Cleo

I concur with Alex. It's an awesome mill. In a pinch, you could always use your cast iron skillet to whack the peppercorns enough to crack 'em coarsely. Put the peppercorns in a plastic bag, lay them on your cutting board and whomp away with the skillet. A little noisy but a great way to vent if you've had a bad day. ← I third the Unicorn Magnum. Love it.

What about Ikea?

For my seder this weekend, I made a Barefoot Contessa recipe for asparagus with shallots. The recipe actually is for green beans with shallots, but since you can't serve green beans on Passover, I made it with asparagus. Anyway, first I blanched and cooled the asparagus. Then the shallots were sauteed in butter and olive oil with some salt & pepper. That's it. It was so simple, and SO delicious!

I just wanted to thank everyone for the great advice. My first seder was a huge success!!! There was enough food to feed an army (good thing I like leftovers!), and a good time was had by all. I started to take pictures of the food, but as things got busier in the kitchen (and as my 6 month old got more tired), I just couldn't get all of the shots. But everything looked and tasted great. Thanks again!

Not sure which Garden of Eden you're referring to, but the one on Third Avenue & 24th Street is closed.

For about 10 years I lived 4 blocks away from Fairway on 74th. Even with all it's craziness, I always enjoyed shopping there. Last fall, we sold our apartment and moved to Gramercy Park area and the one thing I was distraught over was leaving my beloved Fairway. I kept saying to my husband, "I'll just have to get in the car on Sunday mornings and drive to the Harlem Fairway". We have totally mediocre supermarkets in this neighborhood, and that, in combination with the fact that I have a baby, has driven me to use Fresh Direct. Well I'm addicted. I get deliveries once about every week or 10 days. As Johnder said, occasionally items are missing or damaged. But their customer service with regard to that is amazing. One time I got a dozen eggs and 3 or 4 were cracked. I called to tell them, not because I was looking for a credit, but because I just wanted them to know that there was a problem. They gave me credit for the whole dozen. Today, I got a monstrous delivery with all the things that I need for my seder this weekend. One bottle of soda was missing, but they gave me an extra dozen eggs. These little things are not enough to annoy me at all. The thought of going to the crappy supermarkets in my 'hood and lugging bags home is revolting. Fresh Direct doesn't have everything (but they have mostly everything), so I still need to go occasionally, and I have grown to hate it.

Lovely menu, knews9! Care to share more information on that cauliflower & leek kugel? ← I'm also making the cauliflower leek kugel from Bon Appetit's April issue.

Thank you so much!

Well I think that so far I'm pretty organized for my first seder. But there's one thing that's really troubling me...please help!! My mother and my sister are both VERY experienced in having large groups for dinner. I, on the other hand, am not. They've both been giving me great advice (and help), but they completely disagree on the matzoh balls and I'm not sure who I should listen to. I'm just going to use the Manischewitz mix (they both agree on that). But according to my sister, I should form the balls on Friday (for Saturday's seder) and stick them in the fridge. Take them out on Saturday late afternoon and let them get to room temperature. Bring the soup up to a boil and then put the balls in to cook. My mother, however, has always made the balls the day before (cooking them in water) and re-heats them in the microwave (soup is heated on stove) prior to serving. Quite honestly, my mother's balls are always cold. If I cook the balls in the soup, like my sister says, won't the soup be sucked up by the balls? She says no. I know it's silly, but this matzoh ball thing is making me nervous!

Here's a similar thread from last year. Just try to be positive...every day it will get a little easier.

Congratulations and good luck with your new kitchen! It looks amazing!

This is great! The "for the table" section reminded me of a few things that I forgot -- matzah cover and salt & pepper shakers. Thanks!

This is what I was getting at in my post above when I mentioned that I sometimes order an entree based on the sides. Even if I don't necessarily want the chicken, I might order it because it comes with something like, I don't know, polenta and roasted brussels sprouts, which I love. But if the steak came with the polenta and brussels sprouts, I might order the steak.

I complete agree with this. My husband and I never just order 1 entree for 2 of us either, but that's mostly because he doesn't like most of what I like. I'm sure it's annoying to the restaurant/waiter when people do this, but them's the breaks. There are plenty of people at the opposite end of the spectrum who will order way too much food and drinks and it will all balance out. We are not big drinkers. Do waiters get annoyed by this? Maybe. Do I care? No. We are generous tippers and if the service is bad because we don't drink, I wouldn't go back.

I agree with the idea of offering a choice or mabye 2 or 3 things. Maybe salad, coleslaw or chips. As I said in that other thread, I have a picky husband who wouldn't eat salad or coleslaw (although he would never expect a discounted price--he'd just leave it on the plate or tell the server that he didn't want anything). But he would definitely eat some good chips. Or better yet, what about fries?

