My First Seder

Yes, I haven't written in about a week, very bad I know.  It is not really my fault though so I will plead my innocence.  My brother was home this last week for spring break and he confiscated my computer to load Pro Tools on.  I cannot be too mad at him because over a couple of days he was able to mix some awesome sounding stuff.  He was working on a school assignment and working on some recordings he did for his band Mojo Stone.  (Find awesome stuff on my brother and his band here, here, and here....seriously, they are ridiculously talented...and my favorite is this video of a newer song that I'm obsessed with right now) (Ok, this post isn't about my brother...I'll leave that for another day).  I just got my computer back so that is why I didn't write last week.  To make up for my absence, I will be posting all kinds of fun stuff this week, pictures, DIY stuff, and inspiration boards.  YA! 

This post is about my first Seder dinner that I got to experience this last Saturday.  My good friend, and former roommate, Elysse invited me and a few other friends to her family's Seder.  I was so excited.  I love spending time with her family and because it was a holiday, a Jewish holiday, I knew I was in for even more fun times.  Elysse told me that she wanted to create cute, crafty place cards and she asked me to come up with something we could make quickly before dinner.  After pondering for awhile and searching through my database of inspiration, I decided to incorporate apples.  Why apples?  Well, two reasons: (1) Elysse loves apples and (2) Elysse's last name has the word "apple" in it (which probably makes her partial to them, therefore reason #1).  The rest was simple.  We stamped text onto manila cards (I love rubber stamps...nothing says crafty like stamps) and adorned with yellow fabric.  Easy!  Here are some shots of our place cards:

The last shot is of our Seder table.  We ate off of plates that had been decorated by Elysse and her sisters when they were kids, adorable, and the tablecloth had the family's hand drawn illustrations also.  So cute!  I loved the family casual atmosphere.  My favorite had to be that big lamb bone hanging off of the Seder plate.  The food was really delicious, minus the gefilte fish.  I guess it could have been delicious but I didn't try it because fish is not agreeable to me...meaning I loathe it.  We read from the Haggadah, sang Passover songs (some are really goofy, like this one about a cat eating a goat?...wah!?), and we ate matza, matza ball soup, and hard-boiled eggs.  I particularly enjoyed the symbology of the different foods on the Seder plate.  The yummiest was the charoset, an apple, almond mixture that was sweet.  Even though we ate things like horseradish and bitter herbs also which aren't as delicious, I enjoyed the whole ritual behind it.  Overall, I had a great time and I cannot thank Elysse and her family enough for including me.  

Another thing I must mention and post pictures of are the crazy animals that Elysse's family decided to get...alpacas.  Yes, they have mini llamas, in their backyard, in a residential neighborhood.  It is a crazy sight but one that always gets plenty of attention (good or bad?).  On Saturday we spent some time outside with the alpacas and despite their oddities, everyone agreed they are strangely cute.  Introducing Pacho and Nacho, the alpacas:

My first Seder experience was a good one and I hope it was not my last (hint, hint Elysse).