Past and Present Pattern

Passover is approaching. I was at Landau's this week, a fairly large Jewish grocery store in Boro Park, Brooklyn, where it was Pesach-Madness everywhere you looked. The entire store has been thoroughly reorganized for the onslaught of good business that the holiday necessitates. The endcaps are stocked for the season, with latex and powder-free rubber gloves, intricately braided candles, pre-packaged tiny packets of breadcrumbs, and clear signage for what is Kosher For Passover. The cleaning product aisle is impressive, since families will be performing a full-tilt spring cleaning. I bought some Chrayonnaise dip, a puree of beets, horseradish, vinegar, spices and mayo. There are lots of beets-with-horseradish and horseradish-with-beets situations, but I hadn't seen this smooth electric version. I also picked a soft and graphic marbled rye from the rapidly declining bread corner. There was an enormous mound of gnarly fresh horseradish, and I can only imagine the vapors it will release in its processing before reaching the Seder tables..a powerful scent drifting in the spring air.