This year I organized my Passover seder at the home of Sabrina and Michael. This year, Passover and Easter fell on the same weekend. We wound up blending those two and the pagan holiday of Ostara into PassEastara.
The seder went well. There were a total of 11 people there, making it one of the largest seders I’ve ever conducted. The crowd more boisterous than I’m used to. Still, the Haggadah was read and the food was served. That’s a good way to celebrate freedom!
My usual notes:
– Several people requested “finger-puppet plagues” for next year.
>– The recipe on the back of the Yehuda Matzo Meal can resulted in the best matzo balls I’ve ever made. Stick with that recipe. (Secret ingredient: baking soda; it turns out that this is kosher for passover!)
– A couple of latke notes: There was not quite enough egg in the latke mix; fortunately Michael was willing to make a special trip to the grocery store for more eggs. (They proved handy the next day for dyeing Easter eggs.) I originally had three eggs and three medium potatoes. An extra egg is better than not having enough, since I can always soak up excess liquid with matzo meal.
– Three potatoes made barely enough latkes for 11 people. (A couple of folks started eating the latkes before the meal was served, which may be throwing off my estimates.) Consider four potatoes if I’m serving ~12 people again.
– The roast came out a bit rare for my taste. I realized what went wrong a couple of days later: the temperature probe was close to a heating element in the oven, and so registered a higher temperature than the meat actually was. Next time make sure the probe is inserted into the side of the roast, not the top.
– Otherwise, there were plenty of leftovers, as usual. Four packages of spinach and four jars of pearl onions was plenty for 11 people.
Next year, Erev Pesach is on Friday, April 22. See you then!