Bake the squash in the oven for at least an hour or until tender. Cut it in half. Take out the seeds. Scoop pieces of the squash to mix with the stuffing (I didn’t do this, but I wish I did). Saute the onion until translucent. Add chopped mushroom and celery; continue cooking until soft. Mix in matza, thyme and bits of squash. Stuff it in the squash. At this point, you can bake it in the oven. However, what I did was put it on the warming tray for 3 hours. Serves two.
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In other news, please enjoy this week’s edition of Haveil Havalim, brought to you by the Real Shaliach. Mother in Israel will be hosting the Kosher Cooking Carnival on her blog this coming Wednesday, April 22. That is why I am taking out the time late on Sunday night to type all this up instead of relaxing downstairs with my husband. When I hit Publish, that’s where I am headed. Have a good night!
Blogger vs. WordPress.com: A comprehensive look at the two free blogging platforms (the chart is a bit difficult to read, but information is good. I like the factors in the left column; may use some of these for a WordPress vs. Drupal post)
Note: I use a wordpress.org installation on my own website, so that is different than using those free systems that are hosting on someone else’s website
There is a custom called gebrochts, in which some Ashkenazi Jews do not eat soaked matza during Pesach. This means not eating matzo balls on Pesach, for example. Custom stringencies vary; for example, some families do not eat cream cheese on matzah. Mrs. S. posts about eating gebrochts the week after Pesach; sounds like this is her own innovation and a good way to use up the leftover matzah.
Rick Black, a friend, local Highland Park resident and award-winning poet, emailed me that his brother is the creator of the Jewish Writing Project. I guess the creativity gene runs in his family.
Here is an event that is going on in Highland Park: a Found Objects Art Show (click to enlarge). What is a Found Object Art Show? I’m not quite sure, but Pino’s is right in the center of Highland Park, so I think I should be able to attend and find out. Rick Black of www.turtlelightpress.com sent me this poster. The poster is by Bill Bonner.
Yesterday my daughter and I (and her friend and her friend’s sister and her friend’s mom, who arranged the whole trip) went to New York City. When you are six years old, this is a real adventure. I enjoy when my daughter is inspired, awed, and thrilled with a trip. The top photo was taken outside Macy’s; to me, it says “Spring in New York City.”
Our first stop after riding a double-decker New Jersey transit car (we rode on the top level) and venturing through Penn Station, a sight in itself if you don’t have to go there every day was Macy’s, for the Macy’s Flower Show. As you may be able to see above, the flowers were situated above the stations that sell jewelry. Tours were going round every half hour explaining the different flowers on display. My daughter took a photo of one of the three flowered flamingos (I’ll save that photo for a future post, as it needs a bit of Photoshop work to cut off someone’s head that shouldn’t have been in the composition). I didn’t care for the noise inside Macy’s, but I did enjoy when the perfume ladies gave their scented cards to my curious and inquisitive daughter (she learn to ask for a card with a perfume scent after the first two were handed to her).
Here is a hint of the Barnum Bailey Circus at Madison Square Garden; more about the circus in a future post (or two or three).
Passover has been, well, a bit of a distraction for me. And blogging seems to have fallen to low priority, after cooking, sleeping, working, entertaining my daughter, washing dishes, baking potato kugel with my eldest son, brownies with my middle son, a nut jam cake with my daughter after she found out I already made a sponge cake without her.
So here is a list of what I might blog about in the future, maybe:
Differences (and similarities) between Drupal and WordPress
Synagogues in Far Rockaway (and how the young women in the White Shul wear black and I’m glad I live in Highland Park)
Any new drawing by my daugher for a new What Do You See post
My upcoming library talks with Eva Abreu at Highland Park Public Library, Edison Public Library and Franklin Township Public Library. See Eva’s Tour Schedule for more details and other featured speakers.
If I am organized enough, maybe I will post about Spring in New York City before 7 pm this evening. In case I don’t make it to that post, enjoy the rest of Pesach if you are celebrating. Everyone, take a few minutes to note any signs of spring in your neighborhood. If you are living in Australia and you happen to read this post, feel free to share signs of autumn.
My neighbor's red tulip, March 2009
Do you ever feel like you really should be doing X (whatever your X may be), but instead you take out a few minutes to put together a post for Ruby Tuesday? I really should be getting ready for Passover, but I know I won’t have time next week (I’m taking my daughter to the circus on Monday, and on Tuesday I must get ready for the last days of Passover). Maybe I’ll have circus pics in two weeks? We’ll see.
Pictured is the first red tulip in my neighbor’s garden. Two years ago he planted similar tulips, and last year I painted this watercolor in response to his lovely tulips:
Forsythia, March 2009
Last month I was hard-pressed to find any flowers to post for Today’s Flowers. This past week I photographed so many on my block alone! Daffodils, anemones, some little pink ground cover, a little red tulip, vinca, and magnolia blooms. I saw a bleeding heart opening up a few blocks away. Can anyone identify the blue flowers on Friday’s post?
Pictured is a forsythia bloom taken last week in my backyard. Ilana-Davita showed forsythia in her Nature Notes post last week, and she writes a bit about forsythia, a flower known as a harbinger of spring.
