On this day in 1609 the Maharal of Prague, Rabbi Judah Loew Ben Bezalel, passed away: “…For many the Marhal’s greatest claim to fame was tied to a fictional creation called the Legend of the Golem. That legend is a medieval version of the story of Frankenstein, according to which the Maharal breathed life into a human-like figure by sticking a slip of paper with the Tetragrammaton to his forehead.”
I started working on my tech-business blog, and I wrote a whole post about it. On a piece of paper. That I haven’t re-read in over a week. Maybe I’ll have something coherent to say about my new upcoming blog on Sunday or Monday. Meanwhile, this existing blog is where I give myself permission to talk about struggle. Does one really have to present oneself as never struggling in order to be successful? I don’t think so.
Sky Watch Friday is a photo meme with photos of sunrises, sunsets, blue skies, gray skies, pink skies, dark skies and any other kind of sky posted by bloggers all over the planet.
View from the BeltParkway next to the Verrazano Bridge, Brooklyn
I took this photo from the car (I wasn’t driving, don’t worry), and it has less blur than many of my “from the car” photos. Toys R Us has a smart marketing department; the logo for Kohl’s, a store that sells discount clothing, does not stand out nearly as much.
My local birding expert thinks this is probably a laughing gull that I photographed at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge.
I learned a lot about birds at the museum near the Cape May lighthouse. Can anyone guess what this is for? OK, I’ll tell you: it’s for housing purple martins. Which apartment would you take if you were a purple martin? To me, a purple martin looks like someone dunked a bird in a oil slick.
This big stuffed thing in the museum was the closest I got to photographing an osprey.
Over the years I’ve met experienced homemakers who don’t save leftovers or store food safely. And many people never learned how to cook from scratch. I’m lucky to have learned kitchen management at home from the most efficient cook I’ve ever met–my mother Touby z”l.
Cookbooks are usually about buying a set of ingredients and following instructions. I like to look at the whole picture–starting with what you have in the house, then choosing recipes and meals according to your specific needs. I want to teach people how to get from menu planning and shopping through cooking and cleanup without becoming exhausted or throwing away half the food at the end.
I see CookingManager.Com as a legacy to my mother, who died almost twenty years ago. She developed a chronic illness that forced her to work using the minimum number of steps. My mother believed that resources, including time, money and energy, should never go to waste. Originally I thought about a book or a website, but since I’ve been blogging for several years I decided on this format.
Why did you set it up with self-hosted WordPress (as opposed to using Blogger or WordPress.com)?
Self-hosted WordPress is used by most successful bloggers. Blogger has little flexibility and WordPress.com’s free service doesn’t allow advertising. You have to pay for self-hosted WordPress, but you own your own content.No one can close you down, as has happened on free platforms. And WordPress is superior when it comes to getting traffic from search engines.
The difference between Blogger and self-hosted WordPress is like the difference between renting and owning a home: Owning is a responsibility and sometimes a headache, but a good investment and ultimately more satisfying.
Who is your target audience for your new blog?
Anyone who wants to save money and time when making home-cooked meals. It can be for people setting up a kitchen for the first time, growing families who find they spend too much on prepared food, or people on special diets who cannot use processed products.
What was the hardest part of setting up the blog?
I’m still intimidated by coding, design and technical details. Keeping up with my post schedule has been a challenge over the busy summer.
The fun parts?
Writing, and interacting with my readers. I love to help readers with their specific problems, like what kind of pressure cooker to buy or how to use meat drippings to flavor future recipes. One mother of eight wrote that she learns something new with every post. I am still finding my voice on CookingManager.Com, so if you have questions come join the conversation while my audience is still small. ๐
If someone wants to set up a professional blog, how can one get advice on doing so?
Most people offering professional advice also have a public website. Before spending money, spend time on a few different sites to see if the style and focus is right for you. I highly recommend Leora, who advised me on setting up the WordPress blogs and designed the banner for A Mother in Israel. I also like Problogger.net, DailyBlogTips.com, and Nice2All.Com.
Don’t worry about missing a great offer as there will always be another one. If you don’t want to spend you can find hundreds, if not thousands, of free WordPress marketing articles and tutorials including WordPress.org, an active forum that helped me numerous times.
Has using Twitter helped promote your new site?
I haven’t developed my Twitter account much yet,( twitter.com/cookingManager), but I plan to. In the meantime I use it mostly for posting links to new posts. You can follow me both there and at @mominisrael, where I tweet more often.
Are you looking for guest posts for your site? What kind of posts would you like? Mimi at Israeli Kitchen contributed a delicious chick pea recipe, and I would love to have more. I’m not a “foodie,” but I’ve realized that readers appreciate simple recipes too. And a few have sent me their own recipes to publish. See the tab “Submit Recipe” on the front page.
