HUNGRY GERALD

The word from Yiddish means, roughly, “Jewishness”.   HG’s dining yesterday focused on “Yiddishkeit”. Jewish fruit compote and yogurt for breakfast. (BSK made the lush compote of dried prunes, apricots and pears. Much better than HG’s compote cooking efforts).  Lunch was Manischewitz Superior Gold gefilte fish in jellied fish broth. Gold’s horseradish gave the fish an appropriate mouth tingle. Supper was a triumph of BSK’s affinity for Jewish food (though BSK is not Jewish–100% Canadian Episcopalian). BSK made an HG favorite–Kasha Varnishkes (buckwheat groats and farfalle pasta). BSK mixed the kasha and farfalle with a melange of mushrooms, onions,and garlic. The dish was simmered in a pungent chicken broth. Topped with sour cream and sprinkles of sea salt and coarse flakes of black pepper, this was a BSK masterpiece—better than any Kasha Varnishkes HG ever ate at New York “dairy” restaurants (Ratner’s, Rappaport’s. Paramount, etc, etc).  HG gave it even more flavor by adding spoonfuls of duck fat.  And, sorry, much better than the dish HG’s late Mom produced in her Bronx kitchen. When it comes to cooking,  BSK must have a smidgen of Yiddishkeit in her ancestry.