Clean house? Check.
White tablecloth? Check.
Charoset? Check.
Hard-boiled eggs, with one roasted? Check.
Brisket? Check.
Chicken? Check.
Noodle kugel? Check.
Corn? Check.
Potato/carrot/brown sugar dish? Check.
15 minute kid seder before dinner? Check.
I refuse to let the fact that the brisket and kugel were originally frozen to get in the way of my joy. I cooked! And it tasted good! (And Jonathan did all the clean-up. Hooray!) The night ended with a visit from Lambchop, Charlie Horse, and Hush Puppy, courtesy of Shari Lewis' Passover special.
A very successful evening, I would say, especially considering it was the first full-on seder I've ever done myself.
And wow. Sometimes it really hits me. I'm a grown-up!
Friday, April 6, 2012
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11 comments:
You so rock!!!!!!
There is no reason to even consider that you didn't cook. Frozen, schmozen. You prepared a dinner!
And I'm so thrilled that Shari Lewis joined your party. I was hoping Xander would love her and her friends as much as I did when I was a kid.
Yes, my wonderful child, you are a grown up. Your boys (all 3 of them) look to you, depend on you, love you and need you. How heavenly that you do the same with them.
I love you too!
Mom
It all sounds wonderful!
sheryl
:) That is definitely an accomplishment! I'm proud of you. That's a lot of work, sounds almost like Thanksgiving in the spring!
Send me some of your goodies. :) I wanna try.
It sounds like you've come a long way from the overly salted potato kugel of your teens years.
Curious about the corn, though. I remember Rabbi Howard Laibson going on about no corn at Passover, and he was, as you remember, Reform.
Thanks, everybody! I appreciate all the good feedback.
And Gwen, from what I understand, corn, rice, millet, and legumes (beans and lentils) aren't technically chametz (which is only leavened items) but are a separate category called "kitnayot." The rabbis avoided them on Pesach for the purpose of "ma'arit ayin," avoiding the appearance of impropriety. But only Ashkenazi Jews follow that custom. My father's family is Sephardic, so I don't follow the minhag.
You can look up "kitnayot" on Wikipedia or any other source - if you want the Orthodox Union explanation, it's here:
http://www.kashrut.com/Passover/Kitniyot/
One explanation we learned, actually, I believe Rabbi Laibson taught it to us, was the reason Ashkenazi Jews stopped each corn, rice, beans, etc. was because back in the day, in old Europe, people re-used their grain sacks and would fill them up with wheat this time and maybe corn next time, and rice the following, spelt, etc. So to be sure you didn't end up eating any leavened wheat, rye barley, oats or spelt (the 5 grains the Torah mentions), they avoided all grains traded/bought in grain sacks. Then as you know, once something becomes a TRADITION, it's as good as it being written in the Torah. BUT ever since we learned about this, we Ham-Rosebrocks, even while being Ashkenazi, eat corn, rice, and lentils during Pesach. Jeff's family doesn't so we follow their tradition when hosting them.
Interestingly, our local Chabad friends explained to us that even Matzo Balls are NOT considered pesadikah since you are continuing the length of time the flour is touching the water, creating a leavening effect. But what would Pesach be without matzah ball soup!! LOL!
eating, not each!
Wow, I didn't know that! That's really neat. I'll have to use it while teaching. See all the stuff that HUC leaves out? Hmph. From Laibson, to you, to blog, to me, to the people of Sacramento next year, Dayinu! :)
And, Lena, that makes so much sense. So peas and corn are now back on the table!
Jack Berro anointed me honorary Sephardic years ago.....it was especially helpful when we had a few vegetarians in the home ;o) Thanks for that bit Lena about the knaidlach. I've often wondered why it is not okay to have cake flour that rises, but it is okay to make matza, grind it up fine, then make a cake (that rises some) So I'm guessing that doesn't fly with orthodox too?
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