Passover, Round 2

ADDENDA:
Spent the day cooking and reviewing a hagadah for the Seder I'll be leading and partially feeding this evening. Put the sauer braten in the oven for hours, then made the spent marinade into gravy. Prepped vegan stuffed mushrooms to be baked at my friends house closer to time of serving.

BREAKFAST: 9am, 4 homemade lemon muffins, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Since I couldn't make it uptown for a brunch with B's relatives, I woke up and ran into the kitchen to bake these muffins from scratch before she split. They were pleasantly lemony without being bitter, but not overly sweet either. I experimented with mixing a little zest with dark brown sugar to sprinkle on top, but it didn't form the caramelized crust that plain cane sugar created last time.

LUNCH: 12:15pm, homemade cheese ravioli w/ olive oil, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
Good ravioli, but a lot of them formed a big frozen ball in the freezer again, despite drying them before storing them. Hmmmm.

AFTERNOON TASTINGS: 12:30pm-4pm, a gingersnap cookie (for the gravy) here, a teaspoon of vegan stuffing there, a taste of gravy here (needs more sugar), etc etc, hunger 3/5
I wonder if this is the kind of stuff that'll make me fat in C-school...

PM SNACK: 5pm, pistachios, .25 cup, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, salad, gefilte fish, matzoh ball soup, sauerbraten, gravy, vegan stuffed mushrooms, potato kugel, flourless chocolate cake, 2 glasses wine, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
For this Seder at my friend's Karen house, I definitely was not in a passive role. I lead the Seder as best as I could, adding as much of my mom's anti-religious pro-feminist pro-socialist flavor as possible, gave a little rant about gefilte fish and made it quick. At the same time, I was running into the kitchen to try to give order to things, plating and sending out the fish and soup courses, carving the meat and plating the various side dishes.

Unfortunately, the sauer braten was dry, but I know why - if it was served within 30 minutes of it's cooking, it would of been very juicy. 5 hours after it was cooked, a huge puddle of yummy meat juices were at the bottom of the container which no amount of gravy could help. Because I had to cook it at home and bring it, it was unavoidable. If I try another dish like this, it'll have to be cooked in the place it'll be served.

The stuffed mushrooms were over salted and over peppered, but the effort I put into chopping all the ingredients finer made for a much more appealing texture.

Kind of missed a few friends who I would of liked to of shared this with, next year either they'll be invited to this or I'll do my own, darnit! And after C-school, a passover brisket should be a piece of cake, right?

Passover, Round 1

ADDENDA:
Went to a yoga basics class this morning tought by the HVS, who is somewhere near the end of her training. Hot n' sweaty, the yoga was excellent though the music was a bit....well, that's a rant for a different kind of blog. Went to the farmer's market before hand to pick up some ingredients for an apple crisp to take along tonight to my cousin's seder.

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, granola with good milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10am, 2 small pieces of pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Mediocre pizza leftovers from B's Broadway East meal

LUNCH: 1:15am, pork fried rice, shrimp eggroll, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
It would have just been another buck to get the brick and have it delivered, but don't feel like being sick all Passover. Walked out and got a pint of rice. I guess I'm needing the comfort of it, as this afternoon I'll be with relatives I haven't spent time with in years.

DINNER: 6:30pm, matzoh, 1/2 glass wine, diet coke, seltzer, haroset w/ horseradish, gefilte fish, matzoh ball soup, 5 sweet meatballs, chicken breast w/stuffing, mashed potatoes, salad, broccoli kugel, small piece of apple crisp, 1 chocolate macaroon, 2.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Went to a cousin's house deep in the dark heart of New Jersey, haven't been to his seder since my parents passed away. It was nice to be able to go with B and have her meet a bunch of people who knew my parents pretty well. I was always a rather shy child, and had my parents to hide behind - many of these people who I've known since I was a baby I've had very few words with - tonight I perhaps doubled the amount of conversation I had with them. It was nice.

Being a seder, there was the pomp and ceremony but it was all about the food in the end. A few dishes were brought by guests were home made, but the majority of the meal was catered - it's a shame, my father and his brother would cook everything from scratch, and it would show. A perfect example were these meatballs in a tomato/ketchup sauce, originally made by my Aunt Vivian, now made by another cousin - no pork in the meatballs, matzoh meal as a filler, ketchup used in both the meat ball AND the sauce....and the sauce is sweet....should be gross, but were absolutely fantastic, like Jewwy Swedish meatballs. The food was good, the banter with my cousin was in the style of my parents, but my food memory recalls something a little bit more....weird tasting. Is it because I'm an adult? I ate the "bitter herb" dipped in salt water for the first time in my life, usually I'd shove it under the plate, he he.

Then again, if I was holding a seder for 24 people, I'd cater it too! A Wildman tradition is to serve hard boiled eggs and crack the egg over a loved one's head. Fortunately, Betsy's skull was quite firm and ready for the task.