The Life and Times of Organic Mama

Passover ends on Thursday after sundown at which point the matzah, what my daughter contemptuously calls “cardboard,” can be sidelined for just about anything leavened. Boo has requested muffins and pies and will probably do the happy dance of pastry as the sun sets.  Poor kid; such suffering.

1. Seder for 27: FOOD.  This past Saturday I (with incredible assistance) made salad with diverse fixings (pine nuts, jicama, cranberries, carrots, green onions, avocado), 13 pounds of roasted lamb, divine gravy, enormous quantities of sweet potato and pineapple tsimmis,  and sauteed asparagus with shitake mushrooms. My mother provided two passover cakes and we threw together an interesting assortment of fruit for a big salad: kiwi, strawberries, peaches, mango, and apples. Alas, not enough chocolate.

2. Drink: Taking those imperatives to drink four cups  very seriously, we went through 10 bottles of interestingly-named vino: we had Ku De Ta, Cupcake, Fat Bastard, and True Earth (organic), and the 7 kids present (and non-imbibing adults) guzzled 10 bottles of Martinelli’s sparkling apple cider. I know this because I carefully counted all the empties in order to be completely prepared for next year, when I will probably have 29 people to seat around the 3 huge tables sprawled along the length of my kitchen into my living room. Might need to lose the piano

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3. Matzah.  Since it’s a Hebrew word, all sorts of English versions abound (Matzoth, Matzot); matzah is how it sounds to me, so I’m running with it. Anyway, the stuff we’re having for breakfast says very clearly - as I am sure you will all agree -.חָמֵץ

Chametz. You know what that means? Bad Jew!

We’re supposed to be eating a box of matzah that proclaims most loftily that it is “kosher for passover,” but there wasn’t any matzah with this label we wanted to eat. The difference between our bad Jew stuff and their holy crackerness? Supposedly, the truly and profoundly unleavened matzah must be made  - flour and water to baked through - in under 18 minutes;  a moments beyond this renders it profane.

Sticks out tongue.

4.  The Seder itself was wonderful in its simplicity of message - take responsibility for your own freedoms, make choices that are ethical and congruent with you are and who you want to be and remember that helping our friends, loved ones and strangers makes us better people. Oh, and have some more wine.

5.  Passover comes at a time in our lives when the lack of freedom - financial, logistical - is sorely lacking. While it’s difficult to stay purely reflective and midful of the perspective shifts and attitudes necessary to stay afloat “in these difficult times’ (becoming SUCH a cliche), the lessons jump up and down and scream in our faces anyway:  Don’t take things for granted, appreciate the abundance we do have, hug the snot out of those you love, keep the sense of humor fluid and supple and not sharp and bitter.

6. Gratitiude. Quite simply, I could not have had the Seder, the gathering of loved ones - family, neighbors, friends - without the assistance of my mother, who took care of the groceries for the whole event.  But it’s FAR beyond the money: Her presence in my home, and her years of experience from when SHE ran the annual Passover show - were invaluable and pointed.  Ties that bind, indeed.

Leeba came from Montreal and was my right hand in the kitchen as we as stealthily as posssible (kitchen is open concept.  It’s a 35-foot room from the oven on one end to the piano on the other) used the oven, all the burners and the counter spaces. Ok, the lamb was done 45 minutes before we actually ate it, and the asparagus was cooked on low for 20 minutes while the Seder wound down, but it’s all part of the charm.

7. Matzah for 2 more breakfasts.  Then, away with ye!

8. Macaroons, a coconut and eventually barbed staple at the Passover table, can also be used as semi-lethal weapons.  Did you know that if you leave them to dessicate for 3 days, then place inside a slingshot, they can take out a bird at 30 paces?  Not that I would.

Don’t try this at home.

9. I have already made notes for next year’s Seder extravaganza. MORE lamb, more veggies, THREE ginormous bowls of salad must circulate instead of two, ditto the gravy and the salad dressing, someone needs to separate my niece and Monkey’s best friend lest there be bloodshed, oh and don’t let my father set fire to the haggadah no matter how much he wants to.

10. Next year in sanity, freedom and joy!