day after I filed that “where’s my package” form at the post office, the package arrived at my parent’s house.  How do you explain that?  I have no idea.

Anyways, I was so appreciative and amazed that it actually got there, that I went back to the post office to give the guy a small thank you in the form of cookies.  I never thought I would see him smile, but once he realized I wasn’t there to complain, and that I had just come to say thank you, he was so happy and I had never seen such a sincere smile like that before!  It was very nice.  He said he was just doing his job, which I guess is true, but a miracle performed at least deserves some chocolate chip cookies.