Good morning all! It looks like we’re in for a beautiful spring day here, with temps nearing 70F. I’m toying with the idea of planting a few seeds, in case there’s no more frost coming.
Hi refinish69! It sounds like you have been very busy down there in TX! Here’s a yard sign we came up with here in 2006. We have them out again this time around.
Please feel free to spread them around down there too! It really tweaked some of the repub egos here;-)
curly advertised a ‘simplified’ seder…
Well, after eating more than is advisable, there is still so much food left that the fridge is bursting.
We also had an animated (though friendly) political debate; the 3 guests (all women) turned out to be avid Hillary-supporters (two of which said they would not vote Obama if he is the nominee!) – so that got pretty lively.
No doubt (though secular).
She said the evening reminded her of her parents’ seders, with all the political talk – her mother is quite the progressive…
Yeah, I wasn’t talking about religion — curly and I can have a friendly competition about who is the better non-believing Jew ;). I was talking about being trained in the existential fear that someone might get up from the dinner table with some minute corner of their stomachs unfilled.
Man, you guys are getting me hungry. I’ve had one actual meal since Friday, the rest just spoonfuls of ice cream or a handful of nuts here and there. I guess I should start cooking again..
Or you could go find someone who had a seder — I guarantee you there’ll be lots of leftover food (except probably haroset which everybody snarfed down).
I see Jews walking past my house every Saturday on their way to the Synagogue. Think it would be proper to invite myself over for a meal as an honorary Jew?
I’m done with cooking for…well, probably the rest of my life. I’m just sick of it
Apparently the Sephardic recipes use apricots, figs, and dates in addition to apples but I haven’t looked at any actual recipes to see what other differences, if any, there might be.
2 apples, unpeeled
1 cup ground walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons sweet Passover wine
honey or sugar to taste
Instructions for the Ashkenazi Charoset recipe:
1. Chop apples in food processor.
2. Add rest of ingredients.
Haroset, Sephardic
(about 2 1/4 cups)
There are many variations of Sephardic charoset. Sometimes fruits such as
apricots, raisins, oranges, pears, and prunes are added. Some contain a
combination of almonds, walnuts, and pine nuts; while some are nutless.
Some add a little wine vinegar or lemon juice for tartness; others a little
honey or sugar. Some mix in chopped hard-boiled eggs. Some are cooked;
while others are uncooked. Usually the charoset is served as a paste, but
sometimes it is formed in 1-inch balls. The common denominator among these
many variations is that they all contain a large proportion of dates and
the mixture is always made as a thick paste.
1 1/3 cups (8 ounces/about 24 whole) chopped dates
3/4 to 1 cup (3 to 5 ounces) chopped walnuts, almonds, or any combination
about 1/4 cup sweet red wine
Finely chop together the dates and nuts. Add enough wine to make a thick
paste. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Serve at room temperature.
VARIATIONS:
Turkish Charoset: Add 1 cup (about 6 ounces) finely chopped dried figs, 1
cup (about 5 ounces) finely chopped raisins or dried apricots, and 1 to 2
peeled and cored apples.
Reduce dates to 3/4 cup and add 1 peeled, cored, and chopped large apple
and 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
Andif,
Thanks for sharing your springtime blooms.
I didn`t realize this place still existed. I noticed it on the top of the page. Do you still post your images as you did in the past few years.
I love that you also linked them, you know where. I`m going home now to see them.
I love the teardrop on the purple dress.
Glad to see you stop by here. Yep, I still post images in the cafe a few times a week and also CG often uses them in the cafes (like the one in this one).
Yesterday was really gray and actually kind of cold. Today, though, the high is supposed to be in the 70s and sunny — once the very dense fog burns off. The temps are going to be in the 70s all week and no rain till the end of the week. So there should be good things to come.
It looks like it’s a “fog needs to burn off” day here too. We should be good because I’m having a slow work morning here and then heading over to see what needs to done for gotv today.
