Three-day yom tov

[magid]

The first two days of Pesach run into Shabbat, making three days with restrictions on many work activities. Luckily, holidays allow cooking, if I leave a burner or the oven on. My usual solution is to get everything I'll need baked in advance, leaving an electric warming tray on the whole time and an electric burner on some of the time, by virtue of a timer. Given the cool weather forecast for the next couple of days, leaving the oven on becomes less onerous, but I'd still rather not leave it on the whole time.

I'm out for the seders, and made candied organic orange and grapefruit peel dipped in chocolate to bring to the second one (by-products of this: another pint of candied peel with liquid (plus a bit more for more immediate use), and some raisin clusters and almond clusters). I'm hosting second day lunch and Shabbat dinner, which means Friday will be a bit nutty; it's a good thing the afternoons are so long already.

Second lunch, currently for three adults and one child:

• matza, grape juice
  
• pickles and olives
  
• gefilte fish baked with salsa
  
• pepper steak with onions, peppers, and mushrooms
  
• green salad with jicama and citrus
  
• roasted carrots and parsnips
  
• Shaker lemon pie guts
  
• spiced walnuts

Shabbat dinner, currently for six adults:

• matza, grape juice
  
• pickles and olives
  
• gefilte fish baked with salsa
  
• chicken baked with farfel, onions, carrots, and celeriac
  
• green salad with jicama and cucumber
  
• collards sauteed with onions, sweet potatoes, and spicy paprika
  
• pineapple roasted with brown sugar and ginger
  
• spiced nuts
  
• dried plums in slivovitz (put away last year)

First lunch and Shabbat lunch are undefined so far, which means they'll likely end up being solitary meals at home. But perhaps I will be inspired to invite people, or perhaps I'll be invited. If I'm at home, there are options, including a variety of cheeses, eggplant spreads, roasted rutabaga, yet more salad, or tuna. And Shabbat lunch could incorporate any leftovers.

Side note to today's cooking: this morning was birkat hachamah, which happens every 28 years on Wednesday, April 8, when the sun is theoretically in the same place as the day it was created. The blessing said is the same one as over lightning and other works of nature, though it has become the custom to add certain Psalms and such around it. It's usually not erev Pesach, which made it more interesting, especially since there are some traditions that have the messiah arriving after an erev Pesach birkat hachamah.

I'm going to be offline until Saturday night. Chag sameach to those celebrating, and happy early April to everyone else :-)

Comments

notes

[magid.livejournal.com]

Second lunch:
I should have used (ie, bought) a second package of the pepper steak.
The salsa was a bit spicier than I'd expected.
The salad didn't have jicama, but did have hearts of palm.
I really need to get heavier cookie trays for Pesach, because roasting on the thin ones I have leads to burning too quickly.
The Shaker lemon pie guts were a bit overdone: try 20-23 minutes at 300 F when using the little Pyrex cups next time. Interestingly, the very set eggs totally said "dairy" to me, rather than egg. Not sure why.

Shabbat dinner:
The stuff with the chicken went over well; put more in next time.
The collards didn't really work. I don't know what I'd change, really.
I liked how the pineapple turned out, but the ginger was either not enough or too much.