How I gave my mother a hand in corona land

The Bachur 

Doniel Fiddelinsky, age 13 

8th grade 

awesome parents and 5 crazy brothers 

Clifton, NJ

The Plan

Friday Night: Pizza Dip (Fresh & Easy), Creamy Cucumber Salad, Coleslaw, Stuffed Cabbage, Chicken Soup and Kneidlach, Chuck-eye Roast, Teriyaki Sesame Chicken (Fresh & Easy), Roasted Broccoli, Potato Kugel, Apple Crisp, Chocolate Ramekins with Whipped Cream

Shabbos Lunch: Pizza Dip (Fresh & Easy, Creamy Cucumber Salad, Coleslaw, Caesar Deli Sala, Cholent Kishka, Potato Kugel, Teriyaki Sesame Chicken (Fresh & Easy), Apple Crisp, Blondies, Watermelon 

My mother always says her daughters-in-law will thank her, I think because I’m always helping her in the kitchen. With a house full of boys, we’re the ones who help out before Shabbos and Yom Tov. So here I am, getting ready to wow my family with the best Shabbos food they’ve ever tasted. Since some of my brothers live on bread and cheese 24/7, I thought it was pretty safe to keep the menu as close to my mother’s as possible — after all, I wanted everyone to enjoy the food that I was going to work so hard cooking. 

At the same time, I decided to spice up the menu and include some special treats. I figured I’d try my hand at making a dip, since we usually buy them. I like spicy dips, so pizza dip was a no-brainer. Soup, kneidlach, potato kugel, cholent: basics. My house is literally drowning in cucumbers and apples, thanks to the COVID-19 government food program, so I added cucumber salad to the menu. (Why Trump thinks that kids nosh on cucumbers for a snack is beyond me, but he didn’t ask my opinion.) I also included apple crisp because that’s something everyone likes, especially me. 

To add an air of mystery, I didn’t tell anyone that I was planning on making Teriyaki Sesame Chicken. My mother was planning on making a roast before I took over, so that was on the schedule already. Last was blondies for Kiddush and chocolate ramekins for dessert — all-time family favorites. 

Now for the rules: anything that’s already in the fridge and freezer is up for grabs. (Thanks, Ma, for having a lifetime supply of stuffed cabbage in the freezer.) My mother called dibs on making the challah, which was fine with me. My father does the grocery shopping and I didn’t want to take away that privilege from him. Also, my mother doesn’t let me drive, so there’s that. My mother said the deal was that I had to put away the ingredients and wash the dishes, and she would take care of the rest. Also, she would be available for all recipe consultations, food salting, and possible kitchen fires. 

And now let the cooking begin! 

Cooking, Classes, More Cooking 

I decided to be super-responsible and start cooking on Wednesday afternoon. I picked out the easy things that don’t need to be served fresh, and with Shea Berko pumping I got started. 

Blondies: five minutes. Ramekins: ten minutes. Moved my brother’s chair for watching off my foot: two minutes. Caesar salad dressing: five minutes. Apple crisp: ten minutes. Hey, this is pretty easy, why is my mother always so exhausted after she cooks for Shabbos? Gotta wash the dishes real quick and run downstairs to get onto my English conference call. (Ma, do I really have to go?!)