All the talk about sedar are making me hungry and bringing back memories of friend in SF. I guess I always ate with the crowd who, like southerners, believed there was never enough food or political discussion at the table. LOL
One of these days they are going to add “smell-o-vision” to the internets, and you’ll all be sorry.
Luna got out yesterday, and found some rotting carcasses to roll in. By the time I found her she’d gone waaaaay past rank, flew by putrid, and was roughly at the corner of vomitus and vile.
Yesterday she got locked outside, and we tried to keep upwind when we were outside as well. Today she had a “pre-bath” in the tub so that by tomorrow I will be able to put her into the car without gagging the whole way to Hobart. Then she’ll get the full dog wash treatment.
Thanks Keres. You’ve got me counting my blessings this morning – a fence and a pair of homebody dogs. I have a vivid memory of a similar experience, and extreme gratitude for my distance from rotting corpses.
Luna has successfully disguised her personal doggy aroma so nobody will recognize her. I used to envy her life, but now I don’t.
When we get that smello-net, you’ll be restricted to flowers. Even beautiful birds can be as stinky as dogs.
Great job yesterday, you guys. Being a furriner, I’m not allowed to do anything.
Yesterday’s practice was tough, better this morning; having breakfast at the local bakery/cafe (outdoors, if it’s warm enough) soon.
It’s gotten so green so fast, I’m sort of doing a double take every time I pull in the drive because everything seems so different with grass, leaves, and flowers.
For some reason, I’m not having anywhere near the usual level of allergy problems this year, so I think there might be some benefit to this late spring thing.
So, CBtE had quite a day yesterday…someone took his ipod right from out of his backpack, he almost got in trouble for something he didn’t do because the bullying creep he’s had a problem with since last fall told the teacher that he climbed through a window to get in to a classroom when he hadn’t…and when I was sympathetic to him about his awful rotten day, he spilled his guts about the party he went to last Saturday night, where some of the kids were smoking pot, knowingly provided by the girl’s mother. He said he didn’t smoke any of it, but thought he got silly just from being around the smoke.
When did parents get so dumb and irresponsible? Did they forgot that not only is pot currently against the law, but that it is also a separate crime to give it to minors? What is this need to be ‘the cool mom’?
Believe me, I thought of doing that. I still want to ask her WTF she was thinking.
In the end, I think I just have to be glad that he felt comfortable telling me about it. I have to assume that if he had decided to give it a try, he wouldn’t have told me about it all.
Considering that he came home and told someone else first, and then told me about the party when I was commiserating with him about his awful, no-good, very-bad day yesterday (I had just said to him, I know you had a bad day, I know you’re upset about your dad’s living situation, but remember we’re here for you and we love you.), coupled with his inability to plan ahead (two weeks earlier, we had the ‘could you at least try to hide those hickeys on your neck?’ experience), I think it’s probably not a manipulation.
But I could be wrong…
How are things at your place this week? How is the backyard project coming along?
ROTFLMAO!!! I have done it so many times I have lost count. I have learned to walk through the apartment saying “Move Dog” when I have a cup of coffee in my hands.
Morning all!!! I will be spending most of today and tomorrow at a Solar Power symposium at the state capital as a reporter from Texas Kaos blog. They actually sent an invitation for us to send a writer. LOL
I am kind of excited about it. I still need to do my write ups about the conference I attended last weekend. I guess I will have a couple of intense writing days coming up. LOL
It was about 7:45 a.m. The sun rises a lot later here; it’s still dark and the sun won’t be up almost 7. We really should be on central time instead of eastern.
I guess that means you also get daylight later in the evening, doesn’t it? That’s the part I think I’d like.
TFSMIF! I am ready to fly through today’s work, and then I have to go take care of some paperwork crap this afternoon, and then I want to play some tennis.
CBtE has planned a big hiking excursion with his friends to the creek with all the boulders for climbing on tomorrow. Should be fun.
