fox

Last Sunday a friend sang a little song that summed up my then-upcoming few days: "Hooray for Holy Week, da da da da da da da Holy Week ..." I had done two Masses that day for Palm Sunday, and then this week we had seder at Himself's mother's house on Monday, Tax Day Happy Hour with a former colleague on Tuesday, Mass on Holy Thursday, non-Mass on Good Friday, Easter Vigil last night (three. and. a quarter. hours. long), and two Masses today for Easter. (I insisted that we put Captain America on the schedule for Wednesday, because our plans to see it had been thwarted twice before and I didn't want to wait any longer. [g])

This morning I finally dragged my ass out of bed with the promise that the sooner I got up, the sooner it would be nap time. I sang the two Masses and have not felt less musically invested in anything I was singing in ages. (I mean, I grant it's not my religious tradition. But by the middle of the second Mass today I really felt like I was phoning it in. I didn't enjoy feeling like that. Fortunately, I was able to sing the Byrd "Haec Dies" like I meant it, and was really only going through the motions on stuff that was overaccompanied, so probably hardly anyone could hear me anyway.) I did the standard two-stop grocery shopping on the way home - there are some things we really prefer to get at Whole Foods, and some things we literally cannot get at Whole Foods, so - and dealt with some effed up Beltway traffic for which there was no excuse. I remember feeling pretty good, despite the traffic, and thinking Oh, maybe I'm not as tired as all that after all. And then I got home and the minute I was inside the house all my energy left me. I think I napped for about three hours, after which Himself went out and fetched dinner, because he is awesome.

I normally tune out during the readings and homilies in my church job, just listening for the cues that mean I'm going to have to sing in a moment ("the word of the Lord"; "the Gospel of the Lord"; "as without end they acclaim"; "the mystery of faith"; "through Him and with Him and in Him ..."; "let us offer each other the sign of peace"; and any time anyone announces a hymn), but last night I had to pay closer attention because a lot of responses that are normally spoken were sung at the Easter Vigil. And so the reading from Exodus included the line, "The Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to Me?" and I shared with one of my colleagues my opinion that Moses might have been excused for sort of spreading his hands and making the world's biggest "duh" face.

But my thinkiest thoughts had to do with the second reading from Genesis, in fact, the reading about the Akedah. Of course Easter-wise a lot of comparison is made between Abraham being willing to sacrifice Isaac and God himself giving his only begotten son. They do like their prefigures, I mean to say. But not for the first time, I found myself really uncomfortable with the whole thing. ( Of course it's an uncomfortable story. (Or, 'o hai i upgraded ur ram.') )

Anyway. Stuff has Got Done today. I earned some money and bought some groceries. Himself mowed the lawn and went out to get me dinner. Back to work tomorrow. Wedding is in five weeks. Onward.

The Gentleman Caller (I gave him an apron with the above slogan for Christmas) and I are attempting to make homemade kosher-for-Passover desserts for seder at his mother's house. (To me more accurate, we are attempting to make homemade desserts with kosher-for-Passover ingredients, because our kitchens - nor his mother's - are not kosher in any way, but his aunt does keep kosher and both his mother and his aunt avoid chametz during the holiday.) I like coconut macaroons - I don't even mind the ones in a can, but everyone else hates them and I do think homemade is a nice goal. He likes chocolate-dipped marshmallows. So yesterday we did a trial run of each of these.

Side note, Himself didn't realize that it's not just that corn syrup is icky, but that in fact corn is not kfp - so having gone on a Quest for kosher gelatin(e), we went on another Quest for acceptable confectioners' sugar. This whole thing has been a Project. :-)

So I made one batch of macaroons. Unsweetened coconut, sugar, egg whites, and a little potato starch. The final product was tasty, but a) there was too much liquid when I put them on the baking sheet, so there are starchy puddles at the bottom of most of the cookies, and b) the cookies are a little rubbery?

I think next week therefore I will use (less egg white, and) half as much potato starch and substitute matzo cake meal for the other half. That should give them some body but decrease the chewiness, right?

Bakers and science people, please to advise and confirm!

I was going to do an April Fools post about how singing for the Catholics has convinced me that theirs is the true way, but then I did two Masses today (Palm Sunday), each with a reading of the Passion (from Mark, I believe; Matthew will be on Friday), and the organ was really loud and there were trumpets, and my head hurts. So I've already changed into my jammies, and I'm going to put a cold compress on my forehead and lie down.

I do hope those of you for whom the upcoming Week is Holy find it meaningful in all the ways that matter to you. I personally may be able to duck out of the Good Friday liturgy in time to get to at least some of Gentleman Caller's mother's seder, so I might get to have the best possible combination of things also. (And, hey, I hope those of you for whom April Fool's Day is meaningful have a good day today, as well. :-) )

Haroset is haros'd, and it was faster than doing it by hand - but no less messy, omfg.

