Leora

Macro of the Giant Peach

peach
OK, it’s a regular-sized peach, but I liked the title.

peach skin
I bought these peaches at the farmer’s market on Friday.

For more macros, visit Macro Monday:
Macro Monday

Uncle Sam and Baby Robin

Uncle Sam at the Highland Park Street Fair
Way back in May I took this photo of Uncle Sam at the Highland Park Street Fair. The fair always seems to announce, summer is coming, summer is coming.

uncle sam points
My daughter and I enjoyed roaming Raritan Avenue and taking in all the many booths. As you can see from her pink sweater, it wasn’t exactly summer weather.

baby robin
The highlight of my summer thus far is the nest of robins growing on our front porch. Here’s a shot of a baby from last week. This week the robins already have many feathers and don’t seem as scared as they did earlier.

Split Vav in Peace

split vav

Yesterday Rabbi Bassous talked about the split vav in the parsha of Pinchas. It is the only case in the Torah of a letter being split.

יב לָכֵן, אֱמֹר: הִנְנִי נֹתֵן לוֹ אֶת-בְּרִיתִי, שָׁלוֹם.
Wherefore say: Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace;

The rabbi explained that it is to show us one cannot achieve peace through violence. (Of course, he said much more, but I can’t repeat what he said without misquoting or taking it totally out of context. So I will leave just this piece for you to ponder and explore on your own).

Review with Orange Lilies

orange lilies in front of yellow rudbeckia

On My Blog

robin crying with open mouth rudbeckia being held with fingers leora camping mizuna roof in illustrator daisy like flower tiny weed bud in July of rhododendron sauerkraut made with red cabbage elegant woman in pink painting

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

Rudbeckia in the Hand

rudbeckia being held with fingers
I had some shots of my rudbeckia (black eyed susans) even closer up, but I found this one in particular to be a charming composition. The black eyed susans grow all over my front yard. I encourage them (by not picking the little seedlings when the full grown plant self seeds).

For more macro shots, visit Macro Monday.

Mizuna – Purplish Green Edible Leaves

mizuna

Every week of the summer on Fridays there is a Highland Park Farmer’s Market. I often go to the organic stand first, and for the past few weeks I’ve been looking at the mizuna. This Friday I finally bought some, and I sauteed it in olive oil and a bit of sea salt. It was very tasty; however, I only washed it twice under the faucet. I should have let it soak – it was a bit gritty, the way leeks sometimes are. Now I know for next time.

For more Summer Stock photos:
Summer Stock Sunday

For more Straight Out of the Camera:
Straight Out of the Camera Sunday

Elegant Woman in Pink Painting

elegant woman painting
Elegant Woman in Pink, painting by my daughter, June 2011

My daughter painted this elegant woman in pink in her art class with teacher Jill Caporlingua. Jill has a Facebook page for her students’ art work – if you go to http://www.facebook.com/gallerychaos2, you can see many paintings by a variety of students of all ages.

If you or a friend has a small business, you can learn how to put up a Facebook business page by reading Ease of a Facebook Business Page.

And I usually wait until Friday to link to other bloggers’ posts, but I did so enjoy these drawings for Jewish months by two of Mrs. S.’s children.

Roof Goes Up in Illustrator

roof illustration
Roof of house and second floor, too

I have been painstakingly working on a project to illustrate three roofs (typical of Highland Park house roofs). Before Pesach (way back in March?) I photographed many of the roofs on our block. I’ve been sketching them, and I finally “put up” one roof today in Illustrator (using the pen tool), and here is the result. My plan is to do three of these, each one unique but about the same size. Then I will play with them in Photoshop, adding color, texture and details. And maybe a watercolor look with a Photoshop watercolor brush or two.

As you, the readers of this blog, are my cheering squad, I decided I would share with you this one black and white frame of a roof.

Rhododendron of July

wet rhododendron leaves in July
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.

bud in July of rhododendron
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:
first of the month

Simple Summer Salads

salad bowl watercolor
Salad Bowl watercolor on paper, June 2011 by Leora Wenger

Thanks to all who participated in the simple summer salad hunt. The treasures are many!

Vegetable Salads

Whole Grain Salads

Ingredients that might work in a salad

  • Croutons, homemade croutons
  • Raisins, craisins
  • Steamed cauliflower or brussel sprouts: both taste good cold or room-temperature the next day.
  • Grated carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Cucumbers
  • Fresh herbs: parsley, basil, dill, oregano
  • Lettuce: romaine, green leafy, red leafy
  • Spinach leaves
  • Endives, raddichio
  • Purslane

Carrot Salads

Beet Salads

  • 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.
  • Cooking Manager: Marinated Beet Salad with Ginger and Garlic

Potato Salads

Light Meal Salads

Bean Salads

Spreads

Fermented Salads

  • Sauerkraut
  • Pickles – you can pickle any vegetable: cauliflower, parsnips, turnips, beets, garlic, radish or cucumbers

Salads with Cheese

  • Cooking Manager: Greek Salad with Feta Cheese and Olives
  • Baroness Tapuzina: Baby Lettuce Salad with Pears, Blue Cheese and Candied Walnuts
  • Robin’s Watermelon Salad:

    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.

Notes from friends:

“For an Asian slaw…include pickled ginger & mint”

“Orzo salad -orzo, diced cucumber, sliced scallions, diced oil-cured olives, chopped fresh mint, olive oil and lemon juice.”

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