passing over Passover

Isn't this the most evocative painting? A sort of un-ironic Andy Warhol, without the drugs. You can buy it here, as it turns out... I'm missing my Jewish friends across the ponds last night, tonight... Alyssa always not only invited me for Passover, Hannukah, Purim and everything else they celebrated, she also answered all of the stupid goyim questions I asked about food (usually), religion, the whole thing. I feel so homesick for our evenings of matzoh, brisket, all the happy favorites. Our daughters acting like cousins, her son like our nephew... feeling sentimental.

Added to missing Alyssa (about whom I am currently writing a chapter for my cookbook, so many tear-making memories of shared holidays), I received a hilarious report from my old friend Renee from Hollywood about her Passover experiences... I cannot improve upon her narrative, so I have reproduced it here with her permission. I miss you, Renee. And Alyssa.

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So here I am. In sunny LA. It really is sunny. We got here last Thursday and we're staying until Monday. Tonight I'm cooking a quasi-Passover meal at Ben's. We're in West Hollywood and I don't know where people get their food here. I found a Whole Foods, but there is not a supermarket anywhere in sight. Or even a grocery store. There are no butchers, no delis, no green markets, no nothing. Whole Foods - that's it. With no matzoh. And, believe it or not, sad vegetables. 2 kinds of potatoes and one type of onion. I find that strange since there's nowhere else to shop, you'd think they would have everything you could ever want. But no. There's plenty of vitamins, wheat grass, and prepared foods, all of which I can live without happily, especially the wheat grass. After spending a zillion dollars there, I'm making chicken with forty cloves of garlic, asparagus, roasted carrots and potatoes, fruit salad with lime and chili pepper (had it somewhere here and it was surprisingly good), and no matzoh. Isn't Hollywood supposed to be run by Jews? Maybe so, but they obviously don't celebrate Passover. And they go out to eat all the time. I've had Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, and Korean food so far. Oy! Thank goodness there's a little French cafe right near our hotel that I can have baguettes, croissants, French ham, cappucinos, and yummy salads. I eat lunch there every day. And, oh yeah, no matzoh there either. There goes Passover.

I'm heading to Ben's now. I'm sure there's no matzoh there either.