i got served

I haven't cooked in a few days, and man does that feel weird. I had a concert on Sunday, which meant that the whole weekend was spoken for and our Sunday supper consisted of Catfish Taco Locos at San Loco. Hey, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than a couple pounds of lamb. Now it's Passover, so I didn't get to cook last night and won't cook tonight either. Last night we went out to J-Cat's friend's place in Midwood for a Seder. I had never met these people so I was a little apprehensive and was wondering if I should have snacked before going over there. Turns out that it was totally not necessary, because the food was fantastic. It was really pretty nice to get cooked for for a change. J-Cat's friend Shlomy is Israeli, so his food was strongly inspired by Middle Eastern flavors. In addition, his wife's mother is Russian, so we had a nice spicy Borscht thrown in for good measure.

The first course was a variety of cold salads including spicy carrots, herbed beets, potato salad, and babaganoush. Next came the borscht, which was sweet and spicy at the same time. This was followed by some fantastic fish cakes made from a mixture of cod, tilapia, and fresh herbs, plus a sauce on top which I unfortunately couldn't understand the name of, but it clearly had tahini in it. This was paired with a vegetable-stuffed potato skin. The main course was a wonderful beef roast, covered in garlic and herbs and cooked until it was falling apart. I was so full by this point, but I couldn't miss anything. Luckily we had a little break before the intense dessert, a homemade gelato made with halvah and topped with a warm sauce made of liqueur and fresh berries. This was really sweet but a very interesting flavor. Sesame is definitely a great base for an ice cream.

Tonight will be a very different flavor of Seder, over at Gene and Olivia's house. I really want some charoset, they didn't have that last night and I missed it. It's just not Passover without the charoset.