Where do you have it?

We do it at my mother’s house by default because she lives in Monroe and has a big place — it’s not even a question if it should be elsewhere! We used to put the men in the dining room and the ladies in another room and the kids would be anywhere we could make place for them. Then a few years ago we realized the men can be anywhere because they’re not moving so we put the ladies in the dining room which is adjacent to an open living room. It’s better because between keeping an eye on the kids and the serving the ladies are constantly moving.

What do you serve?

There’s not really a set menu. It’s a Yom Tov seudah so we always have fish soup and stuffed cabbage that’s traditional. Other than that anything goes — whatever we want to make. The kids have the same but smaller portions. Or if we make potato knishes maybe we’ll bring a tub of mashed potatoes for them.

Do you serve dessert or is the assumption that it’s unnecessary on Purim?

Of course there’s dessert. What’s a little more sugar at that point?

Who takes care of making the food?

Everyone makes something. So let’s say I bring knishes someone else brings soup and so on. The soup you can make a few days in advance and freeze. But certain things need to be made fresh so those we’ll split between two people because how many potatoes can you grate between Megillah and the seudah? And we also all serve. So there are a few ladies in the kitchen doling out the food onto plates constantly and there’s always a rotation coming with plates going with food. Some of the older grandsons serve the men. Everyone is in charge of serving and feeding their own kids because who’s going to serve them my mother?

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