Hi Alex,
The following are special tastes and smells that came out your grandmother Esther’s kitchen, that were always served with love and devotion to your Grandfather Labe.
For him, Shabbot was when he was the star of the play. The stage was perfectly set by your Grandmother. The candelabra and candles were just right on the fresh white tablecloth that stayed on until sundown the next day. After dinner crumbs from the fresh smelling hallah were brushed away into a fancy silver crumb dish at the end of the meal..(lasting at least an hour).
The little silver wine cups were set before your Grandfather. He conducted the Shabbos meal like a seasoned conductor of the Boston Orchestra. He was in his happiest element. He had his small siddur by his plate. He was definitely at the table’s head.
However, his loving wife at the other end would sit sweetly looking at her children and frequent special relatives like Shim and Sylvia and Laurie & Barry. Labe loved to complement her efforts. They appeared to me to be a wonderful couple. There were the rituals, never neglected or cut short. Always there was laughter, humming and wonderful tastes that matched the wonderful smells.
I remember peeking into the kitchen when I first was invited. To my surprise,
even though I was Jewish, there were foods that I had never seen before. Like, soup ‘popcorn” it was wonderful! It was in the clear home made chicken soup. Floating in the soup were tiny little egg yolks!” A true delicacy” your grandfather would tell me. No wonder he had heart problems! They came as a special order and must have been expensive as they were treated like caviar!! Then there were real chicken feet floating in the clear soup that had to be ladled out carefully!!! But, they must have added that special flavor that made us ask for more!
I hope this helps bring back some wonderful memories for all of us that were honored to share their table years ago.
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