Just saw a dude on a bike wearing ski goggles. It's 60 degrees outside.

Vegan. Passover. Two words that I'm not sure should go together. Not because I don't approve of the vegan lifestyle or the Jews' exodus from Egypt. On the contrary - I'm all for escaping the wrath of evil dictators (lookin' at you, Pharaoh). But when you live your life without meat, cheese, eggs, fish, cheese, dairy, and cheese, also eliminating corn, bread, pasta, and beans seems a little, shall we say, impossible.

Erev Passover I went to my first vegan seder. It was a community seder, so most of us were strangers to each other. While everyone was a character in their own right, there was only one person who bordered on being judged as Really Weird (she brought more than 10 stuffed animals with her and didn't take any of her three shoulder bags off for the duration of the night.) It was a potluck style seder and I brought an unintentionally dense sweet potato/apple kugel and charoset. I expected to see a lot of dishes that were basically a vegetable sauteed in olive oil, but surprisingly most people brought kugel in one form or another. Since it was a lot of carbs, I didn't need to stop and get a steak on the way home like I thought I would.

We talked a lot about the four children and alternate meanings behind their personalities (the simple child, the wise child, the wicked child, and the child who does not know how to ask). While we were eating, our conversation turned to the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle (which, I guess, was to be expected) and I was delighted to find I was not the only carnivore there. I give those guys credit, though (vegans, not carnivores). They have principles, they stick to them (usually), and they endure the wrath of all the meat-eaters out there who not only don't approve of their lifestyle, but are obnoxiously preachy and try to convert them to the flesh-eating side.

ANYway, the seder was fun, the food was tasty, my Mom is happy I went, Jews are no longer building pyramids, I didn't have to sing the four questions, we got to wear masks with the 10 plagues on them (the lice and boils ones were the best), and I will be constipated due to TMMI (Too Much Matzah Intake) for the rest of the week. Next year in Yerushalayim!