Thank you, b2. I’m pretty pleased with it as it was a fairly difficult shot to get but still IRL the green stood out even more dramatically as did the gold catkins on the ground.
Or course, there’s rain forecast but we went to an outdoor concert last night when there were thunderstorms forecast and got off with just a few raindrops so I guess I can’t gripe.
Morning Toni and ask! It’s breezy and warm here, with a high around 80 and chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Yard work is on the slate for the nature boys today, as well.
and clean tables…
Good morning!!!!
Hi refinish! How are you this morning?
Doing great and hope you are. I am working on my podcast about yesterday. It was a great day but very tiring and emotionally draining. LOL
anyone is wondering what the early crew had to say this morning: LINK
Good morning all! It looks like we’re in for a beautiful spring day here, with temps nearing 70F. I’m toying with the idea of planting a few seeds, in case there’s no more frost coming.
Morning Indiandem!!! Looks like we might have some clouds today but still rather nice outside.
Hi refinish69! It sounds like you have been very busy down there in TX! Here’s a yard sign we came up with here in 2006. We have them out again this time around.
Please feel free to spread them around down there too! It really tweaked some of the repub egos here;-)
I love it!!!!! You know I am going to use that as one of my designs also with your permission.
Spread the message!
Since you loaned me your design, I wanted ou to see the finished product.
Enough Is Enough
Enough Is Enough
It’s also available on banners, yard signs and stickers.
Woo Hoo! Go get ’em rf!
You better believe it!!!
Howdy all! Happy Passover!
To you too!
curly is arranging a (very) simplified celebration a bit later today.
And to you!
do a bang-up job of bringing April flowers.
click for larger
click for larger
Morning Andi!
Those spring flowers peeking out from the dry leaves; pretty and encouraging.
Today is a good day to fast…
Today is a good day to fast…
Eat too much at the seder?
curly advertised a ‘simplified’ seder…
Well, after eating more than is advisable, there is still so much food left that the fridge is bursting.
We also had an animated (though friendly) political debate; the 3 guests (all women) turned out to be avid Hillary-supporters (two of which said they would not vote Obama if he is the nominee!) – so that got pretty lively.
Sounds like curly had a proper Jewish upbringing. 🙂
No doubt (though secular).
She said the evening reminded her of her parents’ seders, with all the political talk – her mother is quite the progressive…
Yeah, I wasn’t talking about religion — curly and I can have a friendly competition about who is the better non-believing Jew ;). I was talking about being trained in the existential fear that someone might get up from the dinner table with some minute corner of their stomachs unfilled.
Ha! No doubt.
Btw, she made a great haroset and I was close to gorged before the rest of the food made it to the table.
One more gray, cool day here, but spring rebounding for the rest of the week.
I read a comment on a blog that Sephardic haroset was better than Ashkenazi — now there’s a competition I’d like to be a taste-tester for.
Hmm, the topic did not come up, though we had guests with both backgrounds.
Man, you guys are getting me hungry. I’ve had one actual meal since Friday, the rest just spoonfuls of ice cream or a handful of nuts here and there. I guess I should start cooking again..
Or you could go find someone who had a seder — I guarantee you there’ll be lots of leftover food (except probably haroset which everybody snarfed down).
ROTFLMAO too true!!!
I see Jews walking past my house every Saturday on their way to the Synagogue. Think it would be proper to invite myself over for a meal as an honorary Jew?
I’m done with cooking for…well, probably the rest of my life. I’m just sick of it
Proper? Are you kidding — there’s nothing that makes a Jewish mother happier than another person to feed.
I didn’t realize that there was a difference.
Apparently the Sephardic recipes use apricots, figs, and dates in addition to apples but I haven’t looked at any actual recipes to see what other differences, if any, there might be.
