Day 150, Year 7: First Seder for Oliver and for Oma and Granddad
Date: Friday, April 6, 2012
Weather: Same as Yesterday–Partly Sunny Day with Temps in the 40’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
A Seder is Jewish ritual dinner that marks the beginning of Passover. Jed’s
father is Jewish and although no one in the family is really a practicing
Jew, some cultural traditions are honored. The Passover Seder is one of
those. The dinner is very special and Heather and Jed prepared quite a
feast. We had leg of lamb, marinated all day and then cooked on the grill
with apple chips to give it a smoked taste. With the lamb we had a charoset
(haroset) which is a sweet condiment of mixed nuts and fruits, sometimes
served as a paste. The charoset Heather chose for tonight’s dinner was made
from dried apricots and pistachios. It was chunky, not a paste, and was
delicious. We had potatoes prepared as au gratin but without any cheese and
a delicious endive salad. And, of course, all was served with lots of matzo
and wine. The food is important, but the story that is shared is the center
of the evening. It is the story of how the Israelites were freed from
slavery in Egypt. As is commensurate with their ages, Sam was interested
and full of questions, Jonah was more interested in other things, and Oliver
slept. But the boys did wear kippahs or yarmulkes (pronounced yamaka) which
are little head caps. In the Jewish tradition, the head is covered during
prayer and there are prayers involved in the retelling of the story. Oliver
looked quite precious donning his little kippah. But the crowning touch of
the evening was a wonderful lemon cheese cake Heather made with an almond
and matzo meal crust. It was DELICIOUS. So thank you, Heather and Jed, for
including us in this family tradition. We appreciated learning about the
tradition and the food was fabulous!
Mark went to work at West Marine today but he didn’t make it through the
whole day. He didn’t feel good yesterday and that continued through today.
This fourth chemo treatment is hitting a little harder than the first three.
But that is expected. We are hoping that he will rebound by tomorrow as he
is supposed to work all day. We’ll play it by ear but hope he can make it
through the day. And after tonight’s feast, I think I need to spend some
time tomorrow coming up with some yummy recipes for Sunday’s Easter dinner.
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| 120406 Day 150 Cape Cod, USA–Oliver's First Seder |
