Screenshot
Passover Shopping List
As the Passover season approaches I often find myself laughing over something that happened many years ago.
We were having 18 for our seder, and after calling the butcher to order lamb for my traditional stew, I wrote out a long shopping list for everything else I needed, and headed for the supermarket.
Not surprisingly, the store was busy and I was navigating my cart down a crowded aisle when I suddenly realized the shopping list I had been clutching was no longer in my hand. Had I put it down somewhere while two-handing a five-pound box of matzoh, or dropping onions into a plastic bag? Had my precious list fluttered to the supermarket floor to be trampled on by the other shoppers?
Anxiously I retraced my steps and soon spotted a sheet of white paper lying across a bin of oranges. With a sigh of relief I reached for it only to find myself staring at an unfamiliar scrawl – it wasn’t my handwriting, it wasn’t my list!
But on second glance I saw it was a very good list — parsley, two dozen eggs, horseradish, apples and walnuts for charoset, and even some things I’d forgotten — paper doilies, four bottles of seltzer, and chocolate-covered macaroons.
Happily, with my new list in hand, I finished my Passover shopping. And yes, dear reader, our festive meal was delicious!
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
So funny…why is this list not like anyone else’s list? Are they all the same? I guess they were sort of interchangeable, At least you got what you needed and had a good Pesach!
Chag Sameach, Dana.
Thanx Betsy, I hope my two light posts elicit a few smiles at this scary time.
Chag Sameach to you and yours!
That is a classic New York story! In my neck of the woods, you’d be more likely to find a list that had an Easter ham on it. And again Betsy got here first and made the good joke, although in fact this list WAS like all other lists.
You were the one who asked for a Passover prompt, you must have had these two stories already in mind.
Yes Suzy, I guess it is a New York story, the supermarkets here usually have pretty ample kosher sections, and they really stock up before all the Jewish holidays – matzo, matzo everywhere!
And thanx for using my Passover prompt!
Ha, ha, ha, that’s perfect, Dana. It’s so easy to feel scattered at Passover time. One year I was making two large angel-food cakes (with matzah meal and potato starch as the flour) and after I put the first one in the oven, I realized I’d left out the matzah meal. I quickly took the cake out and remixed it, and although it wasn’t exactly the same as the other one, it was salvageable.
Yep, I’ve done stuff like that, and not just during holiday distractions!
And often I try to make coffee in my Keurig and only water drips out – then I realize I forgot to put the coffee pod in.
Cute story, Dana. This is one holiday I can’t manage without a list, or many lists. Usually, I have to go to several stores to round up everything I need. This year, well, at least I got matzo. The rest was impossible.
May a year like this – the year of the Zoom Seder – not come our way again!
As a passionate list maker, I love this story, Dee. And it makes me think it could be a fun new game: Trade shopping lists with a friend and see what we each come up with in the kitchen.
Ah yes you’re a foodie!
And loved your husband’s comment on your story, lucky man that he is!
Perfect. Your story gives new meaning to the phrase “community transmission.” I love Betsy’s insight that, unlike Haggadahs, Passover lists are interchangeable. But I wonder if the person whose list you found, found your list?
Thanx John!
Whether or not, I hope their festive Seder meal was delish!
Thanks for sharing.
Thanx for reading Kevin!
Thanks for reposting—great story. I also can’t help but wonder if the person whose list you found wasn’t now using your list. Too funny and heartwarming besides.
Thanx Khati, I bet they were, Seder menus are always similiar!