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My
Story

jewfro

A Funny Th ing
Happened On Th e
Way To Th e Kitchen

I

’ve never met Sammy Vieder, but
we live less than a mile apart and
I’m pretty sure we’re related. Not
related as a result of the
sprawling extended family I
married into almost 12 noisy
years ago. Nor to be con-
fused with my brother Sam,
my cousin Sam, my nephew
Sammy or my grandma’s
second husband’s sister’s
grandson from Miami Sam,
Ben Falik
who introduced me to Blue
Apron when he worked
there.
No, Sammy and I are
related in some cosmic/
karmic way. Or so I came to believe
after watching the then-12-year-old
Huntington Woods resident and Hillel
Day School student conduct his culi-
nary craft on Fox’s MasterChef Junior.
If, like I was until six weeks ago,
you are unfamiliar with the joy and
anxiety of MasterChef Junior, you’re

six seasons behind on the show,
which is itself a spinoff of British and
American versions of MasterChef and
one of multiple precocious
pre-teen entries into the prodi-
gious genre of cooking contest
television.
Watching Sammy cook up
a storm — his Mascarpone-
Stuffed Chicken would make
Julia Child feel juvenile — I
knew how Salieri must have
felt when he heard the pre-
ternatural power of Mozart’s
music.
After all, I was the food
editor of the Columbia Daily
Spectator — the ninth largest English
language daily afternoon paper in
New York City — when I was but 1.5
Sammys old. Now 3 Sammys in age, I
have to stare down Lola, our mouth-
breathing geriatric Newfoundland, for
my kids’ grilled cheese crusts, and I
guess poorly one way or the other at
the readiness of avocado. To say noth-
ing of my propensity for spilling. So
much spilling.
My Sammy-induced food envy came
to a fever pitch on April 13, during an
episode featuring Blue Apron. If, like
I was until six months ago, you are
unfamiliar with the joy and anxiety of
Blue Apron, it’s a service that sends a
box of fresh foodstuffs to your house
weekly with the ingredients for family
meals.
On this fateful night, the top 12
“home cooks” (the Fox Broadcasting
Company does not endorse or con-
done child labor) each received the
same 10-by-12-by-14 inch Blue Apron
box that greets/taunts me from my
front porch every Wednesday. But
instead of an easy-to-follow recipe
replete with pictures, key words in
bold and parenthetical tips that I can

usually turn into a meal, the box con-
tained … my incomplete taxes.
Actually, it was scarier. The boxes
were empty. Sammy and Co. each had
a mere 45 minutes to pick out ingre-
dients à la Supermarket Sweep and
create and concoct an original meal
entirely from scratch to be promptly
adjudicated by the three world-
renowned chefs and restaurateurs,
adults who must feel like the old
Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator
trying to understand the liquid metal
capabilities of the newer Terminator
sent back to the present from further
in the future.
Sammy wielded his slotted spatula
with the fearless instinct of Jackson
Pollock making fractals out of splat-
ter paint and whatever fell out of his
pockets onto the canvas. Did I men-
tion Sammy has braces? Sammy has
braces. As far as a I can tell, they are
not Skynet liquid metal braces.
When Sammy’s Seared Steak and
Brussels Sprouts served over a bed of
polenta won the judge’s admiration,
my fever rose.
When he won the week’s challenge
and the judges announced that his
recipe would be an official Blue Apron
meal, ingredients and instructions
shipped to porches across the coun-
try, my fever broke.
Through the cold sweat, I felt a
sense of calm wash over me. At first, I
wasn’t sure why. Then I realized that
the point of all this wasn’t for me to
measure the value to my family, com-
munity and society of myself based on
how well I could cook Sammy’s recipe.
The point was for me to measure the
value to my family, community and
society of my children based on how
well they could cook Sammy’s recipe.
Think Salieri has kids and all his
unaddressed issues with Mozart

continued on page 6

Marcie Carr has a car that came
to her used, and wasn’t in the best of
repair when she received it. Marcie
didn’t realize the extent of the car’s
needs when she brought it home.
“I’m grateful to have my car, and I
depend on it,” Marcie said. “It’s my
only method of transportation. But I
didn’t know about all the issues, like
the windshield wipers would just stop
sometimes, and the heat wasn’t
working. At the first oil change, I was
told the brakes needed to be done.
It’s a great car overall, but the repairs
it needed were unexpected and
expensive to deal with.”
It was while Marcie was online
researching options for fixing her car
when she remembered Hebrew Free
Loan. Years prior, her sister had
applied to Hebrew Free Loan, listing
Marcie as one of the co-signers. She
decided to check into it.
“From the website to the phone
call I made to the HFL office, it was
very easy to apply,” Marcie said. “I
filled out the paperwork and met
the Board members for an interview,
and through the whole process,
everyone was pleasant and kind.
They based my payments on my
ability to pay back, so I was really
pleased and grateful I could have
my vehicle fixed and it wouldn’t be
a strain on me to repay.”
Coming to Hebrew Free Loan was
a blessing, Marcie said. “They were
there for me. My advice to others is
to contact HFL and not to be intimi-
dated, because everyone there was
courteous and friendly. I needed
something, and there was no room
to be shy. A closed mouth doesn’t
get fed, right? I’m glad I called.”

Become an HFL Donor.
Click. Call. Give Now.
www.hfldetroit.org
248.723.8184

Health. A fresh start.
A good education.
The next great business idea.

Hebrew Free Loan gives interest-
free loans to members of our
community for a variety of
personal and small business
needs. HFL loans are funded
entirely through community
donations which continually
recycle to others, generating
many times the original value
to help maintain the lives of
local Jews.

Kids in the Kitchen

Meet Sammy from MasterChef Junior at a family-friendly fundraiser for Friendship Circle. Audience
members will challenge Sammy’s cooking skills and hear about his experiences on the show.
Professional chefs will demo and offer samples of tasty snacks.
Ticket price, $30 per person, includes light refreshments and tastings. At 1:30 p.m. Sunday, June
3, at the Soul Cafe Event Hall, 5586 Drake Road, West Bloomfield. Register at friendshipcircle.org/
events/kids-in-the-kitchen.

6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 • Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301

Hebrew Free Loan Detroit

@HFLDetroit

Sammy

jn

May 17 • 2018

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