Balloon Takes Off

What do you think of when you see a balloon escaping into the sky?

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Branch and Leaf on Meadows Trail

Way back in January, my daughter and I went for a walk on the Meadows trail near Donaldson Park. The trail was cleared back in 2006, and it is a nice stroll through the woods. I like this photo and wanted to share it; it looks a bit like the branches of the raspberry bushes in my backyard. It was a snow-less winter in New Jersey, and I think this photo reflects that sort of empty brownness that we had instead.

I haven’t been able to get into nature much recently myself (other than my yard), as I’ve been taking care of my father who is 82 and has needed a lot of help lately. We are working on getting him a new living situation. Balancing work and my regular family duties with this has taken a lot of my time and energy.

Night Out in Highland Park

One of the benefits of living in a small town like Highland Park, New Jersey are the events like the recent one for National Night Out. Night Out in Highland Park was celebrated with booths, balloons and fun activities for kids.

It was cool to watch kids scampering up this climbing tower.

There were announcers in the back calling out names of various winners of prizes. Local businesses had donated the prizes.

My favorite part of the evening was the dunking booth. Later in the evening, after I had left, the person sitting in the dunking booth was Mayor Gary Minkoff, but I had already gone home by then. One of my friends said her son managed to dunk Mayor Gary on his first throw. Great shot!

The fire trucks were fun to view. I’m not sure how to show this image – horizontally or vertically. Looks like it really belongs at an angle.

Does your area have local events? What kinds? Which ones do you enjoy most?

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Johnson Park and Delaware & Raritan Canal

I visited the Piscataway end of Johnson Park at the end of July. It was a super hot day (there are a lot of those this summer), but I enjoyed taking shots of the trees in the distance.

When I got to the edge of the Raritan River that borders the park, I noticed you could see the Delaware & Raritan Canal on the other side. I thought: aha! that would be good subject matter for a post. Maybe it will get a little less hot, and I’ll go to take some photos of the canal itself. You can see from the three people on this canal photo that the canal is a fun place to hike and bike. There’s a lot of history behind the canal, constructed in 1834, that went all the way from New Brunswick (that’s this end of the canal) to Trenton, which is close to Philadelphia.

These geese are regular residents of Johnson Park.

Chicken, Ginger and Cabbage

One friend thought I was vegan because I only post pareve recipes on my blog. I do have this one recipe for chicken stuffing, but in an effort to prove that I do eat chicken I wrote up one of my favorite chicken recipes. It is a stir-fry of chicken, ginger and cabbage. Last week was the Nine Days, and observant Jews do not eat meat or chicken during this period of mourning (mourning the loss of the Temple in Jerusalem and many other sad events in Jewish history, such as the massacre in York in 1190 C.E.). My children were very happy to resume eating meat on Monday (nahamu, nahumu– comfort, as the saying goes), and we have had this chicken dish twice this week (as well as other carnivorous goodies). I had leftover chicken I needed to use up – this is a delicious way to deal with the leftover chicken problem.

Chicken, Ginger and Cabbage Ingredients

• Three to four pieces of leftover chicken, taken off the bone and chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1 Tbsp. virgin coconut oil
• 1 Tbsp. chopped ginger root
• 1/2 head of cabbage, chopped (I use savoy cabbage)
• 1 tsp. tamari (or soy sauce) or to taste
• Optional: bits of chopped kale
• 1 large fry pan or wok

Cut up the chicken into pieces. Put the coconut oil in the pan and warm it up. Add the chicken, then the chopped ginger and stir. Chop the cabbage and add to the pan. Add tamari sauce. If you like, sprinkle a few cut pieces of kale as well. Cook until cabbage is tender. Serve on a bed of brown rice, though my daughter who doesn’t like rice eats it straight. My son who doesn’t care for the cabbage picks out the chicken. I have been known to pick away at the cabbage, leaving the chicken for others.