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Today is the 7th day of Passover or Pesach. It's a holiday that lasts 8 days. It commemorates the time when Moses led us out of Egypt. Since we didn't have enough time to make bread, we made a form of unleavened bread called Matzah. (It's basically a giant cracker.) So, no bread, or anything else that rises during the holiday. If you're an Ashkenazic Jew (from Europe), you can't eat beans, corn, or even legumes. So, basically no normal breads, rice, pasta, corn, beans, legumes, and other things. Those are just the less complicated stuff.

Most people go to what's called a seder for the first 2 nights. Seder means order. It's the way the dinner and story are supposed to be done. Plus, you're supposed to invite as many people as you can to it, including non- Jews. The first night we went to a friend of the family's house. They invited about 7 or 8 other people. My mom made matzah meal popovers and a salad. They're so good! smile For the dinner we had the norm of gefilte fish, hard boiled eggs, and matzah ball soup first. Gefilte fish is basically 3 different white fish made into a sort of paste, formed into ovals, and chilled. Hard for some people to like it their first time, but it's so good once you get used to it. Next, we had the salad, popovers, brisket, and a blintz soufle with blueberry sauce (so tasty!). For dessert it was chocolate covered Passover marshmallows, candy fruit slices, and Passover cookies. It was a pretty good dinner, and I was so full. smile Plus, most of the people who came I've known for years.

The second night was just horrible to me. We went to someone's house that we didn't know too well. She's learning to convert to Orthodox Judaism. It was her first time hosting a seder. Some of the things she said were so off, it disturbed me. Plus, she wasn't even ready for us. She was still cleaning, and hadn't even set the table, and didn't even start cooking until we were there. All we had for the main course was chicken and my mom made honey glazed carrots which she apparently was allergic to and didn't eat. It was kind of a disaster to me.

Oh but my mom made wonderful things for this week, I almost feel like I'm not missing out. (My dad still will grab a large sandwich and go mmmm... in front of us. Very rude, but I knows he's doing it jokingly.) She made the popovers which I mentioned, matzah toffee (matzah with a layer of melted brown sugar, and the top layer with melted chocolate and nuts sprinkled on top. So good!), hard boiled eggs, homemade Passover granola (with bits of matzah, honey, raisins, and nuts. It turns into candy basically.), we got Passover potato chips, mandel brodt (like Passover Biscotti), Kichel (It's like an egg puff with some sugar on top), mandelin (tiny egg puffs to put in soups and things. A bit like Oyster crackers), Tam- tams (matzah crackers. This one's got a lot of seasoning. Garlic, salt, pepper, onion powder, and some other things.), more matzah ball soup, Fruit candies, chocolate macaroons, and more. Not too bad. I love Passover noodles, but since they get extremely soggy, no one else will eat them, so we didn't bother to get them. sad Passover can be fun if we plan it right. Just having the matzah by itself gets old quickly, so I'm glad there are different ways to eat it.

It's kind of hell when trying to do it all in the college dorms. Everybody wants some of the stuff I make, but I have to remind them it has to last me 8 days. I was lucky last time our floor actually had our own kitchen. Plus, it had a stove, which you need for most of the food on this holiday. It's kind of difficult doing my own seder, but kind of fun at the same time. College students have different reactions to it than everyone else I've noticed. One of the things for Passover is to dip parsley in salt water to remind us of the tears of our ancestors. Well, one of my friends (who isn't Jewish) apparently loves parsley and kept eating it through the entire meal and begged me to give her the parsley bag. Others will ask me questions that only a Rabbi would know. So, you never what's going to happen. wink

One of my cats named Shadow is very sick right now. Just about 3 days ago, she stopped eating and drinking. She also would put her head down, and didn't respond to things. She would have spine- tingling howls also. When she tried to walk she ended up bumping into things and her back end would flail. We took her to the vet yesterday. She's supposed to weigh 10 pounds. Last time we checked at the vet it was 8 pounds. Now, she's down to 6 pounds. She's just skin and bones now! They kept her that night and told us what they did. She was given a heated blanket, antibiotics (because there was a massive infection that showed up on a blood test), IV fluids, potassium, food, water, and a place for her to go to the bathroom there. We visited her this afternoon and she seemed a lot more perkier and healthier. She opened her eyes more, looked at us, looked around her, leaned into our petting, and she apparently is eating and drinking now. We still have to see how she does with a couple more days at the clinic. But, now I feel more optimistic. The vet even said she expected Shadow to not last the night, but now she says if she gets well enough, all we'll have to do is give her a potassium supplement and she'll be fine. We'll see, it's still at the we don't know if she'll make it stage. sad

I had my check up with my Gynecologist and she said she's a little worried that I still have pain and a heavy period. She said I should check to see if I have a fever everyday for a month. If I do have a fever I should see her right away. She said after 3 months things usually clear up. Just to be safe she wants me to see her in a month.