I'm not too picky and I'd probably like my entree with the sides. In fact, sometimes I will order an entree based on what sides it comes with. However, my husband (for better or worse) is somewhat picky and would not eat ratatouille if his life depended on it. So while I'm sure your side dishes are delicious, there are people in this world like my husband.

Someone else had suggested a salad as well, but to be quite honest, my family, and extended family aren't really big on salad for Passover. Dairy isn't an isssue...we're not kosher. As one of my cousins once put it, "we're the bacon eaters". Do you have a recipe for a spinach/matzo kugel? Should I do it in addition to what I've already planned, or instead of something? Oh, and as for desserts, my husband (with my supervision!) will make these Martha Stewart macaroons. We've made them before and they've always been a huge hit. My sister will make the rest of the desserts...she loves to bake.

So I’ve had a change of plans and decided to make potato “kugelettes” instead of the farfel muffins, but I look forward to trying the farfel muffins next year. But, I need help with my menu!!! As I said earlier, I’m having 16 people (including an 8-year old and two 3-year olds) and I can’t figure out just how many side dishes I need to make. Here’s the basic plan so far: Hard Boiled Eggs Gefilte Fish Chicken Soup with Matzoh Balls (my mother makes the soup) Haroset (I’m gonna try KatieLoeb’s recipe) Brisket (my mother makes excellent brisket) Chicken Marbella Potato Kugelettes Cauliflower-Leek Kugel (from April's Bon Appetit) Carrot Ring (the only decent thing that my mother-in-law knows how to make) Sauteed Asparagus with Shallots Maybes: Some sort of Farfel Kugel/Pudding Spinach Cheese Bake (my friend made this last year and it was great and easy!) I don’t want to go completely overboard, but then again, it wouldn’t be a Jewish holiday without too much food! Am I okay with the 4 side dishes? Do I need more? Less? Different variety? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much! Maybe I will give them a try next weekend. Again, thanks.

Thanks so much! I look forward to it. And thanks, Gifted Gourmet. I had actually googled Farfel Muffins and came across that recipe, but as I said in my earlier post, I'd really love something that's tried and true. The only other thing that I would love suggestions on is a potato kugel, or something with potatoes. Any suggestions? I'm having between 13 and 16 people for dinner and I'm more or less set on my menu. I'm just trying to plan it all now, since it is my first seder, I work full time, and I have a 5 month old daughter. For some reason I'm feeling very confident that this is going to be easy!

I'm making my first seder this year and I would love a tried and true recipe for matzah farfel muffins! JFLinLA, would you be so kind as to give me a hint how to make them? I'm not looking for anything with raisins or fruit in them, but something more of a savory farfel muffin. Thanks!

I rarely flip. I just put it in the oven on 400 and go about my business. I usually let it cook for at least 45 minutes, sometimes close to an hour if it's a batch of cauliflower, red onion and brussel sprouts (my favorite combo). The only time I do mix it up or flip it is when I'm not quite ready to eat and I want to keep it in the oven a little longer.

I'm really enjoying your blog! These girls are very lucky to have you. I lived in my sorority house for my junion year of college and this is reminding of things that I haven't thought about in 15 or so years. We had a similar situation---39 people living in the house and a cook for lunch and dinner each day. Breakfast was cereal, etc. (Cracklin' Oat Bran was the rage at the time!) The entire sorority (about 150 girls) was entitled to eat lunch each day at the house, although obviously not everyone showed up every day. Dinner was for people who lived in the house, or if you wanted to eat dinner there and you didn't live in, you could sign up and your parents were billed for it. The whole chapter ate there on Monday nights before the weekly meeting. We had a surly cook named Alice. I don't remember the food being particularly good or bad, but we always had a salad bar and baked potatoes were very popular at lunch. In fact, a popular concoction was baked potatoes topped with cottage cheese, crunchy noodle-type things and ranch dressing. Sounds totally disgusting now! We also had a couple of guys (students) who worked at the house during meals to wash dishes. Do you have any help from anyone else?

My favorite combination is brussel sprouts, cauliflower and red onion cut into wedges. I love the roasted red onion! But I often just throw in whatever I have...sometimes eggplant, carrots, broccoli, red pepper. Did I mention that I love the red onion!?!

What about going halfway with a Boboli? Boboli is another heat and eat product that I am greatful for. ← Boboli's are great. We eat home a lot more now that I have a baby and after being at work all day, sometimes Boboli is just an easy thing to throw together. Another thing that we like is the Shady Brook Farms Turkey Meatballs. They're pretty tasty and so easy to heat up and add to some pasta.