Pesach 2013

Hello! After a week of being buried in kosher for Passover desserts (hello, macaroons!) and tinfoil, I'm back to the land of regular life!

Our Passover was wonderful, sometimes relaxing and sometimes not, but always an experience--which I'm guessing is life with a toddler!

The shenanigans began with a family trip to Pomegranate, a kosher Whole Foods-esque store in Brooklyn. (On a side note, for an interesting NY Times article on Pomegranate and the frum, aka Orthodox, community, see here.)

Source: http://www.nycreligion.info/?p=9196

At Pomegranate, we selected lots of yummy prepared foods and snacks to cover the seders and first few days of the holiday.

A certain little lady was very helpful hanging out in her cart:)

On Passover/Pesach, the first two days are sort of like Shabbos, with no cell phone/computer/internet/lights turning on and off, etc. Then the middle days are a weekday/holiday hybrid, and the last two days are holidays (like Shabbos) again. Confused? Let me know and I'll take another stab at it:)

Since I don't use a camera on the holiday days, I have no photos of the seder, but it was really interesting and fun. I realized too late that I had forgotten my giant blowup frog (reference to Plague #2, if you're wondering) but you win some, you lose some:) We spent the seders with my grandparents and my brother in Brooklyn.

Once we left Brooklyn two days later, we got our kitchen in gear to cook for the rest of the holiday. This involved covering the counters and appliances with a LOT of tinfoil. Like so.

For those who aren't so familiar, on Passover we don't eat any leavened bread (which basically covers bread, cookies, cakes, crackers, noodles, etc) and Ashkenazi Jews don't eat any rice or legumes either. So recipe-wise, you have to get creative. I do have a mean kosher for Passover chocolate chip cookie recipe, and that's what gets me through!

The whole leavened-bred thing also includes a ban on having it in your house, and the night before Passover we do a "chametz (aka unleavened bread) hunt" using a spoon, feather and candle. 

For the last two days of the holiday, we hosted some friends of ours and spent time reading, eating good food, and enjoying being home:)

And to top it off, a certain someone started saying "Mommy"

:)

So tell me, what celebrations have YOU been having this spring?