Thursday, August 19, 2010

Here Comes the Hors-d'oeuvres

My dry run to school by bike was a success yesterday, and before I left for home I dropped by my department say hello. I mentioned to the staff that I was kinda hungry and couldn't wait for a wedding I planned to attend that evening. I could taste the hors-d'oeuvres already.

The department secretary looked at me and asked, "you have hors d'oeuvres at a wedding?" Well, I thought to myself, all the Jewish weddings I've ever gone to had them, but the secretary isn't Jewish. I looked at her, completely in character, and answered a question with a question.

"You mean, you don't have hors d'oeuvres at your weddings?" "No," she said, "we have the ceremony in Church and then the meal afterwards."

Oh dear. Jewish weddings are one long eating feast with intermittent breaks - including the actual ceremony itself, although I've seen people drinking their way through that as well.

So I took pictures of all the food tables at the Kabbalas Punim, where I filled up on sushi, hot corned beef, puff pastry pareve pizza and salad. I passed on the roast beef, turkey breast and the open bar, although I underestimated the strength of the wasabi and nearly fainted before I got my hands on some water.

By the time dinner was served, I was done. In lieu of flowers, a two-tiered wedding cake sat on each table, and I dived into that. Oh yeah. What a great idea.

No doubt, the words Jews and foods rhymes for a reason. It's our job to take the mundane and make it holy. Now, if we were to split it up, I'll take the mundane cake and do my part everyday!

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