Every spring as Passover approaches I found myself laughing again over something that happened many years ago.
We were having 18 for Seder and after calling the butcher to order lamb for my traditional stew, I wrote out a long shopping list for everything else I needed and headed out to the supermarket.
Not surprisingly, the store was busy and I was navigating my shopping cart down a crowded aisle when I suddenly realized that the shopping list I had been clutching was no longer in my hand. Had I put it down in the cart while two-handing a five-pound box of matzoh, or while dropping onions into a plastic bag? Had my precious list fluttered to the supermarket floor to be trampled on by the other shoppers?
Anxiously I retraced my steps and soon spotted a sheet of white paper lying across a bin of oranges. With a sigh of relief I reached for it only to find myself staring at an unfamiliar scrawl – it wasn’t my handwriting, it wasn’t my list!
But on second glance I saw it was a very good list – parsley, two dozen eggs, horseradish, apples and walnuts for charoset, and even some things I’d forgotten – paper doilies, four bottles of seltzer, and chocolate-covered macaroons.
Happily with my new list in hand, I finished my Passover shopping. And yes, dear reader, our festive meal was delicious!
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Ah, holidays. When my grandparents came to this country they were faced with a new holiday: thanksgiving. They understood they were to make a "festa" – and to them a festa was complete with home made ravioli, brachole, (rolled, stuff beef slices, bowls of fresh vegetables, soup and home made desert. So that's what they did. AFTER they did that, they brought in the turkey with all the trimmings. When Bernie attended our first family Thanksgiving, I had to poke him under the table and whisper that he wasn't supposed to eat a lot of the first course because the Main course (turkey) was still to come. A Jewish friend of mine wrote a children's book with the same story. Her immigrant grandparents prepared a typical Jewish "feast", and then presented the "American" turkey after that.
Great stories Ang!
You are the resourceful one! I wonder who used your list?
Whoever it was, hope they had a wonderful Seder !