Sukkah 2008; painting of grapes in the corner
Batya has done three blog carnivals this month, and her final one is the 46th edition of the Kosher Cooking Carnival. Some of the highlights include Zwetschgenkuchen, the relationship between solet and semolina, and whether it is better to have insects and or insecticides (I’ll take the bugs, thank you very much – no insecticide for me – soap sometimes can drown aphids, that’s as far as I get). We mostly get bees in our sukkah; I think the nastier bugs have gone South by the time Sukkot comes.
As this coming week is Sukkot, I suspect many of you celebrating this upcoming holiday are (again) meal planning and cooking? What’s on the menu? I’m hoping to make an apple pie, and I also plan to make strawberry cashew pudding (another recipe from Klara). The pudding, if all goes well, will become a post, too.
Rudbeckia or black-eyed susans in September 2009
By the end of September my rudbeckia develop a worn look but also a reddish glow inside the yellow petals. Marigolds pop up between the rudbeckia and are looking well, with their ruffles of orange and yellow.
Quinoa Salad with Carrots, Kale and AlmondsI got this recipe for crunchy quinoa salad from Klara. In my own style, I changed it a bit. You can do the same when you try it.
Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
1.5 cups water (I used leftover broccoli broth)
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup shredded carrots
handful of shredded kale
1/2 cup chopped almonds
2 chopped scallions or 1 small sweet onion (I used a chopped sweet onion)
1/4 cup mekabu
(tiny wakame – use whatever seaweed you have available – Klara’s recipe used arame; you probably need to soak it first)
Dressing, optional:
A few tsps. tamari
A few tsps. mirin (rice wine – Eden makes one with an O-K – a specialty product that is DE-licious)
1/4 tahini (I didn’t use – I don’t like tahini, but maybe you do)
Soak the nuts earlier in the day. Rinse the quinoa, cook it in water or broth, add a bit of salt. Shred the carrots and put them on top of the almost cooked quinoa. Ground up the nuts. Put shredded kale and all other ingredients on top and cook a bit more until the kale is soft.
May be served served warm or at room temperature. Enjoy your quinoa salad!
Nothing marks early fall more than my maroon chrysanthemum in bloom.
I played detective to determine what kind of tree this is that grows in my neighbor’s front yard. I had photographed it last June when it had all those white floppy petals. Now it has these orange hanging balls.
I typed “white flowers petals orange balls” and “big petals white flowers tree” into Google. That second search brought me to a forum of plant identification, and someone suggested “cornus kousa.” The rest was easy; I put that phrase in Google images, and up came both my petals and my orange bally “fruit.”
I met Sheila of NJ Playgrounds via Twitter (she’s njplaygrounds), and I enjoyed her posts on parks and playgrounds here in New Jersey. She also introduced me to the Atahualpa theme for WordPress, one that I recommend if you want a dynamic theme that will do a lot without creating your own. I admire her for starting a website business while raising small children. Enjoy the interview, and please click on the screenshot at the top of the post to visit her site.
1) How did you get the idea for NJ Playgrounds?
It was simmering for a while. I wanted to find a good meeting place for a bunch of moms from Union County that were posting about a playdate and was surprised to see that the internet didn’t have good information on playgrounds in general. I knew that playground information is helpful for me as a new mom, and thought why not share it when I get it?
2) What did you do before you had kids?
I had graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology with a B.E. in Chemical Engineering, but never practiced engineering per se. I began a career in explosives trace detection involved in everything from product support, training, sales, evaluations, and then right before 9-11, I took the position as the FAA Program Manager. The following years were incredibly active and had to travel quite a bit. I’m glad I was able to do this even though it was so busy, I missed my husband but I was able to work with such great people and it really helped me grow personally and professionally.
3) How would you like to see NJ Playgrounds grow? What ideas do you have for your site?
Ultimately I’d like to see NJ Playgrounds take on a life of its own, and be community driven. Making it easy for people to contribute, but also make sure that the information is what people are looking for. I think that there can be too much information, and filtering it, making it easy for the reader is one of the things I’m focusing on next. One of my pet projects for this fall/winter is getting a summary of all NJ Indoor Playgrounds, play areas, storytimes, children museums in one page but easily categorized. It has started, and we’ve got some great feedback already. Also, just started a Pioneer of the month to highlight the efforts of one person or organization that has transformed their community in NJ. Change isn’t easy and we support those who take it on.
I’m also in discussion with another playground maven who does the paper version of NJ playgrounds. She is an amazing person so I’m hoping our focus and goals line up so we can partner together. As most people can relate, doing everything yourself can limit you, especially when you have your own limits with time and money. I’m hoping to branch out a bit. Some advertising dollars wouldn’t hurt either.
4) Can you give advice to someone who wants to start a blog or website?
Ask yourself some questions first, like
Who is the blog for?
Who is your audience?
What is your purpose?
Are you passionate about it? If yes, write it down, focus, and then let it rip.
It helps to take on something that fills a void. There is nothing wrong with the tons of blogs out there already, but if you do want to stand out, you may want to find a void in a specific area, chances are other people feel that void too. I always think about how will my blog/website service others? And it can be anything, laughter, information, support, music, art, tips…
Once you get the idea, then you can start looking at the mechanics of a blog. Get dreamhost or Godaddy for hosting and domain name, check out wordpress.org, download it and then I just follow @leoraw for my wordpress tips. ๐
On a side note, I completely agree with Hannah’s assessment on WordPress, it truly has been a blessing. I get about 70% of my traffic via search engine. Can be a headache when you own your own site, but you have complete control. It’s been great.
Although I’ve left my work identity behind, I do truly enjoy working with adults and freelancing/blogging has allowed me to kinda stay in touch with the working world. It has helped me stay sane, and as I take my kids to new places, it’s like a bonus that I can share it with others. Raising my kids comes first but offering something that is helpful to other moms makes me feel like I’m contributing to society.
6) What are some of your favorite posts/articles?
Although playground posts are pretty dry, I’ve enjoyed a few biggest and best- highlighting our favorites:
Indoor playgrounds featuring a map that is edited as people send me suggestions.
7) How has Twitter helped your blog/website?
It really has helped me branch out and although I don’t get much traffic from twitter per se I’ve been able to network and meet people who lead me to some solutions and advice. I met my playground twin in CA, OCPlayParks, who I still want to chat with soon. She’s done a similar thing with Orange County Parks, in CA and is quite an amazing person. I learned about the mapping program through her and her site.
Raspberry in our backyard, September 2009
We still have plenty of raspberries in our backyard. One of the great things about raspberries and kids is that it gets them to enjoy the “fruits” of the garden in a tangible and edible manner.
Radishes at the Highland Park Farmer Market
I took some photos at the Highland Park Farmer’s Market last Friday.
Lettuce at the Farmer's MarketFrom heirloom to cherry to yellow, take your pick of tomato!
