My kitchen is officially turned over for Passover as of this morning, and I already have a pot of lamb broth simmering on the stove top. First things first, you know! The second pot is filled with potatoes. Naturally. 🙂 Seriously, I find that having boiled potatoes and eggs on hand makes it very easy to deal with hunger for the first day we turn over the kitchen, when we’re not ready to start cooking in earnest.
Today we have a busy but relaxing day planned. Today is my ds’s fourth birthday- this year sure has flown by! Last year we took the family to an outing to the duck pond where we all enjoyed ourselves very much, and ds asked me if we could go again for his birthday. It’s such perfect timing, being spring weather and a good opportunity to give the ducks any leavened foods that we’re not going to be eating. We’ll take with us the leavened food that the kids want to eat, too (like organic chocolate covered pretzels that we received for Purim). I think we might make a trip to the duck pond an annual family tradition for his birthday; it’s the kind of thing that everyone can enjoy looking forward to.
He also asked if I could buy ice cream sandwiches, which is what I did last year. Initially I agreed, but then realized that today is Ben and Jerry’s free scoop day, and thought it would be more fun to take the family out for a scoop. (Here’s a link for their site if you’re interested – you can check the store locator to see what’s in your area if you’re interested – www.benjerry. com.) No, it’s not a bit healthy! Yep, call me a nutritional rebel. 😆
The only Ben and Jerry’s in the city isn’t participating in the free scoop day, though, so we’ll be going to a neighboring city (where my dh works), getting the ice cream there, and then picking dh up from work. That will be a treat for all of the kids as well as dh since it means a lot more time together and we get him from work infrequently. Then we’ll all be able to go to the duck pond together and will be back in time for dinner.
In the summer I got some free items from someone who was downsizing, and saved one to give to ds today. It’s a beautiful hand painted laquered wood kiddush cup – here’s what it looks like. Because it’s intended to be used at the Passover seder as the cup of Elijah, it has Eliyahu written on the front in Hebrew. We already have a cup of Elijah, but since Eliyahu is the name of my ds, it’s perfect for him. It’s kosher for Passover use, so he’ll use it this year for the seder and then an use it as his regular kiddush cup every Friday night. I think he’s going to be really excited to be able to have something he associates with being big that is all for him.
I hope all of you who are preparing for Passover are getting to the point where you can relax and have some fun, too!
Avivah
Sometimes you just need some free ice cream in your life. I normally avoid dairy (and sugar) but I’ve been known to shelve my normal habits once in a blue moon for some Ben & Jerry’s. Enjoy your day, it sounds like your family will have an amazing time.
Aviva, I’m so glad I clicked on your post, as the first sentences reminded me I have eggs and potatoes boiling on the stove. Oops! Completely forgot about them, the eggs already cracked. My son’s gan asked us to send in eggs and potatoes tomorrow, so I just threw them in a pot and forgot about it. Next time I’ll set the timer!
The birthday tradition sounds lovely. One of the things I learned from my mom is to always have food ready for erev pesach. We always had a sit-down meal around noon so we’d be less hungry at the seder. Since I travel to my in-laws, for me it means packing sandwiches for the long drive (the food available on the way is Nasty!). I have to plan ahead, since I work erev pesach.
Can i ask you where you get lamb from? Do you use plain bones or bones with meat on them? The local stores by me charge alot of money for lamb? Even just the bones is around 4-5 dollars if i remember correctly. Thanks for everything! I really love your blog.
I get lamb bones from a local butcher; they are the bones from trimmings so they have a little bit of meat on them but not much. They don’t charge me anything for them (they’d be throwing them away otherwise), but it helps that we have a personal relationship with the person in charge. 🙂 But $4 – 5 for lamb bones is outrageous – I can get lamb breast on sale here for 2.49 lb.
Off topic question, but whats with your kefir and pesach? Will you make kefir on pesach?
I have once again killed my kefir grains, but in any case I don’t use them on Pesach.