happy passover!

Another long, yet enjoyable day. As fun as my weekend of traveling, running, and visiting with friends and family was, I am happy to be blogging from my bed in Va Beach now.

After lunch and a stint at the coffee shop, Harris and I ran some errands and shopped a bit. Then we headed to his grandfather’s house to chill until Passover Seder. I mostly caught up on the Internet and watched a show on Hulu via stolen wireless from the neighbors.

GIANT sweet potatoes at Kroger.

Then snack time

Fuji apple and 100 cal pack of cocoa roasted almonds

Finally we got dressed and headed over to Jeff’s cousins’ house in Richmond where I’ve attended a Seder dinner before. I’ve also met a lot of the family via a Bar Mitzvah and Thanksgiving.

Note: I am not actually Jewish so I apologize sincerely if I incorrectly explain some things. But I figure since Passover seems to be largely absent in the blog world, I’ll fill the void.

Passover Seder is a service and meal that has to do with Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt, where they were enslaved by the Pharoah (the song “Let my people go” ring a bell?). The first time I attended I was surprised to learn it had nothing to do with Easter/Jesus but then remembered from my days of Sunday School that the Last Supper was actually a Passover Seder. The service deals with remembering the enslaved ancestors of the Jewish people, their struggles, and their journey out of Egypt after the plagues.

Seder dinner table (there is another one around the corner too)

There were about 30 of us at the house and it was so fun to see some of the family who I’ve met before and meet some new ones.

My place-setting with my service book.

I followed along with the service, and the only thing I couldn’t do was sing the Hebrew songs everyone else knew. There was an English pronunciation guide to the songs (written out phonetically) but that was still hard for me. During the service, there is a leader and several responses that 1 person or the group reads. The leader called on various family members to read, and the first time I did Seder I was so nervous because I didn’t know how to pronounce words like “Moror” “Charoset”, etc. But this time, I was called on to read a passage that I COULD pronounce! Victory!

Passover platter (egg, shank bone, horseradish (moror), and matzo)

Each of the elements had a symbolic connection to passover. For instance, the matzo is the unleavened bread the Jews had to eat as they fled Egypt after the plagues and the Moror (horseradish) represents the mortar the slaves (Jews) used to build the buildings in Egypt. I forget the meaning of the other things.

During the service, I didn’t take pictures of my eats, but I had a hard boiled egg and a stalk of celery dipped in salt water (to represent the salty tears of the Jewish slaves).

Once the official part of the service was over, I was pretty hungry so I munched on some matzo with Charoset (an apple type chutney that Harris calls “Jewish crack”), some Sephardic Charoset (made into little balls and with figs), and a bit of random coleslaw that was probably meant for dinner but was placed on our table for the service.

Traditional Charoset, remainders of the Sephardic Charoset, and coleslaw.

There were also fish balls made by Mona and some gefilte fish that others partook of. Harris tried to convince me to take one bite of it just to experience it, claiming that “You haven’t been a vegetarian long enough to matter, you can have 1 bite.” I passed, though!

There were also bowls of matzo ball soup, but I passed seeing as it had been made with beef stock and I was trying to eat as best as I could.

Kosher wine that the "young adults table" drained during the service

Wait, more food??

Green beans with hazelnuts and onions; sweet potato casserole with marshmallows; rice casserole thing

“Actual dinner” was then served. There was beef brisket and a chicken dish I obviously ignored, so my options were green beans, sweet potato, and rice. I was informed that the rice casserole had been made with chicken stock, but I took a small bit so I wouldn’t just eat green beans and sweet potato. I needed something else, you know?

When I was stuffed, dessert was brought out. WHY? WHY?

Fruit and 2 pieces of matzo heath cookie things

I stuck to mostly fruit, clearly. But I love a good Heath cookie! Obviously Passover (to me at least) is the Jewish equivalent of a big holiday like Easter so the service and the meal are something special. Since I have Easter at my gourmet chef/aunt’s house this weekend, I need to make sure I eat balanced this week to make up for all face-stuffing that will surely occur.