Ashkenazi Charoset Recipe
2 apples, unpeeled
1 cup ground walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons sweet Passover wine
honey or sugar to taste
Instructions for the Ashkenazi Charoset recipe:
1. Chop apples in food processor.
2. Add rest of ingredients.
Haroset, Sephardic
(about 2 1/4 cups)
There are many variations of Sephardic charoset. Sometimes fruits such as
apricots, raisins, oranges, pears, and prunes are added. Some contain a
combination of almonds, walnuts, and pine nuts; while some are nutless.
Some add a little wine vinegar or lemon juice for tartness; others a little
honey or sugar. Some mix in chopped hard-boiled eggs. Some are cooked;
while others are uncooked. Usually the charoset is served as a paste, but
sometimes it is formed in 1-inch balls. The common denominator among these
many variations is that they all contain a large proportion of dates and
the mixture is always made as a thick paste.
1 1/3 cups (8 ounces/about 24 whole) chopped dates
3/4 to 1 cup (3 to 5 ounces) chopped walnuts, almonds, or any combination
about 1/4 cup sweet red wine
Finely chop together the dates and nuts. Add enough wine to make a thick
paste. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Serve at room temperature.
VARIATIONS:
Turkish Charoset: Add 1 cup (about 6 ounces) finely chopped dried figs, 1
cup (about 5 ounces) finely chopped raisins or dried apricots, and 1 to 2
peeled and cored apples.
Reduce dates to 3/4 cup and add 1 peeled, cored, and chopped large apple
and 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
Excellent!
I love it when someone else does my research for me. 🙂
Glad I could help. LOL
Morning Miss Andi!!!! Beautiful pictures as always.
Thanks RF. Always nice to have a little bouquet to start off one’s Monday. 🙂
Andif,
Thanks for sharing your springtime blooms.
I didn`t realize this place still existed. I noticed it on the top of the page. Do you still post your images as you did in the past few years.
I love that you also linked them, you know where. I`m going home now to see them.
I love the teardrop on the purple dress.
Glad to see you stop by here. Yep, I still post images in the cafe a few times a week and also CG often uses them in the cafes (like the one in this one).
Is it really Monday already?
Why can’t it be Wednesday yet?
Sounds like you had an interesting seder dinner, ask.
Andi, what’s the weather preview at your place? It’s looking a little gray here this morning.
Good morning, CG!
Bathroom done?
We’re waiting for the before/after pics.
I still need to find the right mirror, and one towel bar needs to go up (had to run back to Lowes for a second one). But then I’ll post the pics.
Cabin – did you ever, in your wildest dreams, see yourself faced with a crowd chanting “show us your bathroom!”
It’s a new day…
Well, it was ‘advertised’ last week, but none were seen 😉
Being one who lives in a highly traveled tourist village, I can say I’ve heard it more than once;-)
Yesterday was really gray and actually kind of cold. Today, though, the high is supposed to be in the 70s and sunny — once the very dense fog burns off. The temps are going to be in the 70s all week and no rain till the end of the week. So there should be good things to come.
It looks like it’s a “fog needs to burn off” day here too. We should be good because I’m having a slow work morning here and then heading over to see what needs to done for gotv today.
All the talk about sedar are making me hungry and bringing back memories of friend in SF. I guess I always ate with the crowd who, like southerners, believed there was never enough food or political discussion at the table. LOL
One of these days they are going to add “smell-o-vision” to the internets, and you’ll all be sorry.
Luna got out yesterday, and found some rotting carcasses to roll in. By the time I found her she’d gone waaaaay past rank, flew by putrid, and was roughly at the corner of vomitus and vile.
And one day, I’ll be able to share that. 😀
which will create a whole new generation of Luddites.
(And I’m guessing it’s too late to take Luna to the car wash for a bath.)
Yesterday she got locked outside, and we tried to keep upwind when we were outside as well. Today she had a “pre-bath” in the tub so that by tomorrow I will be able to put her into the car without gagging the whole way to Hobart. Then she’ll get the full dog wash treatment.
Uhm, I’m sure my 3 hounds can provide me with a reasonable facsimile of the smell…
Ouch!
Stinky dogs; what a concept. Does Luna realize she was naughty?
