So, tonight starts Shavuot - yet another one of those Jewish holidays we get to take off from work for. If it seems to you that there is another Jewish holiday every few weeks or every month or two, that's pretty accurate. As I'm scrambling with little time left to go, I'm trying to figure out what's on the menu. As you may or may not know, it's a tradition to serve dairy foods on this holiday. Some say that when the Jews got the Torah, they hadn't yet learned the full extent of the laws of keeping kosher, and therefore only ate dairy so that none of the laws were transgressed. Others say that meat and blood symbolize judgement, and milk and honey symbolize compassion, hence the eating of dairy. Regardless, my husband is delighted by the abundance of cheesecakes in our house and here's the menu for one meal so far - we are having company for that meal but are invited out as guests for most others.

- Challah and grape juice/ wine
- Deviled eggs (I always like to make these for a dairy meal with company. My husband refuses to eat them, and it's pretty dumb to make just one deviled egg.)
- Mock crab salad with celery (crab is prohibited by Jewish law, but there is this mock stuff out there that tastes pretty good, although nothing at all like the real thing)
- Pasta salad
- Green salad (anyone see a salad theme here?)
- Possibly some bean thing. I need some other protein dish and have no fish or time to run out to get any.
- Cheesecake for desert! Yay!
- Cookies, brownies and watermelon for my lactose-intolerant daughter. I was thinking of making her a tofu-cheesecake, but realized she doesn't like cake anyway.

Have a good holiday and a good weekend everyone!