Kugel Story

Since Rosh Hashanah was last week,
this is a good time to share my kugel story.

Maybe you’ve heard this joke: “How does a Jewish-American princess make dinner? She doesn’t! She makes reservations.” Well, that describes me to a tee. In other words, I don’t cook. But many years ago, when my husband and I had the family over for Rosh Hashanah dinner, I couldn’t “make reservations,” though I did have reservations about cooking for our fourteen guests.

One dish I made was kugel, using my mom’s recipe. It’s not Rosh Hashanah without Mom’s kugel, and I even made an extra one just in case. (Kugel is noodle pudding, and Mom always made hers with cinnamon-sugar, cottage cheese, and pineapple. Delish!)

My Rosh Hashanah dinner was a success. The food made a hit and everyone had a good time. Then, as my husband and I cleaned up, I wondered about the second kugel.

“John, I don’t remember serving the extra kugel, but I can’t find it anywhere.”

 “We probably served it.”

 “But, I don’t remember serving it.” “

 “Then we must have put it in the freezer.”

 “I already checked the freezer. It’s not there.”

 “Check the freezer in the garage.”

 “I did. It’s not there either.”

 “Well, it has to be somewhere.”

I kept going back and forth from freezer to freezer to fridge. No kugel.

About a year and a half later I happened to open my oven. Guess what was waiting for me in there. Yep! You guessed it! The missing kugel had been hiding in there for over a year. Seeing it in the oven sparked my memory. The kitchen counters had been so crammed that Rosh Hashanah night, that I used the oven as extra “counter space” to get it out of the way.

When I showed John the lost-but-found treat in the oven, I think I caught him contemplating serving it for dinner that night. He was probably starving, poor guy, since I never cook!

Shanah tovah!