Matzoh Ball Soup, Yum!

Somehow, February 4 became National Homemade Soup Day.  I can't find any information on how this came to pass, but more than one site agrees on it, so I'm going with it.

My favorite homemade soup is matzoh ball soup.  I make it for my Passover seders, and I also usually make it for Chanukah, to go along with the latkes and my new favorite fried chicken recipe, which is an Italian Chanukah fried chicken.

When I make matzoh ball soup, it's almost always with chicken.  I make my chicken stock from scratch.  I save bones all year long, in addition to the cut-offs from carrots and celery and the skins from onions.  Sometimes I'll actually go buy a parsnip or two to throw in there, but not often.

Once I made a fish stock for the matzoh ball soup, just to try it.  Fish stock is much lighter than chicken stock, so instead of onions, the recipe called for shallots.

I make my matzoh balls from scratch also, including the super special "secret" ingredient for making the matzoh balls light and fluffy.  I didn't get that from my family, since my mother wasn't particularly domestically inclined and I never knew her to make matzoh ball soup, or any soup from scratch.  (The only Jewish food I vaguely recall her making was chopped liver.)  No, I had to borrow another family's secret ingredient.  But everyone I know has the same secret ingredient:  seltzer water.  There, I've said it.  Now the secret is out.  But if everyone has the same secret, was it really a secret?

I like small matzoh balls, about an inch in diameter.  I find they cook better and actually benefit from the seltzer water, so they really are light and fluffy.  I know that some people prefer big honking huge matzoh balls, the kind that one matzoh ball fills up the whole bowl.  Nope, not for me.  What's the point of the seltzer water if you get this dense, heavy medicine ball?

The soup itself, I don't put any meat or vegetables in it.  It's just the stock and the matzoh balls.

And I am proud to say that everyone loves my matzoh ball soup.  Even Jason (now the husband of my second former daughter-in-law), although it took three times of me bringing some over before he finally remembered to eat it before it went bad in the fridge.  And then he decided he wanted to come over to have it the day it was made, just to enjoy the freshness.  He liked it then also.

When I was still living in the San Francisco Bay area, my friend Anne always came for seder, and usually her daughter Karen did also.  Karen is a vegetarian.  After a couple of years of making the chicken version for everyone else and a small amount of vegetable stock for Karen, I got tired of making two versions and started doing the vegetarian version for everyone.  My secret for that is lots of onions to give it good flavor.  Karen actually asked me for the recipe to make it herself, which I took as a high compliment.  But now that I'm not cooking for a vegetarian, it's back to chicken stock.

Image copyright Just Nora.  Used under a Creative Commons license.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Fearless Females 2021

I haven't posted much recently, but I couldn't miss doing something for my grandmother's birthday today.  And what do you know — tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post from Randy Seaver fits the situation perfectly!

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along; cue the Mission:  Impossible! music!):

1.  Check out Lisa Alzo's "Fearless Females 2021" blog post prompts and write about one of them.

2.  Put it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a link in a comment to this post.

What a great coincidence!  Today, March 6, is my maternal grandmother's birthday!  So I noticed the prompt for March 6 which Randy had used and thought it would be perfect.

"Describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor (wedding ring or other jewelry, china, clothing, etc.).  If you don’t have any, then write about a specific object you remember from your mother, grandmother, or aunt (scarf, hat, cooking utensil, furniture, etc.)."

Something my grandmother gave me before she passed away was a set of china.  She told me she had used it as her Passover dairy dishes when she kept a kosher household.  The amazing thing is that she acquired it one piece at a time from a grocery store during its weekly dishware sale, or at least that's what she told me.

For those not familiar with this practice, many grocery stores would sell a specific piece of china from a set for a very low price, or sometimes free, every week.  If I remember correctly, you had to spend a minimum amount in purchases at the store to get the china on the special deal.  If you worked at it, you could biuld up a nice set.

Bubbie (Yiddish for grandmother) had full settings for fourteen people:  dinner plate, salad plate, soup bowl, coffee cup and saucer, dessert bowl.  She also had two large serving platters, two large serving bowls, a gravy boat, a creamer, and a sugar bowl.

That's a lot of trips to the grocery store.  I think Bubbie was an overachiever.

The set is "Golden Wheat" (by Homer Laughlin, according to Replacements, Ltd.).  The back of some of the dishes (not all of them) says, "Golden Wheat / Made in USA / — 22K Gold — / Oven Proof."  The 22K gold was used on the wheat design on the obverse, on the rim, and for the lettering and design on the reverse.

I have to admit that I am amused by the fact that the dishes are safe to put in the oven but not the microwave (because the 22K gold will set off the micro).

I still remember picking up the set from Bubbie.  I lived in California; she lived in Florida.  One day, out of the blue, she decided it was very urgent that I should come visit because she wanted to give this set to me and have me take it home.

The first problem was that she insisted on this right when I was planning my foot surgery.  No, she didn't care that I wasn't going to be fully mobile.  It had to be that month, December 1997.  Sure, I just had foot surgery and I had to be pushed around the airport in a wheelchair, but I could figure out a way to handle this, right?  But it was my Bubbie, so I went.

