What's up with all you matzah lovers?

[Enderw24]

Seriously, this stuff fuckin' blows. It's cardboard. No, no, cardboard has taste. It's a chalk/cement amalgam that sticks to your teeth and slides down the back of your throat like it's hanging on for dear life.
And it's the same every friggin year! It's like, what? $500 a box so that some rabbi can sneeze in its general direction and suddenly it's Kosher for Passover! Look, I can bless a ham and cheese sandwich, but ain't makin' it kashroot, m'kay?
Seven more days of this! Seven! That's 150 more hours until sundown Saturday. I'm thinking of taking a trip to Israel just to knock a day off that. Because the sooner I can get back to my animal crackers, the happier of a camper I'll be.
New and improved Crispy-o's? You say that every year. The only improvement you made is changing the font on "new and improved!" This stuff is even worse than matzah if that's even possible. You stay hard in milk because you're not a food product, you're a chunk of rock. They fuckin boxed Mt. Sinai up, and shipped it off to the gullible Jewish Americans.
And what's up with all you people that like matzah? Non-Jews, I'm looking in your direction. You eat some and go "mmmm...that's sooo good." Like it's some friggin delicacy or something. Hello? This is matzah, not goat cheese flambeed off a newborn baby's ass. It's unleavened bread. You take St. Louis style pizza, smack it about 50 times with a sledgehammer, bake it for 3 minutes and voila`! Instant crap.
Well try eating nothing but it for 8 days and see how much fun that is. Oh yeah...just wait until I get started on the constipation!

[Mauvaise]

Personally, I have found that Matzah is edible only with a nice layer of butter spread on it. A nice piece of butterd matzah and a cruncy kosher dill.. mmm, there's the stuff!

[andygirl]

My best friend at school is Jewish, and she brought a tape of Shalom Sesame to watch last week...

Anyway, she told me that eating the movie's box was prefereable to matzah the last few days.

Ender, you're a rat bastard. Just because.

[TPWombat]

Just curious, what penalty is imposed by mortals or immortals if you refuse to eat the stuff and have a nice burger instead?

[Alessan]

Originally posted by TPWombat
Just curious, what penalty is imposed by mortals or immortals if you refuse to eat the stuff and have a nice burger instead?

It's not the burger... it's the bun.

And it's not a matter of punishment. The Jewish thought is that God doesn't need to threaten people.

[Enderw24]

Same thing that happens to the hindus that eat cow, the Catholics that eat meat on Fridays (well, used to anyway), the zoroastrians that don't eat the black and white cookies...

Hell a thousand times over. Fire, brimstone, hail sleet and drizzle! Cats and dogs living together. Mass hysteria!

If you're asking will I get struck down by lightning if I eat bread probably not. But ya never know.

Damn impatient Israelites. I tell you, whoever thought up the concept of matzah should be forced to wander aimlessly through the desert for several decades.

[TPWombat]

Um contradiction between last 2 posts? or do you have your tongue in your cheek, Ender?
Just Googled my way to http://www.aish.com and their to be quite a few food rituals!!! Gosh, you're even timed on eating the thing??? And what's this other one - "do not lean while consuming it"??
Well, at least you'll appreciate tastier food more, afterwards, I guess.
Bon Appetit! ;)

[black rabbit]

Fuckin fish! Every Friday! Friday is pizza day, goddamit!

Nevermind, it doesn't quite compare. At least I can eat my deep fried cod on rye with tartar sauce and cheese... mmmm...

[MsRobyn]

My name is Robin and I'm Jewish...

It's afternoon of the second day of Passover, and I am already so sick of matzah that I could choke.

I would kill for a nice turkey sandwich on real bread, as God intended. Nope, won't happen until Saturday night unless I want to risk going to Hell on a greased pole.

The thing is, I'm agnostic. I don't believe in God. Years of guilt have made me into the wuss I am today. I dasn't eat a piece of bread until Passover is over. If I do, I will be wracked with so much guilt that I will be, well, I don't know. But it'll be bad.

Robin

[Ukulele Ike]

Y*hw*h meant matzoh to be crumbled up, stirred into beaten eggs with a little salt and pepper, and fried in chicken fat.

Trying to eat it plain goes against His will.

