Month: April 2015

April 11, 2015 – Second Seder

We celebrate the Passover Seder a second time with the whole family. We have our traditional meal of matzoh ball soup, grilled lamb, mashed potatoes, green beans, and macaroons for dessert. Sam and Nathan hide the afikoman and while Sam is willing to give up its hiding place, Nathan manages to negotiate $20 each from Zayde in some shrewd bargaining.

Happy Passover!

The dining room is ready for our Seder
The dining room is ready for our Seder

I saw this frog bowl on Jon and Ryan's front porch and decided it would make the perfect Seder centerpiece
I saw this frog bowl on Jon and Ryan’s front porch and decided it would make the perfect Seder centerpiece

Before we sit down for dinner, some family pictures are taken
Before we sit down for dinner, some family pictures are taken

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John saying the blessing over the washing of the hands with Nathan assisting
John saying the blessing over the washing of the hands with Nathan assisting

John "Gramps" Henderson washes his hands while John enjoys wine leaning on his left side
John “Gramps” Henderson washes his hands while John enjoys wine leaning on his left side

Nathan is the water boy and Sam mans the towel for Sarah
Nathan is the water boy and Sam mans the towel for Sarah

Sam's favorite part is dipping the parsley and lettuce into the salt water
Sam’s favorite part is dipping the parsley and lettuce into the salt water

April 3, 2015 – First Seder

Our first Seder is strictly a small family affair – just John, Jon, Sarah and me. I want to try out some new recipes that I got from Food and Wine for Passover. One of the recipes calls for a whole piece of short ribs with three ribs. We get the meat from the butcher at Raley’s. It is enormous.

John with giant piece of meat
John with giant piece of meat

John strips the meat of silver skin and extraneous fat while Sarah and I make a rub. Then it goes in the oven to roast for four hours followed by an hour’s braise.
Meat in the oven
Meat in the oven

While it is cooking Sarah and I also tackle a potato kugel, a from-scratch matzoh ball soup, and macaroons. The result of all our work is so-so. The meat is good but our 7 1/2 pound piece of bone-in short ribs ended up weighing about two pounds afterwards. We’ll buy boneless short ribs from Costco next time. Due to an error setting the temperature correctly the kugel is way overdone, the soup is fine and cookies that Sarah makes are great as usual. For our big family Seder next Saturday we will stick with our tried and true menu.

In any case we have a lot of fun. After dinner we recreate a picture taken in 1984 of Sarah and Jon at our Seder then. (Shared with the Kendalls!)

Jon and Sarah before our Seder in 1984. Jon is 7 and Sarah is 4.
Jon and Sarah before our Seder in 1984. Jon is 7 and Sarah is 4.

2015 recreation!
2015 recreation!