sarah in nyc

 The very first Passover that was celebrated in Egypt the night before the Jews were liberated is known in Rabbinic literature as Pesach Mitzrayim/ Passover in Egypt. That first Passover was celebrated in two tenses as it were, in the present and also anticipating the future to the redemption of the next day and the future retelling of the story. Every Passover since then is celebrated in three tenses--- in the past remembering that very first Passover, in the present-- the Passover we are currently celebrating and also our future redemption. Remembering Passover of the past isn't just remembering the first Egypt Passover. It is also remembering Passovers from both our personal and our historical past.   I had classmates whose father was a concentration camp survivor. He used to put on his striped concentration camp uniform as he began retelling the story of the exodus from Egypt.  My father, who was SO particular about how Hebrew was pronounced used to chant one of ...

Every year when I get ready for Pesach, as I scrub and schlep boxes and shop and chop and cook and bake and wash endless dishes it always feels sacramental. It isn't just housework but something prayerful and holy, not all that different from the work done by the priests in the Temple as they prepared the sacrifices. I know that lots of people complain about the work involved to create Passover. It is an incredible amount of work but it is also a wonderful thing to be able to create for your circle of family and friends. It is work with meaning.    As I work away cutting vegetables, making this cake or that or mixing up yet another batch of matza balls or matza muffins, or slicing up a brisket, I recall the sedarim celebrated with my parents. I believe that these photos were taken the year of the famous disaster Seder. That was the year when one nephew threw up on one of my parents rugs. Another nephew was in charge of my youngest who was then a baby and while in his charge, m...

 Don't get too excited.  I tend to have incredibly boring dreams. Last night I dreamt that I was very tired and had a cup of strong black coffee in the afternoon despite knowing that it would make it hard for me to sleep at night. That's it. That was my dream. I was tired this afternoon  and didn't have a cup of strong black coffee. I did make a batch of matza balls for tonight's soup. Last night I made almond cookies for tonight's dessert as well as chocolate covered date and walnut balls. Both are stupid easy to make. Almond Cookies egg whites 1/4 cup sugar per egg white a dash of salt almond flour Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 315 Put egg whites in a large bowl add the salt and beat. I have a hand mixer and use that . I am sure than a stand mixer is faster. Beat until whites look like bubble bath. Add sugar bit by bit until fully incorporated and the eggwhites more closely resemble canned shaving cream. Add as much almond flour as the...

  The contents of this pot, after twop days of simmering and several hours of straining and squeezing all of the goodness out of a whole bunch of large root vegetables and 20lbs of chicken bones is now 5 1/2 gallons of beautiful soup.   Seven quarts or perhaps nine are now residing in our building's freezer in the basement. My husband moved the soup to the basement so I am not 100% sure how many are now out of my kitchen. Tow of our guests are vegetarian. I needed to make a main dish for them.  Perhpas it was memories of old vegetarian recipes from the 1940s that came bubbling up out of the musty corners of my brain but I thought that a nut loaf would be the perfect main dish. I looked at a whole bunch of recipes. many weren't suitable for Passover because they were made with lentils or rice or other beans.  Many of the recipes used lots of cheese. That probably was yummy but I couldn't serve that at a meat meal. Several of the recipes called for lots of mushrooms, o...

 We hosted both Sedarim surrounded by friends and family. We were so sad to find out on the first day of the holiday that my beloved cousin David died in his sleep in Israel after a long period of decline. Memories of my cousin  from my childhood when he was a glamourous grown up and I was a very little girl  have been swirling in my head since I heard the news. Every year I emerge from the cooking Olympics that have kept me in doors to discover that it is actually springtime. I could have been outside in shirtsleeves today. Last night I mended three pairs of my son's pants. Some of these pants have areas that are mostly mending threads and patches. This is the inside of the striped pants and the  archeology of the mends is on view. I liked mending the checkerboard pants with a similar pattern on a smaller scale.  My son's cellphone wears a hole in his front pocket. I tried to mend the pockets while not narrowing the pocket bag opening too much to make it not us...

Several of you have asked me how I can bake without a recipe.  I will take you through the baking of two different items---both baked yesterday so you can understand the thinking behind what I do. One of our Seder guests first night particularly likes my almond cookies. I decided to make a batch. The cookies are essentially meringues with almond flour added. I beat up two egg whites with a pinch of salt until they looked glossy and white. Each egg white needs 1/4 cup of sugar to turn into meringues. So I added 1/2 cup of sugar bit by bit and beat the mixture until the sugar had dissolved and the mixture looked like shaving cream from the can. Then I added ground almonds from the giant bag I had purchased at Costco. I added the ground almonds until the mixture resembled cookie dough. The almond cookies have wide parameters. I could have added less almond or more. More or less would have changed the texture of the cookies but all are acceptable textures. I didn't measure how much I a...