Sukkot first days

[magid]

First dinner, 5-6 people.

• wine, white wheat*^ challah with multigrain flakes* and flaxseed meal* (reminder to self: this is the kind of yeast that would do better if proofed first)
  
• hummus
  
• vegetable soup with onions^, kale*^, sweet potatoes, celeriac*&, a hot pepper*^, barley, and a glug of Carmel Sauvignon Blanc 2005 (no chicken because I need a pareve soup for Shabbat, and I can't imagine we'll finish all of it at dinner)
  
• roasted eggplant^
  
• chicken baked with rice and beans, served with greens*^ braised with jalapeno*^
  
• salad: kohlrabi-apple slaw with scallions and a honey-chipotle mustard dressing
  
• sauteed pea tendrils*^
  
• red sauerkraut*^
  
• dessert by guests, tea

All that's left to make is the chicken and the salad (unless I lame out on salad, though it would be good to have, for the crunch factor. And while I could make a green salad, there's enough green in this meal already.).

I'm out for both lunches, and dinner second night is whatever I feel like. If there's leftovers from first night, that's great. If not, vegan sausage will likely be called into play, either with eggs or with sauerkraut and apples. A green salad (lettuce, Persian cucumbers, red peppers) would be nice too.

On the sukkah front, the schach is up, but I don't have sun walls up. I think I'm not going to bother with them this year, given that I'm hosting only dinners during the holiday. This year's innovation: white LED holiday lights. Hopefully they'll be bright enough, and they can be put on a timer. I would like to hang the banner I painted last year of the 7 species, but that might not happen.
Still to do: hang the lights, move flowerpots around to maximize space. Possibly: hang banner, add more wood on top.

I bought this year's lulav and etrog; I wasn't the only one there an hour before the bookshop closed. It's wonderful going down to the basement and getting the first whiff of etrog. (I'm also amused that one of the stupid gadgets on Facebook that lets people send plants to one another has an etrog available this week.)
Still to do: put the willow branches in.

eta The chicken's in, wood added on top, lights up and tested (still unsure whether it'll be enough light; probably should've gotten more than two strings, but there is the light from the kitchen windows), outdoor chairs wiped down, pots all moved to one end of the porch, hot water urn on, Jesus candle lit.

I'm at the edge of two street cleaning areas, both Tuesday/Wednesday, on the second and third ones of the month. Months that start on Wednesday tend to mess me up, so I double-checked where I can park the car over chag (third Tuesday), and I think I got it right, though I'll have to move it before Shmini Atzeret.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Persian cucumbers!

Chag sameach.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Also called baby cukes, but not pickling cukes: these are more evenly slender along their length, and have smaller/no seeds. (The only reason I know they're called Persian is the kosher market in Monsey labeled them that way.)

Chag sameach.

[cellio]

One string of regular white (small) holiday lights provides plenty of illumination in my 8x8 sukkah, and the LEDs are brighter than those.

Chag sameach!

[magid.livejournal.com]

I put two strings of white LED ones together, and they, with the light from the kitchen windows, is sufficient, but I think I might get a few more strings of lights for next year, to make it prettier.

Hope you're having a good chag!

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

Is an untalented Jewish rapper a sukka MC?

[magid.livejournal.com]

*groan*