2005-09-19
"Gefilte Fish" - by Lisa Silverstein
I'm having grapes for dinner.
mmmmmmmmmmMMMMM!!!!!!
***
Also, I have a new moniker. Everybody, meet me, Michekke.
I just got a 2-line e-mail from a student who is already way ahead in the proof-reading game. Good for her!!
(I hope that's the right use of "moniker".)
Today was an extremely productive day, and it ain't over yet!!
I went to a lecture about Jewish Food and Jewish Identity and the speaker showed a 15-minute documentary called 'Gefilte Fish'. It was absolutely hysterical.
The three interviewees were a grand-mother, her daughter-in-law, and the grand-daughter/daughter.
While the grandmother (who looked like a character I am too lacking in pop culture knowledge to pinpoint -- but with a bald pate and big poufs of hair over her ears) sat in a floral chair talking about grinding fish up in a wooden bowl with a round-bladed chopping knife (kind of like an ulu, if anyone remembers their Inuit lessons) from the Old Country, the story followed the daughter-in-law, who has taken over the tradition of making the gefilte fish.
She uses a Cuisinart, and while describing the process of what she's doing, she keeps muttering, "If I don't pass out" or "If I don't faint from the stench".
And the interviews with these two are interspersed with clips of the grand-daughter/daughter, who gets her gefilte fish from the jar. Claims no one can tell the difference if you garnish them the same.
The best part was when she got the jar out of the fridge and went to open it. The lid was stuck so she sort of bent over and crouched a little and started banging the lid on the floor. Pretty hard. Some genius editing flashed clips of the girl banging the jar on the floor while the grandmother talked about removing the eyeballs and mouth from the fish, when she was a girl.
Hoo ha hilarious. And educational! And, only 15 minutes. Sure to be on the Staff Favorites shelf at your local library.
pansycline at 9:39 p.m.