MishPerlSim Seder 2010

Last night we celebrated Passover with 40 members of the Consulate and Chennai community at the Consular General's home. It was a beautiful evening filled with Matzo Balls, Kugel, and Gefilte Fish. While there were three families who coordinated the festivities, our friends who are a tad more pious than us, ran the Seder. I mean, Matt totally could have done it ... though it would have probably lasted all of two minutes as he said something to the effect of, "We were oppressed. We overcame. Let's eat". Instead, Mark and Lisa took the reigns and performed a wonderfully informative, yet traditional Seder ... while managing to merge tradition with brevity.

I spent the weekend and all day yesterday slaving over scrawny chickens in order to prepare my ever-so-yummy Matzo Ball soup, and brine to cook one of my Butterball Turkeys. Thankfully I planned ahead and brought 2 small boxes of Matzo Meal to make the Matzo Balls. However, I wasn't sure I had enough, so I borrowed some plain Matzo from my girlfriend and created makeshift Matzo Meal to make a few extra Matzo Balls (which were delicious, yet a tad dense and sunk to the bottom of the soup).

Riley actively participated in this year's Seder by reading out of the Hagaddah, including reading "The 4 Questions" in English. I must admit, she was mighty impressive. She continued her streak by then finding the Afikomen... much to her sister's chagrin... and even given a few extra Rupees by one of our friends for her wonderful reading.

The dinner was a pleasant success with everyone contributing to the potluck, and ensuring that they made a dish that was void of anything Chametz (leavened products ... or as I call it ... anything tasty). And everyone even stayed after the festivities concluded to schmooze, recline, and attempt to finish the 7 open bottles of wine...

Take a peek at our special evening.