Leora

Parshat Naso & HH #168

Yesterday was Parshat Naso, a great parsha with laws of the suspected adulteress, laws of the nazir, the Kohen’s blessing and gifts of the tribes. Maybe next year I’ll write a post on this parsha, but some bloggers came up with some good divrei Torah (words of Torah) that I would like to present.

First, read Jack’s Haveil Havelim #168 Go Celtics Edition.

On Parshat Naso:

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Orange Cake

Orange Cake

If I knew you were coming, I would have baked a cake.

My mother used to say that little expression. I think she would have enjoyed this cake. I took Batya’s basic cake recipe and converted it into an orange cake.

Before I share the recipe, we had an amusing afternoon with this cake. I made the cake at about 5 pm. My daughter (who is five years old) did the stirring, so she felt like she made the cake. It came out of the oven at about 5:45 pm. I put it on that pretty cake platter in the photo, dropped three home-grown strawberries in the center and took a few photos. Then daughter and I headed out for about half an hour to the library. The cake was left as displayed in the kitchen to cool.

Upon our return, it looked like a mouse had visited our cake! Or perhaps a little hand. There was one medium-sized gouge toward the top of the cake, and two little gouges in other spots. Sure enough, I had left my two boys at home at our usual supper time, so one hungry eleven-year-old had helped himself to a bit of cake. I requested that next time he use a knife and cut a piece. My daughter and I helped ourselves each to a slice of cake. I then went upstairs to take care of a few things. Upon my return downstairs, when I was planning to make supper, I was a bit shocked to discover the cake was now half its original size. Sure enough, Eldest son had helped himself to a few slices.

The moral of the story: don’t be surprised if half your cake disappears if you leave it alone with two hungry, growing boys in the house.

Finally, the recipe:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 orange
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 3/4 cup water
  • A pinch of salt

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add eggs and oil. Add grated orange peel. Add water. Squeeze in the juice of the orange. Add vanilla. Mix well. Pour into a greased baking pan (I used a shaped bundt pan). Bake for about 45 minutes at 350°. Use a toothpick to see if it’s ready. Let cool before serving.

Update: I just added this to The Recipe Box.

Dancing Dogwood, take 2

dancing dogwood, palette knife filter from Photoshop

Welcome to the modern world. If you can play with a painting in Photoshop, why not? I applied the palette knife filter to my gouache painting (that painting did have a bit of watercolor in the background, too, by the way). I then un-applied the filter to the spot that had my signature.

Flowers in the House

rosesIf you needed to decorate your house for just two days with some kind of flower theme, how would you do it? If you wanted to involve your children in the project, how could you make it fun?

Here’s some quick ideas:

  • Buy some beautiful (but expensive) flowers at the florist.
  • Go to the supermarket and buy some OK flowers.
  • Do tissue paper flowers (do you use pipe cleaners and twist around the middle and trim the tissue paper?).
  • Draw pictures of flowers and plants and hang those up.
  • Go pillaging through your garden and find something or another that might possibly last for two days.

Ideas welcome.

The holiday of Shavuot is coming, and it is customary to decorate one’s house with flowers. The origin of the custom may be a tradition of vegetation sprouting up around the mountain of Sinai when the Torah was given, or it may be connected to the agricultural roots of this holiday, which is also called Hag HaKatzir, the holiday of the harvest. Whether you celebrate this holiday or not, I am sure you can come up with at least one idea of how we could floralize our house.

Art Show in Highland Park

Can anyone tell me how one can be in three places at once? This past Sunday there was a wonderful art show in Highland Park, which I missed because I was here and then at the tail end of the Cong. Etz Ahaim picnic.

Bill Bonner, an talented, artistic photographer and one of the exhibitors in the show sent me these photos that he took of the reception last Sunday:
crowd at the show
julia
julia on the drums
Other artists in the show included my friend Jill Caporlingua, who has written posts on this blog and sometimes comments, my neighbor Mort Farrah, and my friend Rick Black. Sharon Sayegh, a painter I admire, also exhibited.

 For more Highland Park artists, see http://www.highlandparkartists.org

Carrot Salad Re-Make

I am notorious for taking a recipe and changing a few of the ingredients. My mother used to do this, too; she taught me to read cookbooks for ideas, not necessarily following every detail of the recipe.

On Friday, I took Ilana-Davita’s carrot salad recipe and adjusted it slightly for my needs.

Peel, slice, steam about 4-5 carrots
Due to being in a rush, I did less than the original, which said:
500 gr/1.1 lb peeled, sliced and steamed carrots

2 or 3 cloves garlic
I didn’t change this. I used 2 small cloves. Since I was using fewer carrots, my salad came out garlicky. Not a problem for the adults I was serving. The kids didn’t touch this salad.

1 tsp ground cumin
This stayed in the recipe.

1 tsp coriander
The original recipe called for paprika. I don’t care much for paprika.

1 tbsp olive oil
A little less olive oil due to fewer carrots

1 tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

Peel, steam, slice the carrots into little circles. Crush the garlic and mix it in a saucepan with the ground cumin, coriander, oil, salt and pepper. Warm the saucepan, add the carrots and one tsp of the water the carrots cooked in. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the lemon juice and cook an additional 5 minutes. Chill at least one hour. I garnished it with fresh parsley (Ilana-Davita suggested cilantro, but I prefer parsley, which I grow in my garden).

And here’s the result on my Friday night table:
Carrot Salad

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