The CALL-YOUR-MOTHER GIFT BOX Giveaway!

Why does your mom, grandmother, sister, friend, cousin, aunt (any special woman in your life) or you deserve the Call-Your-Mother Gift Box?

Submit your answer in the comments below to enter.

A winner will be randomly chosen from the answers and announced on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 10th. (No purchase is required to enter. This contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.)

The Call-Your-Mother Gift Box contains over $150 worth of gifts:

A Fistful of Lentils Sephardic cookbook by Jennifer Felicia Abadi

Three-CD set of original "Funky music with a Jewish Twist" by Mama Doni

Gift certificate for customized "Shomer Negiah Panties" by artist Maya Escobar

The Modern Jewish Mom's Guide to Shabbat by Meredith L. Jacobs

Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe by Lisa Alcalay Klug

Pomegranate vases/candle holders by Israeli artist Racheli Peretz
provided by Jennie Rivlin Roberts

• The Call-Your-Mother Gift Box is presented by the Cool Mamalahs.

• You can purchase items from the Call-Your-Mother Gift Box on ModernTribe.com.

Comment below to enter!
(If you must comment anonymously, please email us with your comment so that we know how to contact you if you win! contact@moderntribe.com)

Yes, You Can Register for Judaica for Your Jewish Wedding

You know your parents' friends are going to buy you Judaica anyway... you might as well get what you want!

You're engaged, you're planning your wedding, and at least one of you is Jewish. So when you have some downtime from choosing the caterer or finding an officiant, you can do something fun for yourselves - register! And the best part is that registering for gifts for a Jewish wedding can take on a new dimension. Sure, you'll request the basics: crystal, china, towels, a bread machine. But also can take this opportunity to suggest that friends and family help you start out your new life as a Jewish couple with some beautiful Judaica that you may even want to pass down to your children someday...or at least some items that you'll be proud to display in your home during the holidays.

First, take inventory of what you already have.

Did you already get a kiddush cup for Shabbat dinner at your bar or bat mitzvah? Do you have a set of candlesticks from your great-grandmother that you already prefer to use to light holiday candles? Or are you starting out fresh and need everything and anything that is available?

Next, make a list of the holidays that are most important to you.

Which ones will you really want to celebrate in style, year after year? Then research places offer the Judaica that fits your style and that allow you to create a registry that can be sent to family and friends.

For what items would you register?

A sample registry for a Jewish couple just starting out will likely include:
• A seder and matzah plate for Passover
• A menorah for Hanukkah
• Some decorative dreidels and other items for Hanukkah
• A kiddush cup for use on Shabbat
• Candlesticks for use on Shabbat and other major holidays
• One or more mezuzahs
• Decorative items such as groggers for Purim
• An apple and honey plate for Rosh Hashanah

Tip: Include a variety of prices.

The important thing with any registry is to give your guests items for any price range. Feel free to add some extravagant items just in case one person is feeling generous or a group of your friends want to chip in for one big gift, but make sure to also select some smaller, simpler items. This is your opportunity to ask for Judaica that matches your personal style, so choose carefully. Have fun - and mazal tov!

Manischewitz, Streits, Yehuda, or Other: Which Matzo is For You?

Manischewitz vs. Streits vs. Yehuda: The Matzah Challenge

Those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook may have seen my matzah poll: Which matzah is your favorite: Manischewitz, Streits, Yehuda, or Other?

Thank you everyone for your input. It was so fun to hear your opinions!

Streits was the clear "friends" choice!

10 people gave their opinions: 5 votes for Streits, 3 for Yehuda, 1 for Manischewitz grape flavored and 1 vote from my sweet sister-in-law Pam for, "goat cheese with garlic and herbs on any matzah you serve." Streits seemed to have a lot of nostalgic weight and, as mentioned by Josh & Lauren, is the one "for the unleavened experience of a lifetime....."

But in our empirical taste-test: Yehuda was the winner by consensus.

Among friends, I have a reputation for whipping up a semi-scientific study every now and then. For our second seder I held a taste-test as an interlude between dinner and dessert.

I placed slices of each brand of matzah on separate plates, marking the bottom of the plate and the matzah box with matching stickers so that the samples could be identified. I mixed up the plates so that I wouldn't know the brand of each matzo (making it double blind). Four of us privately tasted the three matzos and chose our pick... all four of use chose Yehuda!

Now, even though all matzah boxes were bought at the same time (semi-controlling for freshness), a possible confound could be that we happened to get a bad box of matzah. Only one box of each brand was sampled and the one box could, possibly, not have been representative of the brand. However among our samples, all of us preferred Yehudah matzah over the Streits & Manischewitz sampled.

Thanks for playing Y'all!

Our Passover Seder: First Seder 2009/5769

Pics from our table setting for last night's seder:

Available from ModernTribe are the Surya Passover Seder Plate and the Jonathan Adler Bird Bowls.



We did have a shankbone but I was still boiling the meat off of it when we took this picture. Our shankbone came very meaty and Kroger charged us $9 for it.

Best Modern Passover Seder Resources On The Net

Best Seder Recipes and Styling Ideas

The Passover Planner on Epicurious.com put together by my new friend & cookbook author Jayne Cohen.

Best Resource For Stylish Seder Plates

The Passover Store On: ModernTribe.com, of course!

Most Entertaining Passover Song

20 Things To Do With Matzah by Michelle Citrin and William Levin

Best Collection of Choroset Recipes

From: Moment Magazine: Choroset Recipes From Around The World

Best Passover TV Special

Modern Jewish Mom's Passover Special on The Jewish Channel

Best, Funniest Passover Cards

From: Some E Cards