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Soul Food.
A repeat; hope you enjoy it again!
All of us have at some point in our daily lives longed for "soul food". We "long" for it because most of us are responsible folk and we know that "soul-food" is usually very fattening and very bad for us! We will slip in an occasional "heavy" sandwich, or have potatoes. Or even, heaven forbid, some butter!...But, we feel guilty about it and almost always promise never to do it again! Never?...

Somehow, lately I just feel that, hey, What the heck!?...My friend says that I think and complain about old age too much! He is absolutely right, but I am sure that everything lately twists and turns on it! I just read a wonderful story about a man in his late-stage-of-life, who when he goes out for dinner, orders only desserts. He was never allowed to have them because of a dozen different reasons and he decided that if not now, when? When is the time to let ourselves go IF not now?...And it "hits" us at very odd moments, with all sorts of different things!...I was with a young cousin the other day; we were going out for coffee. She could not find a parking spot, so she decided to go to an underground parking garage...I asked her not to...I asked her again...but she is young and she just went in and started going down and down...I suddenly said: "Stop the car right now!". She did and I got out and walked out and waited for her in the coffee house...When she came up, she said in great wonder: "What was that? Not like you at all?...And I admitted to her that I have claustrophobia and I am terrified of underground garages and I have been hiding a lot til now, but at my age I decided to "just let it out", in her language! I have no idea if she accepted my explanation, or thinks that I have finally gone totally mad!

And so, off and on, I have been indulging us occasionally in "special" foods as well...I mean things I would never ever make because "they are bad for us"!...Like I tried a new dessert the other day and, made it just for us! Not for a "dinner", or for guests, just to have something in the freezer for us! I "found" frozen berries in the supermarket...One day I turned left instead of right in the frozen section and there they were...I was in shock! How wonderful! So I bought the raspberries; decided to add them to a thick chocolate mouse...I used only four eggs, gently mixed in the half defrosted berries and into the freezer it went, well covered, so that the L&M would not discover! The first time I brought out some of it for us to taste, he was hooked! He thought it was super...In fact so very "super", that one night, he had a real party with it himself...When the following night we needed something sweet after a fishy dinner and I went with total security to the still "hidden" and covered dish, I discovered it completely empty!

My best remembered soul-food was that soup made out of a dead horse that we had during the war years in the Convent; I wrote about it in Column 92, "Return to Budapest"...The second most remembered soul food was after WW2; we were still in Budapest, there was not much food around, but somehow they did have potatoes onions and eggs...At least I am pretty sure it was then...My mother would boil the potatoes and peel them, then boil the eggs; then fry lots of onion till they were brown. She then layered the three in a dish, potatoes, onions, sliced eggs and another layer of potatoes, onions eggs and finished the top with potatoes...She must have dribbled in some fat, because it always came out of the oven bubbling, brown and absolutely heavenly!

The other day, both of us had such a "wanting-moment"; we really needed something "heavy" and fattening, something which we would eat in the dark and not tell anybody about it! A variation of the above; I had boiled potatoes, so I fried a lot of onions in olive oil - healthy stuff, right? When the onions were nicely browned, I diced the potatoes into the onions, with lots of salt and pepper and a wee-bit more of the healthy stuff...Mixed well and covered, I left the pan on a small flame for quite some time; when we could not wait any longer, I uncovered it, grated quite a lot of Mozzarella cheese all over, smashed four eggs, poured them over, mix, mix...We did not even use plates! Grabbed two forks, placed the pan between us...Total bliss!

Send your questions to The Wacky Cook: email: debbiemorgenshtern@gmail.com      

Debbie Morgenstern is the author of "My Life in Israel" and other short stories.
"My Life in Israel" can be purchased by accessing this link: "My Life in Israel"