Tuesday, March 31, 2009

How To Build A Better Seder

Otherwise entitled - One Man's Meshugas Is Another Man's Yom Tov....
The blogosphere is rife this week with commentary on just what silly memories/traditions/minhagim (and here I use that term loosely) each and every family has with regard to Pesach.
And we all have them.
A few years ago, my mother generously "gifted" me with the red pyrex bowl she used to melt the Ringer's Chocolate (am I the only one who remembers this brand with their pretty red and gold label?) for the chocolate matzah in over the pilot light (remember when stoves had PILOT LIGHTS? And we used them to warm chocolate b/c we didn't have microwaves?).  I continue to make chocolate matzah as well and though the recipe now uses cocoa, I wouldn't dream of using anything but the red bowl.
Then there's the brown crock that Avram's grandmother (a.k.a. "Momi") used to house the Karpas.  How we treasured that piece of family history, until I accidentally sent it crashing to the kitchen floor one year and it shattered.  Did I toss it?  Dear me, no! I took the shards and saved them for the next year when I carefully and painstakingly learned how to do mosaic, so I could turn the old shards into two new crocks for future generations....

And why is it that all the wedding gifts that are too hideous to be used all year long become treasured family Pesach heirlooms? We've got the handpainted ceramic wine bottle from Amsterdam (which Avram secretly loves and I wish had been the item to shatter on the kitchen floor that day...).

Now on to the food traditions:
I've already listed chocolate matzah - good for breakfast, lunch or midnight snack! (just please don't ask me if you have to wash for it... I'm not your rabbi)
Sweetbreads (ack! I said bread!!) - a yom tov delicacy not limited to Pesach (and NO! they aren't brains)
Chocolate dipped macaroons.... 'nuff said........

And the songs - oh how we love the songs....
One night we sing my father z"l's niggunim, the other night my father-in-law z"l's melodies.
Chad Gadya is always an interesting affair. Everybody knows what sound effects to use for a goat or a cat, but Abba says "tsk tsk" in our house and I won't even BEGIN to describe what the Malach HaMoves does.....
And no matter how drunk or how tired everybody is, they all seem to wake up for the rousing round of Adon Olam that ends our sedarim (that minhag is from my mother-in-law's father).  Of course, when it comes time to clean up, they're all drunk or exhausted again......

15 comments:

daughtersintheparsha said...

okay, lots to ask:

recipe for chocolate matza

macaroons made with or without nuts?

I LOVE that ceramic wine jug, very unusual (its in your pics, no?)

and we also mix and match our niggunim, but some of them we take turns by paragraph, not seder night...(gotta be really musical to handle that one)

Brunhilda said...

The ceramics are beautiful.

I'm loving this weeks' entries. I can't wait for the full menu to be posted (and hopefully some of the dishes won't be gebrokts!). I'm starving for new ideas. Talk about traditions - our Pesach menus can practically be photocopied from year to year.

G6 said...

Oy Brunhilda....
NOT GEBROKTS??!?!
Chocolate Matzoh is definitely not going to be for you either....
Any requests?

Glad you're like this week's format. I do too. I figured there's enough Pesach "griping" on the internet as it is and besides, I need to prove to some of my critics (ahem) readers that my blog can be "kinder and gentler" when necessary....

Brunhilda said...

Yeah - remember I needed to ungebroktize the Matzah farfel dish!

I'd love to hear about some non gebrokts side dishes. Of course any good main dishes you are preparing I'd love to hear about too (chicken, shnitzel, roasts etc.) Add soups to that as well. I think I've given up on desserts for Pesach so I'll stick to the main course for now.

Thanks :-)

efrex said...

Ha! Glad to know that we're not the only household where Pesach means an annual slew of both fancy and non-fancy foodware. On the one hand, out comes my grandmother-in-law z"l's antique silverware (which even this uncultured boor recognized as stunning), while my parents pull out these plastic clown mugs that my siblings and I have been drinking out of since we were in single digits.

I still don't understand how meat-eaters can get grossed out by sweetbreads... brains, thyroids, pancreas; if it tastes good, bring it on!

Special family recipes aside, I fail to see what's so hard about Pesach cooking, even if you pile on every chumrah out there. 90% of the non-dessert recipes that I have are kasher lepesach or easily tweaked to be so. Meat, chicken, fish, salads, eggs, fruits & veggies... what exactly is the hardship?

Desserts? Just stop thinking "pastry." After a heavy meal, who wants a dense dessert anyhow? Think light and sweet: sugar, fruit, and something to give it a "bite" if you wish. Whip up some meringues or sorbets, dip some fruit in melted chocolate or carmelized sugar, or poach 'em in syrup or wine. The combos are endless, but if you want some quick ones that I've used to great success: lemon-rosemary sorbet, peaches in ginger syrup, sauteed apples, wine-poached pears... all easy (< 30 minutes work), all gebroks-free, and none with potato starch (ptui!)

Non-gebrokts-ers do have one advantage, though: they don't have to deal with the age-old matzah brei debate...

Anonymous said...

We sing Yigdal before the Seder.

The Yekkishe Bekeshe

Lakewood Falling Down said...

My father has this matching Haggadah and Kiddush cup that have these green stones in them my mom refers to as "the pimple pesach stuff". She LOATHES them which is why my father will never use anything else.

daughtersintheparsha said...

efrex are you male or female??

Mikeinmidwood said...

The animal noises for chad gadyah, my favorite.

efrex said...

I'm ashamed to admit that it wasn't until The Lovely Wife(tm) became part of the seder that animal noises were part of Chad Gadya. Multiple tunes (sometimes simultaneously), simultaneous multiple keys and tempi, and translations into Ladino and Greek, yes, funny voices no...

DITP: male, but a foodie/ musical theater junkie. Don't ask, it's a long story...

Anonymous said...

Poser:
Does using the revamped parsley holder remind Seder particpants of the original Kailey or the fact that it broke ?

G6 said...

Since I never loved the look of it (it was an ugly dark brown crock) - only what it represented, I have no problem "recycling" it. All the brown mosaics on the bottom are actual remnants of the original, only I added some nicer copper and copper-flecked green glass stones on top.
Only happy memories and good feelings :)
Good question though....

efrex said...

(Warning! This is what happens when a Brisker/Hirschian brain has been fried by too much mind-numbing work, and sees an opportunity to pontificate. Stay in school, kids!)

"Poser:
Does using the revamped parsley holder remind Seder particpants of the original Kailey or the fact that it broke ?
"

Both, of course! Hidden in this seemingly innocuous vessel is the secret of the chag:

* By making a mosaic (note the subtle play on "Moses," surely a reference to yetziat mitzrayim) out of a shattered vessel (referencing golut, of course), the ba'alat hablog has created a stark simultaneous symbol of exile and redemption.

* The copper and glass additions are naturally representative of the precious metals and stones used for the mishkan.

* Creating multiple crocks out of a single antique one of course symbolizes the increasing numbers of future generations, who resemble their ancestors, yet take on new appearances and roles, surely a most appropriate consideration for the Seder, as ancestors and descendants join to create a shared experience of slavery and freedom, leading to the hope of ultimate redemption.

Now, if someone can explain why "poor man's bread" costs $20 a pound...

G6 said...

efrex:
I LOVE IT!!!
Don't EVER stop reading and commenting on my blog!

Jewish Side of Babysitter said...

amazing mosaic you did there!

I like the idea of chocolate covered matzah and chocolate macaroons.

I noticed Lakewood Falling Down also does the animal noises. I’ve never heard of it before and it sounds cute