Passover

In an instant, the multipurpose room was filled with coughing, nose-blowing and red faces. Participants had just swallowed ground horseradish during a model Passover Seder at Howard Community College. But the bitter sharpness was quickly replaced - much to the group's delight - with a bite of a sweet, pasty mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon and grape juice called charoset. These culinary extremes symbolize the centuries of slavery endured by the ancient Israelites in Egypt and their subsequent exodus, and they are also lessons for life, said Rabbi Hillel Baron of the Lubavitch Center for Jewish Education in Columbia, who led the Seder.

With the approach of Passover, which begins at sundown on Monday, the lights burn late at Glasz Gourmet's prep kitchen in Hampden. Nona Nielson-Parker, co-owner and chef for the catering business and cafe at Lake Falls Village, is hoping to surpass last year's sales record for matzo brittle, which may be the most addictive holiday treat in all of Baltimore. Matzo brittle is Nielson-Parker's creation, perfected through trial and error. The shop has been selling the brittle since the mid-'90s, and demand has grown each year.

Passover is just over a week away, and you'd love to find something new to add to the table. Well, look no farther than area shops, museum stores and galleries for an array of unique and functional items. At Jacob's Ladder, you'll find everything from matzo plates and wash cups to books about enriching the Passover experience to Haggadas for Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Seders. The shop offers Seder plates ($65 and up), including ceramic plates by Caspi, fused-glass ones by Doris and artsy plates by Kelemen Kuatro.

Seven Mile Market, the largest kosher supermarket in the Baltimore area, will reopen as early as Thursday after a fire last week and in time to meet the Orthodox community's Passover needs, according to Hershel Boehm, the store's co-owner. "We will be fully stocked for Passover," said Boehm, adding that 90 percent of the store's Passover items were in a warehouse a mile away and spared from the fire. Boehm said he was forced to throw out about $400,000 in food -- including deli meats, gefilte fish, borscht, candy and matzo -- after oil in a deep fryer caught fire March 8. County health officials insisted that the food, most of which was insured, be dumped because of smoke damage.

Potato growers are out to set the record straight. Fighting the fallout from the Atkins diet and other low-carb regimens, the U.S. Potato Board has launched a multimillion-dollar education campaign to tell consumers about the health benefits of the potato. Print advertisements and brochures feature a nutritional label plastered over a potato and emphasize that an average-size potato has no fat, no cholesterol, is rich in potassium and vitamin C and has only 100 calories. For more on potato nutrition and recipes, visit www.healthypotato.

JERUSALEM - At the Aroma cafe in the German Colony neighborhood, pumpernickel and rye breads line the shelves next to croissants and rolls. At the Bolinat bar downtown, German wheat beer flows freely from the taps. It is Passover, and displaying or openly selling leavened products such as wheat, barley, oat and rye in Israel is against the law during the weeklong Jewish holiday, which ends at sundown tomorrow. But this year, secular authorities did not dispatch inspectors or levy fines.

Things will be hopping this weekend at holiday happenings around the area. Kid-friendly and fun Easter and Passover events are taking place all over. Here's just a sampling: Downtown's the place to be if you want to meet the big furry one himself -- the Easter Bunny -- who'll be making his way through Harborplace and the Gallery, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Also, visitors to the Inner Harbor can watch performances by street performers and live bands throughout the day, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Free event.

Tonight at sundown, Jewish military personnel serving in the Persian Gulf will gather on aircraft carriers, in mess halls, in canvas tents or simply around a Humvee for a celebration of a liberation. Pausing for the Passover seder, the warriors will mark the exodus of their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. "Coming together [for a seder] in this biblical land, rich with history from the Old Testament, combined with the happiness I see every day in the Iraqi people now that they are free from the oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein, brings warmth to my heart and a smile to my face," Maj. Jonas Vogelhut wrote in an e-mail interview from his post outside Baghdad.

Jerad Bates stood ready between two canvas booths - one for flour, one for water. He held a bowl in which to mix the two. In the traditional matzo bakery re-created Sunday at the Lubavitch Center for Jewish Education's open house, the flour and water for Passover matzo were kept secure in their separate booths before they were mixed, and baked, in 18 minutes. Eighteen is the mystical number for life, but matzo, called the "bread of affliction," has other meanings. The Jewish people baked matzo because there was no time to let bread rise before their exodus from Egypt, said Rabbi Hillel Baron of the Lubavitch Center.

Harford County's schedule for starting public discussions of land-use planning has come under criticism from the Jewish community for setting meetings on Jewish holy days. Stuart Jay Robinson, president of the Jewish Council of Harford County, said that two of the four kickoff meetings presented conflicts: The meeting Wednesday at Joppatowne High School coincides with the start of Passover and the meeting April 23 at Bel Air High School coincides with the last day of Passover. Robinson asked that the two meetings be rescheduled or that additional dates be offered to allow for Jewish participation.