I love Tu B'shvat (New Year of Trees). After Sukkot, it's my favourite holiday. There's no, 'they-tried-to-kill-us-it-didn't-work-let's-eat' component. There are no yom tov/Shabbat restrictions. It's simple, it's joyous, I love the concept of celebrating trees, AND I get to eat fruit, which I love. Even extra super-duper is the fun I have in hosting our annual Tu B'shvat seder at home.For those of you who have never heard of one or been to one before, the Tu B'shvat seder is structured like the Passover seder. There are four questions and four cups of wine. Because the seder is kabbalistic, spirtitual in nature, we take time to appreciate all that trees do for us. While we savour the fruit, we begin to draw comparisons between the physical nature of fruit and the spiritual nature of mankind (have I lost you yet?) For instance, if we look at the 'sabra', the prickly pear, we see that it is unapproachable on the outside, but quite tasty on the inside. Have you ever met someone who appeared to you as aloof, or perhaps physically unattractive, but when you got to know them turned out to be extraordinary? As we step back a minute to delve into the physical aspects of fruit, we begin to learn a bit more about ourselves, all the while munching on some yummy deliciousness.
Usually, we like to hold the seder on the Shabbat afternoon closest to Tu B'shvat. For some insane reason this year, I came up with the notion that a pot luck, dairy supper/seder might be fun. With words of caution to my daughter Keren, (whom we affectionately call 'Moira' after the character in Robert Munsch's classic storybook, Moira's Birthday because whenever there's a party she always likes to invite the immediate world), we set the date for Tuesday night (erev Tu B'shvat) and a Facebook Event page was born.
Before we knew it, the numbers started to climb. I began wondering what to make as the main course for the evening. Although they aren't exactly fruity, I decided upon pizzas (olives are fruit). Pizza is fun and finger-friendly, plus it goes with a lot of 'sides', which the guests were (so I hoped) bringing. And I know what you're thinking, although I did toy with making a fruit pizza (which I have done in the past), I decided against it.
Ten days before the seder I was pretty much prepared, or so I thought. I had made 3 of the 4 pizzas the weekend prior, baked them and froze them. I had made a double batch of cauliflower soup. Keren was making gazpacho, so we had the first course covered. All was well. Until I panicked.
In the wee hours of last Sunday morning (4:30 a.m. to be exact), two days before the dinner, I woke up in a sweat. I realized that even if I had enough of a main course (which I realized I hadn't), there were not enough 'sides'. The number of guests had risen to thirty. What was I going to do?
Somehow, I managed to doze off again, but by 8 a.m., I was in the kitchen working at full steam. First, I got the bread machine going with another batch of dough to make the fourth pizza. I raided the freezer, where I had cookie dough, and baked 100 cookies. By the time all the cookies were baked, the pizza dough was ready. I got that all assembled and baked, and then went to buy some groceries. But before I did, I put out an SOS bulletin on Facebook. I needed salads! With the notice out, and my head focused, I was off to the store. I was in the zone!
I came home with some veggies and whipped together an asperagus as well as a broccoli quiche. While they were in the oven, I checked my email. Glory, glory, Halleluyah! Everyone was responding to my plea! I began to feel the tension being relieved. Keren came over and we set the table together. All of a sudden, I sensed that this 'event' was going to come together. All we needed was another table. New Hubby swooped me up and off we went to Home Depot. He had already been a great help, especially with shopping for and designing the cool centrepieces! Now, we had another table. Life was good!
On Tuesday afternoon (the afternoon of the seder), while I was at work, Keren and her friend, Rachel got the seder plates assembled, and got all the last minute details completed. Before we knew it, the guests, and all of their goodies began to arrive.
Fruit showed up in many interesting ways, via the guests. We had yummy, veggie stuffed grape leaves, salads with fruit, and of course, chocolate (c'mon, it's a fruit!). The seder was incredible. We sang, we laughed, we planted (parsley), we talked, and boy, did we eat!
And Pesach is in, what..two months?
Pizza dough adapted from a recipe from Allrecipes.com
Ingredients
 |
| Mushrooms, roasted garlic, broccoli, red onion Yummy! |
- 1 cup flat beer
- 2 tablespoons butter (or margarine)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tbs. garlic powder
- 1 tbs. dried rosemary
- 1 tbs. dried basil
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast
Directions
1. Put beer, butter, sugar, salt, garlic powder, rosemary, basil, flour, and yeast in a bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough setting, and press Start.
2. Remove dough from bread machine when cycle is complete. Roll or press dough to cover a prepared pizza pan. Brush lightly with olive oil. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Spread sauce and toppings on top of dough. Bake until crust is lightly brown and crispy on the outside, about 24 minutes.
Makes one extra large pizza.
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