caution: graphic photo!

brisket night-before prep
Originally uploaded by deepfry.

i realize that this photo will possibly:

1. deeply offend any vegetarians who read this.


2. possibly turn some carnivores into vegetarians.


3. get me disowned because, for those who are sharp enough to differentiate powdered foodstuffs, it reveals the first step of the famous top secret brisket recipe, passed in a elaborate top secret ceremony from jewish woman to jewish woman over decades.

but i had a vaguely traumatic experience obtaining the meat, so i'll document it graphically and textually if i want, dangnabbit!

it wasn't that traumatic, really. mostly, i realized at 5:30pm, as I was about to go workout at the gym, that i'd forgotten to pick up the brisket for tomorrow's seder!! and since it must sit overnight in a marinade of [top secret ingredient redacted], i had to get it TONIGHT. and the butcher shop closed at 6pm! oh no! so, rather than exercising in order to ensure a long and healthy life, i hopped on my bike and zipped off. i abandoned Brisket Plan A (which i had forgotten entirely until it was too late to implement): retrieving my car from my house to drive the fairly long distance to and from the butcher shop. instead, i devised and implemented Brisket Plan B. i schlepped to the butcher shop on my one-speed bike, purchased and packed the five pound piece of raw meat in my backpack and biked home. distance of about 4 miles. ok, that's not so far, but it could have started to rain at any second! and i had to stop on the way home to get [top secret ingredient redacted]. and an apple. it was serious.

thankfully, i made it home in time to reheat the matzah ball soup before my guests arrived to eat passover leftovers and work on tomorrow's haggadah.

wow, what a life. i really am feeling the suffering and oppression of my ancestors.