I know I said I would update you when I got to New Orleans, but I have been busy and exhausted since my arrival here on Tuesday. We have been exchanging stories with my mom’s cousin, Robyn and her kids, Beth and Jen. Although Robyn didn’t grow up here, Beth and Jen did so I thought it was also important to try some of their favorite, native foods. Robyn isn’t much of a cook; when she was living with my mom when they were in college, she was boiling eggs and forgot about them. The water evaporated, and the eggs went flying, smashing into the ceiling. Robyn has become a better cook since then, but she wants to learn Momma Bubb and my mother’s recipes. That reminds me… here is Momma Bubb’s brisket that my mother and I made with Aunt Billie when we were in Miami.

I had never made brisket by baking it either, so it was interesting to know how much easier it was to make this way and to see how well it turned out. I think I will stick to making my brisket on the stove though, because you cannot cut out all the fat if you are baking it. And I hate fat. On a side note, I found out that Bob, Robyns husband makes brisket is a Crock Pot. Anyways, I also told you that I was going to be making tzimmes. Tzimmes is like sweet matzah balls with candied carrots. When I told Robyn’s family about it, they cringed at the thought of it. But it was delicious!

The tzimmes, like the brisket was also Momma Bubb’s recipe. We looked at pictures of Momma Bubb and Daddy Bubb, and even found a picture of their wedding at Aunt Billie’s house.

It was crazy to see all these people who I never have and never will meet. It pains me that I never was able to meet Uncle Fred, Aunt Billie’s husband before he passed away over the summer.

It really made me glad I was doing this project now, and that it isn’t too late to start caring about this. In fact, my mom and I are trying to make plans to go see my other second cousin, Briahn at her Bat Mitzvah in June. She is Aunt Billie’s granddaughter, and I think it will open me up to a lot of my other family who I have never met before.

Anyways, since I have been in New Orleans, my mom taught Robyn how to make chicken pot pie, one of her specialties. It turned out delicious, as I would expect despite the fact that we made SIX pot pies at once. If you are not a cook, multiplying a recipe by six is a little risky.

And we were able to make Momma Bubb’s potato kugel! No one, with the exception of Momma Bubb has been able to make it before. She uses words like keep adding whatever until it feels “right.” And for once, with the addition of another egg, it was able to come out just the way she made it!

We are going to continue to teach all them these recipes, and get the few recipes Robyn does have to put into my cookbook. Robyn and Bob have been living in New Orleans for over thirty years- the food here a big part of their life. And I need to make sure it is included in my cookbook! This might be my last post until I get home on Monday to reflect upon my trip. So have a nice weekend despite any horrible weather…. I know its pouring  here right now, but at least I have a cup of coffee and the brisket aroma to keep me warm today.

When I last left you, I was about to cook strudel and stuffed cabbage, both which take awhile to make. The stuffed cabbage took awhile because you have to wrap the cabbage around the meat sauce, like so.And then it was carmelized in a pan and then put in a container with cabbage and sauerkraut. And then finally, homemade meat sauce was poured over to look like this.

The strudel, on the other hand, takes awhile because you have to make the dough the night before (but you have to do that with the potato knishes, the mocha tarts, and pretty much anything that needs dough). They also turned out delicious… especially the ones I made for myself which had less walnuts and more cinnamon sugar.

Then yesterday, we made the potato knishes, brisket, and chocolate covered matzah. Potato knishes are dough with an oniony mashed potato in the middle. I came up with the idea to put cheese in with the potatoes, and everyone thought that it definitely added a new dimension to the taste, so we made all four batches with it!

The chocolate covered matzah, on the contrary, is a very quick recipe. In fact, it is so quick that it is a process full of anxiety. You have to make the caramel to the right temperature, and then pour it over the matzah very quickly before putting it in the oven for 3 minutes. And then you have to take it out on time, and then pour chocolate over before putting it back in the oven for a minute. It is very easy to mess up, and we did in fact have to throw out the first batch because the caramel waited too long before having the chocolate added. My mom usually makes four to six batches of it, but we only made two this time. My mom has making this recipe since I was six, at the oldest. It is one of our Passover favorites.

We later cut this up to make a bite-size treat! The last thing we did yesterday was make the brisket, which we just finished today. My mom’s brisket is one of the most difficult things to make because, well there is no recipe. My mom created this dish when she was trying to make a Cajun brisket out of a cookbook. But it was so bitter that my mom added brown sugar, ketchup, and pretty much anything to sweeten it up. But she figured it out and now we have this brisket (which tastes different every time) but it is always delicious.

After that, you would think we would be extremely tired, but today we made matzah ball soup, mocha mini tarts, sour cream coffee cake, and cole slaw. The mocha mini tarts are almost like a souffle, and I am excited to try them for the first time!

And the matzah ball soup isn’t yet ready!

We are cooking up a storm to have a huge dinner tonight with all the food we have been making. I am calling it a “Fader,” but I guess you can use your own term for the fake Seder. We are going to have the conglomeration of all the food with my brother, Margo (my sister), my grandparents, my grandmother’s best friend, and my mother. But it sure seems like we have enough food for 30 people. I will let you know how it goes, but we are just going through the list of food we wanted to make at such a fast rate, we will definitely finish by the time my mom and I have to go to our next destination!

For my senior project, I will be traveling with my mother to visit a few relatives (some of whom I have never met) to collect stories and recipes. In my family, our culture is the food. I am going to five locations: Pittsburgh, State College, Tampa, Miami, and New Orleans. I am going to cook with my mother, grandparents, aunts, and even second cousin. I want to learn more about my lineage and the recipes that come along with it. The recipes I am collecting are near and dear to my family, even if we weren’t the ones to create them. Some of the recipes have come to our knowledge through friends, mistakes, and other family members. No matter what, every recipe says a story; I will try to share them with you throughout the next several weeks. In the end, I hope to make an electronic cookbook that has the stories and recipes intertwined for all my family members.