What are some of your favorite posts on the new site? Why are these your favorites?
On Sunday I write about kitchen appliances and equipment. My mother was an energy conservationist before it came in style, and taught me about knowing your appliances and using them wisely. It’s something that not all home cooks think about.
Leora, thank you so much for the interview. I’m looking forward to feedback from your readers.
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Leora’s Note: This post was updated with Hannah’s new header and blog layout. The header was designed by Leora.
Waves against the Rocks by the Beach at Cape May, August 2009
Because we vacationed between two hurricanes (neither of which came ashore in the U.S. but they do produce waves and rain), we had the lucky experience of beautiful weather and frolicking waves (can waves frolic? – consider this as anthropomorphism). A year-round resident of Cape May told me the waves are usually quite gentle (i.e., boring to my boys).
I had a whole slew of scenic Cape May photos I wanted to post for Ruby Tuesday yesterday; however, life (family, work, and need for sleep) got in the way, so I am glad next Monday is Labor Day and I look forward to posting them for next week’s Ruby Tuesday meme.
Lighthouse in Cape May, taken from Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge
Cape May is quite scenic, with open space and natural beauty. I took this shot from the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge using the Landscape setting on my camera, which tends to enrich blues and greens and compensate for distance. After visiting the refuge, we headed to the lighthouse. My seven-year-old daughter did not want to climb 200 steps, so with some trepidation I handed my camera to my twelve-year-old and asked him to take photos from the top. I think he did quite well, but I wish I had left the camera on Landscape instead of Auto. Auto seems to look a bit washed out on such a bright day. Here are three of his photos:
Those red bars are protective bars on the walkways of the lighthouse. Rather artsy shot, no?
For more photos of summer stock fun, visit Robin at Around the Island.
There is an upcoming Jewish Bloggers Convention in Israel on September 13, 2009. I would like to nominate two bloggers for the convention: Soccer Dad and Baila.
I am nominating Soccer Dad for many of the reasons Batya wrote on this post. Besides founding Haveil Havalim, he has participated in the other two Jewish blog carnivals, JPIX and Kosher Cooking Carnival (which he has also hosted). I see from this post many others agree with this nomination.
As to Baila, she writes it well herself: “Two years ago my family and I arrived in Israel on the same NBN flight–the last one of the summer. I was in shell-shock. We had just come off a really tough time with Liat being so ill that year. I was numb throughout the flight and have since said, I wish I could do it again without all the “baggage”–so to speak. This would be my chance.” Who else of the Jewish women bloggers has this kind of energy and enthusiasm to help others with their aliyah experience? Besides, I think she would be best at breaking it gently to all those new families that they will not be able to purchase baby carrots in their local supermarket.
Today and yesterday I started and finished reading Roommates: My Grandfather’s Story by Max Apple. Great book, it was written prior to I Love Gootie about his grandmother, which I previously reviewed. Max lived with his grandfather (Rocky, shortened from Yerachmiel) when he was in graduate school. After he gets married and has two kids, his wife becomes terminally ill, and his grandfather, by then over 100, steps in to help. A bittersweet tale of closeness between the generations, the grandfather is at the same time tough and stubborn and caring and fun. Here’s what Max hears about Rocky’s trip to Jerusalem in 1968:
Rocky didn’t find any synagogue that satisfied him, but there were so many that he complained about a different one each day.
We visited the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge this morning. My kids basically rushed through the whole trail walk, eager to be finish what their mom looked forward to viewing the most on our little vacation. But at least they were good sports about it. I would have enjoyed having you, my blog readers, there, so you could help me with photography tips and identifying the birds and the flowers. And just generally enjoying looking. Lots of beautiful scenery.
So, please raise your hand if you know what kind of butterfly this is. Please raise it even higher if you can name the pretty purple wildflower (to me it looks like purple ageratum). Stomp your feet on the ground if you like looking for butterflies. Or photographing wildflowers.
He thought he saw an Albatross
That fluttered round the lamp:
He looked again, and found it was
A Penny-Postage Stamp.
โYouโd best be getting home,โ he said:
โThe nights are very damp!โ
I’ve been lurking at a photo meme called Ellipsis Monday. I found it because EG Wow! sometimes participates. Anywhooo, we get to Cape May, a beautiful, old fashioned town at the bottom of the New Jersey coastline and what do I photograph: someone’s laundry so I can participate in this meme. Sorry, no detergent was seen at the scene.
I did also happen to get some nature, beach, arcade, zoo, Victorian houses, lighthouse, birds, wildflowers, butterfly and other shots. Stay tuned.
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Today and yesterday I started and finished reading Roommates: My Grandfather’s Story by Max Apple. Great book, it was written prior to I Love Gootie about his grandmother, which 