[edwino]

MsRobyn:

Amen sister. Agnostic here who avoids ham and shrimp like the plague because of Jewish guilt. By the way, I'm actively working to clone the gene responsible for Jewish guilt for use as an unstoppable bioweapon.

And Pesach. I've only eaten potato chips today because when we went to the store last week, we didn't buy anything for Passover. Now, we have nothing except potato chips in the house.

I've already cranked out a matzah-ball this afternoon, after some heavy straining and coaxing. Somewhere between Milk Duds and buckshot. This after only 22 hours. As a future health professional, I will urge all my Joo patients to eat two handfuls of raisins for every one piece of matzah.

Add to this the fact that not only is bread illegal, all grain products are illegal. For the curious, this includes (and is not limited to) beer, most vinegar, whiskey, Viagra, and Tylenol are all illegal. It has me reading ingredient lists on food like an anaphylactic schoolboy.

What really gets me about Passover is the kiniot, though. Some bright rabbi had the idea that corn, beans and peas (and rice for Ashkenazim) can be confused with grain, so they are illegal. I'm looking for a loophole anywhere -- I'd be half accepting of Passover if they told me that I could live off of corn tortillas for 8 days. I'd eat enchiladas every day. But even though Rabbi Akiba could not have possibly known about Zea mays, I can't eat corn. And because my family is Lithuanian, rice is also forbidden.

4000 years of debate really does have its disadvantages.

Just venting.

[friedo]

I like matzah. Matzah with butter. Matzah ball soup! Mmmmmmm.

I think I'll go have me some.

[sub]Sometimes, if you listen closely, you can hear friedo eating Matzah when IT'S NOT EVEN PASSOVER![/url]

[Ell]

I've just finished eating my pastrami & soggy matzah "sandwich". It was delicious! **EXTREME SARCASM ALERT WHOOP WHOOP!**

Though, the matzah is kind of negated by the chicken's liver and haroset my grandmother makes. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Shayna]

Dang you, Ender! It's bad enough that you made me laugh 'til my sides nearly split. But then you had to go and make me actually crave a piece of buttered matzoh! And I've been doing so well on my diet - all I had tonight was a small boneless, skinless chicken breast and some steamed broccoli. But noooooooooo, you just had to go and force me to go into the kitchen and slather a piece of matzoh with so much margarine that I may as well have just slapped a stick on each thigh and called it a day.

Phooey on you!

I happen to love, matzoh, btw, and I eat it throughout the year, not just on Pesach. Matzoh and butter, matzoh balls, fried matzoh, matzoh and gefilte fish, matzoh and charoses, matzoh and tuna salad...

Dammit. Just had another half a piece. Bah!

Going for a long walk now, thankyouverymuch.



________________________________
I'm the luckiest woman in the world!
Click here (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=1207530#post1207530) to find out why.
Jeg elsker dig, Thomas

[SpinneZiege]

I've found that matzah could be made into a decent frisbee if you nibble on the edges, a bit. I'm also eating chocolate covered matzah right now. Yum!

Also, what are all yinz Jews doing online? Isn't it like Shabbat, no 'lectricity? I know I had to wheel my gramma all the way over from the nursing home for a seder tonight. The woman refused to ride in the car! Maybe it's an orthodox thing...

(FYI: somewhere between my grandmother and I, mainly my atheist mother, the Jewish traditions kinda suffer)

[Lemur866]

Mmmm....matzoh brei. Mix crumbled matzoh, egg, little garlic, cook in butter (hey, I'm a gentile, I don't have to do the whole chicken fat thing, although there's no meat so why not butter? What's up with that?).

My wife took all the leftover matzoh from the seder we went to so I can make matzoh brei for her. Course we're having pork chops for dinner tomorrow, so I guess G-d's gonna smite us anyway.

[Studi]

I only think of matzah as a medium for excessive horse-radish delivery.

Studi

[Trucido]

Am I a lone lunatic in saying I'm actually rather fond of matzah? Granted, I haven't observed any sort of religious convention (like having to eat it for extended periods) for a long time, but if I've got something to drink I like the stuff.

[Tansu]

Damn you, Ukelele Ike.

Damn you for making me drool.
Y*hw*h meant matzoh to be crumbled up, stirred into beaten eggs with a little salt and pepper, and fried in chicken fat.

If I were at home, I could make myself a big oily, eggy, salty mess of matzoh brei, and eat it with pickles. But I'm not at home, am I? I'm at work. No matzoh, no egg, no butter (I use butter), no salt, no frying pan, no sieve. Just a computer, a monitor and a mouse.

