Darth Seder

It’s Passover again! Time for leaning, drinking wine and eating everything but bread. My daughter is excited for Passover and went to her once a month religious school yesterday where they talked about the seder meal. As a result, today as we drove to school she said, “Mumma, lots of people are coming to our house tonight. That means it’s a vader.”

I love the idea of Darth Seder.

All the old standbys this year, no new and exciting recipes. It’s been a heck of a few weeks and I’m low on sleep, time and motivation. Therefore, we’re having matzo ball soup, brisket, chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and green beans. For dessert we have the ever-present chocolate caramel matzo. I also bought ice cream and made hot fudge sauce and caramel sauce. Caramel sauce is my new nemesis- I have made it correctly once or twice but all the other times I either don’t let it darken enough or it seizes when I add the cream. It is now a new challenge for me– I will conquer it, oh, yes I will.

As the meal hasn’t happened yet, I’ll just give you the photos of the prep work. And maybe I’ll go back and add some of the final product once we’re all done.

My grandmother always served hard boiled eggs to start the meal- something about spring and new beginnings.

Must always have a green vegetable.

Soup getting started….

Matzo ball mixture.

Finished soup with yummy matzo balls.

Brisket…. brisket-ing

and more brisket-ing.

Charoset, a new non-recipe, thrown together version this year.

The ubiquitous roasted chicken. I forgot lemon this year and had to sub in two small (are there any other kind?) clementines. Still good.

Chocolate caramel crunch, before it is broken into delicious, chewy, sweet, crunch pieces. Yes, it’s chewy and crunchy at the same time. Did I mention that it’s over 70 degrees here today? It’s lovely but not good for this dessert’s integrity.

Hot fudge sauce made with evaporated milk and chocolate chips.

My nemisis, the caramel sauce. Too thin but tasty, nonetheless.

Chag Semach to you and yours. Hold everyone tightly to you and be thankful for what you’ve got. We are coming to the anniversary of the marathon bombing last year and this morning I woke to news of yet another hate crime/public shooting. So I am trying to hold tight to the love I am surrounded by and the good that there is, both in my life and all around me. This evening, as we begin our seder, I will be surrounded by love. I will be going through a ritual that a number of people on my street, in my town, in my state, in my country and all over the world will be doing at the same time. It will remind me just how positively connected we all are.

Much love, joy and peace to you all as we enter spring.

xox

Update with some photos from Passover and our imprmptu Easter egg hunt: