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Westport Family Passes Passover Traditions From One Generation To The Next

WESTPORT, Conn. — There's an expression in Hebrew — l'dor vador — that has special meaning this Passover for Westport's Sarah Friedson and her family. 

Sarah Friedson and her mother, Susan Friedson, at a family gathering.

Sarah Friedson and her mother, Susan Friedson, at a family gathering.

 Photo Credit: Sarah Friedson
The Passover Brownies and the original recipe.

The Passover Brownies and the original recipe.

 Photo Credit: Sarah Friedson
Sarah Friedson, as a baby, with her mother, Susan Friedson, and her grandmother, Blossom Carlow.

Sarah Friedson, as a baby, with her mother, Susan Friedson, and her grandmother, Blossom Carlow.

 Photo Credit: Sarah Friedson
The recipe for Passover Brownies from Nanny Blossom

The recipe for Passover Brownies from Nanny Blossom

 Photo Credit: Sarah Friedson
Sarah Friedson and all the women in her family light holiday candles together.

Sarah Friedson and all the women in her family light holiday candles together.

 Photo Credit: Sarah Friedson
Sarah Friedson with her sister Marla, her mother and her grandmother.

Sarah Friedson with her sister Marla, her mother and her grandmother.

 Photo Credit: Sarah Friedson
Karen Tensa
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It means "from generation to generation." And that's just what Sarah and her mother, Susan, are celebrating on Monday as they bake using recipes from her beloved grandmother, who passed away last fall. 

"My Nanny's passion for baking and recipes are very much like that," Sarah told Daily Voice. "She was a huge cook and baker. All of her recipes are passed down to my mom and my aunt. The cooking is a huge part of our family tradition." 

This will be the first Passover without Sarah's grandmother, whom she called Nanny Blossy because she couldn't say her grandmother's name — Blossom — when she was young.  

One special family recipe is for Passover brownies — with the ingredients and instructions written out in her grandmother's cursive on a sheet from an old yellow pad from SNET.

Sarah says her mother has hundreds of her grandmother's recipes — some on recipe cards and others written out on random pieces of paper. 

The family — including her grandfather, Edward "Eddie" Carlow, whom she calls Poppy — is gathering for Passover this year at his Hamden home. He will be 97 in May and especially looks forward to the family get-togethers since the death of his wife, Blossom Carlow.

They will celebrate Passover with two seders, one on Monday night and another on Tuesday night.

Here is the family recipe for the Passover brownies: 

  • 1 cup of walnuts 
  • 4 eggs 
  • 1-1/2 cups of sugar 
  • 2/3 cup oil 
  • 1/2 cup cocoa 
  • 1 cup matzo cake meal 
  • 1 tablespoon potato starch 
  • 1 tablespoon orange juice 

Sarah says her mother adds a teaspoon of vanilla, although Nanny Blossom didn't list that ingredient. 

Instructions: 

  • Chop nuts. 
  • Beat eggs with sugar for two minutes until light.
  • Add oil and beat for one minute.
  • Add cocoa, cake meal and potato starch, then mix well. 
  • Add orange juice and mix well. 
  • Fold in the walnuts (if desired).
  • Pour into 9 x 13 pan. 
  • Bake at 350 for 25 minutes — but her mom said it's closer to 18 minutes in a modern oven.
  • Cool and cut into squares. 

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