Tag Archives: Passover

Passover: Karpas Salad

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Karpas salad

This is a really easy, yummy salad filled with lots of karpas or related ingredients. The karpas course of the seder includes a vegetable (often parsley or potatoes) that is symbolic of spring and then dipped in salt water, representative of the Israelites tears. This salad can be served. If you eat light foods during your seder before the main meal, this is an easy addition to the meal that can be quickly prepared. Also, scroll down for my other Passover recipes including sweets and savory dishes. Continue reading →

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Rosa’s Syrian Charoset

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Rosa’s Syrian Charoset

This is a delicious charoset recipe passed down from an Israeli family’s Syrian matriarch, Rosa, through generations. Though it is made with few ingredients, it has bold flavors. And, the use of lots of date paste creates a thick texture that is perfect to top the charoset onto more than just matzah (something I love to do :)). And, below the recipe are links to lots of my previous Passover posts. Chag Sameach! Continue reading →

Very berry charoset

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Very Berry Charoset

I created this charoset recipe to use one of my favorite flavor combinations, along with many of the dried berries and fruits I love, such as goji berries, barberries, cherries, elderberries and raisins. But, you could really use any combination of  your favorite dried fruits. If you can make this in advance and let it soak overnight, the flavors become more pronounced and the berries plump. Continue reading →

Finding Order in Disorder & Chocolate Olive Oil Passover Cake

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Chocolate Olive Oil Passover Cake

I’m still the same as when I last wrote-focused on COVID19 most of the day and trying, like everyone else, to function as best possible. Beyond the obvious irony of living in a pandemic during Passover, how I will celebrate it this year has been hard (beyond simply finding holiday foods).

I know that many of you, like me, struggle to find grounding and order in this surreal moment. For me, the idea of the order of a seder and all of the holiday’s beautiful rituals that take us out of our normal daily routines is confounding and challenging now. If Passover already turns my regular routine upside down by changing what I eat, and completely transforms my kitchen, already creating a disruption, how do I create a semblance of the “normalcy” of the holiday routine when nothing is normal now? And, how to celebrate the idea of freedom and liberation when there’s so much sadness, stress, and darkness in our lives? How are we not consumed by these emotions and recognize the potential to survive and embrace the beautiful things in the world?

Continue reading →

Passover Recipes & Travel

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Orange trees are everywhere in Morocco, including train stations.

I spent a couple of years as a bit of a wandering Jew, and a consistent theme in my travels was the need to find some sense of rootedness through local Jewish communities, from Rabat to Rishikesh. Reflecting upon my travels resonates especially as we near Passover. I was not in “exile,” but “on the road” without a home. And, consistently, in all of these wonderful, beautiful and often challenging places, I felt a need to find Jewish communities, sharing precious moments with these strangers, whether a handful of people in Sicily, a single woman in India or dozens in Naples. Yehuda Amichai wrote, “It was not an adventure; it was my life.”

Here are some of my Passover recipes and commentaries over the past couple of years that I hope help you to prepare and celebrate the holiday.

Continue reading →

Rishikesh, Kitchari, and Passover

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I spent a good chunk of last year in India. While there are still tiny remaining Indian Jewish communities (read my Fort Cochin post), there is now a transient Jewish population of tens of thousands of mostly post-army Israelis who generally travel through the country generally along a route known as the “Hummus Trail”. The trail is easy to figure out because in each location there are Chabads and other Jewish outreach organizations. For Passover, I joined the Hummus Trail community and went to Rishikesh. Continue reading →

Passover Treat

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As people are busy preparing for Pesach, clearing their internal and external chametz, I wanted to share an easy and delicious holiday snack/dessert (or enjoy anytime of year). It’s another version of stuffed dates and the simple list of ingredients include some of my favorite foods. Click below the jump for the recipe. For my other Pesach recipes and commentaries, please click here. Pesach Sameach! Continue reading →

Pesach Round-Up

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Underwood Family Farms, Culver City, CA Farmers Market

Underwood Family Farms, Culver City, CA Farmers Market

As you’re busy cleaning your house, shopping and cooking for Pesach, I thought you might want to read and reflect upon some of my posts for the holiday. Chag sameach!

Passover: Liberate Yourself From Industrial Food: A list of suggestions to make each part of your seder more sustainable.

Passover: Ending Slavery in Our Food Systems: The horrible enslavement of people in the production of food worldwide.

Nisan: Bless and Sustain: The ultimate Pesach food!-Quinoa and roasted fruit and vegetable recipe

Also, if you haven’t had a chance yet, check out the resources page on my website to find a wide range of wonderful groups working in both the secular and faith spaces to address hunger, agriculture, animal welfare and many other important issues.

Nisan: Bless and Sustain

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Nisan: Roasted fruits and quinoa

Nisan: Roasted fruits and quinoa

Nisan is the first month of the Jewish calendar, a celebration of the beginning of Spring (Chodesh Ha-aviv) and Pesach. Unlike Rosh Hashana, which is a new year for the creation of the world, Nisan established the nation of Israelites. G-d instructed Moses, “This month shall be for you the head of months, the first of the months of the year.” (Exodus 12-2).

One is instructed to say a blessing during Nisan for blossoming fruit trees.  With the celebration of Spring in Nisan, one can  visit a park or other natural setting to let one’s senses enjoy the colors, scents, sounds and beauty of this time of year. On my little balcony, I’m immersed in an array of flowers, pots overflowing with herbs and a cacophony of birds chirping (of course there is also the regular sounds of drivers honking their car horns). My neighborhood is alight with bougainvellia in vivid oranges and pinks, cascading over tree tops, walls and bushes.

Continue reading →

Passover: Ending Slavery in our Food Systems

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Child cocoa worker. Photo courtesy of Fair Trade Judaica

Child cocoa worker. Photo courtesy of Fair Trade Judaica

When we read at Passover, “This year we are slaves; next year, may we be free” we can do our part to ensure that our Pesach celebrations—and all year long–are free of the stains of modern day slavery. Despite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights prohibition against slavery, approximately 35.8 million men, women and children worldwide are enslaved, more people than at any point in the history of humanity. About 10 percent of enslaved people work in food industries, harvesting cacao, sugar, and tomatoes, raising cattle or catching fish. The frequent battle for cheaper prices in the global food marketplace might seem great for consumers, but “the reality is that competitive pricing is often the result of exploitative labor practices” where food is grown in disregard for human dignity and international laws. Continue reading →