Weekend highlights
Apr. 7th, 2003 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidFriday afternoon I ran into a friend with her three daughters at the supermarket. We hadn't seen each other in a while, so got to talking, despite the hour, mid-afternoon Friday. By the end of the conversation, I had an invitation to the first seder. I'd thought to go elsewhere, but hadn't gotten my act together, so this was more of a relief than I'd realized. Now I can focus on the second seder more fully, without being concerned about the first night. There's still plenty of room if someone wants to come for the second seder...
Yes, I still have to clean (not to mention do taxes), but I have been slowly stockpiling Pesach foods, so things don't feel too desperate just yet (despite dreams that have me offering to make people bread to get rid of my flour...). I'm nervous about how calm I am, actually.
I cooked a fair bit for the weekend, since I was hosting more than one meal. I still had some of the things I'd made earlier in the week, which was a help.
I made a quick lunch Friday afternoon, sauteeing minced onions until brown, then adding a tilapia fillet and pouring a mixture of citrus juices (lemon, Key lime, and blood orange) over it all.
The Shabbat food included:
I was pleased that everything worked.
Saturday's weather was absurd. Overcast all day, it ranged from rain to snow to sleet to thunder, with intermittent birdsongs as counterpoint. It's April! Yes, there's usually one "unseasonal" snowfall each April, but we'd already had that earlier in the week.
(And the weather forecast for another 3-6 inches is not what I'd wanted to hear. I'm done with shoveling for the year, I tell you. And just because the Denver forecast got sent here by mistake doesn't mean I'm going to change my mind!)
Saturday night there was an a cappella concert at MIT.
Honorable Menschen was on first, and I was surprised to see that there were more people in the group that I knew than I'd realized. Yes, I'd known the purple one and the acid-green one were in the group, but the new mom, and the tall grad student, etc. The music was ok, but didn't seem as strong as other years.
Techiya is a smaller group, and seemed to be more comfortable on stage. I recognized some of their songs, and missed some that weren't sung (I was pleased that their encore was one I had wanted sung, and is on their CD). They had some great schtick, putting in some "Zen Cohen"s between songs ("Rabbi, does a dog have the kosher nature?" "Oy." [sound of gong]). There was also a longer skit, about a case handled by Lijah Bailey (apparently I was the only one I knew who associated that with Asimov) which turned out to be a hunt for the afikoman. All sorts of traditional lines from the seder were worked in, to the appreciative groans of the audience. I hope they put the text up somewhere online!
Afterwards, ther e were snacks provided for the audience: a variety of kosher grape juice and macaroons. Oy.
I played my first game of Hunters & Gatherers on my copy, and eked out a win. As I'd thought, it does adapt easily to a solitaire version.
I went for a rather long walk Sunday, appreciating the spring flowers before the snow comes. I always like the fuzziness of the magnolia buds before they open, though I don't care for the flowers once they open. It was great to have the cha nce to do a 'walk&talk' with Bitty (the exercise option to a 'stitch&bitch'?). I was glad to make it to the Diesel, finding many people there I knew (and it wasn't a Tuesday!), and happily getting many grapefruits, too.
I finally got to see Edward Scissorhands, half on DVD and half on video, since the DVD was extremely damaged. I enjoyed it anyway.
This morning there was a surprise waiting for me when I got into the office: an orker had left me some ivy he'd bought. Not something I would've gotten myse lf (especially not in the decorated cup and saucer it came in), but it was sweet of him to do it, anyway.
Yes, I still have to clean (not to mention do taxes), but I have been slowly stockpiling Pesach foods, so things don't feel too desperate just yet (despite dreams that have me offering to make people bread to get rid of my flour...). I'm nervous about how calm I am, actually.
I cooked a fair bit for the weekend, since I was hosting more than one meal. I still had some of the things I'd made earlier in the week, which was a help.
I made a quick lunch Friday afternoon, sauteeing minced onions until brown, then adding a tilapia fillet and pouring a mixture of citrus juices (lemon, Key lime, and blood orange) over it all.
The Shabbat food included:
- a batch of challah rolls
- boneless salmon steaks with the same mixture of citrus juices poured on top, then each steak topped with cranberry-citrus jam, and baked
- sauteed onions, mushrooms, and beet greens
- turkey thighs place on top of onions and garlic cloves, then themselves topped with cranberry-citrus jam, and roasted
- a green salad of red-leaf lettuce, halved grape tomatoes, basil, scallions, and mango, dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette with cayenne
- sliced strawbe rries macerated with sugar and balsamic vinegar
I was pleased that everything worked.
Saturday's weather was absurd. Overcast all day, it ranged from rain to snow to sleet to thunder, with intermittent birdsongs as counterpoint. It's April! Yes, there's usually one "unseasonal" snowfall each April, but we'd already had that earlier in the week.
(And the weather forecast for another 3-6 inches is not what I'd wanted to hear. I'm done with shoveling for the year, I tell you. And just because the Denver forecast got sent here by mistake doesn't mean I'm going to change my mind!)
Saturday night there was an a cappella concert at MIT.
Honorable Menschen was on first, and I was surprised to see that there were more people in the group that I knew than I'd realized. Yes, I'd known the purple one and the acid-green one were in the group, but the new mom, and the tall grad student, etc. The music was ok, but didn't seem as strong as other years.
Techiya is a smaller group, and seemed to be more comfortable on stage. I recognized some of their songs, and missed some that weren't sung (I was pleased that their encore was one I had wanted sung, and is on their CD). They had some great schtick, putting in some "Zen Cohen"s between songs ("Rabbi, does a dog have the kosher nature?" "Oy." [sound of gong]). There was also a longer skit, about a case handled by Lijah Bailey (apparently I was the only one I knew who associated that with Asimov) which turned out to be a hunt for the afikoman. All sorts of traditional lines from the seder were worked in, to the appreciative groans of the audience. I hope they put the text up somewhere online!
Afterwards, ther e were snacks provided for the audience: a variety of kosher grape juice and macaroons. Oy.
I played my first game of Hunters & Gatherers on my copy, and eked out a win. As I'd thought, it does adapt easily to a solitaire version.
I went for a rather long walk Sunday, appreciating the spring flowers before the snow comes. I always like the fuzziness of the magnolia buds before they open, though I don't care for the flowers once they open. It was great to have the cha nce to do a 'walk&talk' with Bitty (the exercise option to a 'stitch&bitch'?). I was glad to make it to the Diesel, finding many people there I knew (and it wasn't a Tuesday!), and happily getting many grapefruits, too.
I finally got to see Edward Scissorhands, half on DVD and half on video, since the DVD was extremely damaged. I enjoyed it anyway.
This morning there was a surprise waiting for me when I got into the office: an orker had left me some ivy he'd bought. Not something I would've gotten myse lf (especially not in the decorated cup and saucer it came in), but it was sweet of him to do it, anyway.
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no subject
Date: 2003-04-07 02:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-07 02:56 pm (UTC)If you're not in school or CO, the caveat is that the seder will likely not start until 8 or 8.30, and will go far past midnight....
no subject
Date: 2003-04-07 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-07 03:25 pm (UTC)There's lots of ritually interesting bits, retelling of the exodus (done without any mention of Moses), etc, all thrown together. If you want to look at a haggadah (the book of text that's used; from the same Hebrew root as magid, actually) in advance, let me know.