How pretty when the buds of my chrysanthemum start to show red. Last week, those buds were closed and green.
This sole red petunia graces the front of my front yard. My other petunias are mostly fuchsia.
This is what the men in my family (my husband and two sons) were doing while I photographed fall flowers – they were taking down our sukkah, the temporary dwelling that we eat in for one week each fall. At this point, all the decorations were already down. The panels are sort of red – a brown that is a cousin of red, perhaps.
I made this cake last week, and oo la la, was it yummy. Here’s the recipe: take my orange cake recipe and throw in a pint of blueberries.
And perhaps this week I will make mabul cake. A friend just told me how to marbleize cake: pour in the white batter. Pour the chocolate batter in stripes over the white batter. Move a knife back and forth in the opposite direction of the chocolate stripes. Will it work? Advice welcome.
Two weeks ago we went apple picking (at Terhune Orchards near Princeton, New Jersey), and I made a cake using this recipe (but without the nuts). I am planning to make an apple pie this week.
I invented this recipe because I have lots of basil in my garden. I discovered meatloaf freezes well, so I made it today, and I will serve it to my guests this coming Shabbat.
Ingredients:
1 lb. chopped meat
1 handful or more of basil leaves, chopped
1 onion
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup matza meal
2 eggs (if the mixture looks dry, add a 3rd egg)
seasoning (use any or all of these): salt, pepper, cinnamon, dried ginger, cumin, coriander, allspice, nutmeg, crushed clove
How to Make the Meatloaf:
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Transfer to a baking dish – I used a covered casserole dish, but a loaf pan with aluminum foil covering is fine. Bake for 1 hour at 350°.
Leftovers: If you happen to have leftovers, warm up half a jar of tomato sauce and throw in the leftovers. You can add more fresh basil, if you have. I served this on spaghetti, and my daughter said it tasted like special restaurant food.
This beautiful tune, El Nora Alila, is sung at Congregation Etz Ahaim in Highland Park at nei’la time, the last prayer of Yom Kippur. My husband said the first tune on this video, the Turkish one, is the melody used at our synagogue, which makes sense since it was founded by immigrants from Salonika and Turkey.
Hat Tip: a friend who used to belong to Congregation Etz Ahaim and now lives in Israel; and another friend who was pleased to hear it sung at his father’s Reform temple in a suburb north of New York City.
