The "Snow Whites"

The "Snow Whites"

Most immediate families consist of parents and their children...mine consisted of my parents, their children and The Aunties.  For as far back as I can recall, The Aunties were a part of my every day life.  They were my mother's four older, unmarried sisters who lived together in a big apartment in our building.  Aunties Ray, Lucy and Anna worked at jobs that far preceded what women of their era were doing, and Aunt Ethel stayed at home as the homemaker and very often cared for my sister and me. ( I recall my Dad's friends calling him The Sultan, with his harem of seven women!)

The Aunties were amazing women as a family and individually. Each had a personality completely distinct from the others and brought something special and wonderful into my life.

In many ways they were women before their time...they held responsible jobs in a male dominated work force...managed their family finances...traveled...all in an era when women were mostly stay-at-home-homemakers and mothers or held lesser jobs.  

Facade of original Loehmann's on Bedford Ave

They knew Mrs. Loehmann and recieved a weekly phone call to let them know when new clothes had arrived in The Back Room.  A trip to the glitzy Loehmann's on Bedford Avenue with my aunts was something I loved!  Entering the gilded glitz, one was in the downstairs (less expensive)room, where women, in bras and slips ran from rack to rack trying on clothes.  But we were going "upstairs"...As we ascended the grand staircase we passed the men sitting on the first landing in gilded and velvet chairs "waiting" (and sometimes sneaking a peek below). Up we continued the climb and passed through the upstairs room and into The Back Room where the latest designer fashions awaited us.  Still no dressing rooms but who cared...Mrs.L had procured the finest  Seventh Avenue had to offer at a huge discount!!  

 From Loehmann's we could go a few blocks to see Ruth, the milliner to buy hats appropriate to the newly purchased outfits, because no self-respecting woman went out without a hat (with a veil) in those days...Or we could visit Mrs. Schindler, the Auntie's corsettiere who custom made their undergarments!  I was always thrilled to shlepp along shopping  with my Aunties because I knew we would eventually wind up at Schrafft's for a sandwich and an ice cream soda!  I could also bet on a stop at a toy store on the way home!

When we had sleep-overs at their apartment we were allowed to make tents in the big four poster beds by tying the ends of a sheet to each post with a scarf and propping the center with an umbrella! Oh, the fun we had...we could even bring cookies into the tents, never giving a thought to the poor aunt who would have to sleep in the crumbs!

My Aunties were generous and loving.  They introduced me to the theater...I remember seeing "Peter Pan" with Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard, on Broadway with Aunts Anna and Ray...there were numerous trips to the Brooklyn Academy of Music...Aunt Lucy took me to see Johnny Ray at the Paramount and stoicly sat in the audience with the screaming pre-teens as he sang...they took us to museums, concerts and upscale restaurants. Aunt Lucy introduced me to bacon and tomato sandwiches and Chinese food (because in those days we still were "sort of" kosher and Aunt Lucy wasn't!)  Aunt Lucy smoked cigarettes and drank scotch!!! Aunt Lucy was "hot stuff"!

But it was Aunt Ethel that probably impacted me the most. She often pitched in to baby-sit for us.  She made up delightful tales about a silly lady called Ug who was always wrong and made me scream with delight when Ug did something ridiculous!  Aunt Ethel could cook like a dream.  Every Friday night we went up to the Aunties apartment and Aunt Ethel set forth a delicious meal...an exceptional soup, often with kreplach,  preceded her amazing minced meat pies, chicken, vegetables, potato lakes or egg farfel and sauteed onions and hom-made apple sauce...and always a cake from Ebinger's bakery for dessert.  Along with my mother, Aunt Ethel nutured and shaped my love of cooking.

All hrough the years the Aunties shared my life and were beside me as loving examples.

At my wedding- Waldorf Astoria Hotel...Aunties Ethel, Ray my mother Aunties Lucy and Anna

                At the Lotos Club, Stef's Bat Mitzvah...Aunties Lucy, Ray and Anna, my mother and me

   The Aunties moved to the beach to be near my parents and we loved to visit there with the children.  Aunt Ethel regaled my children with Ug stories, eliciting the same delighted giggles and squeals  from them as she had from me.  They all lavished my children with direction, love and gifts much as they had my sister and me.  

Aunt Ethel left us first. Her health was always more precarious.  Her death was a devastating loss to me.  The other Aunties lived into their nineties in various stages of decline... only Aunt Ray was feisty to the end.
                                                 

Aunt Ray at her 90th Birthday Party

I miss these precious ladies every day. I miss their love and support and generosity and caring.  I miss their sense of fun and their wisdom and guidance.  I miss the doorbell ringing every morning  as they stopped by on their way to work to wish me a good day in school...I miss Aunt Ethel teaching me to cook, the memory of her spectacular food still lingers on my tongue and her nurturing and love are a part of my heart...I miss Aunt Ray telling me how to be "proper" and sharing the wonderful stories of "the olden days" and of her strength and innate sense of right and wrong...and Aunt Lucy letting me smoke her cigarettes  and taking me to fancy restaurants to introduce me to new foods and letting me wear her gorgeous fur coat on dates!  I have my exquisite memories of a glorious trip to Europe with sweet, gentle fun-loving Aunt Anna who brought sweetness and light into the darkest of days...of the way the Aunties made Christmas happen for my sister and me even though we had already just had Hannukah...of the pleasure they got from my marriage and my children ... I  so loved watching them spoil  a whole new generation.  I miss them as I miss my parents, and I visit them all in my memories and in my heart, and know that I am what each of them instilled in me...what each gave to me... that made me who I am today.

A friend of mine who met them when they were much older and white haired called them "The Snow Whites"...like four magical fairy godmothers...The Snow Whites... 


Remembering the traditional foods cooked by Aunt Ethel:

                                                   

     

                               Kreplach   (Jewish Won-Tons!)

1 cup sifted flour   

1 egg

1 tbsp. water                         

pinch of salt 

1 cup cooked meat or chicken finely minced

1 tsp. grated onion

2 tbsp. oil

1 tbsp. minced curley parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Make a dough of the flour, egg, water and pinch of salt.

Knead well and roll out thin.  Cut into 2 inch squares

Blend all other ingredients and mix well...place a spoonful of meat or chicken mixture into the center of each dough square.

Fold dough to cover meat to make triangles and pinch with fingers or fork to seal edges.

Cook in boiling soup for about 15-20 minutes

Serve several in hot soup...garnish with parsley

                                                                                     

                                                      Kasha Varnishkes

2 cups beef broth or consomme                             * 1/2 box bowtie pasta cooked (Farfale)

1 egg

2 tbsp butter or margerine

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup kasha

1 small onion chopped

10 mushrooms sliced         * Saute the onions until lightly golden then add mushrooms and                        

1 tbsp butter                      cook until liquid is gone and onions are deep golden,,,set aside

1 tbsp oil  

1- In a sauce pan heat liquid and seasoning to boiling

2- In a bowl mix kasha with egg and coat kernels

3-Heat a skillet to high and add kasha and egg until all egg is dried and kernels separate...about 2-3 minutes...reduce heat to low

4-Stir in boiling liquid and stir...cook until liquid is dissolved and kernels are soft...about 10 minutes I usually put aside some extra beef broth just in case it needs to be softened a bit more...and I cover the skillet while it cooks.

5-Add pasta, onions and mushrooms, toss until mixed through

Delicious served with brisket, applesauce and a green vegetable.  Stores well and is delicious the next day with chicken!!

                                                        Ess gezunte heit!