By Cindy Silvert, www.easybreezygourmet.com
A friend who just planned a Bar Mitzvah suggested I go over my numbers. OK, so I was off by 50%, which means I need 50% of my neighbor’s backyard if I’m going to host a reception at home. (And do I really want to stock the downstairs bathroom with that much toilet paper?) I would have thought being a writer/chef/artist/recluse would have kept the riff-raff out. Apparently not.
Do you have any idea how much money and time I just saved? So what if an impersonal five star hall costs five times the tent? I no longer have to slip the gardener an extra fifty to trim the bushes, hide the recycling bin, stain the deck, refinish the floors or put up certain family photos. (His side of the family is perfectly happy in the linen closet.) So I’m back to square one (which incidentally, I never left). All I have to figure out is where to have the reception, what to serve and when to start my diet-binge-diet-binge-diet-binge-diet.
But I’ve got an angle. See, I’m going to inform all vendors that I have a blog! Yes, on the World Wide Web! Who in their right mind would give up the chance to be skewered in front of millions of readers? Didn’t a certain reality housewife suggest that NYC’s snazziest vendors throw her the wedding of the century for free for no particular reason? Me too! But seriously folks, even if I could have the Bar Mitzvah of the century, that is, the kind you read about in the New York Times, I really hope I wouldn’t.
My dream Bar Mitzvah Party would be good clean fun, relaxed not stuffy, not same old same old and have great food. I don’t want to break the bank, nor appear cheap. The problem is, if you want to fit and feed the masses, and if the masses happen to be strictly kosher, your options are limited. If your numbers are smallish, you can afford to think out of the box: maybe hire waiters to serve frozen hors d’ouerves from Costco (its best to defrost & heat prior to serving), hire a few musicians… But since we seem to have outgrown the cozy tent option, back in the trenches we go.
This week I intend to call around to see what the catering damage will be. Call me picky, but I’m not looking forward to being overcharged for parve tasting, pasty looking, been-there-done-that food. A dear friend has been begging me to cater the whole thing. I have no doubt he would do a stellar job, I just dread losing (another) dear friend when my week of the event fangs emerge. Isn’t that what husbands are for?
About Cindy Silvert
Cindy Lynn Silvert took the long route to the States from Canada via Israel, where she studied, worked and had her first two children. A lover of the Arts, Cindy is a professionally trained actor, prolific artist and writer. She has designed educational software, curricula and museums exhibits in addition to editing two books. She writes for a number of sites including easybreezygourmet.com where she shares culinary secrets, shortcuts and tips. She is also a featured chef and lead contributor of metroimma.com.
Follow Cindy’s new blog Eat Pray Save, right here on MitzvahMarket.com as she challenges the status quo all the way to the Bimah, while planning her son’s upcoming Bar Mitzvah. Eat Pray Save will be the place to get a fresh perspective and a classy, yet fun and affordable solution to the out of control phenomenon of the American Bar Mitzvah.
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