Sunday, April 01, 2007

Prep Work

Horseradish
BEFORE........... AFTER...........................
I forgot to take the picture of the in between stage. I don't know what it is about horseradish over the past few years but it is definitely not as hot as it once was. Although I needed to open the door and point the fan outside for a few minutes and I felt as though my nose would explode when I opened the food processor (it probably would have helped if I'd not had my head over the bowl), the final product is not really hot. It stings but not that nose frying, sweat producing short burn I really like.




The prune bowl


This bowl was a wedding present of my parents. My mom always used it for prunes & oranges at Passover. Other then prunes, I never remember anything else ever going into this bowl. Until one Thanksgiving when I walked in the door and there in the bowl were mashed potatoes. When I asked my mom how she could dare to put mashed potatoes in the prune bowl, she got all indignant and said it was NOT a prune bowl. My sister walked in and I asked her "what goes in this bowl?" "Prunes." My brother walked in, "What goes in this bowl?" "Prunes." From that day forth it became known as the prune bowl. After my mom died I took the bowl and use it every Passover to hold...Prunes!

Soup a simmering
The soup is in the fridge, the matzo balls sitting in the bowl next to them. The gefilte fish has been doctored and is cooling, the chicken is seasoned, the brisket sliced. The vegetables are waiting to be cleaned and cooked. The tables are almost finished and Ms. A is on her way home. I'm tired, very tired. My wrist is killing me and my back is threatening to boycott. But tomorrow night my family will gather, tell the story of Passover, sing songs, eat, laugh, tell stories and be together. 24 hours of bliss until Ms. A needs to go back home, DH gets on a plane for Anchorage and quiet descends again. Tired...who cares. Being together during the holidays is worth it all. Life is good.

11 comments:

Vicky said...

Everything looks wonderful. And I agree -- it's a prune bowl!

Happy Passover!

margil said...

Have a blessed Passover, my friend.

Diana said...

Have a wonderful holiday, Morah! You are right, being together is the most important thing of all.

Laurie Ann said...

Have a wonderful time. That's a lot of work. The prune bowl story is priceless.

I would love to see a picture of your passover dinner table.

Paula, the quilter said...

All my horseradish died out. :(
I have been trying to buy good horseradish that doesn't have soy in any form in it. I've only found one brand (Bubba's) at Whole Foods. And it is bland, bland. I guess I need to plant more and make my own again.

Ms. Jan said...

I love to read about your holidays...hope the dinner/celebration was as good as it sounded. =)

Melzie said...

Looks wonderful that bowl is beautiful :) Enjoy your holiday! xoxo melzie

Rose Marie said...

Your blog brought back memories of our family making horse radish once when I was a child. We laugh about it now, but we sure cried a lot then. Even though my Dad ground up the pieces outside and our windows were closed, we still cried. Heck, we even used underwater goggles to peel and had our noses covered and we still cried. And it was STRONG!
Enjoy your holiday! Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Linda C said...

I'll pass on the horseradish but when's dinner? LOL

My sisters still haven't quite forgiven one of my uncles for tricking them into thinking that a regular radish was a cherry--they liked cherries. Boy, did he love to tease!

Anne Ida said...

Hi! This looks good! Can I ask what you do with/how you prepare the horseradish? My family has some in the garden - it has got a lot of sting to it :o), but usually we have some on the fish once or twice in the summer, and the rest just goes to waist because noone knows how to preserve it...

Wishing you a happy and blessed Passover!

Unknown said...

Oh your horseradish looks wonderful, and I just love the story that goes to the beautiful bowl. How wonderful for you to be able to have all your family together to celebrate Passover. Blessings.

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