There are some lovely paths by the Raritan River in the back of Rutgers Gardens. We enjoyed walking through nature last Sunday.
Some leaves were changing to red; not all the leaves looked so healthy. I wondered if it was because of the dry summer we had.
Is this what Monet saw before he painted his famous lily pads?
I believe this pretty lavender flower by the river is a cleome.
I was excited to see milkweed, as Michelle of Rambling Woods has talked about it on her blog as attractive to butterflies. And I even saw some milkweed aphids, too.
And since many of you enjoy seeing my family, here’s my husband and daughter. The chocolate around her mouth is probably from an Oreo cookie, which may not be a very natural food, but it’s in her nature to enjoy cookies.
For more Nature Notes:
Millet is a healthy whole grain food that is nice to have if you want a change from rice or pasta. It can be rather plain if you eat it just cooked with water and salt, so I created this tasty recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup millet
- 1 cup water or broth
- 1 zucchini
- 1 large carrot or a handful of baby carrots
- 1 lemon
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- salt to taste
- 1 garlic clove (optional)
- parsley or cilantro (optional)
Cook the millet in water or broth. While the millet is cooking, grate the zucchini and carrots in the food processor. When the millet has been cooking for at least 15 minutes, add salt and olive oil. Then add grated zucchini, grated carrots, lemon juice, lemon zest (optional – the peel of the lemon, grated) and crushed garlic (optional). Continue cooking for about 30 minutes or until millet is tender. Toward the end of the 30 minutes, stir often and do not leave the kitchen. Too easy to burn this pilaf at this point. Turn off the flame and stir in optional fresh herbs. Let it sit for an additional 10- 12 minutes before serving or refrigerating. Serve warm or room temperature.
I feel honored to be chosen as a Foodie on Shimshonit’s blog. I hope you will read the interview and leave a comment.
For past interviews:
Rabbi Bassous related the following story on Shabbat:
About thirty years ago when the Soviet Union first opened its doors, an elderly woman arrived in Israel who was visited by many rabbis. She was not religious, but she was the granddaughter of someone famous: the Chofetz Chaim. They wanted to hear about her conversations with and stories about her famous grandfather. There was one story in particular that was related. The granddaughter, against her parents’ and grandfather’s wishes, had attended university. After much education, she came back to her grandfather and said to him, when are you going to give up your old-fashioned ways? The world is moving forward with science and technology; all sorts of exciting new discoveries are happening. The Chofetz Chaim replied, with all these great discoveries, they will build bombs. One day there will be a bomb to destroy the world. While they are building bombs, I am building people.
Rabbi Bassous then went on to relate this to the parsha, where the people build a tower toward the skies.
More on Congregation Etz Ahaim in this post.
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The Kosher Cooking Carnival, post-holiday edition, is on Batya’s blog. Thank you, Batya.
The painting is Tower of Babel by Brueghel.
This photo of the Washington Monument was taken in late August by this watery World War II memorial.
These photos were taken directly under the monument:
For more photos with sky, visit Sky Watch Friday.
