Pre-Passover meal for a win!!

Today I attended a Pre-Passover Model Seder meal at the Highland Park Nursing and Rehab Center. I was invited to go thanks to a friend,

Tali Hylen, at  Ripple Public Relations and let me tell you, I am so glad I went!

Here is Rabbi Nosson Factor (the one with the mic), he ran the Seder and is the assistant administrator at the center. He did a great job, kept it short & sweet! It was well attended by members of the center as well as people from the surrounding areas (Highland Park, Evanston, Chicago)

A Passover/Seder meal is sort of a celebration, and like any good celebration, food and drink are involved. A Passover  consists of a ritual feast with four cups of wine, Matzo (unleavened bread crackers), hard boiled eggs, chopped liver, all sorts of food. You will never leave a Seder hungry. It is customary to invite guests that may otherwise not partake in such a tradition, and that is probably why they asked a big oaff like me to go. The table is set with a Seder Plate full of items symbolic of the Passover story, as guests of the Seder follow along in a book called the Haggadah. So as you expected I went for the food. and that was not only a smart, but an excellent choice!

The food was catered by Kitchen Chicks and man o' man did they do a stellar job! Everything I tasted was seriously Monte-licious!

The beef was not salty at all and it was tender and meaty. The au jus had a nice, mild flavor. And the chicken, even the breast meat was juicy! That is real when you have catered chicken, but they did it right.

Here are some sweet potatoes and carrots in a yummy, sweet sauce. And some perfectly cooked green beans, still with a snap! This food all comes after the Passover story and the following along with the reading from the Haggadah. But even during the religious stuff there is eating and drinking. And that food was delicious as well!

Here we some chopped apples and nuts in a bowl, hard boiled eggs, a lamb chop, horse radish, wine, all of this food goes along with the Passover story and is eaten at specific points during the the telling of the story. I loved all the eating moments best from the story.

One of our new friends at the table had a little spillage goin on, I tell ya... some people! ; )

Here is the book that the story gets read from, you go from the back to the front. And it's not in Chinese!!

Look at this beautiful presentation of stuff I shoved into my mouth! The stuff with the carrots atop of it is gefilte fish, which I usually hate, but the Kitchen chicks did it right and I ate several servings of it!

I ate this much food, times 10!

Matzo Ball soup

Our new friends enjoying their meal.

My plate of beef, chicken, green beans, sweet potatoes and carrots and matzo kuggle! So good! And the best part is this whole event with all the food during the Passover story and the full meal that followed immediately after the story was only $8.00! And all the registration fees weer generously donated to the Highland Park Senior Center! Win, win! And lastly I must mention that there weer plenty of beautiful women in attendance which is a nice bonus to such a delicious meal. And the fellas weer all super cool! Glad I went!