From Captain Aileen Grossberg:

On a beautiful spring day, the final day of Passover, our 19 MESH guests enjoyed a hearty meal that disproved the idea that Passover food can’t be delicious.  Except for the matzah on the table, our guests would not have known the difference between this meal and the scores of other meals we have served.
The meal began with a colorful salad of spinach and mesclun greens with dried cranberries and mandarin oranges. The salad with dressed with a homemade balsamic dressing.  Just a few leaves remained after our guests enjoyed their salad.

The main course was chicken leg quarters glazed with a sweet and spicy sauce, an assortment of vegetables including multicolored peppers, onions, grape tomatoes and potatoes, and finally quinoa with sautéed mushrooms and leeks.

Dessert was a homemade pear crisp with whipped topping.

There were hardly any leftovers for the hard working volunteers to nibble on themselves.
Lynne Kurzweil supplied the inspiration for the main dish with support in the kitchen from Aileen Grossberg and MESH intern Veronica.

College aged volunteers Leonard, Samira (a visiting student from Austria who has completed her studies here), along with teens Amalia, Teddy, Tori and Sam kept the plates and cups full. MESH staffers Adrienne and Bonny were as pleasant and efficient as ever and Joe, our security guy, kept us all safe.

The costs for this meal were kept down because we were able to build part of the meal around extra vegetables left from the Shomrei seder and also because of smart shopping on Lynne’s part.

All MESH volunteers are invited to attend The MESH partners’ meeting on Tuesday, April 25 at Bright Hope Baptist Church, 6 Mission Street, Montclair. This informational meeting should be of interest to all MESH volunteers and give the big picture of what MESH does besides running the MESH Cafes. If interested please RSVP to Lynne Kurzweil.

To help out with MESH,  go to: shomrei.org/volunteer

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Aileen Grossberg

Aileen Grossberg, a professional librarian, is a long-time congregant and serves as volunteer librarian for Shomrei's Lampert Library. The library, one of the best-kept secrets at Shomrei is used by the Rabbi, congregants, students and teachers of the JLC (Hebrew School) and Preschool. It's a tremendous resource completely supported by your donations and gifts. Aileen also heads the Shomrei Caterers, the in-house food preparation group. Can there be any better combination…good food and good books!

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