Leaving Egypt, drawing by my son won Honorable Mention 2006 Passover Art Contest
What is your favorite part of the seder?
Here are some choices (or tell your own):
- Many of my family members love a good discussion. They like to bring up new ideas, relate it to what is going on in current events, tell a story of a great rabbi’s seder or a word of Torah they heard from their rabbi.
- On Mimi’s post interviewing three women about Pesach, two said the songs are their favorite part.
- Acting out parts of the seder story. My personal favorites are walking around the table with my daughter, pretending we are the Jews coming out of Egypt (Avadim Hayeenu – we were slaves). We also like tossing plastic frogs and cattle on the table as we recite the ten plagues.
- The food. Either eating matza, which you may have not eaten for a month, or eating the bitter herbs or the parsley and potato dipped in salt water or the korach sandwich (my favorite food ritual) or the ritual egg. Or whatever is served for dinner.
If you are not Jewish and/or you have never been to a seder, I wonder what you think of all this. What would be your favorite part? Feel free to comment.
Guest Recipe by Kira
The potato leek part is my older daughter’s favorite soup, and we make that quite often, and she prefers it without any milk or cream. Both kids love the novelty of having the green star in the middle, and they actually eat the spinach (swirling it with the soup to dilute the taste). I think the spinach purée alone makes a pretty tasty dairy-free “creamed spinach” side dish, but since I am the only one in the family who likes creamed spinach, I don’t make it unless I am making the soup.
If you don’t have a kosher for Passover cookie cutter, use a cup.
Potato Leek Soup
(makes 10 servings)
Ingredients
3 leeks
5 tbsp olive oil
2 pounds white potatoes, chopped
2 qts water
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup cream or milk (optional)
Cooking equipment
Cutting knife
Colander
Spatula
Measuring cup
Measuring spoon
Large pot
Cookie cutter or small plastic cup with the bottom cut off
Blender (stick blender works nicely)
To make the plain potato leek soup:
1. Discard tough part of green tops of leeks, then wash bottoms thoroughly
2. Cut leeks into thin slices and rinse in colander.
3. Cook in olive oil until leeks are soft – about 5 minutes.
4. Add potatoes and water and bring to a boil.
5. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft.
6. Puree with a blender.
Add salt and pepper to taste. For a creamier variation, add ½ cup of cream or milk
Spinach Purée
1. Blanch 1 lb of baby spinach (Put in small colander and submerge briefly into boiling water until barely cooked. Then transfer to bowl of ice water.)
2. Drain spinach.
3. Puree with ¼ of batch of potato leek soup.
Assemble final soup by placing the cookie cutter in the bottom of a soup bowl. Spoon spinach puree into the cookie cutter to desired depth. Pour potato leek soup around cookie cutter to the same depth. Then remove cookie cutter and repeat in another bowl.
For more kosher for Passover recipes, visit:
My son told me this story about a fisherman. He heard it from one of his teachers. I couldn’t find it online anywhere, so I am retelling it in my own way. As I have my own business and I enjoy meeting other business people, this story struck a chord for me.
• • •
Once upon a time there was a fisherman who had a small boat and spent all his day fishing. A businessman met the fisherman one day as the fisherman pulled up to the dock. “Why do you have just one boat?” said the businessman (reminding me of some of the entrepreneurial types I have met on Twitter). “Why not buy 5 large boats so you can catch more fish? You could hire some locals to do the fishing for you. Once you have made more money that way, you could invest in a whole fleet of boats and manage a large enterprise. After a few years of that kind of money, you could retire and do whatever it is you really want to do. By the way,” inquired the businessman, “what would you do if you could do anything you really wanted?”
“I would enjoy sitting in my small boat and fish,” replied the fisherman.
• • •
If you could enjoy doing one simple thing in life (or two or three), what would it be?
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