passover approacheth

[magid]

I stopped at the kosher market on the way in to work this morning, to grab something for breakfast/lunch, and I shouldn't've been surprised at how most of the store is filled with passover foods, already. There were a few segregated shelves of the other stuff, but mostly, it was passover passover passover. I surveyed the aisles, even bought a couple of things (some jam that was just fruit and sugar, tuna on sale). There are so many things I will never buy for passover, cake mixes (Really, I can live an entire week, more, even, without cake. Hard to believe, but true.), breakfast cereals, other imitation-starchy foods, overpriced desserts, etc. Which is not to say I won't be back, buying some stuff in a week or 2, but my passover eating is more focused on celebrating fruits, veggies, cheese, poultry, etc, rather than on imitating the things that are not kosher for passover.

Still, it's time to start amassing passover foods. I usually try to get things wherever they're cheapest, when I see them, rather than having a day from hell doing passover shopping. Since I have no problem buying veggies during the intermediate days (I have friends who don't do this. Yes, I know some nuts..), the major items are matzah, cheese (some kinds sell out) and the prepared foods I indulge in (eggplant spreads, mostly). Also some quinoa.

At home I am already absurdly pleased when finishing a container of [fill in any food name here]. Last night I found myself making up a batch of cran-ginger chutney, partly because it would finish so many things I had around the place, bags of cranberries, brown sugar, crystallized ginger (yes, the ginger-obsession continues), some fresh ginger, walnuts, etc. It's a bit too early for my fridge to be this empty... (though I still have some almond paste left, so there will probably be some truffles soon)

Plans for the holiday itself are still undecided. Do I make a seder? Depends on who's available. If I don't, do I stay at home, or go to friends in Chicago? (I'm definitely not going to the friends in Sharon, though they invite me every year.)

And of course, I should be planning when I'm going to get the Cleaning of the Kitchen done, not to mention the Kashering of the Oven and Sink, as well as the Covering of All Horizontal Surfaces (anyone who comes over during passover gets to see my draped kitchen.). Luckily, I do not have toddlers who may deposit Cheerios in all sorts of unexpected places... nor do I feel cleaning for passover is a good time to do spring cleaning (I do not eat on my drapes, so there is no need to clean them for passover).

OK. enough rant (why does passover tend to bring out the soap box in me?). Time to attempt to be productive.

Comments

[gingicat]

Well, Wolf and I are certainly hoping you do a seder by you, cause it would be fun to have a family Seder, and we're not able to kasher our kitchen to halachic standards right now.