Does Luna realize she was naughty?
Yes.
Does she care?
No.
Thanks Keres. You’ve got me counting my blessings this morning – a fence and a pair of homebody dogs. I have a vivid memory of a similar experience, and extreme gratitude for my distance from rotting corpses.
Luna has successfully disguised her personal doggy aroma so nobody will recognize her. I used to envy her life, but now I don’t.
When we get that smello-net, you’ll be restricted to flowers. Even beautiful birds can be as stinky as dogs.
Good morning! We get to go vote today, in case you didn’t know. 😉
So, have you made up your mind… 😉
I’m really having a hard time….guess I’ll just have to make up my mind when I get there… 😉
What are you up to today? Have you recovered from your seder dinner now?
The weather here is beautiful this morning. Better than yesterday, even.
Great job yesterday, you guys. Being a furriner, I’m not allowed to do anything.
Yesterday’s practice was tough, better this morning; having breakfast at the local bakery/cafe (outdoors, if it’s warm enough) soon.
MM, breakfast at an outdoor cafe sounds very nice…
Yeah!!!! Remeber vote Democrat and since there is only one. LOL
true enough.
Good morning, keres, Andi and CG!
A beautiful morning in the NE. Heading out for a walk.
It is a beautiful day, ask. Enjoy!
Well probably not just another for a lot of folks.
click for larger
Gorgeous picture, as usual Amdi.
Now, how could it only be Wednesday? My feet feel like it should be Friday night. 🙂
I’ve stopped paying attention to days and dates. Now I’m judging the passage of time by the progress of the greening of the woods.
It’s gotten so green so fast, I’m sort of doing a double take every time I pull in the drive because everything seems so different with grass, leaves, and flowers.
Spring is late enough this year that I’m really impatient — it just isn’t happening fast enough for me.
For some reason, I’m not having anywhere near the usual level of allergy problems this year, so I think there might be some benefit to this late spring thing.
So, CBtE had quite a day yesterday…someone took his ipod right from out of his backpack, he almost got in trouble for something he didn’t do because the bullying creep he’s had a problem with since last fall told the teacher that he climbed through a window to get in to a classroom when he hadn’t…and when I was sympathetic to him about his awful rotten day, he spilled his guts about the party he went to last Saturday night, where some of the kids were smoking pot, knowingly provided by the girl’s mother. He said he didn’t smoke any of it, but thought he got silly just from being around the smoke.
When did parents get so dumb and irresponsible? Did they forgot that not only is pot currently against the law, but that it is also a separate crime to give it to minors? What is this need to be ‘the cool mom’?
</rant>
I think I would be at a parent’s house today asking them what the hell their problem is? How incredibly stupid!!!
Hi RF. Just a thought I’d do a quick “hi” on my way to work. Hope you have a good day ahead.
Believe me, I thought of doing that. I still want to ask her WTF she was thinking.
In the end, I think I just have to be glad that he felt comfortable telling me about it. I have to assume that if he had decided to give it a try, he wouldn’t have told me about it all.
Sometimes though they tell you something to preempt another thing they are afraid might come to light. Not that teenagers are manipulative though…;)
Considering that he came home and told someone else first, and then told me about the party when I was commiserating with him about his awful, no-good, very-bad day yesterday (I had just said to him, I know you had a bad day, I know you’re upset about your dad’s living situation, but remember we’re here for you and we love you.), coupled with his inability to plan ahead (two weeks earlier, we had the ‘could you at least try to hide those hickeys on your neck?’ experience), I think it’s probably not a manipulation.
But I could be wrong…
How are things at your place this week? How is the backyard project coming along?
Oh, things are weird – a story for another time.
The backyard project is slow going considering the big boy only has one day off a week. Presently it is a muddy hole…:)
It’s good, though, that he felt he could tell you about that. I think the ability to do that helps kids stay out of trouble.
I agree with you, but I’ve got to admit, I always thought he would be coming up against peer pressure, not someone else’s parental approval pressure.
