Today I visited Rutgers Gardens with my friend Hannah Katsman. I don’t know the name of these delightful purple flowers, but I nicknamed them pom pom flowers (maybe Gomphrena globosa). My photograph originally had more blur in front; I cropped out some of the front flowers. Now you can see more of the blur of the background flowers.
Hannah has a good eye, and thus twice we saw chipmunks. Chipmunks are quick and thus a subject for movement. His eyes were white from my flash, so I toned them down a bit with some brown. I hope it doesn’t look unnatural.
This was the other chipmunk we saw. Here we have a little more of our theme: as the chipmunk moves away, I get blur in my photo.
Thursday Challenge theme is: “BLURRY” (Unfocused, Moving, Foggy,…)
Next Week: LANDSCAPE (Mountains, Trees, Forest, Lake,…)
I’ll post more photos from today’s trip next week for Nature Notes. See an older post of Rutgers Gardens (or click the tag at the bottom for many Rutgers Gardens posts).
I finished reading In The Courtyard Of The Kabbalist by Ruchama King Feuerman, and I hope to write a review soon. I’m sure at this point the review will happen after Ruchama gives her talk at the Highland Park Public Library this Thursday.
Enjoy these easy-to-cook, delicious curried beans. You can adjust the flavorings as you like.
1 cup cooked beans (I found one cup uncooked beans, after cooking, made about two cups cooked) or 1 can of beans
1 tsp. coconut oil
tsp. chopped ginger root (cut off the peel first, then chop the ginger into little squares)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. coriander
salt and pepper to taste
optional: 1 tsp. chopped onion
optional: 1 or 2 carrots, chopped into little circles or into tiny squares
optional: a piece of kombu or wakame (seaweed)
garnish with parsley, coriander, basil or your favorite fresh herb
Soak the beans overnight. I’ve used great northern beans (a small white bean) and red beans; I’ve also cooked both together. I’m sure other beans will work as well, as long as they are not too small and not too mushy when cooked. Discard the soaking water, add new water and cook until the beans are tender. For added nutrients and flavor, add a piece of kombu or seaweed while the beans are cooking. You can also add salt.
When the beans are ready, you can store them in the refrigerator for cooking later, if you are not quite ready to make the recipe.
Heat the coconut oil in a wide pan. I have a wok-like pan for this sort of cooking. When heated, add the spices and stir. Add the chopped ginger and garlic (onion if using – wait five minutes and add carrots if using). Stir and cook for five minutes. Drain any excess water from the beans and add to the pan. Cook for about ten minutes or until warm. Serve warm or room temperature with your favorite herb garnish. Tastes great with rice, pasta or whatever else you are serving (probably not with ice cream, but maybe vanilla ice cream).
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Here is an interesting article about the quality of Costco’s coconut oil. The blog writer interviews the VP of Carrington Farms and the VP says, among other noteworthy responses, “the low price of the oil at Costco is simply a matter of the economy of scale.”
Looking back to my trip to Israel in May, here is a street scene with a Jerusalem light rail train. And lots of people. It’s Thursday night, so many people have finished work for the week.
Bake the acorn squashes whole until they are easier to cut in half. After about twenty minutes of baking, cut them in half. Continue baking until the squash is soft – you can test it with a fork. It took a little over an hour in my oven at 350°. Peel and cook the yam(s) in enough water to cover. Peel the garlic cloves, and cut off the ginger root peel. Cut the ginger root into little pieces. After about 15 minutes of cooking, add the garlic cloves and chopped ginger root. When both the yam(s) and garlic cloves are soft, remove them from the heat and cooked water (I used a slotted spoon). Mash in a bowl, and add salt, pepper and a fresh, chopped herb (I happen to have basil from my garden). Pile scoopfuls of this orange mixture into your baked squashes. Warm before serving.
On the one hand, this recipe takes a while to make because you have to bake the acorn squashes first. On the other hand, you can do it when you already have the oven going, and you can do it a day before you plan to serve the stuffed squash with yams. It’s an easy recipe.
