I saw this ball rolling on the street outside the library, and I snapped the photo, not knowing I would get a moment when it lifted off the ground. Seems like a slice-of-life moment, perfect for Straight-Out-Of-the-Camera.
Hummus doesn’t have to be bright green. Indeed, classical hummus is usually tan in color. But when you add a handful of fresh parsley (or basil or scallions), you will have a chickpea paste in a pleasant shade of green.
Note: this recipe creates a small amount – to make more, double, triple or quadruple it.
Soak the chickpeas for at least four hours or overnight. Cook the chickpeas, covered with water, in a crockpot until tender (a few hours in my crockpot). Optionally, you can add a stamp size piece of seaweed for extra minerals and a bit of flavor. You can also add some sea salt while the chickpeas are cooking (add salt toward the end of the cooking). When the chickpeas are ready, drain the water, reserving a bit in case you want to use it to moisten the hummus. Blend in a food processor the chickpeas, peeled garlic cloves, tahini, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. If you want regular hummus, you are now done. Take the leaves off the stems of the parsley and add the leaves to the hummus, blending them until you have a smooth, green paste. If you would like it to be smoother or softer, add some of the chickpea water. I love a homemade hummus that has the consistency of ice cream.
One of my guests remarked that it looked like wasabi. The homemade green hummus went well with the homemade pita bread that I served at our Chanukah party last night.
Have you ever made homemade hummus?
On Tuesday night, the first night of Chanukah, the daughter, her friend and I wandered over to our local Highland Park Dunkin’ Donuts for a Rutgers Hillel candle lighting. We just went because it was a convenient time while we were waiting for the rest of the family to come home. The guitar playing and singing were quite nice, and thank you to Rabbi Esther Reed of Rutgers Hillel for the role she played in organizing the event. It was a fun way to start Chanukah.
Olive Oil Salad Dressings – a healthy Chanukah treat
It’s been a while since I’ve done Nature Notes – I could blame both my work load and the gloom of early December darkness, cold and brown. Today it was a tad warmer, and I went outside to photograph some burnt red bald cypress leaves – instead, I found this snapdragon plant with bright green leaves and drops of rain water.
I have an idea for next week’s Nature Notes, but I need your help. Can you tell me which of Michelle’s many topics were your favorite(s) in the past year? Shh… don’t tell Michelle. Oh, is she reading this? Well, anyway, your comments on Best Rambling Woods Nature Topics are requested.
The game of dreidel (yiddish – the Hebrew is sivivon) is associated with Chanukah because when the Assyrian Greeks came to see if the Jews were studying Torah, a practice which was banned, the Jews would take out the spinning top and play that game instead. The four Hebrew letters on the dreidel are Nun, Gimel, Heh and Shin – short for Nes Gadol Hayah Sham (a great miracle happened there). In Israel the dreidel has a Peh instead of the Shin, for Nes Gadol Hayah Po (a great miracle happened here).
There is a game with the dreidel that involves pennies and taking the pot of pennies if you get a gimel, giving it in if you get a shin, half the pot for heh, but it is all luck. My kids just spin them and spin them and spin them. What do you do with your dreidels?
I did the above drawing with black marker, then I colored it in with Photoshop. I promised my daughter she could color in the original with colored pencil. If she does, I will post that version as well.