momof3sons

Guests arrived 45 minutes early! Fortunately, I had just changed out of my filthy clothes 5 minutes earlier, and the food was ready to go. Cooking for 31 tomorrow (multiple main courses and side dishes) and transporting it to relative's home. Side benefit of the guests arriving early was that they left early and I was able to slice and sauce the brisket tonight. (My brisket is a two day affair-anyone else's?)

My DS#1 (grad student at U. Chicago) was making a seder tonight and was expecting 15-17 guests in his one bedroom apt! More people kept RSVP'ing and he had to run out and buy more chairs today! I am so proud of him. He completely kashered his kitchen, and bought all new appliances, etc. for Passover. Hope everyone had a wonderful Seder!

VeryHappy

^^^ Wow! I'm impressed!

Some of my guests, OTOH, arrived an hour late. One couple got stuck in traffic, so that's forgivable -- another couple (not Jewish) live literally around the corner and also arrived an hour late. I don't think they "got" it that there was a schedule to be honored . . . . Oh well. We had a great time!

worrywart

mo3s, wow! You've done something right in raising him. Continued naches! Marilyn, your hard boiled egg recipe produced perfect results! Thanks. (My seder is this evening so tata for now.)

jym626

Ok... I gotta ask-- is there a "recipe" for hard boiled eggs???

BTW, made a very good and VERY EASY honey/brown sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg glazed carrot recipe to bring to the seder last night. And the seder we attended last night had more non-jews than jews in attendance. It was a lot of fun. We have another tonight, and a "belated" one to attend this weekend for folks who couldnt handle coordinating it during the week.

As an aside, it was mentioned last night that yesterday had some cool thing that happens only every 26 years?? It had to do with the aligning of the sun and that it was the exact way it was yesterday, the third day of the week, as on the third day of creation. I didnt quite follow it. Can anyone explain?

snowball

I saw that on the news also; here are two links:
Jews worldwide mark Blessing of the Sun - Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,6374356.story

Blessing of the Sun prayer.

The unique event occurs only once every 28 year when, according to Jewish tradition, the sun reaches the exact spot it graced in the heavens at the moment it was created.

anothermom-w-q

A followup to my D's seder in Sydney. Around 5:30 this evening (12:30 pm tomorrow local time) I get a call from her. She was at a 7-11 trying to buy food for the 9 guests who were coming for dinner. It being Good Friday all the grocery stores in town were closed, the kosher butchers were closed for Passover. She had already bought items to make matzoh ball soup and has matzoh and fruit for the charoset. I suggested a very non-traditional tuna casserole. I figured at a 7-11 you can usually buy the ingredients for that. I will report back tomorrow when I hear what she made. I am still laughing about it. Yes, we are very reform, but even for us this is pretty out there. I guess they can always order pizza.

Marilyn

Thanks Worrywart!

Jym - not so much a HB egg recipe as a process: "OK, here's what I do: put the eggs in a large pot in cold water. Put on the burner on high. As soon as the water starts boiling, turn down until some bubbles are just breaking the surface. Set timer for 15 minutes. When done, run cold water over eggs until you can reach in, then take them out and plunge them into a bowl of ice and water. Once the ice is pretty much melted, dry off the eggs and store in refrigerator. My only secret to peeling (which doesn't always work) is to peel them under cold running water."

We had the seder the first night and my mom the second; total of 7 so not too bad. First night we had home made matzo ball soup, salad, turkey breast, farfel-nut-raisin stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and sauteed asparagus and broccolini. I made a sponge cake for dessert - we bought strawberies at Whole Foods then spent 10 minutes in the freezer section reading ingredients - finally found a blood orange sorbet that had just juice and sugar. What's not to like! All I had to cook yesterday was chopped liver. Poor DS went to Hillel the first night and they ran out of soup and other food before the last table (his) was called to the buffet - boo! He was invited to AEPi the second night and said it was much better.

seiclan

My daughter went to the Chabad house for her seder. She was shocked that the women and men were separated and the Rabbi wouldn't shake her hand!
She went there instead of Hillel because that was where her AEPhi sisters were going. She said the food was pretty good, but not like ours! Because of her anaphylactic nut allergy she could not try any charosett or dessert and they would not let her bring any into the seder (she makes her own nut-free batch of charosett). She didn't mind though, she went back to her apartment and had the Matza Brittle that I had UPSed to her!!!

dontno

Just curious: About what percentage of Jews (I'm using that term generally) actually don't eat bread, pasta, etc... during Passover? Or equivalently, what percentage actually follow the whole matzoh/kosher thing during the holiday?

No one actually believes that, right? It's just symbolic or allegorical, isn't it? Please tell me I'm right.

seiclan

My daughter went to the Chabad house for both seders. She told me that the Rabbi's wife did all the cooking (brisket for the first seder and chicken for the second seder). There was 70 pounds of brisket!!! I cannot imagine making brisket for 100 hungry college students!!! I wonder if she knew when she married the Rabbi that this would be part of her job description. Anyhow, I am very impressed (especially because D said the food was delicious and she felt very at home there). So wonderful that kids away from home have a place to go. I just made a nice donation to the Chabad at my daughter's school.

worrywart

seiclan, the Chabad is a frequent topic of discussion in our house. Somehow through private donations they are able to offer our kids a "home away from home" as you described. DS frequently attends a free Shabbos dinner at his school's Chabad whereas there is always a charge at Hillel. His Chabad brings Sunday brunch to his frat each week and offers a weeknight course at his frat (for which the kids are paid a stipend to participate). THAT is where I draw the line. There is something distinctly nonkosher about offering the kids a financial incentive, IMO. But I just can't figure out why the synagogues and Hillel struggle with channeling monies toward colleges when they charge membership dues whereas the Chabad seems to have ample to go around based on private donations. Someone more familiar with the behind-the-scenes, please enlighten me.

ReadyToRoll

Just wanted to say that I wish I had found this thread earlier. We did our first seder this year, having spent the last 20 years going to cousins that no longer want to have a big crowd. I will have some good recipes to share next year, including a sweet matzoh kugel that my husband made!

fourkidsmom

chocolate chip cookies- I doubled this and everyone likes them!
3 eggs
1/2 c margarine ( I used butter)
1 rounded cup sugar
1 cup cake meal
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup potato starch
1 10-12 oz bag chocolate chips
3/4 cup toasted walnuts or pecans (I don't use, we don't eat nuts here)

beat together egss, margarine and sugar. combine dry ingredients, add to egg mixture. Add chocolate chips and nuts; mix well. drop by the spoonful on a greased (I used parchment paper) cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Cookies should be light golden brown (mine never got very brown, they just looked cooked!)
Remove from pan quickly and cool. Store in an airtight container. These freeze well. about 5 dozen

papengena

Always on the hunt for good new recipes I'm not Jewish, but I'm going to borrow these recipes if you dont mind!!

jym626

enjoy them, papagena! I am off to make passover popover-type rolls (recipe is somewhere in this thread from last year or so)