Damn you heavily for making me drool.

[They Call Me Sneeze]

Originally posted by Shayna
Matzoh and butter, matzoh balls, fried matzoh, matzoh and gefilte fish, matzoh and charoses, matzoh and tuna salad...


ok, pardon my ignorance, but i have to know:

what in god's name is gefilte fish?

i have seen jars of this stuff in the store, and i never thought anyone would actually buy it, much less eat it. it looks - well, laws of polite typing prevent me from saying what i really think it looks like, but it dont look like no fish, that's for damn sure. i always guessed it was a close relative to spackle, or scrapple, or whatever that loafed meat stuff is, but now that someone has actually mentioned it...

what exactly is it?

(if you dont mind my asking, of course)

[Enderw24]

TCMS, ok, here's what gefilte fish is.

Imagine taking every fish ever discovered throughout the history of mankind, from great white shark to the minnows, and throwing them all into a blender. Throw in a few duck billed platypuses for flavor. Now, compact them all into androgynous crescent lumps, lather with congealed fat, and you're ready to serve.

Surprisingly tasty...and I don't even like fish.

[Olentzero]

Now if I could only get the Yiddish characters to show up properly...

This is one Gentile who is absolutely mad about matzoh and gefilte fisch. And matzoh ball soup. I don't care what yinzall sez about it, that shit is the bomb. I used to piss off all the Jewish students at Georgetown by hogging all the gefilte fisch when the cafeteria folk set it out for Passover.

Of course I also prefer it with chopped liver, which probably violates some Passover rules or other but I can deal with that. Besides, the dude on New Jewish Cuisine showed me how to make a matzoh ceviche (salmon and another fish) and a matzoh fritata, which means there are probably hundreds of different recipes you can make with matzoh that won't violate kashrut while you're chowing down for the holidays.

Mauvaise, I never had it with butter and pickles. That one I'm gonna have to try real soon.

Ike - never heard of brei either. Mrs. O would have a fit over the amount of fat that would go into it but YHWHdammit, I'm gonna make some up if I ever find some chicken fat.

Oh, and Ender - quitcherkvetchin' and find some ways to flavor it up. Obviously yer brethren and sisters know how to make it good without breaking the kashrut, so there's no reason for you to sit on your whiny tuches and eat the stuff straight.

[Shayna]

Sneeze, don't listen to Ender. What does he know - he doesn't even like matzoh!! ;)

Basically you can think of gefilte fish like a hamburger, only made with ground fish instead of beef and served cold. And no sharks and minnows are used :rolleyes: ;). If properly made, one uses only the best white fish. When making from scratch, it's a 2 day process of boiling, deboning, chilling, mixing, molding, etc.

And they are YUMMY!!!


______________________
Jeg elsker dig, Thomas

[redtail23]

Matzoh...mmmmmmmm!!

Love matzoh. Eat it all year. Especially egg matzoh. And matzoh balls. NOT, however, for 8 days straight. I don't think there's anything I could eat for 8 days straight & still end up liking.

On the other hand, this is the only time of year I can get haroset. YUMMMM! Especially surprising since I don't normally care for nuts. I've gotta learn how to make that stuff.

Seder also got me hooked on horseradish, and even convinced me to try chicken liver. I do NOT, however, eat gefilte fish. Under any circumstance whatsover. I have a clay gefilte fish (with missing bite) handcrafted for me by my friend, just so I can keep up appearances without even having to have that ... stuff ... on my plate.

;)

[Kyla]

Ender, my Hebrew teacher in college made us almond roca matzah at Pesach. Even you would like that. Mmmmm...

(BTW, you couldn't cut a day off if you were in Israel, because you're only allowed to end holidays an extra day early if you a. own land in Eretz Yisrael or b. live there for an entire cycle of holidays. FYI.)

[Cartooniverse]

Pathmark Chunky Peanut Butter. My mom's spiced peach jam. Matzoh. OOOoooooooh god, heaven.

I adore it SO much, I simply must have some. Now. If I wasn't into my second coffee mug full of Chardonnay, I'd go to the 24-hour stupidmarket for some matzoh and make my mouth happy.

Tomorrow.....

