THANKSGIVING AT MOLLIE B’S

For at least ten years now, we have spent every Thanksgiving celebrating with dear friends at the home of Mollie B. Mollie B grew up in Washington DC back when it was considered a back-water, Southern town. Long time readers of the Kosher Nexus Newsletter know that Mollie B’s preferred language is Yinglish (a mixture of Yiddish and English) spoken with a mild Southern accent. Mollie B is a natural raconteur, a phenomenal cook who seems to have passed the cooking gene to her children (and apparently some of the grandchildren, too), and a serious hostess of the famed Southern style of entertaining.

It all began with an innocuous call from Mollie on Wednesday morning: “You better save yourself. Ah’m talking, you better save yourself and stop eating today so you can be ready for tomorrow!”

Twenty or so people gathered at Mollie B’s this year(it’s hard to tell because people tend to show up and leave only to be replaced by others who show up and leave and others….) On top of that, the whole neighborhood calls Mollie “Bubby,” and the neighborhood kids tend to wander in and out, too.

The food goes on at 2:00 and it never stops coming out of the kitchen for the next several hours. This year, the feast was only enough to feed a small starving nation! Turkey, stuffing(in Mollie B’s home, it is never called stuffing- it’s “gefilliks”) made in the bird, stuffing made in a pan (for the veggies), General Tzo’s veggies, a chicken dish, a whole minute steak roast with horseradish sauce and mustard, a brisket, a veal roast (the “other” white meat as someone kept saying), chopped liver, veggie chopped liver, tofurky Italian style sausage served with a bruschetta, cinnamon meatballs, yam and cranberry mix, cranberry relish, squash kugel, marinated string beans, white and green asperagus in a vinaigrette sauce, salad, another salad, home baked muffins, and a few other side dishes that we somehow never got to. The trick is to take a little bit of each of the succesive waves of food that comes out of the kitchen and eat a ten course meal.

You want to know about dessert? Dessert was essentially your basic Viennese table! Blueberry pie, coconut custard pie (sugar free and amazingly pareve!!), pumpkin pie, cookies, birthday cake, dried fruit, fresh fruit, candy for the kids, and the piece de resistance: Chocolate Mud and Praline Pie (also sugar free). That last one was to die for!!

We were embarassed- we brought a store bought pie- everything else, and we mean everything else- was made at home by either Mollie B or one of her incredibly kitchen talented kids.

What can we say? We shoulda growed up in da south! Better still, we shoulda growed up in Mollie B’s home!

Mollie B- we love you, we love your family. Sh’hashem yishmor aleychem! Coming up next: corned beef and cabbage day chez Mollie B. And the KN will be there, too! Hope your turkey day was as fulfilling as was ours.
(RJR)