Editor's Pick
MARCH 30, 2010 12:42AM
Rate: 19
circa 1962, practicing the four questions on my unimpressed friend
Whitefish, carp and pike are swimming circles in the bathtub. The house cleaning takes on a fevered pitch as every last leavened crumb is vacuumed. As the sound of the Hoover reaches the hallway, that is the five minute warning. I scoop up the toys from my closet floor where I covertly (or so I thought) eat sandwiches and cookies. The year before, along with the secret stash of crumbs, I also lost all my fabulous Barbie stilettos to the Hoover.
The Jewish year is 5722 (1962) and Passover is approaching. Preparing the Seder feast in advance, I watch my mother make chicken soup with matzo balls, dress chickens for roasting, and scoop potato kugel into casseroles. Thankfully, the family gets the bathtub back because Mom is finally using the very um, fresh whitefish, carp and pike to make homemade gefilte fish. Dessert is cardboard sponge cake, sweet and gritty with no flavor. Manischewitz canned macaroons on the side.
The evening of the first Seder arrives. I am sitting at one end of the small Passover table, squeezed between Fake Aunt Hope and my brother who seems to have eaten beans the day before. My 6-year-old stomach is churning from hunger and stage fright. As the youngest child I will recite the four questions from the Passover service booklet, the Maxwell House (yes, coffee) Haggadah. As the service drones on past my bedtime, I am so sleepy that all I want to do is lean on my brother and close my eyes, no matter how much he stinks.
Finally, all eyes turn to me. I squeak out the first questions in a whisper. Why is this night different from all other nights and why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh? My elderly faux Uncle yells out “can’t hear you, missy!” Beet red and humiliated, I stutter, making my voice crack. Now I imagine that everyone thinks I am on the verge of tears. I am.
The Ad Man purses his ridiculously large lips, my mother audibly holds her breath, my brothers stifle giggles, and Fake Aunt Hope leans over and pats my arm enveloping me in her stinky perfume. I push the Haggadah up to my nose, adjust my geeky glasses, take a deep breath and loudly mumble each question into the fold of the book.
As the 4th glass of sticky sweet Mogen David
Everyone raises their wine tumbler in a final toast - Next year in Jerusalem! they shout with imbibed enthusiasm. And it is finally time for dinner. The feast’s perfume has overtaken Fake Aunt Hope’s cloying scent and on this night, I am a grateful little girl.
But Passover isn’t over just yet. For seven days I construct matzo sandwiches for lunches. Tuna on matzo. Peanut butter and jelly on matzo. Egg salad on matzo. Ham and swiss on matzo. Ok, kidding about that one.
Try eating a matzo sandwich. It's a little like taking forty ritz crackers taping them together and smashing some filling inside, picking it up and crunching. The only possible outcome is a pile of crumbs. I use the matzo as the placemat and eat the filling with my fingers.
Over the years, Passover became more about how to make the food a little more interesting and still maintain the religious traditions. We tuned up the lowly, cloyingly sweet macaroon and made it a spring time delight. It has a deep coconut flavor infused with (Meyer) lemon.
Now, if only someone could think of a way to make matzo a little more interesting.
Coconut Lemon Macaroons
- 2 large eggs, separated, using whites only
- ½ cup white sugar plus 2 tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon almond flavoring
- Zest from 2-3 lemons (Meyers are perfect)
- 3 cups flaked unsweetened coconut (Bob’s Red Mill)
- Pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 350. Turn oven down to 325 once the cookies go in.
Mix the sugar and the lemon zest with your fingers in a large bowl. Let the two infuse for about 5 minutes. Then, with a wooden spoon, mix in all the remaining ingredients until thoroughly incorporated. With wet hands gather a scant ¼ cup of coconut dough and form into haystacks on a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. Pinch the tops to form loose haystacks (keep your fingers wet). Let sit for about 45 minutes before baking. Bake about 20 minutes at 325. Turn oven off and let macaroons sit until lightly brown about 10 minutes longer. Remove from oven and cool. Makes about 12 large macaroons.
Bon appétit and happy Pesach.
Comments
I liked your post. I am Jewish but rarely celebrate, but it is nicely written and I used to love egg matzo. You made me hungry for some and the macaroons sound great! Thanks
Everything works better with good food, as you've clearly shown.
Love to you, as always. Great post and so so so rated.
Love to you, as always. Great post and so so so rated.
These macaroons sound delicious. Loved the Passover story, too. That little table sounds quite....olfactory. And stage fright...the universal fear!
Happy Pesach, Lisa
Happy Pesach, Lisa
I must agree with Ginny: good food works miracles. Love to you and yours. Rated.
I love how you tell a great story, describing the details that come alive for me as I read and always finish it off with a great recipe. You're prolific and a great writer and I'm scratching my head as to how you do it!
Hmmmmmm.....macaroons. matzo. macaroons. matzo. I'll take a macaroon please. Okay. two.
