Funy thing: one of my dinner guests last night asked, "How long did all this take
you? All day??"
Well, yeah -- actually, in fact I'd made the
chocolate torte and mixed up the matzo balls and put the batter in the fridge the
day before. How else do you make a holiday dinner? Do other people just not make
holiday dinners as a regular thing?
On the other hand, I'm awed by
the people who can cook for 10 or 15 or 30 guests. The most I've fed is 11, and
that was just chili (and the mother of the two children asked if she could make
them bologna sandwiches instead). When we lived in Houston, a father and son we
rowed with had us over for wonderful Seder dinners, with three tables full of
people. Of course, usually when you're feeding a horde you have a lot of help
cooking, but still, that was an impressive spread. (My guests yesterday would have
been happy to bring food, but since they're not Jewish they wouldn't have known
what's Pasadic; Since I wanted a traditional dinner I gently discouraged them and
they brought flowers instead. Wouldn't want anyone to think my friends don't have
good manners.)
I've heard a few people comment that they don't know
how to make a big dinner at all. I know how to do this because this is what we did
for all our holidays as I was growing up. We'd have dinner with my grandparents
and uncle; my uncle would be staying with them and would help cook and we'd bring
a food over as well. Sometimes they came over to our house instead or we all went
to another relative's. This is normal to me, and happy, and traditional in the
best way. ("You do the same thing every year and you're not tired of it," as I
recently saw a small boy quoted.)
Luckily Rudder's family does the
same, except for Thanksgiving and Christmas instead of Passover and Rosh Hashanah.
These days when we haven't gotten together with one of our families, I invite
family-by-choice over instead, or people I'd like to know better. How better to
bring people together than over food?