Sponge Cake 2008, watercolor by Leora Wenger
I got two endearing comments last night on my sponge cake recipe (or Esther Robfogel’s z”l recipe) that I posted two years ago:
Esther G. Robfogel (1904-1997) was my mother. I ate her excellent sponge cakes on Pesach and throughout the year for many decades. I hope that my granddaughter, Esther F. Robfogel, will carry on the tradition.
– Nathan J. Robfogel
I’m Esther Robfogel’s daughter. Although I used to bake with my mom, baking was never my forte. As it happens, I was thinking about making mom’s cake this year. After reading your blog, I know I will. Thanks.
– Hanna
On a sad note, two men in Teaneck, New Jersey died walking home from shul at the end of Shabbat when a tree fell on them. I can’t imagine what Pesach is going to be like for those two mourning families.
Leora and family at Galil Mountain Winery, June 2007
Hannah Katsman interviewed me on her cooking manager blog. Visit the interview, comment if you like and enjoy. Included is a small photo of my daughter’s reaction to drinking the delicious, pricey wine (she was five years old at the time). Thanks, Hannah.
FYI, the header on the Cooking Manager blog is one I recently designed for her site.
Photo of my compost, taken in March 2009
Yesterday I asked who had started working in their garden. One can approach gardening as a chore, a necessity if you are a farmer, or a way to relax. It’s not going to be relaxing if you don’t enjoy it. For some reason, one of my favorite parts of gardening is composting. This past year we even saved compost in the dead of winter; I tried to put it outside right before a snow storm, because at least then it would be covered in snow. In the warmer months I cover the compost with dirt, but as gardeners know, you can’t shovel frozen dirt. I use a composting method that I call Lazy Composting. I like the idea of recycling my kitchen waste back into nature. My other effort toward gardening has been to order peas, inoculant for the peas, and other vegetable and herb seeds.
Do you have a garden? What is your favorite and your least favorite part of gardening?
Rutgers Gardens will be having a photo contest in early September. I am tempted to enter or at least to visit Rutgers Gardens (a short drive from Highland Park) a few times over the next few months and take photos of the lovely grounds and flora. (hat tip: Jill)
Raritan Valley Community College will be showing the ballet Sleeping Beauty in late March. I would love to take my daughter, but it is the week before Passover. I will be “industriously” cleaning my house for Passover.
Jacob informed me via Twitter that he has already started working in his garden. Have you?
Yesterday we (my family) were in New York City for a wedding – a very, very happy occasion. The wedding was the Faculty House at Columbia University, and I took a photo of this red brick building (Wien Hall) as we walked from the (expensive) parking garage to the wedding. My middle son, who convinced me to take my smaller camera so I would pay more attention to the wedding and less to taking photos, said we would have gotten to the wedding a few minutes sooner if I had not stopped to photograph a few buildings on the way.
At the beginning of a Jewish wedding the groom is marched to the bride accompanied by dancing friends and family and by musicians. The musicians at this wedding were from the orchestra Nafshenu. The groom then checks to make sure it is really his bride (as biblical Jacob got tricked, the groom wants to check).
The red in the photo was in the musicians’ eyes – I selected the red in Photoshop using the magic wand tool, desaturated the red, and adding back in enough color so their eyes looked brown.
On the subject of cameras and photographers, there were many photographers at the wedding (I believe some were friends of the bride and groom). I was jealous of their gigantic lenses, as was my father’s cousin, who said there is no end when it comes to desiring good photography equipment.
In New York City one can pay to park one’s bicycle. The bicycle fees were considerably less than the car parking fees.
