Oh, fabulously helpful, Hil! Thank you!

Oh! And if it's somewhere that you'd generally bring a hostess gift, bring flowers, not food or wine. Figuring out who will and won't eat what on Passover is way too confusing unless you know both the person and the rules really well.

What is everyone doing this weekend?

Coincidentally enough, baking challah. I've been all about baking with sourdough and no commercial yeast, lately, and the challah recipe has been consistently coming out well. Takes forever to rise, though - this last loaf was around 20 hours on the first rise.

Oh! And if it's somewhere that you'd generally bring a hostess gift, bring flowers, not food or wine. Figuring out who will and won't eat what on Passover is way too confusing unless you know both the person and the rules really well.

Also good to know. I'm bringing a quilt, so I think I should be safe (it's technically their housewarming present, but I'm gonna let it cover Passover too!).

Windsparrow, that's a really lovely memory of your dad.

Also, for pouring wine -- the way it's traditionally done is that, throughout the course of the seder, you have four cups of wine, each poured and drank at a specific time. The tradition is that the wine gets filled right to the top of the glass, and that you don't pour wine for yourself -- each person pours for the person in the next seat. Not everyone does it that way, so just watch how the family you're with does it for the first glass.

There's one part in the seder where you dip your fingers into the wine and spill out ten drops in memory of the ten plagues. It's considered bad form to lick the wine off your fingers. At our seder, it's usually my mother hissing at me, "Don't lick the plagues!" (Though plenty of people do it -- why waste wine?)

Charoset is good. (It'll be a little dish of a weird brown-looking thing. That's chopped up apples and walnuts mixed with wine or grape juice and cinnamon.) Horseradish is spicy. If you've never had it before, gefilte fish is weird and gooey.

Oh, dear me! Thank you, Hil! Now I'm all nervous! So much to know/remember!

Hee! No one expects non-Jewish guests to know or remember most of this. Basically, if you're unsure about how to do something, just look around to see how everyone else is doing it.

One of the meds the doctor prescribed was phentermine - the appetite suppressant

That's the one I'm on. I forgot to take my 1/2 pill this morning, so I was hungry after I got back from the pool (hummus and pita bread took care of that). Otherwise, it works pretty well to curb the mid-afternoon and late-night munchies.

Charoset is good. (It'll be a little dish of a weird brown-looking thing. That's chopped up apples and walnuts mixed with wine or grape juice and cinnamon.)

Depends, too, if the family is Ashkenazic or Sephardic-- the Charoset might be made with ground dates which is seriously om nom nom nom. Either way, the horseradish is a nice complement to the sweetness.

Don't stress, vw-- it'll all be good. And trust me, by the time you get the matzoh ball soup, it'll be the BEST thing you've ever tasted because you're so hungry. *g*