On Friday night, Michael and I were joined in our apartment by J., the P.G., my brother, his wife, and her mom (who is also my dear friend) for our “seder express” – our Cliff’s Notes version which touches the highlights of the first half and gets us quickly to the meal.
As usual, we started with gefilte fish. I’ve never been tempted to make it from scratch. Mother’s Old Fashioned in broth (not encased in that vile jellied stuff) is more than fine with me. And, of course, no holiday dinner would be complete without my famous chopped salad. There would be a rebellion in the ranks if it wasn’t on the table.
For the main meat, I wanted to do something different this year. So, instead of chicken or pot roast, I made lamb shanks, which tuned out really well. The accompaniments were roasted rosemary potatoes and steamed asparagus dressed with lemon butter.
For dessert, an eagerly anticipated annual “event”: my Cheese Pie with Egg Kichel Crust.*
It’s been years since we’ve gone back after the meal to do the ceremonial second half. This time, we decided to do it. Well, not exactly all of it. In keeping with the “seder express” concept, we skipped to the Haggadah’s final three songs: “Adir Hu,” “Echad Mi Yodeah,” and “Chad Gadyah.” All three are very jolly, and singing them was a lot of fun. We ended with the “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem.
To see all the photos from this seder dinner, click here.
*The recipe for my Cheese Pie with Egg Kichel Crust can be found here.
