I am always late to the photo meme first of the month. I took these photos on Sunday, July 3, and it’s almost July 5th when they are going online. It was raining and pouring and drizzling on Sunday, so the wet adds a nice look to the shrub.
As the rhododendron bloomed in mid May, there is a part of me that is ready to move to a different theme for first of the month. I did learn this month that the rhododendron forms new buds quickly, as you can see in the above photo. I have been considering photographing one particular shelf of my kitchen. When August comes, you will find out if I go through with that plan.
For more photos that are (close to) first of the month:
Beets: If you are in the kitchen anyway, boil some fresh beets. They take 1.5 hours to cook (quicker with a pressure cooker), but most of your work time is spent cutting the ends of the beets off before cooking and peeling after cooking (10 minutes). You can mix them with cucumbers, olive oil and dill right before serving.
Avocado: Buy an avocado or two a few days in advance. When it is ripe, wash and mix in salt, lemon juice (we have lemon juice in bottle so as not to squeeze lemon on Shabbat), possibly some hot sauce or spices.
Prep Time: 15 minutes / Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp. tequila, optional (I left this out)
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• dash white pepper
• 1/8 tsp. tabasco sauce
• 1 medium-sized watermelon, cut into cubes
• 1 cup 5% Bulgarian cheese, cubed (or feta or Roquefort)
Preparation:
Mix first 6 ingredients in small bowl and stir to dissolve honey. Taste for seasoning, cover, and chill for 1-2 hours to blend flavors.
To serve, mix watermelon and cheese. Pour sauce over and mix well.
Fireworks 2010 July 4th Asbury Park Beach
Last year we watched the fireworks on Asbury Park beach. This year we plan to travel to Donaldson Park (a five minute drive from home) to watch the local fireworks show. My daughter and I have planned a picnic dinner – she and my son remember being hungry last year on the beach and watching others with their picnic feasts.
If you don’t live in the U.S.A., on what occasions do you get to see fireworks?
Salad Bowl watercolor on paper, June 2011 by Leora Wenger
Thanks to everyone who inspired me to paint by responding to my Simple Summer Salad Hunt. Results of the hunt (and feel free to add more salad ideas to this post) will be posted next week. A funny anecdote on this painting: my husband was trying to figure out if we have bowl that looks like this blue starred bowl. I told him no, I just made it up. Poetic/artistic license.
I am looking for links to wonderful summer salads or spreads (vegan or pareve, please) – I plan to do a post next week with a list of these salads. Here are two examples to wet your appetite:
Ilana-Davita presents a lovely currant cake recipe. We don’t see many red currants in New Jersey – I suggest trying the cake with blueberries. I did find an article about red currants suggesting they do exist in New Jersey. I can ask the farmers at our local Highland Park Farmer’s Market. Ilana-Davita says she doesn’t see many blueberries in her part of France. According to this redcurrant Wikipedia article, the North American currants may not taste as good as those of Western Europe.
Ingredients
one pound of red currants
3 Tbsp spelt flour (yes, just that small amount of flour is needed)
1 pinch of salt
3 large eggs
3 Tbsp natural cane sugar
1 glass (appr. 200ml) of buttermilk or milk substitute such as almond milk or oat milk
1 pkt of vanilla sugar (may use vanilla extract)
Mix the flour and salt with the eggs. Add the sugar and milk. Grease a baking pan and lay the currants at the bottom. Add the batter and sprinkle with the vanilla sugar. Bake for 45 minutes at 360°F.
This recipe is my mom’s but I have changed it slightly. She uses plain sugar and flour and mixes the vanilla sugar with the rest of the batter.
This cake reminds me of Mollie Katzen’s Cranapple-Walnut Cake – I used to make that one with whatever fruit I had available. As Mollie noted at the head of the page: “~very moist ♥♥♥.”
And because Ilana-Davita took such a red photo of currants, I am submitting this to Ruby Tuesday:
My suburban example is watermelon at the annual Congregation Etz Ahaim picnic in Johnson Park, New Jersey.
This woman in New York City was accompanied by two men also dressed in black, funny outfits. No idea what they were trying to sell. They did get a lot of people’s attention.
detail of still life oil painting by Elaine Wenger
This is a detail of a still life painting by my mother, Elaine Wenger.
This week I converted my blog to what is known as Responsive Web Design – in other words, the blog should look good both on large windowed browsers and on small mobile phones. You can see what I mean by shrinking the corner of the browser page.
Elsewhere in the Blogosphere
First, I want to show you Robin’s cherries. This luscious photograph inspired a whole post that is still in my head. I will let you know if the post becomes reality. Speaking of Robin, if you have summery photos, you might want to participate in Summer Stock Sunday.
