With Passover around the corner, the Jewish cooking frenzy has officially begun.

Passover, which begins this year at sundown on Friday, April 15, is the most celebrated Jewish holiday of the year. Even people who never step inside a synagogue will knock themselves out for this one.

“Passover is my favorite holiday,” Fullerton resident Anne Kalen told me. Seder, the ceremonial meal, will be held at her house this year with 16 to 20 people expected.

“The menu is always the same,” she said. “I like trying new things, but the family pooh-poohs it. ‘What happened to the barbecue brisket?’ they ask, so I have to stick with the same menu. One year I made Cornish hens. That didn’t go over well. Neither did the lamb shanks. They want the brisket.

“I have place settings for 12, but I have another set from my mom and dad. When I use them, I really feel like they’re with me. I have my bubbe’s (grandmother’s) silver plate and my mom‘s sterling. It’s a mix,” Kalen said.

“The candlesticks are from my mother’s grandmother. She came from probably what was Poland at the time. The candlesticks went to the oldest girl,” Kalen said. “My grandma was the oldest of 10, so she got them. Then it went to my mother, who was the oldest girl, and then to me. It’s only silver plate and bent, but it’s very precious. I told my daughter Sarah, ‘You’re my oldest, so they’ll go to you.’”

All the traditional foods will be on the Seder plate, which includes haroset, the apple-nut mixture representing the mortar the Israelites used when they were slaves in Egypt.

“My brother-in-law from Seattle is not coming, so we can use nuts,” Kalen added.

Of course there will be chicken soup, but Kalen may dispense with the traditional gefilte fish.

“Most of the family do not like it, so I’m thinking I might do a salad and put a little piece of Chilean sea bass on each plate for the fish course. I make the brisket, but as far as sides, this is where I let other people help,” she said. “My daughter, Sarah, always brings the Apple Matzo Kugel. (Daughter) Rachel brings appetizers to serve before dinner. My sister, Leslie, likes bringing tsimmes with carrots, sweet potato and prunes.

“Rachel usually brings a friend who I’ll ask to bring a vegetable,” Kalen said. “My cousin doesn’t like to cook, so she’ll bring a sponge cake from Gelson‘s with fresh strawberries and fresh whipped cream. My sister, Leslie, likes to make chocolate covered matzoh with caramel. I have another cousin who is a real wine connoisseur, and he always brings wine.”

Kalen has fond memories of Passovers past.

“When I was young my bubbe and poppy lived in Fairfax,” she recalled. “Then they moved to Leisure World in Seal Beach. I would go shopping with her for Passover. She was four-six, and my goal was to grow taller than her.

“She worked and worked; she had no help,” Kalen said. “She made everything for the Seder every year until my grandpa got sick. Then my mother and aunt Rita would take turns. At some point my mom said it was getting to be a lot of work for her, and I took over.”

Kalen said the chocolate macaroons she makes are always a big hit. “They’re super easy to make. I make extra for my brother-in-law Steve.”

Search  Anne’s Kitchen and Chocolate macaroons on YouTube for her instructional video.

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.