And, egg matzoh? I mean, please. Spare me. It's MEANT to be the color of the desert !!!!!

L'Chaim

Moishe Cartooniverse

[MsRobyn]

Originally posted by Olentzero
This is one Gentile who is absolutely mad about matzoh and gefilte fisch. And matzoh ball soup. I don't care what yinzall sez about it, that shit is the bomb. I used to piss off all the Jewish students at Georgetown by hogging all the gefilte fisch when the cafeteria folk set it out for Passover.

Ike - never heard of brei either. Mrs. O would have a fit over the amount of fat that would go into it but YHWHdammit, I'm gonna make some up if I ever find some chicken fat.


I once bought a jar of commercial gefilte fish. I got it home, opened the jar, and was threatened with my life for the smell. It's not Pesach without gefilte fish.

And FTR, in all the time I've made matzah brei, I've never used chicken fat. (Schmaltz is verboten in my family, for some reason. Prolly the cholesterol.) If you cook a whole chicken, you can use the fat from that.

Robin

[IzzyR]

Two words: butter and salt. OK, cream cheese also (so they say, I myself am a hard core b&s afficianado).

BTW, there is no obligation to eat any matzo on Passover other than at the sedorim (seders). As long as one does not eat leavened products.

Also, kyla's rules for observing holidays on Israeli terms are incorrect. It depends on whether one plans on taking up permanent residence in Israel, or plan to move back out of the country. (The reverse applies to Israelis who are outside Israel during the holidays.)

Gefilte fish is meant to be eaten with chrain (a beets and horseraddish concoction).

Oh and one more thing - the second paragraph of the OP is completely idiotic, and unworthy of even this forum.

[Doug Bowe]

Just hide that Matzoh underneath a big, thick steak.

If 10 people order steak it becomes filet minyan.

[Medea's Child]

Oh guys, leave off ender. He's hungry and he can't cook. Anyone would be cranky.

I worked in a Jewish deli/bagel shop/little coffee place. Used matzah for soup crakers and with the flavored cream cheeses. Not bad stuff at all. But I could see how it would get annoying. (I'm easily bored)

[Ann Onimous]

Ah, Matzoh. Am I the only non-Jew who buys it simply because they like it? Crackers with butter... yum! Matzoh Ball Soup... oh, yes!

A friend took me to Passover seder a few times. Wow.

[Ukulele Ike]

redtail: Egg matzoh? Have you tried onion matzoh? That one's not so bad...it's dry as dust and stale-tasting just like regular matzoh, but with a strange off-taste of dehydrated onions!

I dunno if there's a reason to use schmaltz instead of butter in matzohbrei...I just prefer the flavor. And I don't think chicken fat is any worse for you than butter.

[Annie-Xmas]

I absolutely love whole wheat matzah with butter. It's great! I buy the big boxes this time of year and eat it year round.

[Olentzero]

Originally posted by IzzyR
Gefilte fish is meant to be eaten with chrain (a beets and horseraddish concoction).

Duly noted. Does Manischewitz make any or do I gotta dig up the recipe out of a cookbook? I note the lexical similarity with the Russian khren, which means both "root" and "horseradish".

Originally posted by MsRobyn and Ukelele Ike, respectively
in all the time I've made matzah brei, I've never used chicken fat. (Schmaltz is verboten in my family, for some reason...

I dunno if there's a reason to use schmaltz instead of butter in matzohbrei

So does schmaltz mean chicken fat or just animal fat in general? And whence the association with maudlin entertainment?

Originally posted by Dave Bowe
If 10 people order steak it becomes filet minyan

Beelzebub must have gotten a focus group to work that one out, because only a minyan of Satan could come up with such a diabolical pun.

[Enderw24]

Originally posted by IzzyR
Oh and one more thing - the second paragraph of the OP is completely idiotic, and unworthy of even this forum.

Well, to be honest, I just threw it in because I thought it would be funny. But, while I don't want to hijack the levity of this thread, I will at least defend my statements.

OK, I totally support the work that the rabbis do to inspect the factories, make sure every aspect of the process is kosher, and ultimately bless the final product so we can consume it. But there are certain things that strike me a bit odd.

For instance:
there is cake and cookie mix we use to bake. Completely kosher for Passover. It's a bread product. It does rise when it bakes. We eat it. How are we not breaking the laws of pesach? How is it that we can eat that but not raw corn?

