Roy Becker-Kristal

רועי בקר-קריסטל

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  • Erika Kristal-Becker, my wife and partner for many years now, is the biggest love and the source of color in my life. I will put a photo if and when she lets me...

  • The second biggest love of my life is playing trad, or 'Irish traditional music', on my uilleann-pipes, which are the Irish bellows-blown bagpipes. I have been into trad since my late teens, and when I was 22 I started playing the tin-whistle, and took up the pipes two years later. They say it takes 21 years to become an uilleann-piper, so 14 more to go. I play mostly at home, but also in trad-sessions at Finn McCool's in Santa Monica and at The Dubliner in Long Beach (both pubs serve Magner's, my favorite drink). Sometimes I also go to meetings of the Southern California Uilleann Pipers Club.

  • I love good food: Indian, Chinese, Italian and Argentinean (my in-laws contribution) are my favorites. Here in LA I also got hooked on Vietnamese pho, and Mexican, of course. But I really miss the extra-sour labane, falafel, malawakh, pargit-belafa, tabouleh, and many other Middle-Eastern dishes. Instant coffee, ice-cream and cheese cake (both low-fat) are also much much better at home, and there are always my mom's schnitzels.

  • Keeping up with news and satire from Israel, watching European films, playing chess and doing nothing are the rest of my favourites whenever I have time...