PREP and I Don't Mean School...

Ready for Passover, counters cleaned and covered

Escaping the weekend before a holiday especially Passover might not have been the wisest decision but left we did with spring cleaning and food prep  having to be completed upon our return. Truth is timing isn't always perfect. 

We did enjoy our 36 hours of being in Milwaukee for my chicken mole fix at Conejitos, Passover grocery shopping with 3 different stops, jaunt for Natureman to see a car for sale, a Thai dinner with newlywed buds, the Rep's play 5 Presidents, visit to the Domes, and my most anticipated Milwaukee annual event Beauty in Bloom at the Milwaukee Museum of Art. Somehow we were even able to include a new Mexican lunch stop with our overnight hosts before heading home to feed the critters.

We packed a lot in...

I fortunately was able to nap on the way home as Natureman drove. The awaiting Passover cleaning prep is both a humongous chore but also a blessing as it ensures a deep kitchen scouring once a year. 

Shelves to be cleared and cleaned before restocking with the newly acquired holiday supplies. Have you ever noticed how crumbs accumulate in kitchen drawers and shelves? 

Recently cleared freezer space was available for the frozen goods thank goodness but counters still had to be cleared, scrubbed and covered before cooking could begin not to mention tackling  the stove top. As soon as the kitchen area was ready the holiday cooking could begin. Foods that could be frozen/would keep. 

schmaltz (chicken fat)

farfel for sprinkling on soup

Rendering chicken fat, boiling eggs, baking farfel (for the soup) besides  matzoh balls'd be the first endeavors. 

The kitchen here in the End of the Rainbow Valley would look like a tornado hit for a while but it's just part of the process as the holiday prep got into full swing.

 You didn't think I was just playing when you didn't hear from me, did you? TBC...

The Party's Over, It's time to Call it a Day...

I am always in awe how some people can get a Passover Seder dinner together in one day. For me it's hours and hours of prep for days beforehand and isn't it incredible like any Holiday meal, it's over in a couple hours?

The party's over...

Our Florida guest Penny and grand-children braved the crazy Wisconsin white landscape trek from an hour away to join us at our table. Snow had melted on our road albeit some nice ruts left by torrential rainfall pre snow. 

We sat down to an earlier than usual dinner as I was hoping to allow the littles to eat before they were passed the point of no return.  It's tough enough for adults to sit at the table so long.  

Natureman tried to get heavy on us reading about liberation and doing numerology looking for the numbers 4 and 10 and their relationship to 1.  Hey our commonality '1' was everybody wanted to get to the food.  Seriously. 

When it did come around to eating we did make a dent in the fixings.  As usual leftover containers refilled the shortly emptied fridge shelves and there was even brisket to be frozen. So I have a question for you cooks, if brisket is cut the wrong way, will it become any more tenderized if it's cooked longer?  Just checking. 

As we all know the important thing is sharing the Holidays and getting together to break 'Matzo'.  I had sent son Steven a 3 minute seder video so he could still partake and daughter Lori shared the evening with cousins in Atlanta.  We missed them and  the older grandchildren as they were on Spring Break with the other half of their family but maybe next year...  

It may not be next year in Jerusalem for us but perhaps we can aim for all of us in the End of the Rainbow Valley... 

From our Home to Yours,  Happy Passover!