Oh and as some of you may know, I am OBSESSED with babies and children. I used to be a nanny and have been told I’m really good with kids, especially babies. Well guess who couldn’t pull herself away from the baby tonight? I leave you with blurry, but cute, picture…

Me & baby Ava

I got back to VB at 10:30pm and did the world’s fastest unpacking job, AND started a load of laundry. I’m going to CRASH now. Night everyone

serious face

First order of business: Hi new readers!!!!!!! I’ve gotten a lot of new readers in the past few days, so shout out to you all!

Second order of business:

Last night, after we last spoke, I got a craving for sweets (again). Clearly my Reeses Pieces I inhaled yesterday weren’t enough. Sigh. I appeased it with an Oikos vanilla and a couple spoonfuls of my homemade “trail mix” (Cheerios, cashews, dark chocolate chips, raisins).

Oikos and trail mix

After a restful night’s sleep, rocked to sleep by the sounds of the first thunderstorm of the season (VA has a LOT), I slept well and woke up in time to say goodbye to Tiffany and Johnny this morning They left for work and school, and I got myself ready to go. While I was packing, I noticed how I packed the essentials together. Clearly, I know the important things in life: Food and running.

Running shoes, food, water. Life's essentials.

I was pretty hungry but had to hold out for breakfast with my friend Kim. I drove out to campus and met her at my old dining hall. I mean I know I’ve only been gone since December, but it is amazing how much changes in that time! Like automatic (energy-wasting) doors in the commons? Weird.

Banana (in the back ground), honey wheat toast, 1 egg over hard with salsa and a tbsp of cheese!

The egg line usually has egg whites, but they were out However, Josh The Egg Man (we really call him that) was the one making eggs, so that brightened my spirits! It was quite a delicious egg! I miss the breakfast selection at D-Hall. Yogurt, cottage cheese, granola, 18 cereals, eggs, bagels, toast, waffles, french toast, bacon, sausage, etc… And it is amazing how many students (football players) actually eat ALL of that in a serving.

My university was ranked one of the fittest campuses in the country (which does not explain how I got so unhealthy in college…) and when I changed all my habits just over a year ago, I really took advantage of the dining service’s website that had a nutrition calculator for ALL food served on campus. I could look up stats on any food served anywhere. It was amazing!

After breakfast, I met up with my old suitemate, Charlotte (hey, Cha!) from last semester. We hung out and caught up on life until she had to go to class. Since I used to live in the adjoining room, I just chilled in her room to kill time after she left for class and before I left for my hot lunch date.

Now I’m on my hot lunch date This involves organic food, local food, tofu, computers, coffee, and my Facebook husband (aka Harris, my best guy friend). We’re actually married according to Facebook When I lived in Argentina all my friends from down there who would add me on F-book would ask if I was actually married. Apparently down there, it isn’t as common to make fake relationships?

Organic & local fruit salad; Vegan Thai Tofu wrap (whole wheat)

Harris has work to do for school, so I’m pretending to be doing stuff on my computer. I have my serious face on and I look concentrated. What I’m really doing? Watching episode 2 of Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” (WATCH IT!!!) on Hulu and people watching. We’re at Ellwood’s Coffee, an amazing coffee shop that is directly across the street from the Richmond institution Ellwood Thompson’s Local Market. I wish I had taken advantage of ET’s more often in college, but I always stuck with Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. However, I did come to this coffee shop a lot to study last semester when it opened. The food is all either organic or local (most of the time both) and they have a lot of cool vegan and vegetarian options. They also have organic agave and cane sugar to sweeten coffee with, and use  locally roasted, fair-trade coffee. If you are in Richmond, stop by and see it, this place is fun! I’ve never eaten here before (just my addiction: agave sweetened organic pumpkin spice lattes) but the food was fantastic. I loved my wrap

Back to my serious “work”. Maybe shopping with Harris later and then tonight is the Seder dinner with his family!!!