Visit to Princeton University

We went on a visit to Princeton University yesterday because my son is applying to colleges, and as he had the day off due to parent-teacher conferences, he decided he would like to visit Princeton. We arranged to meet my niece for lunch at the Center for Jewish Life. Having had a late-for-the-conference experience due to parking issues a few weeks ago, I now consider myself a Princeton parking expert, and we drove straight to Palmer Square Garage on Chambers Street. In the dripping wet we figured out where Clio Hall is, the place where the tour begins. The photos on top and bottom were taken in the sunny summer month of August – it did not look that bright in New Jersey yesterday, lots of rain. We did the tour (one other mother-son team joined us), and then we had the pleasure of my niece’s company at a kosher lunch at CJL. She seems to be enjoying Princeton, and I was pleased to hear she is taking French as one of her courses. She is the sister of the blogger in Norway.

So, now that I’ve left you with some of the details of my day, here’s some questions for you:

• If you’ve had a child leave home, how did it feel to have the first one leave?
• If you could apply to college now (all expenses paid), where would you go and what would you study?
• Have you been to Princeton?

Corn Bread and KCC

I made this corn bread for Thanksgiving. I wanted a recipe with no dairy, and many of the conventional corn bread recipes had dairy in them. I decided at the last minute (OK, the last hour) that I had enough time to make the corn bread. So I opened a Moosewood cookbook (I think it was New Recipes from the Moosewood Restaurant – the first one not by Mollie Katzen) and converted the recipe. You will have to wait for the actual recipe – I needed to re-test it, because in my rush I didn’t measure and record ingredients. This corn bread without dairy came out moist and tasty – my previous attempts were rather dry. And here is the corn bread recipe.

Conversation from yesterday:

Me: I’m going to make the corn bread again in a week or two.
Middle Son: Why?
Me: So I can post it on my blog.
Middle Son: Why can’t you post it now?
Me: Because I need to measure the amounts.
Middle Son: Can’t you just post it and let them figure out the amounts?

Fortunately, Middle Son is not in charge of posting recipe amounts to this blog.

If you would like some recipes now, I suggest you visit Batya’s newest Kosher Cooking Carnival.

Sneakers with Pink Laces

• Thank you to everyone who reads and/or comments on this blog. You are so appreciated!
• I have been enjoying working on a project for a client that is done with responsive web design. This means it will look good on your desktop, tablet or browser. This blog is responsive – if you move your browser to be small and then big again, you should see what I mean.
• I would love to post more creative works on this blog: for example, maybe I could do something interesting with those sneakers? A few months ago I started a project with roofs – I never got back to that one. Lots of starting and stopping. One could easily blame it on outside influences (work, family, laundry, the weather), but the creative process seems to be one that invites “stuckness.”
• If you are looking for a Thanksgiving recipe, you might want to check out the Stuffed Squash Workshop.
• I am thinking of stuffing my turkey tomorrow with rice, dried cranberries, celery and onion (maybe one egg to stick it together). Do you think it will work? Any suggestion?

Are you cooking this week? What is in the plans, cooking or otherwise?

Review with a View

JPiX 2011 Blog Carnival

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

• Feed the ducks? asks Michelle.
• Rebbetzin’s Butternut Squash Soup on Pragmatic Attic
• Batya blog hops: “If you fall while performing, get up gracefully making it look like it was planned as part of the dance.”
• Ilana-Davita has some root parsley recipes (it’s a Mediterranean root vegetable, sort of like the American parsnip).
• More adventures in Norway, this time to Dublin: Dublin: A Room of One’s Own (With a View)
• I will be giving a beginner Twitter workshop at the Highland Park Public Library on December 5, so tell your New Jersey friends. If you want a preview of some of the talk, read How to Set Up a Twitter Profile.

Have you seen anything with a view lately? Maybe in a movie?

Nature Notes: Washington Valley Park

On Sunday we visited Washington Valley Park in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Our friend found the hike on the website njhiking.com; I had never heard of the park before. Pictured is the lovely reservoir at the bottom of the hiking area.

We decided in advance to follow the red trail – it wasn’t always easy to see these markings for the trail on the trees.

I saw a variety of plants growing – no idea what this striped little plant is called.

I recognized these red oval berries from my childhood – I looked up the bush (red berries with thorns is what I looked for in Google Images), and I learned this is called a barberry bush.

I rather liked this plant inside moss that I found on the trail.

There were various streams on our hike that led into the reservoir. The girls (my daughter and friend) had fun hopping over the rocks.

When we got to the top of the hill on the trail, we were rewarded with views of hawks flying overhead.

You could see quite a distance from the top – the fall colors have faded, but they are still varied, though muted.

For more Nature Notes: