Kintropy In Action

My son came home today with a marshmallow peep from school. We are Jewish and don’t celebrate Easter. Yeah, yeah I know the bunny part of Easter is the pagan aspect and not the Christian part. But, I’m still trying to raise a Jewish child in a predominately Christian environment. Being a convert and now looking at a great deal of American practices from a different belief system, I find myself sometime overwhelmed by how Christian our society is. I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m just saying it is really prevalent.

I never realized how much when I was non-denominational.

And of course I’m raising children in the Jewish faith. So this week is Passover for us. I don’t normally keep kosher. But for eight days out of the year I feel I can give my children a truly Jewish experience. So I cleaned out the refrigerator and the cupboards. I have hidden any leavened food in the house. My husband and I have made a commitment to ourselves and each other to give it a go. Robert has strengthened my resolve by telling me I did a great job last year. So it has spurned me forward.

I’ve had matzah sandwiches for lunch. Avoided mixing my meat and milk and even made Matzah ball soup where I invited company over. It is fun, but I’ve been made aware of how much snacking on sweets I’ve done lately because I’m craving cookies. So when I invited the neighbors over for dinner, I decided I should make something sweet and fun for desert. I decided on Chocolate covered matzah. And I really lucked out when I turned on the TV that morning because low and behold Martha Stewart was covering some Passover baked goods. Guess what she was making? Chocolate covered matzah and her ideas were great.  I was just going to melt chocolate and drip it on the matzah. She and her guest did that, and then put on some sliced blanched almonds and kosher salt. Perfect, I have all that in the house. So I tried it and even made two types because I remembered my friend had mentioning that not all of her family was partial to dark chocolate. I made more than enough so we have leftovers.

So when my son walked in with the Peep all I could think of was having the peep sandwiched between two pieces of chocolate matzah. I mentioned it too my husband and called it a Peep Smore. I think it would be a great treat for those blended families out there who celebrate both traditions. Robert just wrinkled his nose. Oh well.

-- Mom