Purim 2013

[ahuva]

Most interesting mishloach manot this year? Craziest idea that worked - or didn't work? Most attractive - or unattractive - homebaked good ever? Share, share!

[ahuva]

I got a challah where each braid was dyed a different jewel tone. red, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange - the thing looked (and felt) like play-doh. donuts with melted frosting. a lot of homemade sushi (the ginger smell in my car is still pretty harsh).

[zsero]

I thought I would be the only one giving celery for sh"m, but while my small packets included two sticks of celery, on my rounds I saw in one house a whole head of celery that they'd received.

[serenarobin]

I got hamentashen that had a pistachio filling with the faintest hint of cardomon. They actually didn't look very pretty--but tasted amazing! Reminded me of baklava or one of those sephardic pastries.

[MartyB]

Reshuffling and recycling worked out well and kept post purim junk food to a minimum. Got a few bottles of wine and kept some of the grape juice bottles. Got a nice big chocolate gragger that I will be nibbling on here and there. I like hammentashen so I intercepted most of them and will keep them for when I drink my coffee. Most packaging were rather unimpressive so I simply recycled them I did however get a nice big mug that I will be using when I drink my morning coffee.

[AdinaA]

An Israeli family sent pretty containers of fresh, homemade garlic confit, hummus, carrot salad, and pita chips. Israelis really do Purim right.

Ramath Orah sent a nice bottle of wine in an insulated, padded wine-carrying bag embossed with the shul logo - really useful SWAG - a ribbon tied a bag of colorful candies to the handle.

We also got a variety of delicious hamentaschen, which, really, is the best part of Purim.

[rockycat]

My "almost worked but could have been better" idea was a take on the Southern classic cream cheese and pepper jelly. The problem was the dough. I thought my recipe needed more flour and I should have gone with my instincts. I made cream cheese dough hamataschen and filled them with pepper jelly. They tasted good but looked like a complete train wreck.

[queenscook]

How about this theme: foods named after body parts? Included:
1. Candied blood orange slices
2. Ears of corn (cornbread made in a cornstick pan)
3. Mini heads of cabbage (made in a Williams-Sonoma pan of mini-vegetables)
4. Elephant ears
5. Pasta salad made up of: angel hair pasta, elbow macaroni, black-eyed peas, kidney beans, artichoke hearts, ears of baby corn, hearts of palm

[SoCal Mother]

I received chocolate covered ginger in a package from our shul. Ginger, yes. Chocolate, better. Together, no.

[rockycat]

I think that's a matter of taste. I love chocolate covered crystallized ginger. Whenever I have any leftover tempered chocolate I always reach for the crystallized ginger to dip. I like how your shul thinks. Ours gave Twizzlers, sucking candies, and Pringles. Yuck.

[SoCal Mother]

I also received an unreasonable amount of chometzdik items that we will never use up before Pesach. Shame really, some of it is very nice stuff.

[ThePrettypoodle]

If you seriously dont know what to do with them, bag them up and drop them off at your local fire department. The members will be thrilled and will enjoy the treats- alot:) My little brother and my grandfather BOTH were volunteer firfights in their younger years. Trust me those guys LOVE junk foods:) I made countless pans of brownies when my brother was a firefighter/emt.

[queenscook]

Many communities collect unwanted shalach manot (not homemade, alas) for organizations like Tomchei Shabbos.

[SoCal Mother]

Food bank! Good idea!

The homemade stuff will get eaten. Most folks in our community send through the schools and shuls.

We got all sorts of weird stuff like a pound of raw oatmeal, a bottle of soy sauce that has wheat in it, and some pasta.

The cookies and hamantashen are already all gone...

[cheesecake17]

We went to a Purim party where guests were asked to bring non perishable food items to be donated to a food pantry. I gave two large bags with cans, pasta, snacks. Nice idea, since I started cleaning for Passover that morning

[ThePrettypoodle]

What a lovely idea!

[zsero]

Don't you sell chametz?