Mishloach manot

[magid]

AKA shlach manos. In two weeks, it'll be Purim¹, time of much silliness, costumes, and, of course, food. More specifically, Jews are enjoined to (a) have a festive meal on Purim day (for the rabbis, festive = including meat and wine with your bread), and (b) send portions of food to one another, mishloach manot².

I used to end up spending far too much time planning mishloach manot, what to give, who to give to. The absolute minimum is giving one person two kinds of ready-to-eat food³. What are the different kinds? It's based on what blessing is said before eating that food. The categories are: fruit, veggie, grain-based, bread, wine, and everything else. Practically speaking, it means a lot of people give a bag with cookies and candy (grain-based and everything else). I try not to do that, mostly because people are freqently exchanging mishloach manot right after shacharit, and starting the day with a sugar high is not ideal for me (and yes, I'm projecting that to everyone else). Since I bake a lot of bread, it's the obvious thing to make, especially for breakfast. A roll and something to put on it, or drink with it. Ideally, nothing that requires refrigeration, though some years I've put salad in. This year, I'm thinking of rolls and jam, with a plastic knife and napkins, which is fairly easy, if I time the bread properly. Or bread and some kind of hard cheese, maybe.

Which leads to the question of who to give to. A decade (or more) ago, I'd spend Purim evening assembling bags and bags and bags, then schlepping those in to shul in the morning, for the Mad Mishloach Manot Trade⁴. It left me exhausted, unable to enjoy Purim evening. And it became a big social tit-for-tat situation. What if I don't give to X who's given to me? Is that uncouth? An insult? Etc. I realized that part of the problem was the whole mob scene at shul, so one year I changed strategies, deciding to deliver packages to people at home. Which meant I could just go to shul in the morning, and not deal with everything else. It also cut down on my quantities severely, since I decided not to give to people if I couldn't get to their front door. So people in big buildings were out, as were the many undergrads and people who I didn't know where they lived (OK, I've been rewording that sentence too many times, and the grammar just doesn't work. Sorry.). On the up-side, making so many fewer packages allows for a bit more flexibility in what to give particular people, especially taking allergies and such into account.

Which leads back to what to give this year. Bread and jam are easy. Part of me really likes the idea of giving a meal, somehow, perhaps a quiche and a bag of salad, or other things that are reasonably portable. Or, since it's erev Shabbat, give a pair of braided challot and a bottle of wine/grape juice. Though people will already have their Shabbat food made. *ponder*



¹ See the book of Esther (aka Megillat Esther) for more details. The short version: prime minister Haman hated Jews, and angled to have us destroyed in the many lands ruled by the king. Unfortunately for him, the woman who won the queen beauty contest (or whatever it was) turned out to be Jewish, and she convinced the king otherwise. Much rejoicing, even without eating Robin's minstrel.

² OK, there are two other things one is supposed to do (hear the megillah and give charity). In a move surprising no one, I'm focusing on the food :-)

³ One year I received mishloach manot at the tail end of the day. Curious, I asked how many this friend had given out (I'd found it as I came back from circling the city by bus delivering a number of packages), and he told me that the requirement is two foods to one person. It still makes me think fond thoughts of him. (OK, I admit it; someone I was sweet on at the time.)

⁴ And Purim is exactly one month before Pesach, so of course everyone wants lots of extra non-kosher-for-Passover things to eat. *snerk*

Comments

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

In past erev Shabbat years, and I think this year, too, I've given out little challot, grape juices and mini potato kugels. And, of course, a handful of hamentashen just because.

I think I can order minichallot from a local bakery, and I can certainly make the kugelach myself.

And, yeah. Purim - the Great Chometz Exchange. Since what was a treat on Purim becomes EVIL the day after.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Sounds like very nice mishloach manot indeed. (I'm too lazy to make hamantashen myself, and never seem to make it across the river to the bakeries...).

And yeah, who came up with chometz only a month before? (though it could've been worse, only a week or two before Pesach...)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

If you'd like a hand, I'd love to help you prep stuff. I've actually been meaning to ask you about baking together sometime as well...

[cellio]

I like to include fruit (either whole fruit or dried), because lots of people don't and I figure it helps cut the sugar rush from the cookies. :-)

Raw veggies and something to dip them in (hummus?) might also be good. Haven't tried that myself.

One year I made little "quiche-ettes" in the 4" tart crusts you can get in the frozen-food section. (I hate making crusts by hand.) But I prefer to stick to parve items for maximum flexibility, and all the good recipes seem to involve dairy.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Dried fruit is good; I always worry that fresh fruit will end up bruised too much (probably left over from the days I was making 50-60 packages).

Ooh, veggies and hummus sounds good.

I don't make crusts by hand either. And yes, about dairy. I've made non-quiches with fish instead of cheese that have come out fairly well, as long as one isn't expecting the intensity of cheese to be there. (Canned, flaked tuna or salmon with dill, or mixed with some red pepper-egglant spread, vegetables then egg on top as usual)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the offer, but I'm not making a large number of bags, nor am I making hamantashen (I mostly lack the patience to make cookies, and cookies that require refrigerating the dough, then filling and shaping as they do are... unlikely to happen.).

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

*nod* Regarding the baking, I meant bread, so that I may learn from the master.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thank you!

If you want to bake bread sometime, we should just figure out a time; no need to schedule around Purim.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Agreed. They were actually two separate comments as such, but clearly I was ambiguous. :)