The second problem, which I didn't find out until I got there, was that she didn't give me an accurate idea of just how much she wanted me to take home.  This was a lot of china, even if I hadn't been working with only one good foot.

Somehow we managed to pack everything into one duffel bag, with a reasonable amount of padding to protect the pieces.  But it wasn't secure enough that I could check it as luggage; it would have arrived as a huge bag of china shards.

So I had to lug the bag around with me at Fort Lauderdale Airport, and at my transfer airport, and at Oakland Airport.  All while being pushed around by very nice airport personnel who were very, very annoyed (but tried to keep a good face) that I had this big bag of china on my lap during the entire time.  I explained to each of them that I was very sorry, that my grandmother had insisted I had to pick up the china now, that I didn't want to do it right after my surgery.  I don't think it helped a lot.

But the good news is that the china and I arrived safely and in one piece back at Oakland Airport.  I managed to get home also.  I don't remember if I drove or had a shuttle pick me up; it was likely a shuttle, because the surgery was on my right foot, and I don't think I was ready to drive yet.  But we made it.

And I still have the set.  I brought it to Oregon with me.  Only a couple of pieces have been broken over the years I've owned it, one being the gravy boat.  I think I lost one of the small plates also.

And I use it for my Passover seders, although I don't keep kosher.  Bubbie stopped keeping kosher after her father-in-law passed away, which was in 1953, so the dishes were already trafe by the time I got them.

And now that I've written all of this up, I'll print out ths post and include it with the dishes, so I have documented them and why they're important, just as I did with the silverplate flatware that used to belong to my great-grandmother.

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Addendum, March 15, 2021:  This is the gravy boat I received today from a very generous reader, to replace the one I broke several years ago.  Thank you so much!

Second addendum, August 7, 2021:  I found out that the person who bought the replacement gravy boat for me was not the person who shipped it but my own sister in Pennsylvania.  It took her a while to let me know.  And now I know that she actually reads my blog!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: A Family Heirloom

This week for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, Randy Seaver is following up on another question on the Family History Hound's list.

Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is:

(1) The Family History Hound listed 20 Questions about Your Ancestor, and I'm going to use some of them in the next few months.

(2) Please answer the question, "What heirloom do you have that has been handed down through the generations?" 

(3) Write your own blog post, make a comment on this post, or post your answer on Facebook or Google+.  Please leave a link to your answer in comments on this post.

I'm a little short on heirlooms in my family.  On my father's side, my grandfather's father died young and the family was poor.  (In fact, my great-grandfather's mother paid for the funeral.)  If there were any heirlooms or family items, I haven't heard about them.  My grandmother's family were farmers in southern New Jersey, again without a lot of money.  Perhaps there was a family bible on one side, but if so it went to a different line in the family.

My mother's grandparents on both sides came to the United States as poor immigrants with not much more than the clothes on their backs.  I don't know of any significant items they brought with them from Europe.  That said, the closest thing I can describe as an "heirloom" is the set of silver-plated flatware that my great-grandmother Sarah Libby (Brainin) Gordon owned.

Definitely obtained here in the United States, it's a service for twelve in one of those cases that has cut-outs where you stack the forks, spoons, and some serving implements and bands on the inside of the lid where you slide the knives.  My mother kept it, apparently for several years, and gave it to me before she passed away.  She's the one who told me it belonged to my great-grandmother.  I believe my grandmother held the set for a while before giving it to my mother,

The utensils don't have a monogram or family initial and the set isn't anything really fancy, but I guess I'm now the fourth generation to have it.  I used the set every year when I held my annual Passover seder (dinner), for about thirteen years or so, but I haven't been able to do that for the past four or five years.  I'm hoping to be able to start again next year.

I don't have any description of the history of the flatware in the box to explain that this is a family item.  I should print a copy of this blog post and include it to document the history,

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your "Other" Life

This week Randy Seaver has gone off the deep end and is just talking crazy stuff.  Look what he came up with for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge:

1)  Tell us about your "other" hobbies or interests outside of genealogy and family history research, writing, speaking, etc.  Be mindful of your family's privacy, though!

2) Write a blog post of your own, respond with a comment to this post, or write a Facebook status post or a Google+ Stream post.

What?!  A life outside of genealogy?  Hmm, I think I kind of remember that . . . .

Actually, I used to have quite an active life in addition to my genealogy.  But for the past two years I've been on disability, and the two years before that I was working with an injury, so that changed a lot of things for me.

I love to cook.  For about 15 years I hosted a big seder for Passover with several friends.  I sometimes cooked for other occasions also.  I volunteered at a couple of places that provided meals for different groups.  I need to get my energy back up before I can do any of this again.  I haven't cooked a seder dinner for four years.  But I still find cookbooks that I just have to own, and I love reading recipes for inspiration.

I enjoy many types of needlework, particularly cross stitch and embroidery.  I have made several samplers for family members for births and marriages.  One year I did a special Christmas piece for my brother.  I'd like to be able to do that again sometime.  First on my list is finishing the Passover afikomen cover I started . . . um . . . seven, maybe more, years ago?

I have done historical reenactment events for several years.  For about ten years I was a drummer at a few Elizabethan-era and other Renaissance faires.  I also do events with the local costumers society.  I still manage to do one or two events a year.  A really special event was a dinner held in 2012 to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  Everyone was dressed to the nines in early Teens formal wear.  That was also the year I turned 50, and a friend of mine coordinated a surprise "Happy Birthday" performed by the orchestra at the event, and all the attendees sang.  My eras of interest run from Elizabethan to the 1920's.  Later than that, and I usually don't participate.  I've made some of my period clothing and have also bought pieces from other people.

I absolutely love to travel.  Between working at BART and then surgery for my injury, I wasn't able to go much of anywhere for a few years, but last year I was able to go places again, and I even went to Cuba.  One of my favorite trips is when I get to see my stepsons and grandchildren.  Like Randy, when I go to genealogy conferences, I always check to see what relatives are in the area (I think I have relatives in just about every state) and try to visit them, and sometimes I manage to get in some sightseeing.  But that's getting back to family history again, isn't it?  I visited my stepsons and grandchildren earlier this year, and I hope to be able to make another trip this summer and then again for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  In addition to that, I'm going to Jamboree, the IAJGS Jewish genealogy conference, and the International Black Genealogy Summit — yup, all genealogy-related!

So genealogy is the main thing I do with my life, but it's kept me sane during all this time I haven't been able to do other things, so I can't complain too much.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

A Vintage Jewish Indian Cookbook

I just learned about a blog called "The Shiksa in the Kitchen", written by a recent (2010) convert to Judaism who has been exploring the world of Jewish cooking, including kashrut (the rules for keeping kosher).  She posted about a copy of an Indian Jewish cookbook published in Calcutta about 1922.  I found a few references to the cookbook online, but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere, and I'm sure it was printed in only small quantities to begin with.  She mentioned it has "several kosher Jewish Indian recipes", but I'm not sure if all of the recipes are kosher.

I love Jewish cooking and Indian cooking and now just have to find a copy of this book!  One year for Passover I even cooked an Indian-themed seder, including mulligatawny-spiced matzoh ball soup and an egg curry.

Recipes and food traditions can sometimes impart information about family history.  This cookbook, for example, probably has recipes that follow Sephardic traditions, because most of the Jewish communities in India had Sephardic roots.  But first I need to find a copy of the cookbook to read the recipes ....

Passover Musings

As we near the end of Passover, I have been thinking about what Passover means to me.  I am not a practicing Jew, and I did not grow up with Jewish religion as a part of my life.  But I have been hosting a seder dinner for about 15 years now.

My mother was Jewish, but she was not observant.  She married a Catholic (my father) and then a Protestant (my stepfather).  I never saw her anywhere near a synagogue, but I went to Midnight Mass with her more than once.  We had a menorah in the house for Chanukah, but we always had a Christmas tree (which my mother sometimes jokingly called the "Chanukah bush").  We had ham for Christmas and Easter, because my mother's best friend loved ham.  And I knew from the time I was a little girl that when my mother died, she wanted to be cremated.  A lot of things that don't make you think "Jewish!"

But my mother was very close to her family, and we saw my grandparents several times a year.  My grandmother regularly sent cards for Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah, and Passover.  We were kept up-to-date with what other family members were doing, including marriages and bar mitzvahs.  I heard lots of family stories and always knew what our family name was originally.  My mother and her parents sprinkled their conversations with a fair amount of Yiddish.  I sound a lot like my mother when I speak, and people who meet me often think I am from Brooklyn, even though I was born in East Los Angeles.  I grew up feeling Jewish culturally but with no connection to the religion.

Several years after my mother passed away, I was very surprised to find out from my grandmother that my mother grew up in a kosher household.  My grandfather came from a very conservative Orthodox family, and my grandmother wanted her father-in-law to feel comfortable eating in her home.  So she kept kosher until he died.  She had four sets of dishes -- meat and dairy for Passover, and meat and dairy for the rest of the year.

My seders started in an unusual way.  One year my friend Anne and I were invited to seder at a mutual friend's house.  (Anne converted to Judaism for her first marriage and raised her children Jewish.)  We really enjoyed the seder, but by the next year the situation with the other friend had changed, and we were not as close anymore.  So Anne and I decided to hold a seder ourselves.  And now we have a tradition.

The dishes I use at our seders were my grandmother's Passover dairy dishes.  The silverware was my great-grandmother's.  We use a traditional haggadah.  These give me a sense of connection not only to my own family history but to being Jewish.

A Centennial Seder

Marilyn's great-uncle Nathan Siegel

Several years ago, Marilyn Salasky Siegel of Norfolk, Virginia, was reading a book about Norfolk's Jewish community and recognized one of the photos in the book as members of her family.  The photo was of a Passover seder in 1911.  This year, Marilyn and about 50 members of her family commemorated the centennial of that photo by having a special seder in a Norfolk Caribbean restaurant that is housed in a former Orthodox synagogue.  You can read the article about Marilyn and the photo online.

My thanks to Ava Cohn for posting information about this article.