(Jamie Ford, on my Kindle). A poignant story about a Chinese-American, growing up in Seattle at the beginning of World War II. Henry falls in love with a young Japanese girl before her family is interned in a relocation camp. It a very secretive relationship because his parents would highly disapprove. The story goes back to the 40’s and forward to the 1980’s when Henry is in his 50’s and his wife (not the Japanese woman) has just died of cancer. The story pulls you in from the first page, especially when some artifacts are found in the basement of an old hotel which contain personal belongings from several Japanese families who were suddenly taken away back in 1942. You can see where it’s going, can’t you? I heard criticism of this book that it was just a little bit contrived. Halfway through I’m enjoying it very much.
(Kathryn Stockett on my Kindle); if you haven’t heard about this book, you should! It’s a novel written from the voice of the black servants and some of the people they work for, all residents of Jackson, Mississippi. In the 1950’s. The maids generally are disrespected, still have to ride in the back of the bus, and some are prevented from using the bathroom in the houses where they work. The story is about a young woman (daughter of one of the society ladies) who decides to write a book about the stories of the maids. Anonymously. But not quite, of course. So it’s not only the stories themselves, but about the society-ladies’ relationships, and about the stealth required to interview the maids and write the book. And the repercussions when it’s published. A fantastic read.
by Jetta Carleton (Kindle edition); 
by Susan Richards (Kindle edition); 
by Sally Gunning (Kindle edition)
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(Mario Batali & Gweneth Paltrow); 
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Kugel. It’s a Yiddish word. But the food dish is German in origin, as I discovered when I was reading up on kugel at Wikipedia. However, Wiki’s site does say that there is very little documentation about kugel (and they invite people to contribute sources, if known, other than word of mouth). Kugels come both savory and sweet and are Jewish side dishes or desserts. Originally they were only savory, but over the centuries they’ve evolved to sweet-ish side dishes (mine) and much more sweet ones that incorporate fruit, raisins, etc. eggs, custard, etc. which are desserts.
The first time I was served this kugel was in the 1960’s. I used to be in a women’s gourmet group way back then (yes, they DID have such things back in the cave age of the 1960’s). The group met monthly for a weekday lunch at someone’s home. One of the ladies that I didn’t know very well, Alberta, brought this and it was served as part of the buffet lunch (we all brought something, hence it was a gourmet potluck). Having never had it before, I was enchanted. Certainly I noticed how sweet it was, and wondered why it was part of the lunch. But oh well, Alberta brought it, said it was part of her family heritage, and she put it out with lunch, not with the row of the desserts.
Now, though, I know from reading about kugels, this one is actually a dessert type. Why Alberta served it as part of lunch, I don’t know. Consequently, I have served it a few times as a side dish, but I make it less sweet. It’s great with ham, for instance, or a pork roast. Pork seems to lend itself well to sweeter sides. I make it less fat laden too. I was astounded the first time I made this to discover how much butter is in it. A lot. So I’ve cut it down some.
It’s a pineapple kugel – with cottage cheese and a crispy topping of cornflake crumbs and brown sugar. However you serve it, it’s delicious as long as you’re not planning to eat low carb or low calorie, because it certainly is NOT. So splurge and enjoy it.
Noodle Kugel (Pineapple Noodle Pudding)
Recipe: From an acquaintance I knew in the 1960’s
Servings: 16
NOODLES:
1 pound egg noodles — wide
8 ounces unsalted butter — room temp
16 ounces cottage cheese — small curd
3 ounces cream cheese — softened
6 large eggs — lightly beaten
2 tablespoons vanilla
6 tablespoons sugar
16 ounces crushed pineapple in juice — (do not drain)
1/2 cup milk
TOPPING:
1/2 cup brown sugar — or more, if desired
1 1/2 cups cornflake crumbs
Additional pats of butter on top, if desired
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Prepare noodles as directed (undercook, since they’ll be baked for a long time), and chunk up butter into the hot noodles. Stir until butter is melted. Set aside to cool while continuing with remainder of recipe. (Save butter wrappers for greasing the baking dish.)
3. In a large bowl mash the cream cheese to make sure it’s soft, then add cottage cheese. Then add the canned pineapple, vanilla and sugar, eggs and milk. Stir to combine. Add the cooled noodles and stir to mix well. Grease a large, flat baking dish (Pyrex, 8×13 approx.) and pour noodle mixture into it. Smooth with a spoon.
4. Topping: sprinkle brown sugar over the top of the noodles, then sprinkle corn flake crumbs on top. Original recipe called for dotting the top with an additional cube of butter. I omit that step, but it’s up to you!
5. Cover with foil and bake for one hour covered, then remove foil and continue baking for another 30 minutes. Remove and cool.
6. Slice the kugel into blocky pieces (kind of like sliced zucchini bread in shape), ideally about 3 1/2 inches wide and 2+ inches high, about 1 inch wide pieces. Allow to cool completely and serve. Depending on how you cut this, it may serve as many as 20, or as few as about 12.
7. Can be made ahead (baked) and frozen, but cut the slices before reheating. May also be served hot, if preferred.
Per Serving: 373 Calories; 17g Fat (41.6% calories from fat); 12g Protein; 43g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 147mg Cholesterol; 258mg Sodium.
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