Two things are on my mind. First, the remarkable flowers that are in my yard, and second, the incredibly yummy charoset balls I made last night. First the flowers..
You all know I love to garden. Today I planted a forsythia bush and an almond bush (a very cool ornamental shrub), as well as a few annuals. I also transplanted a couple of columbines from last year and basically just dug in the dirt all day. Literally. I even helped my neighbors gather worms for a fishing trip (thus, productive dirt digging). Either way, I wanted to blog about it. I also took some pictures of some of my bulbs which are finally coming up and apparently, when you plant bulbs ,you are supposed to plant them in clumps as so they look more natural (three or four bulbs in the same hole). I, of course, didn’t know this. They are still beautiful, but as you can see from the mailbox picture below, not necessarily natural. I’ve been told that next year they will multiply, so Im cool with that. I’ve also included some other random pictures so here it is: Spring Flowers.
Now for the Charoset Balls.
I am Jewish. This year I didn’t do anything for Passover, which would have been really upsetting if I had NOT been invited to a ‘post’ passover dinner with friends! It really was such a nice time and I wasn’t quite sure what to bring so I consulted with my sister, Lauren, who is just amazing. Of COURSE, she had the best idea ever. I originally offered to bring traditional ashkenazic charoset, which would have been fine (the host was making kugel and other traditional passover foods), but my sister suggested I try charoset balls. These are kind of a play off of the sephardic version of charoset, which is with dates, raisins, etc (whereas the ashkenazic version is with apples, walnuts, etc). Anyway, I tried my sister’s recipe and it was INCREDIBLE. Actually, they were just perfect for desert and taste great accompanied by a glass of red wine. Here is a pic of my ‘balls’ as well as the recipe. Its so easy, and so good. Enjoy!
2 cups pitted dates, 1/2 cup of golden raisins, 1/2 cup of dark raisins, 1/2 cup of walnuts, 2 tbs of red wine, and a touch of cinnamon (6 ingredients, how easy is THAT?).
Process the dates, raisins, walnuts and wine in a food processor until the mixture is finely chopped and sticks together. Then line a baking sheet with waxed paper and make small balls of the mixture (you will want to dip your fingers in water so it doesn’t stick, and you’ll also also want to finely chop some additional walnuts to roll the balls in, so they are easy to pick up). After you make the balls, roll them in the finely chopped walnuts and place them in the fridge to cool. Refrigerate for about 3 hours until firm. Serve on a plate. Eat slowly. Enjoy.
