Kitchen Kashering Quandaries

I was thinking ahead, trying to figure out exactly what I would need to do to get my kitchen kosher for Pesach. Since I never did this before from start to finish, I have almost no idea what I am doing. I asked my husband for some guidance. I think I should have asked someone else.

“How would I kasher the stove?” I wondered. “Do I need to buy new burners?”

He wouldn’t give me a clear-cut answer. Instead he just suggested we get a small electric burner and not use the stove. I did not like the idea of cooking on two little burners if I have a lot to cook. I still wanted to know how I could kasher my stove.

I had to dig for the information. Finally he conceded that either we could go somewhere to kasher the burners or buy another set of burners special for Pesach.

Then he said I cannot kasher my oven. The self-cleaning feature on my oven has not worked at all from the time we moved into this apartment. “Why can’t I just cover the inside of the oven with foil?” I asked.

“It’s complicated. The oven has to first be really, really hot.”

My beautiful Pesach kugels and cakes went poof in a cloud of smoke.

“Or I could buy a toaster oven that’s big enough to bake 9X13 inch pans,” I suggested. He didn’t seem so enthusiastic about that idea.

(Someone else later told me about oven inserts that people can use if their oven does not self-clean.) When I mentioned this to DH, he said, "It's not that simple."

I wanted to know what I should get to cover the counter tops with. I just wanted to have a general outline to facilitate my mental list of everything that I had to get done.

The feeling I got from asking DH any of my questions was, to paraphrase, ‘you don’t need to cook or bake or make Pesach at all’ but rather, take the easy way out. Go to the parents’ for the entire Pesach. The usual old copout

I adamantly refused.

I have had enough of the old story that results in my moving out of my home for Pesach year after year. I feel that it’s long overdue that I begin a new chapter called Making Pesach and Staying Home.

Why couldn’t he understand? To me, there’s no alternative. I was very stubborn. I held my ground.

As it is, I knew that he does not want to make any Pesach seder this year on his own. Fine, I can understand that. We will go to his parents for the sederim. They live within walking distance. I personally would not mind staying home for at least one seder but I guess it’s okay to start with baby steps and not jump in all at once.

Furthermore, my husband would like to eat most, if not all, the yom tov meals at his parents’ house. Okay, I’ll go along with that. My mother-in-law is a phenomenal cook. I love her food as long as she remembers not to use ingredients that I’m allergic to. (Yes, it’s happened in the past. I walked outside coughing and wheezing and the pediatrician who lived next-door asked me, “Do you have asthma?” No, I never had asthma, thank G-d. All I had were allergies to some ingredient that I didn’t know was in the kugel.)

That’s another prime example why I prefer to stay home. At least then I know I can eat the food – because I cooked it. I also like to be able to eat whatever I want when I’m hungry and not feel weird about it because I’m in someone else’s house.

“Do you really know what you’re getting into?” DH asked. “How many things you’re going to have to get?” I think he was concerned about the countless items we would need to buy and the expense. I tried to explain that I had that under control.

I’ll leave my shopping list for another blog entry.