Ok, equal time here! I am Jewish and our Sunday dinner would be on Saturday after returning home from Shabbat services at synagogue. First, you woukd have to have a little nosh at the synagogue because you would walk home and G-d forbid you should starve along the way. This would consist of challah, some herring, gefiltle fish and maybe a little white fish. Naturally this was washed down with some Manishevitz wine..vintage Tuesday! Then you would enter the grandmother's house which by law, was in Brooklyn. She would kvell about how much you have grown since last week. Then everyone would sit on the plastic covered furniture and complain about which one's medical problem was the worst and who was seeing the top Jewish doctor in his field. Grandma would then announce for everyone to sit at the table for the meal. First came the chicken soup with kreplach, matzo balls, and noodles. It was heaven and could stop any illness dead in it's tracks. On top of the chicken soup was a little fresh parsley and gribenes. Gribenes were similar to cracklings only they were made from chicken . The next course was chopped liver with chicken schmaltz on top. Again with the chicken fat! You could schmear it on a nice thick piece of warm challah. As if this wasn't enough, the gefilte fish made an appearance. This wasn't jarred like it is today..but homemade. The fish had to be kept alive until it was made on Friday so people usually kept it for several days swimming in the bathtub. Nowadays, people bathe. Topping the gefilte fish was chrain or horseradish. Not the purple stuff in a jar, but freshly grated. It was guaraunteed to keep you sinuses clear for a week. While the main courses were being readied in the kitchen { notice the plural here} one could nosh on fresh sour pickles, sauerkraut and pickled green tomatoes. These usually came from a barrel on the lower East Side. Next came the meat course. Brisket of beef, flanken, and roast chicken. The side dishes were grand also. Kasha varnishkes with bowties, potato kugel and or noodle kugel, sweet potato carrot and prune tzimmes, . The kids were naturally encouraged to eat everything because children were starving in Europe!I always wondered how my cleaning my plate as a child would help them. The beverage of choice in addition to the syrupy sweet Manishevitz was seltzer in the blue schpritz bottle. At this point in the meal, the men had undone the button on their pants and the women complained that their girdles were going to explode. The dessert was usally sponge cake, fruit, and of course the required stewed prune compote because you should only be regular. People don't eat like this today and gather with the family. Everyone is now dysfunctional and not speaking to one another. The meal usually consists of just fish and veggies because everyone has cardiovascular disease.
"Friends are the people you chose as family."....Me.
Updated On: 8/17/05 at 07:52 PM
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