January 26, 2018: They Tried to Kill Us, We Won....Now Let's Eat!
You know how they say that phrase summarizes every Jewish holiday? Well, I don’t think we’ve “won” Tu Bi’Shvat quite yet. Danielle made that much clear by running us through a laundry list of plagues during our Tu Bi’Shvat Seder, similar to what we do on Passover, that went something like this: “Water scarcity, starving polar bears, imminent global environmental war, everything that is sad and evil and hopeless in the world, etc., etc., etc.”
So maybe we should shorten our summary to “Let’s eat.” But then again there’s Yom Kippur. Hmmm. Our best bet might be “They tried to kill us.”
A big thanks to Danielle and Cara for organizing such a wonderful Tu Bi’Shvat Seder full of readings, blessings, and ritualistic eating. It was my first Tu Bi’Shvat Seder, so if you’re new to the concept as well here is some background. And check out our gorgeous spread:
Just look at these two!!
This holiday forces us to confront the environmental quandary we've gotten ourselves into, and while thinking about this kind of thing is always sobering, some of us have better coping mechanisms than others. I won’t belabor the point by providing too much context, but I did get this email from our lovely rabbi the other day:
Now onto the meal! Can you even remember that far back? Between Feb break and writer's block I've been away from the blog. But don't worry, Jew-folk, your trusty chef and blogger is back!
Let me introduce the helpers:
This is Jenny, pointing a knife so directly at me you can hardly tell it’s there.
This is Ian, preparing to launch a dough ball my way if I keep photographing him.
Me, Myself, and I, perfectly captured on camera by Jenny.
Danielle told me it’s traditional to serve a meal that includes all of the seven species of Israel (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates) after the Seder, so I took to Google and found a seven species cholent recipe that killed all 7 birds with one stone. The entire meal was vegan since Tu Bi'Shvat is an environmental holiday, and why not? Check out the recipes I used here.
The prep process. Jenny color-coded her chopped peppers and Ian added the decorative parsley sprig. What teamwork.
(Also, note the bowl of carrot to the right. I asked Ian to chop the carrots into “bite-sized pieces,” and he pulverized the poor things until I realized what was happening. At center, evidence of Ian's learning curve.)
Since I didn’t have a crockpot or all night to cook the cholent, I instead cooked the wheat berries and barley separately according to the instructions included in the recipe document, then sautéed up the rest of the ingredients, adding the figs, raisins, and dates at the end so they wouldn’t make the dish too sweet.
For sides we made pita, Israeli salad, and hummus, which according to Jonah was a “bit thick” but had “surprisingly good flavor.” I’ll take it from a guy who’s spent enough time in Israel to turn into the worst of hummus snobs.
Dessert was raw vegan brownies with non-raw vegan chocolate ganache. They’re basically dates and nuts and cocoa all mashed together.
Between the seder and dinner, we needed a lot of dates for this meal--$68 worth, to be precise. They sell them at the co-op in a bin with minuscule tongs, so I spent a solid 10 minutes transferring them, date-by-date, into a bag. If Middlebury date prices go up, you know who to blame. And we do have a decent amount left over, so if you're in search of a date stop by the Hillel kitchen. ;)
Patty bread, patty bread, baker's man. Make me a tree as fast as you can.
Boil it,
Roll it,
Sprinkle on the seeds, And put it in the oven for Hillel and me!
Vegan pretzel challah, in the shape of a tree, served with mustard.
Shabbat Shalom, friends! Remember to come to services at 5:30 and dinner at 6:30 tonight. Jenny's in charge of the kitchen this week, and has been cooking up something delicious all day. Stay tuned for her inaugural blog post!