Every word of this post made me happy. You are the best storyteller..._r
Through your previous stories, I've come to know all the faces around the table. I learn so much from your posts and am lamenting the lack of food traditions in the Presbyterian church. I must make these macaroons, although the Meyer lemon variation will have to wait for next year - they're already gone from my stores.
alicia - thank you! my dad loved egg matzo, too. we only scored a couple of boxes and they were his. we all, of course, snuck a few out of the box. the macaroons are really easy and fast. and way better than the canned stuff. thanks for coming by!
Ginny - aw, thanks! your comment made my day.
Shiral - thank you! my brother loved beans (from a can)...
Thoth - thank you and back at you.
MTK - thanks! kind words, but it is a mutual admiration society kiddo. I love those articles you write and congrats on the Psychology Today! If you guys haven't seen it - here it is www.psychologytoday.com/blog/stepmonster/201003/remarried-children-how-find-love-in-crowd
green - I'll save them for you! They taste even more lemon-y today.
Joan - thank you! want a macaroon?
Lucy - you are so sweet. food is like the middle name of all the kids in a Jewish household. I'm surprised we were given people names. use regular lemon peel. they take five minutes to whip up and the lemon flavor gets bigger the next day. I just had some leftover Meyer's that were aging...
Ginny - aw, thanks! your comment made my day.
Shiral - thank you! my brother loved beans (from a can)...
Thoth - thank you and back at you.
MTK - thanks! kind words, but it is a mutual admiration society kiddo. I love those articles you write and congrats on the Psychology Today! If you guys haven't seen it - here it is www.psychologytoday.com/blog/stepmonster/201003/remarried-children-how-find-love-in-crowd
green - I'll save them for you! They taste even more lemon-y today.
Joan - thank you! want a macaroon?
Lucy - you are so sweet. food is like the middle name of all the kids in a Jewish household. I'm surprised we were given people names. use regular lemon peel. they take five minutes to whip up and the lemon flavor gets bigger the next day. I just had some leftover Meyer's that were aging...
This is sad: I thought of you immediately when I saw this headline on Big Salon:
Oy vey: Carly Fiorina's Passover faux pas
The GOP California Senate candidate wishes Jewish supporters well as they "break bread" for the holiday
Oy vey: Carly Fiorina's Passover faux pas
The GOP California Senate candidate wishes Jewish supporters well as they "break bread" for the holiday
A charming example of preserving family history by telling our life stories. I hope you print and save this for your descendants.
You know, I wish you would just PM me about your upcoming recipe on Sunday so that I could make sure I have all of the ingredients on hand come Tuesday. All this running to the store on Tuesday is getting really really old! Coconut is one of those ingredients I hated as a child, but have grown to rather love as an adult. A lesson on "keep trying the foods you think you don't like."
You are always a consistently good storyteller, so it's hard for me to imagine you squeaking through your lines. But I believe you!
You are always a consistently good storyteller, so it's hard for me to imagine you squeaking through your lines. But I believe you!
The coconut macaroon has an ancient history as a Passover treat. Even before 1962.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/the-macaroons-of-moses/
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/the-macaroons-of-moses/
I served whole wheat matzoh. And rocky road macaroons. And I used Grand Marnier instead of wine for the charoset. And used a Julia Child recipe for the brisket-- including orange peel in the gravy. Like you, tried for some diversity. It worked.
STORY IS EVERYTHING. THANKS FOR THIS.
Matzah: topstitched cardboard and a recipe for constipation. And yet, I love it! Wonderful post, hag sameach.
Ah! The Maxwell House haggadah, dry Passover food, and crochety old relatives asking you to turn it up a notch. Brings back memories! Thanks for the delightful Macaroon Recipe! As for the matzah, try melting 1/2 cup brown sugar with two sticks unsalted butter. Spread over 6-8 sheets of matzah. Cover with semisweet chocolate chips and toffee bits (from baking section.) Bake at 375 till chocolate melts. Yum!
wonderful story! and the lemon macaroons sound yummy and easy to make
Cranky - yes! saw that. she is as dumb as ever.
Hawley - thank you! and already on the case.
Bell - I promise to send you a note. And you'd have squeaked too. The Ad Man was always grumpy.
Mike - I will take a look.
Lea - JC brisket sounds great. Have to look that up.
Maerwynne- thank you and same to you.
Beth - thank you for the comment and the recipe!
Julie - thanks kiddo! super easy to make .
Jonathan - thank you. will stop by and look at your posts.
Hawley - thank you! and already on the case.
Bell - I promise to send you a note. And you'd have squeaked too. The Ad Man was always grumpy.
Mike - I will take a look.
Lea - JC brisket sounds great. Have to look that up.
Maerwynne- thank you and same to you.
Beth - thank you for the comment and the recipe!
Julie - thanks kiddo! super easy to make .
Jonathan - thank you. will stop by and look at your posts.
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