Finland

I had a dream that my south Baltimore neighborhood was collectively recognizing Passover (fat chance in hell in this Irish/Polish Catholic community.) Everyone was marking their doors but not with sheep's blood, as the original story goes. Instead, they were wrapping their door in the flag of their favorite soccer team. My flag was Finland. Random. Some Wikipedia research during waking hours reveals that Finland does not, in fact, have a very good soccer team. Oh well.

This dream came the evening after making Passover dinner for some neighbors and friends. I'm not dogmatic or ambitious enough to do a full seder, just a few dishes to mark the holiday. Before making vegan Passover, one has to make a decision about a controversial kosher subject: legumes. Are legumes kosher for Passover? My vegan-Jew guru, Isa Chandra Moskowitz--a true Brooklyn Jew--says they're A-OK. Other Jewish vegans of the internet claim their rabbis gave them special dispensation. Evidently the concern is that some grain may get gotten into your legumes when you weren't looking. In the age of 'gluten free' labeling and stricter standards, I'm not too worried about that. To compromise, I soaked and cooked my own legumes and bought tofu with a 'gluten-free' claim. Good enough for me.

Here's some of what I made:

Chickpea and Artichoke Salad, from Vegan Yum Yum

Matzoh ball soup with homemade stock, ala Isa.

Sweet potato-apple-carrot kugel, from Thinkatheist.com 

(oh Google, the things you find!)

My friend Kimber brought some bodacious dessert: matzoh with chocolate on one side and toffee on the other!! and fudgey-gooey brownies with walnuts!!! I think the matzoh recipe came from My Sweet Vegan, and it was absolutely out of this world! 

On the home front, we're at a stand-still. Counters still need to be put in. Odds and ends still need fixing, but at least the kitchen is operational! My next home project will be spring planting. I say 'spring' because it's April, but really it's pushing 90 degrees here in Baltimore. Funny; there are still piles of snow on the ground in some areas of town.