This, and some of that
Apr. 25th, 2008 10:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidPSA for locals: May 11 and 12 there's going to be a symposium on Home, Nation, and Landedness in Modern Jewish Identity at Harvard Hillel. While the meals cost, it looks like the programming is free.
Yesterday two back yards away, there were men trimming the tree I think of as the raccoon tree, ever since Farwing and I saw a couple of raccoons climbing up and through it. For a while I thought they might be taking the whole thing down, but it was merely a tree editing after all.
While I can still see it (the trees not having much leafed out (leaved out?) yet): I'm amused that someone diagonally across the block from me has a palm tree of lights on their back porch. No other lights, just a palm tree.
Wednesday was absurdly warm for April. I was intrigued to find random cool spots on my bike ride. One or two were shadowed places (underpasses and the like), but others were just... there. A cool moment before rushing into the warmer air, rather like finding a warm spot in an otherwise cool lake.
Pesach has been pretty nice so far. Though there are logistical issues with having first seder Saturday night (mostly around the consumption of bread with Shabbat meals and the getting rid of it before one cannot own it), it does mean that everyone has a chance for a nap in the afternoon, no one is frazzled by doing a day of cooking leading up to the seder, and no one is coming off a fast day, either (the fast of the first born moved to the Thursday before). Which is to say, it's easier to have a somewhat saner seder. It didn't keep my first night seder from going until about 2 A.M., but it meant that it was more pleasant to be up that late. (Second seder my host was much more efficient; we finished before midnight.)
My Pesach kitchen includes disposable cutlery (reused as much as possible), also plates, bowls, and cups, which are single use. I've started to feel more dismayed about how much stuff I throw out on Pesach, but I'm not sure whether it's yet at the level where I feel the need to buy real stuff. Real stuff would mean much more to store (during the rest of the year, and during the holiday, when pretty much everything is out on counters, and I close off all cabinets)(especially because Pesach meals tend to be large enough that I'd need service for eight, milchig and fleishig), much more to schlep (not a trivial consideration, given how much I have to pull out already), and more dishes to do. I have a lot of disposables left (I didn't get any this year, and won't need for a couple of years.) Perhaps once they run out, I'll get real stuff.
I have this boozy fruit from last year that I was all excited lasted, and now I'm not sure what I want to do with it. I could serve it straight up (neat?), but that seems odd, somehow. First thought: get a pie plate, line it with ground nuts (I have hazelnuts), chop up fruit, put it in, add the booze thickened with potato starch (that's all I can think of for Pesach, anyway), and bake to make a sort of fruit tart.
Yesterday two back yards away, there were men trimming the tree I think of as the raccoon tree, ever since Farwing and I saw a couple of raccoons climbing up and through it. For a while I thought they might be taking the whole thing down, but it was merely a tree editing after all.
While I can still see it (the trees not having much leafed out (leaved out?) yet): I'm amused that someone diagonally across the block from me has a palm tree of lights on their back porch. No other lights, just a palm tree.
Wednesday was absurdly warm for April. I was intrigued to find random cool spots on my bike ride. One or two were shadowed places (underpasses and the like), but others were just... there. A cool moment before rushing into the warmer air, rather like finding a warm spot in an otherwise cool lake.
Pesach has been pretty nice so far. Though there are logistical issues with having first seder Saturday night (mostly around the consumption of bread with Shabbat meals and the getting rid of it before one cannot own it), it does mean that everyone has a chance for a nap in the afternoon, no one is frazzled by doing a day of cooking leading up to the seder, and no one is coming off a fast day, either (the fast of the first born moved to the Thursday before). Which is to say, it's easier to have a somewhat saner seder. It didn't keep my first night seder from going until about 2 A.M., but it meant that it was more pleasant to be up that late. (Second seder my host was much more efficient; we finished before midnight.)
My Pesach kitchen includes disposable cutlery (reused as much as possible), also plates, bowls, and cups, which are single use. I've started to feel more dismayed about how much stuff I throw out on Pesach, but I'm not sure whether it's yet at the level where I feel the need to buy real stuff. Real stuff would mean much more to store (during the rest of the year, and during the holiday, when pretty much everything is out on counters, and I close off all cabinets)(especially because Pesach meals tend to be large enough that I'd need service for eight, milchig and fleishig), much more to schlep (not a trivial consideration, given how much I have to pull out already), and more dishes to do. I have a lot of disposables left (I didn't get any this year, and won't need for a couple of years.) Perhaps once they run out, I'll get real stuff.
I have this boozy fruit from last year that I was all excited lasted, and now I'm not sure what I want to do with it. I could serve it straight up (neat?), but that seems odd, somehow. First thought: get a pie plate, line it with ground nuts (I have hazelnuts), chop up fruit, put it in, add the booze thickened with potato starch (that's all I can think of for Pesach, anyway), and bake to make a sort of fruit tart.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-25 08:29 pm (UTC)How nice it is that you got to explore the warm weather mid-Pesach like that.
Do you have space for any temporary shelving for Pesach? Could you at least swap contents of your flatware drawers? When you do get "real stuff," you could get just for fleishig first, see how that goes, so you don't get overwhelmed with two full sets.
Yum, hazelnuts. The sort-of-fruit-tart sounds good. Actually, it reminds me of an upside-down kind of pie I have made, the procedure for which would work with your ingredients. Or, if you have any cake meal, you could make a nut cake with the fruit and liquid included.
Have a lovely rest of Pesach!
no subject
Date: 2008-04-28 03:00 am (UTC)The sort-of-fruit-tart was extremely alcoholic, even after baking. Not to some people's taste. Slivovitz doesn't seem to mellow much. I think I'll try fruit in Sabra and see if that is less of a walloping over the head sort of experience.
I didn't get any cake meal. I don't know why, but I rarely buy plain matza meal, even.
Hope you had a great Pesach!