Leora

Miriyummy and KCC

Thank you to Miriyummy for interviewing me on her blog.

And Cooking Outside the Box has presented her first Kosher Cooking Carnival.

Learn how to make homemade sauerkraut on this post.

Summer Stock: Fireworks on the 4th

If you don’t live in the U.S.A., on what occasions do you get to see fireworks?

Review with Pink Petunias

On My Blog

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

• Felisol has a post on the Feldenkrais method and talks about how it has helped her. Watch the baby movie and learn.
• Ilana-Davita shares a disturbing post on the far right in France.
• If you live in New Jersey, you can check out the fireworks from njplaygrounds or New Jersey Family magazine. We plan to be in Donaldson Park on Sunday evening.

Summer Salad Watercolor

Thanks to everyone who inspired me to paint by responding to my Simple Summer Salad Hunt. Results of the hunt (and feel free to add more salad ideas to this post) will be posted next week. A funny anecdote on this painting: my husband was trying to figure out if we have bowl that looks like this blue starred bowl. I told him no, I just made it up. Poetic/artistic license.

What kinds of ingredients make a great salad?

Simple Summer Salad Hunt

I am looking for links to wonderful summer salads or spreads (vegan or pareve, please) – I plan to do a post next week with a list of these salads. Here are two examples to wet your appetite:

• Cooking Manager: Tabbouleh
• Pragmatic Attic: Vegan Pâté

Thank you!

Red Currant Cake

A guest recipe by Ilana-Davita

Ilana-Davita presents a lovely currant cake recipe. We don’t see many red currants in New Jersey – I suggest trying the cake with blueberries. I did find an article about red currants suggesting they do exist in New Jersey. I can ask the farmers at our local Highland Park Farmer’s Market. Ilana-Davita says she doesn’t see many blueberries in her part of France. According to this redcurrant Wikipedia article, the North American currants may not taste as good as those of Western Europe.

Ingredients

• one pound of red currants
• 3 Tbsp spelt flour (yes, just that small amount of flour is needed)
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 large eggs
• 3 Tbsp natural cane sugar
• 1 glass (appr. 200ml) of buttermilk or milk substitute such as almond milk or oat milk
• 1 pkt of vanilla sugar (may use vanilla extract)

Mix the flour and salt with the eggs. Add the sugar and milk. Grease a baking pan and lay the currants at the bottom. Add the batter and sprinkle with the vanilla sugar. Bake for 45 minutes at 360°F.

This recipe is my mom’s but I have changed it slightly. She uses plain sugar and flour and mixes the vanilla sugar with the rest of the batter.

This cake reminds me of Mollie Katzen’s Cranapple-Walnut Cake – I used to make that one with whatever fruit I had available. As Mollie noted at the head of the page: “~very moist ♥♥♥.”

And because Ilana-Davita took such a red photo of currants, I am submitting this to Ruby Tuesday:

Summer Stock: City vs. Suburb

My suburban example is watermelon at the annual Congregation Etz Ahaim picnic in Johnson Park, New Jersey.

This woman in New York City was accompanied by two men also dressed in black, funny outfits. No idea what they were trying to sell. They did get a lot of people’s attention.

Review with Painting

This week I converted my blog to what is known as Responsive Web Design – in other words, the blog should look good both on large windowed browsers and on small mobile phones. You can see what I mean by shrinking the corner of the browser page.

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

• First, I want to show you Robin’s cherries. This luscious photograph inspired a whole post that is still in my head. I will let you know if the post becomes reality. Speaking of Robin, if you have summery photos, you might want to participate in Summer Stock Sunday.
• Miriyummy reminisces on childhood memories of the Catskills. And be sure to read her interview with Batya Medad.
• Ilana-Davita has written of the 2011 Philosophy exam in France. Which question would you pick? I chose “Can liberty be threatened by equality?”
• Among other books, Rayna Eliana reviewed The Coffee Trader which transports the reader to Seventeenth Century Amsterdam.
• Laura at Pragmatic Attic has some tasty fish recipes.
• Know anyone who runs a small business? They should check out my post Ease of a Facebook Business Page.

Nature Notes: Catbirds + Gardens

My flowers-instead-of-grass front lawn meadow is doing nicely. I believe the last time my husband mowed the front lawn was two years ago? Three?

In our backyard, the raspberries are beginning to appear. This makes our yard even more inviting for the birds.

About two weeks ago the catbirds showed up again in our backyard. They seem to love resting on my tomato plant holders.

Do catbirds like hydrangea? I like this white flowering shrub, even if they don’t notice.

Unlike other birds, such as the cardinals in the winter, the catbirds don’t seem to mind when I get up close with my camera.

I think this catbird is about to take off. They make such endearing sounds, like a meowing kitten.

For more Nature Notes:

Watery Boy

My middle son graduated from eighth grade last night and then left for camp. Today he is flying to camp, which started yesterday, as he didn’t want to miss graduation. I’m a little sad – I miss him! I know it’s a cliché, but they *do* grow up too fast.

This frolic-in-the-waves photo was taken last month at Asbury Park Beach.

For more watery photos, visit Watery Wednesday: