Food Friday–take out edition

Perhaps because my parents started their married life in Halifax, NS where kosher take out just didn’t exist, they assumed that all food needed to be prepared at home. Their next move was to Quincy, MA which was just off the beaten path for Jewish life in Boston.

I would think that even in the early 1960’s you could go to Harvard Street in Brookline and assemble a pretty decent Shabbat meal without having to resort to turning on your stove. But my parents used to have to plan their acquisition of kosher meat in advance. They used to place a giant order at American Kosher on Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan and bring home several large cardboard cartons of chicken and meat all wrapped up in white butcher paper and marked with it’s contents.

The thought of wandering to the store on Friday to figure out what you wanted to eat for Shabbat was completely foreign to my parents.

Most people who grew up in New York assume that pretty decent Jewish prepared foods are available to buy, so cooking traditional Jewish foods isn’t a necessity.

My parents had really close friends who lived in the Village.They did take out everything, even coffee. I think that when my parents used to come for a visit it would throw my parent’s friends into a tizzy of having to fake home cookery.

My late mother in law used to use her oven to store things. Her oven hadn’t experienced heat for at least a decade and a half before her death.

My parents though used to do their own form of take out. They used to cook food in giant quantities, store it in the freezer and then take it out as needed.

This High Holiday season I had no idea how many people would actually be eating with us. I decided to go for food insurance and just cook vast quantities of everything. I am now reaping the benefits of the massive pre-cooking.

I will take a couple of bags of cooked chicken out of the freezer along with two challot. I need to make a vegetable and a grain and call it a day.

My nephew is coming for dinner. He loves meringues, so I made him a batch of chocolate ones.

The Pope’s visit means that venturing to the East Side to Costco is just a foolish thing to do. Sunday the Pope will be busy in Philly so I can get back to Yom Tov cookery.

Shabbat Shalom!

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sarah in nyc

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