Someone has already messaged me privately on my cat forums to wish me a Happy New Jewish Year and mentioned that she looked at my blog and couldn’t find a good post where she could have added it as a comment. So… three days later, here’s my Rosh Hashana post!
Following quite a few religious Jews on Twitter, it was interesting for me to see all the excitement, as fervent discussions went on regarding a mix of culinary and religious issues. You can get a taste of it from this recent post by Jewish blogger Dov Bear, where he and his commentators share the Holiday menus. Well, I figured I might as well share impressions of the festivity here at home…
Our very secular version included a nice intimate dinner on Rosh Hashana Eve itself, just us, the kids, and my parents-in-law. Nothing very noteworthy in culinary terms, just the regular salad, breads etc. We did sing a couple of songs and wished each other Shana Tova, but that was pretty much it.
Saturday evening we had a larger meal, this time with more guests. The combination of having guests, with it still being a Holiday, generated a more festive meal, by my hosting standards (and no, they’re not very high!). We had 12 people in attendance, including family and two twitter friends! I made a nice vegan meal which included:
Vegetable Salad.
Beetroot Salad.
Soy “chicken” with mushrooms in teriyaki sauce.
Soy “meat” with vegetables in spicy tomato sauce.
White rice (to balance out the previous two dishes).
A slow-cooked legume stew made of 3 types of rice, lentils, beans and vegetables.
Vegan chocolate pie.
We ate outside, on the patio and the table was decorated with some white bougainvillea flowers I picked up from the neighbors’ backyard, and some candles we places in cut up plastic bottles. Since we don’t have a fancy set of dishes for so many people, we opted for a mix of plates and glasses, which symbolized the harmony in which different people can sit together and share each other’s company.
So, there you have it, our account of Rosh Hashana. Have a wonderful new year everyone!
on Sep 21st, 2009 at 4:41 pm
And it was so delicious! Thanks Anat, for having me around!
on Sep 23rd, 2009 at 9:33 am
Interesting…curious:
When you say Holiday, do you mean in a religious sense, or only insofar as national day off, etc.?
IsraeliMom Reply:
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Definitely not religious, though most of these holidays have a religious origin. We also include Independence Day, for example. It’s more than just a “day off” though – more like a national/cultural day of celebration.
on Oct 3rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
That was fancy and delicious Saturday dinner, simple but very decent. I love the way you describe it. I guess that is Rosh Hashana is something like Thanks Giving Day. I really love holidays.