Taking a Bit of a Breather

I hope that all of you had lovely Sedarim, we certainly did. It was wonderful to celebrate along with our nearest and dearest.

As I prepared for the holiday I really missed being able to turn to my two cooking buddies Miriam and Shawna. I always loved consulting with each of them as I planned and cooked meals for Passover. Sadly, neither is still in the land of the living. I especially feel the loss of my friends before the holidays--because now I have to cook without them.

I kept thinking about Shawna as I decorated Mrs. Pascal's sponge cake. I topped the cake, (which was the tallest cake I have ever baked-- either of the Passover or the regular variety) with a tart lemon custard.

We had a batch of beautiful but sour strawberries in the fridge and I sliced them up to top the cake.

I kept thinking about Shawna and how she would approach making this cake lovely for the table.As I sliced and placed the berries I had a conversation with Shawna in my head. She probably would have added a detail or two that would have taken this cake to the truly spectacular.

I topped the strawberries with a thin layer of the custard and the strawberries now looked glazed.

I made too much of everything and two of my kids came by to fill their empty fridges with meat and kugel, chicken and vegetables. My fridge now looks like that of a normal human being. We now only have six quarts of soup in the freezer.Two already have been promised to friends.

Today I left the house for the first time since Friday.

The sky was dramatic.

But it is actually spring.

Inevitably, I lose a couple of weeks of springtime preparing for Passover each year.

Now I know---it is here.

I actually didn't give myself too much playtime today. I have been doing laundry since last night.

Today I ironed

all of the napkins that we used during the Sedarim.

Many of the napkins are older than I am. Some of these napkins had been my mother's. The napkins with the fruit embroidery had belonged to my friend Ida and others came to my from the homes of other friends. It feels like I have invited those women to join our table for the holiday.

I also ironed nearly all of the tablecloths that we used during the holiday. I even ironed our everyday napkins.

That is not exactly a necessary task but when the napkins are ironed I can fit more of them in the napkin drawer.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday.

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