Diet coke. Every passover they'd come out with a special can for us to buy. It is, by its very nature, kosher for passover. It's already kosher and there's no corn syrup in it. Now if, for whatever reason you want to give me, there's some newfangled process they put the can through, some secret extra ingredient they add in to make it kashrut, I can't find it. But let's assume there is. Tell me what they did to it that allows them to jack up the price by FOUR TIMES its normal price? I had no idea liquid gold was kosher for passover.

C'mon. It's a scam. We should just admit that they're jacking up the price on almost all of the products because we have no choice in the matter. We have to buy it and so they'll make us pay. There is a cost to making sure its kosher. There is a cost to paying the rabbi to bless the food. But it's not that much.


Getting back to the thread...
Hey, I like gefilte fish! I like matzah ball soup! I like horoset (made certain ways). The food ain't bad...I could just use a Subway sandwich right about now.

[redtail23]

Originally posted by Ukulele Ike
redtail: Egg matzoh? Have you tried onion matzoh? That one's not so bad...it's dry as dust and stale-tasting just like regular matzoh, but with a strange off-taste of dehydrated onions!

Yup. Egg matzoh. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is, but I assume that the matzoh has egg added. I dunno if it's internal or brushed on or what. I just like the taste.

Onion matzoh? Never even seen it. Way out here, we're lucky if we get a full endcap for Passover supplies at any of the local supermarkets. Usually, there's about 2 feet of one shelf dedicated to kosher products. There may be a larger market up in the city, but since we don't normally keep kosher I haven't gone looking.

[redtail23]

Originally posted by Ukulele Ike
redtail: Egg matzoh? Have you tried onion matzoh? That one's not so bad...it's dry as dust and stale-tasting just like regular matzoh, but with a strange off-taste of dehydrated onions!

Yup. Egg matzoh. I like it. So there.

Onion matzoh? Never even seen it. Way out here, we're lucky if we get a full endcap for Passover supplies at any of the local supermarkets. Usually, there's about 2 feet of one shelf dedicated to kosher products. There may be a larger market up in the city, but since we don't normally keep kosher I haven't gone looking.

[IzzyR]

Olentzero

I don't know if Manischewitz makes it, but somebody does - it is definitely a manufactured product. (We usually buy the brand called Noam Gourmet, but I doubt if this is sold where you shop). Maybe try for Golds Horseraddish (though my wife says it's not as good as NG).

Your note about the Russian origin of the word Chrain is interesting, but not surprising. Many well known "Jewish" foods are not Jewish at all, but merely happened to get introduced to the American public by the first immigrants to America from that food's native country - who happened to be Jewish.

Enderw24

I don't object to your complaining about the price gouging on Passover products, which have a long history. (They are the work of the manufacturers - not the Kosher certifying agencies). What I objected to is your miscategorizing the work of the kosher supervising agencies as a "some rabbi can sneeze in its general direction". You can ridicule all you want, but in this instance your scorn was based on your own ignorance - specifically, your misimpression - later repeated - that kosher certification has something to do with a Rabbi blessing the food. This has no basis in fact at all. Actually, no sneezing or blessing are done at all in connection with certifying a product as kosher. The sole object of the certification is to attest that the food has no ingredients that would render it unkosher. IOW, a Rabbi certifying the food does not make the food kosher any more than the health department certifying makes makes it healthy, they are merely certifying as to the actual status of the food.

For more info, see the world's smartest human, as he fights ignorance about this subject in this (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_350.html) column, and in this (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_351.html) one. Also our worthy C K Dext Havn addressed some Passover issues in this (http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcornsta.html) mailbag article.

With regard to your specific questions: I would venture that your cake mix is made of potato starch or matzo meal. Not flour. Hence, the leavening is not an issue.

As for Diet Coke, I believe aspertame is generally made with kitniyos. Halachic opinions differ as to its status on Passover. But I am very surprised that Diet Coke would be selling at 4 times it's normal price at Passover time. In my area there are special bottles of Coke and Pepsi that are Kosher for Passover (made with sugar and not corn syrup), but they sell for the exact same price as regular Pepsi and Coke.

The cost of the actual certification, spread out among all the many items sold, is negligible. It is, however, a standard canard of Anti-Semites that this added cost is considerable and constitutes a secret "Jew Tax" being paid by all the good Gentiles of America to fund the Cabal of the Jewish Elders. Or whatever.

