A Jewish Grandmother: Original, unedited daily musings, and host to the monthly Kosher Cooking Carnival. **Copyright(C)BatyaMedad ** For permission to use these in publications of any sort, please contact me directly. Private accredited distribution encouraged. Thank you.
I made this Light Summery Lentil Vegetable Soup on Sunday to break the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, but I've been enjoying the leftovers ever since. And my husband has had it for lunch with pasta added to make it more filling. It's labeled "light," because the orange lentils cook quickly and disintegrated, unlike peas, rice, barley or pasta.Since I didn't measure the ingredients, I'll just list them. My cooking is very flexible. Measuring is very rare.
orange lentils
onion
carrot
squash
pumpkin
mushrooms
a bit of vegetable oil, coarse salt and coarse pepper
water, of course
Cooking was in two steps. First I poured boiling water over the lentils, covered and waited over an hour. Then I added the cut up vegetables and the oil. Once it was boiling, I added more boiling water, plus the salt and pepper. Once it's boiling nicely, lower the flame to simmer for 35 minutes to an hour depending on your pot.
You can add other vegetables or leave some out. Generally I add some dill or parsley-- dehydrated is fine, but since I was fasting my mind wasn't fully there.
I couldn't think of a clever title for this combined Havel Havelim and Kosher Cooking Carnival, besides the fact that they are all "postponed."
Yesterday, Shabbat was the 17th of Tammuz, but since we don't fast, except for Yom Kippur, on Shabbat, the fast was postponed until today.
I usually post my Havel Havelim, the international Jewish blog carnival on Saturday night after Shabbat, but that, too was postponed until today.
I really had planned on posting a Kosher Cooking Carnival for Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, and that has obviously been postponed, since it's now closer to Av than to Tammuz, so this combines the two months.
So, I hope you don't mind that lazy summer's day, when I'm not working and not eating I've decided to produce another joint HH and KCC.
Havel Havelim is the long-running weekly international Jewish blog carnival, which had been started many years ago (by modern internet standards) by Soccer Dad, who no longer blogs. It floats from blog to blog, and we keep it organized on our facebook page. If you'd like to host one, please let us know, and it's yours! I'm always willing to help newbies. Hosting isn't hard and it's a good way to get your blog better known and know others.
The Kosher Cooking Carnival is the monthly (in theory--appearing on or around Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Jewish Month,) blog carnival I began a number of years ago on the specific topic of kosher food. It can include posts about every aspect from Halacha, Jewish Law, to recipes, customs, kosher cookbooks and restaurants. You can also volunteer to host an edition; we also have a facebook page.
To guarantee your post's inclusion in one of the blog carnivals, please send me the link, with a short blurb describing it, to shilohmuse@gmail.com and ither HH or KCC as subject, thanks. If there will be a different host, I'll just forward it. Since Havel Havelim is weekly, please send the link before Shabbat your time, thanks. I not only include links sent to me, but I also look for others.
Remember, that you don't have to be a blogger to read, comment and share the posts on Havel Havelim or the Kosher Cooking Carnival.
Marcia, last week's HH hostess, There may be no school but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't discuss the Torah with your kids.
Enjoying the Bible Online offers innovative fun activities, questions, and discussion guidelines related to God forbidding the children of Israel to use a sword while building an altar (in the book of Exodus) in "Does it Matter How We Get to the End Product?"
We aren't giving up. We aren't finished. We aren't history. We have a future. G-d willing we will be truly sovereign and rebuild our Holy Temple in our Holy City of Jerusalem, and the days of mourning will be turned into days of festivity and worship of G-d, and all of those in the Next World will return to us in joy together!
The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans, in 69 CE, after a lengthy siege. (Three weeks later, after the Jews put up a valiant struggle, the Romans destroyed the second Holy Temple on the 9th of Av.)
The Jerusalem Talmud maintains that this is also the date when the Babylonians breached the walls of Jerusalem on their way to destroying the first Temple. (Chabad.com)
Without the help of caffeine I find myself napping a lot on a fast day. Normally I don't nap. Caffeine can override tiredness in many people. I use coffee to perk myself up when traveling. My typing and thinking are more accurate after my morning coffee. It (plus extra water) also gets the kishkes moving preventing certain digestive disorders.
I hope that the vegetable soup simmering on the stove for breaking the fast will be satisfying but not too stimulating. I must sleep well tonight.
my mother Shirley Spiegelman
Last year on the 17th of Tammuz I got up from shiva for my mother. Since people do come to visit on that last morning I got up and put on my "shiva outfit" with the ripped shirt. I was surprised at how many friends showed up. After we talked awhile, the time came to literally get up. The custom is for someone to walk the mourner out of the house, and so my friends and I walked out together.
Later in the day I went to a neighbor for the weekly T'hillim, Psalms. It was a suitable way for a first "social" event after sitting shiva, while still in the Shloshim thirty day mourning period.
I guess that the 17th of Tammuz will now always have a different significance for me.
