Savoring The Flavors Of Recipes Past Empire's Express Meals are the easy, convenient way to feed your family an affordable, delicious, low fat kosher dinner in minutes. EDITH BROIDA SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS We created a first for the kosher consumer: Choose from Chicken Stir-Fry, Chicken Fajitas or Chicken and Pasta. Everything you need is in the bright green bag: Marinated Empire Kosher chicken breast, rice, pasta or tortillas, vegetables 1. from Bodek and sauce. Plus, each serving contains less than 3 grams of fat. Best of all, they R taste like you cooked for hours, but only take minutes to prepare! Available nationwide in mid-June. If you don't see Empire Express Meals in your grocer's freezer case, ask the store to order them for you. Consumer Hotline : I (800) 367-4734 in . , Alpha Ei silon , Fia Pratunity i * 1 II 4. •qp A, NA III ) •Zi '\ -.4011111 nCYS 1pha Epsilon Pi, the Jewish Fraternity, invites recent high school graduates to continue their Jewish leadership experience in - college. We are hosting an informational get-together with repre- sentatives from many chapters from around the country. AEII has more than 100 chapters across North America, including fine chapters nearby at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Eastern Michigan University and Wayne State University. Event: Date: Time: Location: AEII Get-Together for Recent High School Grads Saturday, June 29, 1996 4 p.m. For further information, please call Scott Page at (810) 542-9778 or send e-mail to victorda@pilot.msu.edu Bring your bathing suits! 116 We hope to see you there 9 1 ummaging for a recipe re- cently reminded me how a recipe box can reflect family history. It's a source of nostalgia as well as nourishment. I confess the recipes themselves are in disarray. Some are scrawled on index cards; some are typed and folded hand-outs from various cooking classes, and some are ragged even yellowed newspaper clippings. But most mangled are the most cherished: my mother-in-law's matzah balls, my mother's apricot strudel, my Aunt Eve's bobka. What's even more remarkable is that I no longer make these delic- acies; they are no longer politically correct foods. So why can't I part with these remnants of cooking past? First of all, they recall their authors. Just seeing my mother's neat handwriting recalls her endless hours in the kitchen, hours I watched her roll rugalach and kreplach dough. In retrospect, I believe Jewish cooking was ordained to keep women in the kitchen; her recipes required a prolonged se- quence of chopping, rolling, boil- ing, cooling, mixing, stuffing, etc. Yet I don't recall that my mother was ever as frantic or frazzled as women today. After all, if you don't drive, you don't worry about carpools. My mother lived in an era when food wasn't fast, and casseroles were an art form. Cans of mushroom soup and tomato soup were stockpiled in the pantry along with macaroni and rice so that a moderately-sized chicken or pound of hamburger could be magically transformed into an abundant dinner for six: our family of four and whatever playmates wandered by. Eggs, cream and butter were also staples. We drank homoge- nized milk, disdained margarine and devoured yellow omelets. Frequently, the omelets were Edith Broida is a freelance writer living in West Bloomfield. orange, oozing with cheddar cheese. How laughable this seems compared to today's fare: milk must be skim; eggs must be yolkless and soy spreads mas- querade as topping for toast. We live in an age when calo- ries and cholesterol count more than the sheerness of strudel dough or the budgeting potential of meatballs. Assembling a bobka requires more time than most women (shall I amend that to read "men and women"?) allot for cooking in the typical week. Remember pot roast? Swiss steak? Goulash? My mother had a veritable repertoire of these family foods. The recipes lan- guish in the recipe box. So why don't I toss them? I be- lieve they serve as souvenirs. They remind me that nouvelle cuisine displaces the hearty, homemade cooking of my child- hood; and then healthful eating became even more de rigueur. Today, we win our accolades for lentil-laced soup and fat-free lemon torte. Cous-cous is cool; red peppers are hot; ratatouille is good; lasagna is not. My recipe box now bulges with recipes that include bulgar, basil and bal- samic vinegar. Still I think wistfully of the foods of my past: chopped liver, corned beef sandwiches mired in Russian dressing, Lindy's strawberry cheesecake. Sometimes, inexplicably, I long for canned corn and green Jello. The sage Martha Stewart writes that recipes can be better organized with a computer data base. She explains that she has just one file for rhubarb! I reject that efficiency. I intend to keep my stained, smudged, slightly faded recipes, even if they are outmoded. When blintzes and brisket make a comeback, I'll be ready! ❑