After four solid days of festive meals, we are feeling joyful
and lethargic all at the same time. Last
Thursday was Maundy, with a “light supper” and communion at church. “Light supper” means a hearty chicken soup
with really thick noodles, and breads from around the world. Since that was my last chance to eat bread
for a while, I really loaded up. Yeast
bread with butter is as good as candy, especially when you know you have to
switch to unleavened for the next seven days.
Friday during the day I attempted to fast in recognition of
Good Friday, since I could not go to Tenebrae that evening. I learned that it is not advisable to
prepare tax returns while fasting. One
should not be rendering unto Caesar while fasting unto God. I was actually doing Older Daughter’s tax
return, and ran into snafus that frustrated me enough that I decided to end my
fast around two o’clock.
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| Seder plate |
Friday evening for the first time in forever we went to
someone else’s house for the first night Seder. It was lovely, and we learned about some
different traditions. I had never heard
of Miriam’s Cup, which is a ritual to honor women.
Saturday evening we went to the second-night seder at our
synagogue. It was lovely, and I learned
even more. I learned that “Chad Gadya”
is a very violent song with animals slaughtering each other, and fire, and the
Angel of Death. I figured it is a children’s
song, but a friend just mentioned that it is a political commentary. I will need to investigate and learn more!
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| CHM avec Easter bonnet and hyacinth, which I will NOT put outside where the attack rabbits can get at it. |
Today in the morning we praised God for the Resurrection Miracle. I wore my Easter bonnet with all the frills
upon it. Then home for more cooking. Jesus
was a good Jewish boy so I think he would approve of yet another celebration
with food. No Passover ham this time,
but roast beast.
Easter Dinner menu
Pot roast with carrots and celery
Oven-broasted Brussels sprouts
Roasted beets
Potato kugel
Apple-raisin matzo kugel
Passover bagels
Passover Lemon Squares
I asked Youngest Daughter to help me with the cooking, but
she would not cook the Brussels sprouts or the beets. I learned that I should NOT put Brussels
sprouts in the oven and then go read my book.
I like to cook the loose Brussels sprout leaves separately because they
make a delicious snack, but I forgot that they only take a few minutes to
cook. After a few chapters of reading my
book* in the bedroom, I detected a certain smell coming from downstairs. The leaves were completely charred. The Brussels sprouts themselves were okay, if
a bit black.
YD made Passover bagels and Passover lemon squares all by
herself (she was hungry, I guess). AND she did the dishes. We had a wonderful quiet low-key meal, just
the three of us.
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| YD, experiencing celebration exhaustion. And this was only on Friday! |
Whew.
Did you celebrate anything in the past few days?
*Barbara Pym!
4 comments:
We celebrated Holy Week and its assorted celebrations last week, then Easter over the weekend. It was a pretty busy time, but nothing like your week, good grief?
Did you see that Jon Stewart bit where he talks about Easter vs Passover? Because I laughed my pants off. You actually might not want to watch it, as he suggests one more tradition to inject into the holidays, and I don't want you running for any cliffs.
Why did I make that first paragraph end in a question? I sound like those teenage girls? Who say everything? Like it's a question?
That is a gorgeously plated meal! I have to look up this Miriam thing. You have the most wonderful mash-up of holidays at your place. Happy Everything to you!
The filled seder plate is lovely!
At my church it was Tenebrae and then we went to Easter sunrise service with my in-laws before heading out on our annual epic road trip to see my dad. Easter dinner consisted of beef jerky, dried apricots, and whatever else was in the car on a 14-hour drive for that first day.
I hope chocolate was involved when taxes caused you to break your fast.
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