Passover 911

Last night was the first Passover seder. The seder is the festive meal during which the story commemorating the biblical event of Hebrews' escape from enslavement in Egypt is told. And, yes, it's the same story every year. And, yes, we eat the same food every year. Last night, however, we had quite a bit of excitement. The host, my sister-in-law, contracted some kind of stomach virus about 30 minutes before everyone arrived. So, here we were, our own group of Hebrews without a leader. Fortunately, we had Ann. Trusty, old Ann. As the rest of us sister-in-laws rolled up our sleeves and dug in plating gefilte fish and chopping celery and filling water glasses, Ann became our leader. She told us to put out the matzahs, 3 at the head table in the matzah cover. She reminded us that the celery needs salt water. She made sure everyone who wanted 2 matzah balls got them. She kept us soldiers in line, the wine flowing and the kitchen spotless. You couldn't set down a dirty dish without it being cleaned only seconds later. And, she even remembered to put out the desserts. At the end of the night, as we stood shoulder to shoulder washing and drying, we knew that had it not been for her, our seder would not have happened. I know miracles are traditionally reserved for Chanukah, but this truly was our Passover miracle. Now for the second seder.......

Spring Cleaning

I am a little late to the spring cleaning game. Probably by about 5 years. All the typical signals have not spoken to me until now. This week is Passover, where the Jews celebrate their journey through Israel. Associated with this holiday is the expulsion of any bread products from your home. This to me is the loudest signal of all to spring clean. This year I've got lots to unload. Baby toys, now that I have a toddler, clothes, mine, CityCrab's and CityBaby's and a garage full of stuff. I am embarrassed to admit that there are boxes in there from NYC. We moved from New York in 2003. Yes, it's that bad. I am not auditioning for Hoarders but I need to get some spring cleaning under belt now otherwise, I'll be calling it Fall Cleaning. My plan is to dedicate some time each week to digging and purging. So far this week I've gotten rid of bread, some junk mail and a couple of books I passed on to a friend. And, of course, I cleared my head. So, now the real task lays ahead.

Garden Party

This year we are growing a vegetable garden. We're lucky to have the expertise of my parents, who are humans disguised as expert gardeners. My father built us a first class garden (cypress exterior, swing door with lock to keep out the really smart deer.) Then we had a special blend of dirt delivered. It's a combination of compost, cedar, which oxidizes the dirt and a bunch of other really good stuff. Next steps included laying down newspaper (black & white only) then alfalfa hay to help the roots find their way to the ground and well, root. Apparently with vegetables you want the roots to grow deep and the vines to grow high.

Our crop will include lettuce, peppers, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplants, pole beans and cucumbers. CityCrab has requested a watermelon. I probably should caveat this by saying I do not have a green thumb. In fact, I'm a plant killer. But with the help of some very knowledgeable resources, I know we can do this.

As promised here are some pics: