Basil Pesto with Noodles, Recipe on the Blog This Week

On My Blog

Garden Fresh Basil Pesto

Seeking Comfort

Photos:
Ruby Tuesday: Peaches, Plums, Flowers and Fun
Watery Bubbles in the Sky
Today’s Flowers: Lily, Coreopsis and Sweet Pea

A Discussion of Scandal and Other Discomforting Events

Elsewhere on the Web

• Consolation Prizes: Nachmu, Nachmu Ami (hat tip: Klara) From the article:

  Loss necessarily creates a vacuum in our lives whereas consolation is the process of reordering our focus in view of emerging new needs. Consolation allows us to displace some of the importance once attributed to what we’ve lost onto a new locus. So when Yitzchak marries Rivka, we are told (Bereishit 24:67) that he is finally consoled for his mother. He finally finds a new locus for his appreciation of feminine compassion and care that was embodied by his mother.

  And then he continues with saying in the Jewish month of Av, which is always in the summer, we enjoy nature. The month of Elul comes right before Rosh Hashana, we concentrate on prayer. “The various rituals of Av and Elul allow us to be more prepared for Rosh Hashanah without a Beit haMikdash. ”

• Daniel on Baseless Hatred Today
• Mottel has another riddle. Can you guess the 6? (I couldn’t, but his readers did).

How do you find comfort? What do you do when something or someone in your life, community or in world news causes you pain? How do you get in touch with the pain and also find new ways of self-comfort?

When my children were babies, I remember learning that it was important that they learn to self-comfort. If every time a child cries, a parent or guardian rushes to the child’s side, how will the child learn to cope on his or her own? My boys, I remember, each had a blanket that was precious in the going to sleep process.

One of my friends, when times are hard, reads from the Book of Psalms (Tehilim) when she is in distress. I feel she is fortunate that she can find comfort in that manner.

Today is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, the fast day of Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av, the day when the Beit HaMikdash, the holy temple that was in Jerusalem, was destroyed. Other tragic events happened on this date as well. In two days we read the haftorah from the Book of Isaiah, in which he proclaims (Isaiah 40:1-2) -

Comfort, comfort my people, so says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

“Double from sins”? – Is this referring to then or now? It seems the pain continues to this day; the warfare does not seem at an end.

And later Isaiah says (Isaiah 40:7-8) -

Indeed man is but grass: Grass withers, flowers fade – but the Word of our God is always fulfilled!

We can read all of Isaiah (especially the part from Chapter 40 and on), and some of us may find some comfort in the words. For many of us, struggling to understand the words of the ancient prophet is as far as we can get. Perhaps we are meant to know that even if we don’t understand the Big Picture, God does.

So getting back to comfort, here’s a short list from me, perhaps I can get your creative juices running, too:

• Write a blog post.
• Talk to a friend.
• Paint. Draw. Putter in the garden. Find a creative outlet.

More on comfort and Isaiah:
Comfort, Comfort (2005) by Professor Gary A. Rendsburg, chair of the department that I do work for at Rutgers, the Jewish Studies Department

More on Tisha B’Av:
Baila explains how it is hard to be a Jew, even if she is finally living in a Jewish homeland.

On the upcoming parsha (Torah portion of the week):
Ilana-Davita looks for a response to current troubles by studying Parshat Va-Etchanan.

Finally, I have a watery post to share with you for Watery Wednesday, one of my favorite photo memes because I love wet photos.

Can you guess in what kind of place this is taken? The answer is in a Summer Stock Sunday post of mine.

For more watery wet, visit Watery Wednesday:

My daughter asked, how come you haven’t made this since last year? Because I finally have enough basil to make a pesto! She had no idea that some dishes are seasonal.

Ingredients:

• 40 – 50 leaves of fresh basil
• 1/3 cup of olive oil, cold pressed extra virgin
• 1/3 cup of walnuts (or whatever nuts you choose)
• 1/2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
• 1 box of rotini noodles
  (or substitute steamed cauliflower if you are on a low or no carb diet or gluten-free diet)

Boil water for the pasta. When the pasta is almost done, put the nuts, olive oil, basil leaves and salt in the food processor. Blend it all until you have a thick, green paste. You can taste it, if you want to be careful about the amount of salt (or just because it is absolutely yummy!). Drain the water from the pasta, put the pasta in serving bowl, and mix in the basil pesto paste. You can either eat this right away or refrigerate it and serve cold the next day.

Optional: the traditional way to make pesto is with parmesan cheese, so you can also had 1/3 cup grated parmesan to your pesto. In addition to experimenting with different nuts, pesto can also be made from sage or parsley. If you have any variations you want to share, please do so.

This is one of my favorite summer treats. It has two healthy fats, olive oil and walnuts. Contrary to popular belief, studies showed almond eaters lost weight instead of gaining.

Every Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the summer and early fall there is a farmers market in Highland Park. I buy organic parsley, lettuce, beets and kale (what I buy varies each week) from a particular organic food stand at the market. Sometimes I buy the flowers for someone else as a gift.

My favorite produce that grows in New Jersey are the peaches. I buy a lot; my eldest son loves peaches, and so do I.

In fact, the peaches are one of the best parts of living in New Jersey. In the photo you can also see sugar plums, another tasty treat.

For more photos with a little or a lot of red, visit Ruby Tuesday:

Lilies are in bloom in front of my home (along with dianthus, rudbeckia, sedum and coreopsis). My basil plants have done well enough that I was able to make a basil pesto with noodles on Friday – recipe to be posted later this week.

Coreopsis come back year after year, as long as they get full sun and are not crowded out by some more aggressive plant.

I photographed this tall pink perennial in my friend’s backyard in June; anyone know what it is? My friend said the previous owner was an avid gardener, and her family reaps the benefits. Valkyrien seems to think these are Lathyrus odoratus (sweet pea), in which case I should plan to grow some of these beauties in my yard in the future.

For more flowers, visit: