OREO - 'The Blue Uniting Force'

The incredible 'Oreo' industry of biscuits, wafers, cookies, cakes, chocolate - you name it -  has quite an history behind it. They first appeared on the market in 1912! They boast a 100 year of activity! 

The juicy part - the disagreement between the two brothers-owners who eventually had to split,  actually led to the big prosperity of the business. The first two letters of the Oreo name - 'Or',  is french for 'gold'. Perhaps, a hint to the business being a gold mine for its owners.

I'm familiar with one product only : it comprises two  tiny, thin,  brown biscuits with dark chocolate cream between them  (a sandwich cookie). 'Thin and tiny' sure gives one the illusion of less  dietary damage caused by the sweet item, so people go for it.

The first time I bought the above ( to accompany my morning coffee)  I was looking on the package for the name of the supplier, and that's what I found: Ukraine, company name: Mondelez.  In fact, the country of origin is USA,  Mondelez is the international mother company, with branches all over the world.

The products are vegan and kosher. There is a great variety of shapes  (round, oval, button-like), of texture (crisp, soft, creamy), sizes, flavors, and wrappings with the background color of deep blue. 

It seems  this merchandise  is popular everywhere (at my local supermarket Oreo products are quite the Hit),  as it is a suitable treat for everyone - kids, adults, poor, rich, secular, religious. It fits every taste and pocket.  We could rightly say  - it 'brings  us together'.  In the divisive world we live, that's quite a lot.

 

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Since the start of the pandemics, I 've stayed  closer to home, going out / traveling - for essentials only.  This week, before the coming of the promised rains, and of  a possible new Covid wave (God forbid!), I took  the time to explore a little the immediate surroundings of my hometown and some landmarks in one of its adjacent towns. 

Not far from my neighborhood, I've spotted a small plot with trees whose trunks were white painted. I suppose it's for protection purposes - to protect them from the sun. Sun rays might crack the tender bark and so allow introduction of disease and insects. I gather the paint is water based or water diluted, so that no chemical harm is done to the tree.   Some of the trunk shapes look rather strange. Perhaps it's a special type of trees.

On  approaching the trees, a single hen crossed my way and conquered my heart; such a cutie!

Whenever I visit a town where there's a lot of construction being done, I get the impression that architecture (or shall we say architects) are looking for noise and publicity rather than for comfort and functionality.  What makes me think that, are not only the  towers  standing out in a variety of somewhat weird shapes, but also the use of certain building materials.

The exterior of the 9-story relatively new City Hall building in the adjacent town of Herzliya, for instance,  is made of blue glass.  I suppose the glass is not only for decorative purpose but has certain anti-reflective and security features. Anyway, one can see through the blue glass, from the inside out, but not vice versa.

 City Hall of Herzlyia town

 

 

I guess proper maintenance of this glass exterior , to assure its attractiveness and life span, doesn't come cheap, but ,Hey, what are municipal taxes for?

                                        

                                    For a short while, feeling free without the mask

By the way, judging by the low numbers in the Israely Media (attributed to the third dose, the booster)  one would think the pandemic is on its way out. I wish it were, but I'm  rather skeptical (the approaching winter, the disappearing masks, etc... ) .The issue discussed now is the vaccination next month of children aged 5-11.