Tuesday, January 10, 2012


Well. I don’t really know how to start this. But I guess I just did so here goes. Welcome to my blog. It is a little bit about cooking, and the crazy thoughts I have while doing it. I suppose you want to know a little bit about me, after all who am I to ramble on about anything? Well…. Let me start in the middle. About two years ago I was laid off from my job in non-profit management, and I recently started my own business as a personal chef in NYC. Wow, I still have a hard time saying those words and believing them. B, my loving and supportive boyfriend says I need to own my new career and identity shift. I ran into my landlord in the elevator today. He told me I should raise my rates. They are both right. Personal identity is a huge thing when it morphs. But I digress. Back to our story. I think you dear readers, need some background. And some middle ground. Of how I went from helping the elderly and women’s education to feeding people…

I was born, many years ago. Ok, not that many. On a dairy farm in Lancaster PA, to tripped out hippy parents who had recently refound the lost faith of their ancestors. Words like organic, backyard garden, co-op, home baked and whole grain were what I was weaned on.  But I also grew up in Brooklyn. In Boro Park to be exactt. In the land of what we call heimish. For those of you not familiar with the term heimish it means old school, recipes handed down mother to daughter for generations. Usually with a lot of chicken fat in them. Needless to say the seeming paradox of the culinary world of my elementary school years was rather bewildering.
When I was about 8 years old my mother let me cook something by myself for the first time in her kitchen. I don’t remember what it was I made that day, but I do remember that nobody wanted to eat it. But what I recall more than anything was how wondrous it felt putting all the ingredients together and creating something new. I was hooked. From now on I would cook.  During my junior year in college I almost dropped out to attend culinary school, but I had this rather odd desire to finish something I had started and actually stay in one school for 4 years earning my bachelor of science in finance (actually I was originally an art major but that is a whole other story, remind me to tell you sometime). But still I always loved to cook. So I did. Family events. I cooked. Shabbat and holiday meals. I cooked. Tuesday nights after work. I cooked.

In the spring of 2010 everything shifted. As I said, I was laid off from my job in non profit management, and that was when my love of cooking leapt from my little NYC apartment kitchen to the kitchen of the farm to table camp/retreat center that I somehow was hired to be the last minute sous chef for in a very odd and complicated twist of fate when they realized they were understaffed, the season was starting, and I happen to be standing on the production fields at the time.

There is a concept in the jewish faith called hashgacha pratis, lets call it fate or destiny, basically it means there is no happenstance, that things happen for a reason. That moment was my hashgacha pratis.
I like to say my cooking style can be summed up in 6 words “farm to table meets uber heimish”.  You may be wondering what in the world that means. Allow me to explain. I grew up surrounded by good food prepared with love by wonderful cooks. My Californian mother with Southern Roots, with her love of Mexican food and Biscuits and Collard Greens; my first generation off the boat from Poland bubby with her chicken soup, chopped liver, and gribinetz; my former hippy father with his endless vegetable stir fries…. My cooking style is an amalgamation of the various influences that shaped my food world view. Kosher. Old school. Traditional. Organic. Sustainable. Local. Healthy. Somehow for me they still all go together as one. I think that even though on the surface they seem different perhaps the values behind them really are the same. Family, friends, gathered around the dinner table, eating something made with intention…. always rustic, always homey, always healthy both for those eating it and for the food system that grew it.
Before I leave you for the day let me offer a word about the title of this blog. I love kugel. I do. Hence that whole uber heimish thing. But I also love asparagus, and kale, and beets, and butternut squash. And picking them from your backyard. Or from the closest farm that will let me. And I want both. That is why I do things like put schmaltz and gribinetz in mashed squash from my farmers market. Or serve organic local braised Kale with cannellini beans alongside my Shabbos brisket.

Ok people, if you made it this far I commend you. After all I have been rambling for some time now. I am going to go have some stir fry I made earlier, and maybe next time I will actually share a recipe or two.

Happy Eating!



4 comments:

  1. Fantastic! I'm very excited to read your posts and I love food pictures!

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  2. Looks awesome! We're kinda on the same page...check us out...Www.urbanfrum.com

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  3. hi urban frum, your blog looks great too!

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    1. Thank you! We're working on a blog roll and will be sure to include y'all.

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