In general, as food technology has become more complex there are more and more items that need kosher certification, because of the numerous ingredients, which themselves have sub-ingredients etc. My parents remember a time when people could buy products without any certification, simply by checking the ingredients, but those days are long gone now.

But again I do agree that there is price gouging associated with Passover foods. This has to do with the limited competition in a very short-duration market. Possibly other factors as well. It is my understanding that the problem has abated somewhat in recent years (among other things, there has been a government crackdown in the NYC area). I don't know what the cost of the machine made matzo is. I buy the round hand-made stuff, which goes for about $14 a pound. Which is a lot, but the process of making it properly is very expensive. I don't think it is excessive. I also don't buy a whole lot.

[Enderw24]

Holy crap! I came here for a rant and I end up learning something. Imagine that.
Thanks IzzyR.
To be honest, I don't know what KfP Diet Coke goes for right now. I don't really drink soft drinks anymore. But I do know that when my parents used to buy it for us it was expensive. VERY expensive. It took several years to convince my mom to stop wasting her money on the Diet drinks.
I'll check out prices tomorrow if I can. It would be interesting to comparison shop across the US.

[Cartooniverse]

Originally posted by Enderw24
It would be interesting to comparison shop across the US.

Indeed it would, Ender. But, the gas, tolls, lodging and automotive maintentance would kill ya :p

Cartooniverse

[that_darn_cat]

Another gentile who has a sudden and inexplicable urge for matzah and horseradish.:) Being vegetarian, it's hard to find excuses to eat horseradish.

Is there ant taste difference in Coke made w/sugar instead of corn syrup?

[Knighted Vorpal Sword]

No, no, you've got it all wrong . . . matzah and a nice, thick layer of cream cheese. 2 boards of matzah and cream cheese every day for breakfast. Does wonders for the digestive system. If you really want funky, get the hand made shmura matzah. (For those not in the know, this type of shmura matza is made by hand, is big and round, and costs about $13 a pound. To me, it's better than regular store matzah.)

Redtail, egg matzah is made with eggs and apple juice added into the mix of flour and water.

Sneeze, gefilte fish isn't bad. If you want something truly gross, try borsht. My mother still has it every Pesach, and I can't stand to look at it or smell it.

[redtail23]

Oops, sorry about that double post. My server was very funky that day & I thought it had dumped the thing - it wasn't there when I checked.

Ender: If I can get to the store to look (or if my partner kept the receipts from last week), I'll post our prices for ya. Oh yeah, and I think Izzy's right - all of the Passover cake mixes I've seen used matzoh meal.

tdcat: no one needs an excuse to eat horseradish. think baked onions. think grilled veggies. keep thinking - you'll find more. For veggies, I generally use a sourcream base plus lotsa horseradish & whatever else (did you say garlic?) sounds good. I'm sure you could start with yogurt for some dishes, and soft tofu might work pretty well if you don't do milk.


I'll not go into the whole complicated story but, I've got a friend who grated a pound of fresh horseradish for Seder, and then discovered that the Seder she'd planned to attend had been cancelled. (She bought an entire pound because last year we ate all she brought & whined about not having enough.) Luckily she got word before she'd mixed it with anything, and fortunately all of her friends, brave and true as we are, have volunteered to take care of the problem. :D

The really strange part is that she'd banged & scraped up her knuckle earlier doing yard work - it was all red & swollen & ouchie. Of course, she got horseradish all over it while grating - hurt like all *@(#$*#$!!. But when she was done & washed her hands ... the knuckle didn't hurt, the redness & swelling was gone, and the scrape looked like it had already started healing. Horseradish the miracle cure?!!?

[Jack Batty]

I am not Jewish. However I work for a Jewish Non-profit agency. I just returned from our All-Staff meeting which was actually a seder. Now I had never been to a seder before, and I'd never had matzah.

I have two things to offer:

1 - It was a pretty cool little gathering. I don't know how different it was (being a company thing) from a family seder, but I'd go to another one.

2 - Matzah ain't that bad. It kinda tastes a little like pretzels if you use your imagination.

Now, having stated that I think matzah is ok, coupled with the fact that I'm not Jewish, I think I'll go have a whole wheat bread sandwhich on rye with a side of buttersplit. And maybe a big glass of bread to go with it.