Passover Through A Child's Eyes

Let's face it.  For adults, preparing for Passover can be exhausting. There is lots of cleaning and cooking to do. I can't think of another week on the Jewish calendar where we need to be so physically ready to celebrate a holiday. 

Several trips are required to the supermarket in search of our favorite or forgotten Passover items.  My family cooks and bakes not only for the seder but for the entire week. I lead the Passover seder - making sure that everyone is included and we have everything we need to help us celebrate. 

We do this preparation in order to celebrate & remember the story of our freedom.  But, more importantly - we know deep down inside the importance of keeping these traditions alive for our children and future generations.

In the last few days, I've learned that my children see Passover from a different point of view. Walking in their shoes, I realize that our multiple trips to the grocery store are lessons in what is and what is not kosher for Passover. They ask lots of great questions and thank goodness I can answer most of them (or look it up on Google).

Cleaning for Passover takes on a whole new meaning.  It is not enough to put the toys away, but we are commanded to get rid of all the chametz (leavened food) in the house. Setting the seder table is not an ordinary chore.  We take out china, crystal and the "good" silverware that we use on special occasions. The kids admire the table and decide tomake a contribution of their own in the form of making place cards for everyone.

The seder table is the place for the kids to shine. They bring their game faces and can't wait to begin. They read and sing with enthusiasm.  The fans (adults) go wild as they watch them recite the Four Questions - which are always asked by the youngest children at the table. This year, my heart soared when I saw them stand up to read them - taking their role in the ceremony very seriously.

At the end of the evening - after the seder and festive meal are over -the clean up begins again. My daughter sneaks up behind me and gives me a hug. 

"Mom, that was really great! Thank you," she says.

 Knowing all of the hard work was worth it, I give her a hug back and let her know that the pleasure is all mine.

An 80's Purim Shpiel in the works...

After the Purim Schpiel (play) ended and we finished up the last of the hamantashen, I started to think about next year's celebration. As a program director, I am always thinking ahead and trying to come up with creative ideas. While Purim is not one of the holidays I oversee, I thought about what kind of Purim Shpiel I wanted to see next year. And then it hit me - a Totally Radical 80's Purim Shpiel!

As a child of the 80's and huge fan of movies, music and the lingo (which I manage to slip into regular conversation from time to time), I started to think of how "totally awesome" it would be. The first song was easy - Vashti could sing "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" right after she says (in a Valley Girl voice) "Dude - I am not going to your party...like gag me with a spoon!" When the king chooses a new queen, we hear Mambo #5 as the theme music ("A little bit of Monica in my life; a little bit of Erica by my side ...").

Anyway, it is a work in progress, but I have visions of Haman quoting Bender in the Breakfast Club with his iconic quote, "You couldn't ignore me if you tried" and the entire cast at the end putting on sunglasses and dancing to "The Future's So Bright - I Gotta Wear Shades.

Well, I've got a year to work on it...

A Hanukkah Survey

This survey is going around the Jewish professional blogs and so I thought I'd share it with you.

One menorah, or several?

We own 9 menorahs (thanks to the Jewish preschool - we have 6 homemade ones). We only use 3 though on each night of Hanukkah - one for the family and the kids each have one.

Do you buy your children gifts for every night of Chanukah?

They get a gift from us for 6 nights. The other two nights they receive gifts from the grandparents.

Do you and your spouse/partner or any other adults in your life exchange gifts?

We exchange with kids and adults alike.

Special family chanukah traditions?

We invite our Jewish neighbors and neighbors of other faiths to our house to celebrate Hanukkah complete with pizza, latkes, munchkins, menorah lighting and dreidel. We also attend the synagogue Hanukkah events and spend time with each of our families during the week.

Latkes or sufganiyot? If latkes, sour cream or applesauce?

How is this for boring - Weight Watchers latkes with low fat sour cream or applesauce for me. Everyone else gets the real thing!

Favorite chanukah book?

Lemony Snicket's The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming. :)

Do you actually play dreidl? If so, what do you use for counters?

Yes, we play dreidel and we use m&ms or pennies.

What relationship, if any, do you have with Christmas and all things Christmas-y?

Chinese food and movies, of course! Actually, my favorite songs this time of year are Bruce Springsteen's rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. I also like Winter Wonderland and Let it Snow. If our friends invite us over for egg nog, we are happy to take part.

Jewish Cooking for the Clueless

IT'S HERE! My new cookbook - Jewish Cooking Boot Camp - came in the mail last week. I know that this cookbook was made for me - especially when there is an article on page 7 titled "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Kitchen Injuries."

I'd like to add a new segment to the cookbook from the Clueless Cook (a.k.a. yours truly). I call it - Reasons to read the recipe BEFORE you start to cook.

Reason #1 - By reading the entire list of ingredients, you can make sure that you have each item in your kitchen. If you don't follow this philosophy, you will likely annoy your spouse when you send him or her out to the store to retrieve the missing (and usually hard to find) ingredient.

Reason #2 - Read the recipe again to make sure that you have all of the kitchen equipment you need. This would have come in handy before I was in the middle of making cupcakes with the kids from scratch without a sifter.

Reason #3
Read the amount that you need of each ingredient prior to putting it in the bowl. Otherwise, you may wind up quadrupling the one ingredient that you didn't read while using the exact measurements of the ingredients that you did read. Yes, I admit that I did this. I overloaded on the tomato sauce and put in the exact ingredients while making a mango sauce for my tilapia.

One more cooking tip for clueless cooks out there (are there any out there besides me?), buy 2 of everything so that when you mess it up - you have everything you need to start all over again!

Yeah, the brisket I plan to make for the High Holidays should make for a very interesting story. Wish me luck and stay tuned!

Goodbye to the latkes!

To take a lyric from my son's Hanukkah song

"I had a little latke, I made it out of clay"
"And when I tried to eat it, my tummy says Oy Vey!"

How many latkes have I had? - Let me count the parties.

Expensive Latkes
Location: Andrew's Preschool Hanukkah Party - I made latkes for the class and it cost me $350 the next day which I had to pay the plumber after I put the potato scraps down the garbage disposal. Next time, I'll buy the mix.

Healthy Latkes
Location: Hanukkah Brunch with my in-laws - Delicious, Weight Watcher recipe latkes - but still ate too many.

Lotsa Latkes
Location: Hanukkah Party with my Chavurah - Latkes everywhere - and latke-leftovers galore! Great party with great friends. Each family lit a menorah and we all did the blessings together. Definitely a holiday highlight.

Latke Overload
Location: Hanukkah Dinner with my parents - I asked my mom what we were having - guess what - more latkes! Apparently, my dad didn't get to eat any during the 8 days of Hanukkah. Oh well, what's one or two more latkes, right?! Who says I'm not a trooper...

I think I'll take potatoes off the shopping list for a while.

Happy New Year to all!