Adas be Sabanekh from Lebanon

I made Adas be Sabanekh two weeks ago. It is a lentil and spinach dish from Lebanon. It has a simple and hardy taste-- exactly the kind of thing I would want to eat when I have a cold or the flu. I think this recipe might be the vegetarian answer to chicken noodle soup!

Mary was sworn in!

This is Elliot logged in as Mary.
We had a lovely little swearing in ceremony at the courthouse the weekend before last! Mary is now a member of the Florida Bar.

Dad presided and much of our family attended.







What a great time we had! It was a nice family affair and was very special for Mary and I. We were very happy to have such a special ceremony. Thanks everybody for making it such a great and meaningful experience.

Pumpkin Stew with Chilies and Cheese from Peru

Last week Elliot made a Peruvian recipe called Pumpkin Stew with Chilies and Cheese. I must admit that I was skeptical when Elliot first told me about the recipe that he had found for Peru. It was a strange combination of ingredients, but it turned out to be very tasty (and spicy!). It took about 3 hours to make, what with scraping out and chopping the pumpkin-- but it was definitely worth it. We ate it with some sunflower seed bread that we purchased from the grocery store.

I'm a bird watcher, I'm a bird watcher, watchin' birds go by...

Elliot and I have a new hobby! Bird watching.

This past Saturday we went to Birdsong Nature Center in southern Georgia and learned some "Birding Basics" along with our friends Ben and Sheila.




Elliot and I bought some inexpensive binoculars for the occasion. We didn't spot very many birds during our walk, but the nature center has a room inside its main building that has one whole exterior wall made of glass-- a big window-- and it faces this fancy bird bath where they also leave lots of bird food. We saw all KINDS of bird at that "bird window"-- chickadees, cat birds, thrushes, cardinals, and many more that I can't remember.



It was really beautiful out on the trails at the nature center. Elliot and I definitely want to go back.





We had a fantastic time.



Elliot and I also decided to start bird watching on our own. We bought the Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America and we've been bird watching in our neighborhood. So far we've identified: mockingbirds, mourning doves, cardinals, a pair of blue jays, and today we saw a red-bellied woodpecker. We've seen lots of other birds, too, but haven't been able to identify them yet.

It's strangely fun to watch for and identify birds. When we see a new bird and find it in our field guide we get so excited. We saw a belted kingfisher on Sunday and practically did a dance when we found it in our book.

Aland Pancake

Once again, the only type of recipe that we could find for one of our World Peas dishes was a dessert. In fact, the ONLY recipe that I could find for Aland was the Aland Pancake. I prepared the "pancake" (which is not what Americans think of as a pancake at all) last Saturday. It had a strong cardamom taste, but I really liked it--especially once it's topped with raspberry preserves and whipped cream.

Here's what it looks like fresh out of the oven, before the fruit and whipped cream: