Leora

Sad News in the Blogosphere

I learned through Twitter that the husband of Trip’n Mommy, sometimes known as Trip’n Daddy, has died after his battle with lymphoma. His name in real life is Barry Shuter. Sometimes, if you read enough of someone’s tweets, you feel like you know them. Trip’n Mommy has a blog called Trip’n Up, named after her triplets.

May his wife and children be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

Update: Ruti Mizrachi wrote a post Barry, we hardly knew ye.

Review with New Hope Bridge

Bridge in New Hope, PA
Bridge over Canal in New Hope, PA

We visited New Hope, PA last Sunday – we went on a train ride, visited the old Parry House and browsed in some shops. This photo of the bridge over the canal is my entry for Sunday Bridges.

FYI, Laura was right about the pickles: ours fermented a few days longer, and they were sharper and more sour! Yum. Use plenty of garlic, if you love the garlic flavor.

Elsewhere on the Web

Here’s a photo of the bridge in sepia:
New Hope bridge in sepia

Ballet Alice in Sepia

ballet alice
This graceful ballet dancer is performing a scene from Alice in Wonderland (she plays Alice). As the room was not well lit, I found it easier set the camera to take photos in sepia than in full color. You will have to imagine the white with a bit of pale blue dress.

ballet dancer fallen
Ah, she has fallen. Perhaps she has just come down the rabbit hole.

For more sepia photos, visit:
Sepia Scenes

Update: Here is the Alice in Wonderland music by Avril Lavigne that the girls used for their dance.

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Would you like to win free postcards of your very own photos? Or postcards for your business or cards with photos of your kids. Visit Postcard Giveaway and Catchy Title Contest and leave a comment to enter.

Ballerina in Teal

ballerina in teal 2009
Ballet Dancer in Teal, Winter 2009

This blog got an overhaul this morning, but you may not notice many changes (feel free to comment on the ones you do notice). I updated the theme of the blog to a child of the Twenty Ten theme. What does that mean in English? It just means the code is more 2010 than the previous theme, which I created myself from scratch in 2007. So it helps me out technically with adding new plugins to the blog, such as the Add This plugin so you can easily share a post on your favorite social media site, such as Facebook or Twitter.

There is a contest on my other site, Websites for Small Biz, that offers free postcards. Yay – my first giveaway. Stay tuned to either of these blogs to learn more.

The girl? She’s my daughter in Winter 2009. She’s taller now and even more graceful a dancer.

Pickling Pickles

pickles in a container fermenting
Pickles in a Container Fermenting with Spices, Garlic and Brine

It sounds daunting, making your own pickles, but the trick is assembling the ingredients and equipment. The rest is throwing it together and patience. You don’t want to use vinegar in your pickles – the whole idea is to create your own fermentation, so you can reap the benefits of the good bacteria from pickling. This recipe was inspired by the Sour Pickles recipe in Sandor Ellix Katz’s book Wild Fermentation.

Ingredients and Equipment

  • 1 large jar or jug or plastic bucket (just has to be big enough to fit your pickles)
  • 6 medium-sized pickling cucumbers (you can use as many as fit in your container)
  • 2 tsp. Ball Pickling Spice (or make your own with black peppercorns, dill seed, cardamom seed, mustard seed, allspice, coriander, bay leaves)
  • 3 – 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced in half
  • 4 tsp. sea salt
  • water – enough to cover the pickles
  • grape or oak or horseradish or sour cherry leaves (to keep the cucumbers crisp – the tannin in the leaves is supposed to help) – I used oak leaves
  • 1 piece of cloth and 1 rubber band
  • 1 small lid + 1 weight, such as a rock or two to weigh down the pickles (I updated this recipe with this recommendation)

Place the spices, leaves, garlic and cucumbers in the container. Sprinkle at least 3 tsp. of sea salt on top. Pour water into the container so that it covers the pickles. If you want, you can then add some more salt. Sandor Katz suggests covering the pickles with a plate and a weight; since I don’t have a plate that small (he was using a big bucket instead of a jar), I used a smaller jar lid from a different jar and two rocks to weigh down the pickles. Cover with cloth and rubber band.

Check the pickles every day. If a little mold is growing on the top of the pickles, wash off the mold. The pickles may be ready in a week or in two. My first batch tasted a bit like a mild sour pickle after one week of soaking in the brine and spices.

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If you like homemade pickles, maybe you will enjoy homemade sauerkraut, too.

Review with Soul Man

Blues Brothers - Soul Man Performance at NJDS Recital
Blues Brothers - Soul Man Performance at NJDS Recital

So sad – New Jersey Dance School, where my daughter has studied dance since she was four years old, is closing. Thursday night was her last recital. Anyone remember the Blues Brothers performing Soul Man? These two teens (yes, they are girls dressed like men) did a fabulous job of tap dancing Soul Man. Have you ever heard of a Wish Sandwich?

On My Blog

Bingo the guinea pig robin with green caterpillar therapy dog
andromeda flowers art by Jill Caporlingua andromeda flowers

Kosher Cooking Carnival: During the Omer Edition

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

One more Blues Brothers tap shoeing girls photo:
Soul Man Tap Dance

Thursday Challenge: Guinea Pig

Bingo the guinea pig
How can I pass up an excuse to post a portrait of Bingo the guinea pig? I hope I’m not making his cage mate, Racer, too jealous.

This week’s Thursday Challenge is “PETS” (Dogs, Cats, Birds, Fish,…).
Next Week: HAPPY (Celebrations, Parties, Gifts, Enjoyment,…)

Nature Notes: The Path

woods in Highland Park near path to RPRY
There is a path at the edge of Highland Park by the Edison border that leads to my children’s school. On one side are houses, but on the other side of the path are lots of brush and trees and weeds and who knows what else. The brook runs alongside all this woodsy brush.

brook by path with green

Anyone able to identify these large leafy plants growing on the path?
large leafy plants

I spotted a robin! There’s something green in the robin’s mouth: a worm, catepillar or a leaf?
robin with green caterpillar

Birthday Parade in Edison

children in blue and white shirts in Edison, New Jersey
No, it wasn’t the birthday party of any of these nursery school children. It was a Birthday Parade for the 63rd birthday of the State of Israel. When my daughter was in nursery, she wore one of these shirts.

daugher with camera
Now she is in third grade, and she was taking photos along side her mom (me). And chatting with her friend. I’m not sure why she so wants me to be at the annual school parade for Israel, but there I was. I’ve been doing this for a while: here is the 2008 post of this little parade.

therapy dog
Some of her focus was on this dog named Winston. He is a therapy dog.

therapy dog
Here is a portrait shot of Winston the therapy dog. Anyone remember Belle, also a therapy dog? There is also a dog at the bottom of my 2009 RPRY March Around the Block for Israel post.

school parade for Israel
Getting back to the parade, there were children, teachers, parents and neighbors in our little march around the block for Israel. I had a great time chatting with a fellow blogger, Pragmatic Attic.

edison police cars
Thank you to the policemen of Edison, New Jersey who guarded our parade.

Box Art

art by Jill Caporlingua
These cigarette-box-sized pieces of art designed by Jill Caporlingua will go in an old cigarette machine. Folks can then purchase Jill’s art from the cigarette machine instead of buying cigarettes (see ArtoMat.org). Isn’t that an ingenious way of recycling? I suppose they could buy other artists’ art, too, but wouldn’t you want to own one of these luscious little multi-colored boxes? Jill is my daughter’s art teacher and a friend.

box art by Jill

For more photos with red, visit Ruby Tuesday:
Ruby Tuesday

You can find an ArtoMat at a location near you on this ArtoMat machine listing page.

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