forestofglory

That sounds really good. Could I have a copy of your hagaddah, perhaps?

First seder: at home with family, the two things which we thought would be problematic turned out ok. My brother S thought he wouldn't be able to get there until late in the evening, but actually rejigged his commitments and was on time. And Granny, who is often in too much pain and too tired to really appreciate the seder, was still lively and sociable by the time we started the meal. My brother J led the service, he did a very good job, just an hour of liturgy where there was space for discussion and it didn't feel either too rushed or too off track. We had 13 people, Granny, parents, siblings + partners, and a couple of cousins.

The food: me and my sister S and her partner and Mum were cooking pretty much all of Sunday evening and Monday, but it managed to be reasonably calm even though we had a lot to get through. So, butternut squash soup for the starter. Main dish was salmon with various sauces, vegetarian options were stuffed courgettes, veggie matzah lasagne, and blue cheese and leek terrine (we got a bit carried away with those). Side dishes were brussels sprouts and carrot salad, celeriac remoulade, new potatoes, spinach, and Danish-style cucumber pickle. Dessert (also got a bit carried away): Flourless caramel nusstorte, mango sorbet, fruit salad, chocolate dacquoise (a sort of layered meringue and ganache thing, really rich), and lemon mousse.

Community seder yesterday was about 20 people. I led and a friend who is a rabbinical student helped with some of the singing. I kept to a fairly traditional structure, but replaced the random bits of midrash with free-form discussion, which I think people enjoyed, and they asked me some good questions. Menu was carrot and potato soup with kneidlach, salmon or spinach and mushroom fritata with Israeli style vegetable salad, coleslaw and heimishe potato salad, and fruit and home-made fudge for dessert.

So yup, generally feeling pretty good about our sedarim this year.