It's off the the Passover races...

The house got switched over yesterday.

Please ignore the passive voice. It was not a passive activity. Three of us worked really hard.

As soon as the house was switched over to Passover mode and the stove top was kashered and duly foil covered, I got the soup going.

This is a 24 quart pot. It now contains 20 lbs. of chicken bones, a large celery root, lots of parsnips, a turnip a large bunch of dill and one of parsley and some spices, leek tops and lots of giant carrots. Tomorrow morning I will start straining the soup.

Two dozen eggs are being brined in the fridge in anticipation of their moment of glory on our Seder plates. Using older eggs means that peeling the eggs is a much easier task.

This is two of the eight chickens that are now individually bagged and in our freezer.

Since you asked they are spiced with smoked paprika, allspice, ginger and black pepper. I squeezed fresh lemon over the chickens when they were mostly cooked. I ate a wing that fell off for part of my dinner and it was delicious.

Not photographed is a bag of no-nut charoset (because we will have some guests at out seder that I don't want to kill) and about half a gallon of charoset with nuts.

I bought a great deal of our Passover food haul (but not all of it) at Bingo in Boro Park. Bingo has products that you don't see in most markets.

This is a pre packed set of ten pieces of bread to hide the night before Passover so you can find them and burn them the morning of Passover.

You could purchase Haggadot in Yiddish-- and no, the original Hebrew was not printed in either volume.

You could buy Yiddish books for little kids. This one is about Shlomi and Esti's adventure in the park.

You could purchase matza covers

and plastic Seder plates.

I was able to buy both Shmurah matza and brisket at prices that would have been considered an excellent deal in 1980. Yes, we are eating brisket this year. I need it to that before I can cook it.

Managing freezer space for Passover cooking is always an adventure in planning. and shifting things around.

My house looks a little bit nuts at the moment with cartons covering my dining room table.

For dinner we ate potatoes boiled in some of the soup and some chicken pan juices along with some boiled chicken from the soup. It was a hearty and comforting meal.

The tulip bulbs that we planted in the fall in front of our building are in full par-tay mode.