Since when is that an appropriate activity for your daughter’s 15th birthday celebration? And what do you do for the 16th birthday? Group deflowering?
grrr.
Good morning!
I love oversleeping!
It’s a glorious day here and I hope you are waking up to the same.
It’s a beauty and already 67. Mid/high 70s forecast and low 80s for tomorrow.
As CG observed above, the green is bursting out all over.
It is a beautiful day. I’ll have to get out from behind this desk.
Me too. I had to settle for going back to sleep after everyone left for school, though.
Are you getting out to enjoy the weather today?
Most definitely!
First getting home from curly’s, then out again.
It’s a miracle! I slept all the way till the alarm went off. I wonder what other wonders and amazements will happen today.
Good morning!
Wow, you actually have an alarm.
Well, I do too, but it’s only on for ‘extreme’ cases, such as a red-eye flight that cannot be missed.
Other wonders, let’s see; the road to work has a minor collapse preventing you to get there for the rest of the week (month/year).
We have an alarm because Jim always sleeps until it goes off. I can’t remember the last time I did.
I’ll have to offer up the road collapse to Jim since I don’t need a road to get to work (and I’d rather the stairs don’t collapse).
Hmm, there must be some hazards involved with tele commuting…
Yeah like tripping over the dog, spilling your coffee on the rug. LOL
Um, tripping over the dog and spilling coffee in your keyboard is a very real hazard to the home office environment, as I found out a few weeks ago.
ROTFLMAO!!! I have done it so many times I have lost count. I have learned to walk through the apartment saying “Move Dog” when I have a cup of coffee in my hands.
I do have a supremely nicer keyboard now, so I guess it wasn’t all bad.
i slep until about 3 minutes ago…just barely woke up in time for CBtE to catch the bus.
I don’t think I really like sleeping this late. I feel really groggy.
Morning all!!! I will be spending most of today and tomorrow at a Solar Power symposium at the state capital as a reporter from Texas Kaos blog. They actually sent an invitation for us to send a writer. LOL
Very cool! I’ll be looking forward to reading all about it. 🙂
I am kind of excited about it. I still need to do my write ups about the conference I attended last weekend. I guess I will have a couple of intense writing days coming up. LOL
Good luck! It’s sounds very interesting.
and for the greening of the woods.
click for larger
Good morning!
Looks like the sun is low – at what hour was that?
It’s just risen here.
It was about 7:45 a.m. The sun rises a lot later here; it’s still dark and the sun won’t be up almost 7. We really should be on central time instead of eastern.
I guess that means you also get daylight later in the evening, doesn’t it? That’s the part I think I’d like.
TFSMIF! I am ready to fly through today’s work, and then I have to go take care of some paperwork crap this afternoon, and then I want to play some tennis.
CBtE has planned a big hiking excursion with his friends to the creek with all the boulders for climbing on tomorrow. Should be fun.
Bouldering sounds really nifty. I was hoping to go biking this weekend but the forecast is crummy.
That’s what I thought.
Another great day coming up here, and I hope you can give us a good forecast for tomorrow.
That’s a really nice photo, Andi.
Thank you, b2. I’m pretty pleased with it as it was a fairly difficult shot to get but still IRL the green stood out even more dramatically as did the gold catkins on the ground.
Or course, there’s rain forecast but we went to an outdoor concert last night when there were thunderstorms forecast and got off with just a few raindrops so I guess I can’t gripe.
Good morning, Andi!
Looks kind of iffy here, 56 and cloudy.
The kids will celebrate Ethiopian Easter with their mother this weekend.
Morning Andi! It looks like rain here; it rained last night. I hope to work in the garden today.
Morning Toni and ask! It’s breezy and warm here, with a high around 80 and chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Yard work is on the slate for the nature boys today, as well.
Man, this cafe is taking forever to load for me…
Was that a not-so-subtle hint that I should clean this place up??? 😉