Thursday Challenge: Dreidels
Thursday Challenge theme is TOYS (Cars, Dolls, Video Games, Puzzles, Balls, Board Games,…).
Leora
Playing with Fire
Each night of Chanukah we light one more candle, until by the eighth night we have eight candles lit. This is to remember the miracle that happened in the Temple a long time ago, when one little container of oil that should have lasted for only one day lasted for eight. In the photo are four orange candles for the fourth night, and the purple one called the “shamash.” The shamash is an extra one, the helper; the shamash lights the other candles. One can choose any colors; my daughter picked these colors. My sons and husband use an oil chanukiah (menorah), as the one in the Temple used oil.
I’ve been taking many photos of the lights, or as the title of this post declares, I’ve been “playing with fire.” Here’s the photo of the candles on a jar, using the warp tool in Photoshop as instructed in this tutorial on the warp tool effect.
Ruby Tuesday Visits My Kitchen
This was my kitchen way back in July. See the tomatoes on the window sill? Must have been a bountiful week. The tomatoes are gone, but the clutter is still there.
This was in my kitchen last Friday: doughnuts for Chanukah (we have a custom of eating foods fried in oil to remember the oil that miraculously lasted for 8 days) and challah for Shabbat (the commandment or mitzvah is to eat two loaves of bread with each Shabbat meal – a rich egg bread has developed as the tradition to uphold the mitzvah). Yes, both are homemade. Little red in this photo, but it does keep with the theme of my kitchen!
And here are some red strawberries that got gobbled up last night, along with the doughnuts (sufganiyot) and latkes (potato pancakes). I also made Mimi’s fish soup and a cubed pressed salad of cucumbers and carrots that I seasoned with fresh-squeezed lemon juice, orange juice, and chopped fresh ginger root.
For more photos with red, visit Ruby Tuesday:
Candle Lighting – SOOC
For more shots SOOC – Straight Out of the Camera, visit:
Shadow Shot of Hand
Took this last week in my backyard. The plan was to photograph the strawberry leaves, as some are now bright red, but I ended up playing hand shadows against the fence. Visit Hey Harriet for more Shadow Shots.
Review with Sufganiyot
Chanukah starts tonight.
On My Blog
Elsewhere in the Blogosphere
- Mother In Israel suggests linking to earlier posts – internal linking (she says it’s for beginners but I say it’s not just for beginners!).
- Ilana-Davita talks about Important School Subjects – what is included in your curriculum? What do you wish were included?
- Want to learn more about Chanukah along with your children? Jew Wishes has many recommendations.
- Rambling Woods says it’s cold and snowy in upstate New York. We just got tons of rain here in New Jersey.
- Reluctant Veggie: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Flamingo Musings: Chocolate Mint Cookies (and she’s got tons more cookie recipes)
- I am one of the finalists for New Jersey Social Media Hall of Fame 2009. When I learn how you can vote for me, I will tell you more.
Stars and Stripes Watercolor
With a name like stars and stripes in the title of this post, perhaps you were expecting something else? What do you see in this painting? It is a detail of the invitation we used for my older son’s bar-mitzvah in 2007.
If you don’t know the story (or can only guess the stripes), here’s a link to the parsha.
Shiitake Mushroom Soup in Red Bowl
I was in mood for a mushroom soup with no grains, and so I came up with this recipe. To photograph it for a post, I put in a red china bowl. This prompted my daughter to eat it; she insisted on eating it in the red china bowl. You see, presentation does count!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. shiitake mushrooms
- 8 oz. baby bell mushrooms
- 1 leek
- 1 zucchini (or substitute other greens, such as bits of kale or collards)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. mirin (rice wine – or substitute 1 tsp. dry wine)
- 1 tsp. miso
- chopped scallions
- 1 tsp. sea salt
How to Make the Soup
Saute the chopped onion in a bit of olive oil. Slit the leek in half; wash out any particles inside the leek. Cut in half and put in with the onion. Chop the zucchini and put it in with the onion. Add chopped mushrooms. Cover with water and add at least 1 cup more water. Cook until all is tender. Add sea salt and wine. Add miso at the end. Sprinkle with scallions and serve.
Yellow Fading Snapdragons
We had our first snow fall last night (really a sprinkling), and now my snapdragons are really fading.
Goodbye, colorful yellow and pink flowers that look like little bubbles. Come back in the spring. And bring the rudbeckia with you.
For more yellow photos, visit Mellow Yellow Monday:
Weekly Review with Iris
I decided to head this post with an iris from spring, because everything outside is brown or gray. Though my parsley is still bright green.
On My Blog
A quiet week on my blog: I plan to publish on Sunday a post on illustrators, some famous, some you can access now via blog, Twitter, website or Flickr.
Elsewhere in the Blogosphere
- Jewish Blog Carnivals: Batya has reported that Blog Carnival isn’t forwarding links. To participate in Haveil Haveilim, send links to shilohmuse at gmail dot com (today only). If you have a recipe for Kosher Cooking Carnival, send links to shira at seymourpr dot com. If you are a Jewish photo blogger, please send links to jpixcarnival at gmail dot com (you have until December 24).
- Jew Wishes is back to writing book reviews. Here’s one: Letters to My Father, by William Styron – letters written by Styron to his father, William C. Styron, Sr.
- Record Numbers of Turkish Jews Moving to Israel
- G6 asks some interesting questions about blogging and writing to your audience.
- I wrote a post on how to make fancy colored boxes in CSS – feel free to ask questions on my tech blog.