Matzo balls are mixed and chilling. I've got a couple of hours before I have to get going on the brisket if I don't want it to be shoe leather by dinner time. Rah rah rah!

1. I finished the help_haiti scarf (one of four HH things I promised; slow and steady, that's what!) and finally blocked my friend's baby blanket, and hope to send both on their way to their new homes today.

2. I began the help_haiti hat (two of four!). Whee!

3. I've finally got my "complete" medical records. Well, as complete as I can expect them to be, I suppose.

4. My leave was approved for the two days I aim to be out of work at the end of this month - one for the Cherry Blossom and one for Passover, hurrah.

4a. OMG it is no longer too soon to start thinking about Passover. I've just been approved to be out of work the day of, so I'm aiming to have my seder on the first night (March 29) like a real person, instead of waiting all the way until Saturday. Last year I had 9 8 people, and it was (a) lovely and (b) much too crowded. This year we will have to be slightly fewer. (I own six chairs. I'm going to say this year the requirement is that I not have to borrow chairs.) Locals, I'm letting you know now, so you can either get on my list early or not, as you prefer.

5. ... I had another thought here, but it is gone now. Stupid headache.

ONE seder - with me + eight seven goyim

LOTS of wine (admittedly I was drinking white wine all day before we broke out the red at dinner)

AND NOW - have had lots of wine and we are all enjoying ellen_fremedon's Scorsese imitation (and other discourse! here in the living room!). LA.

Good Pesach, everyone. We're out of brisket and out of macaroons, but there's plenty of haroset and plenty of wine. Who wants some?

I may have misjudged.

It's possible I'll be eating haroset until the end of time.

1. Turns out the Goodwill is in the same strip as the Kosher Mart. Easy to find FTW!

2. Wine is now in the kitchen, and it is not, repeat is not, "extra-heavy" or "sweetened". Honestly, Manischewitz/Kedem/Mogen David/etc., what are you doing to me.

Ran out in the middle of the day to acquire shankbone, on account of Kosher Mart closing 2pm not to reopen until Sunday, which would deal a blow to my Saturday seder a bit. Have parsley and horseradish as well b/c felt guilty about going for shankbone only. Rest of grocery list will have to wait; I can get everything that isn't a shankbone at Harris Teeter, which will not be closing for any reason.

background: so i went over to the doctor this afternoon for my bi-weekly allergy shots. (rar.) mentioned, while i was over there, that although i've finished the antibiotics they were kind enough to call in to the pharmacy in utica, new york, i'm still feeling like there's a gob of something sticky in the back of my head, making my sinuses, throat, chest, and ears various degrees of uncomfortable and non-functional, and could someone take a look at it.

current story: wheezing in the lungs! pinkness in the ear! and you know what that means.

decongestant: check. antihistamine: check. expectorant (thin out those secretions, baby, get that gob de-stickyfied): check. aaand ... (drumroll, please) ...

more antibiotics: check.

rar.

hates the antibiotics, we hates them, yes precious. we never wants to see yogurt again, but we must, they makes us (it burns, it burns!). gollum.

oh! but, after the doctor, i went up to baltimore for a relaxed sort of seder at the home of a cousin i've only known for a few years. (when my grandfather's sister was about fifteen, she had a baby and very quietly put her up for adoption. this is a story of all sorts of intrigue, but the short version is, there's this cousin who's about ten or eleven years older than my father, and she lives relatively nearby, and i had seder with her and her friend and two of her neighbors and four of her five children and all four of their spouses and five of her nine grandchildren and the fiancee of one of them. and three dogs.)

seem to have lost my swipey-swipey building key. left my just-in-case overnight bag in the trunk, but way too cold to go back out and get it tonight. going to bed now. urk.

I'm exhausted just reading mamadeb's description of the preparation of the house for Passover; that's something I don't have, the kind of faith that compels a person to that sort of ... well, sadly, the only word I can think of is "slavishness," but I don't mean it the way I think that would sound to me if I were hearing it. I admire that level of dedication, and I know I don't have what it takes to maintain it. I can't even remember to take my vitamins every day.

At my house, now, the preparations are far less exciting. In the refrigerator (same contents as always) I have briskets, potatoes, carrots, eggs, parsley, a lamb shank, apples; on the counter (same contents as always) I have walnuts, cinnamon, horseradish, canned soup, matzo, wine. I made matzo balls last night. I'm going to go home around 2:00, meet my brother and his girlfriend, and start cooking. My guests will be a variety of co-workers and old friends -- my brother is as Jewish as I am, which is to say not, but he may be a little less jewish (if you allow me to preserve the distinction); one friend is Jewish on her mother's side, but doesn't practice, and I believe considers herself jewish like me; another friend had one Jewish grandfather, if I'm not mistaken; and one co-worker nearly converted to Judaism many years ago. Otherwise, we've got a table full of various Protestants.

The big excitement for the day was trying to think of a dessert that had no dairy and no leavening. It was a challenge. Now we know why there are so many coconut macaroons at seders. :-)