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Food Friday- Pi Day Edition

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Purim begins Saturday night, but today is Pi Day. In celebration I made two pies.  The main dish pie was a bit of a challenge negotiating between the various vegetable likes and dislikes among tonight’s eaters. One hates broccoli, the other detests spinach, a third hates onions. I made a mushroom pie with some very sautéed mushrooms.
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For me Purim marks a culinary  break between winter foods and spring foods. Right after Purim oranges become dry and gross. Spring fruits and vegetables begin to appear in the stores. This seemed like the last moment in the season to eat pumpkin pie.
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But as much as one loves pie, you can’t live on that alone. So we have  another iteration of last week’s potatoes cooked in chicken fat and chicken juice.
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I also made sweet and spicy meat balls. The heat comes from an African peanut based spice mix that packs a whole lot of heat. There is the merest buzz of heat in these meatballs and the sweet comes by way of berry jam. This is a slightly more cosmopolitan version of chafing dish meat balls with grape jelly.
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The light was really pretty during this morning’s work out.  I stopped my work out a couple of times to take photos.
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This  masonry fan is one of my favorite elements of my view. 

It’s a very small part of the view,SAM_2081

never the less, it always gives me pleasure.

The angle of the sun  created a wonderful shadow of the water tank across the street.
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That blue sky was short lived. I’m glad I got to capture it.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Purim!!!

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