Welcome to The Jewish Kitchen! Im so glad youre here. The Jewish Kitchen (TJK) is a labor of love. Truth be told, its been brewing for a long time. I feel as if I am finally standing in the place I was meant to be. A culinary and cultural beschert of sorts. If I could spend my days doing any one thing it would be baking, which is no surprise to anyone who knows me since I grew up working in my familys bagel bakery (the first certified Kosher bagel bakery in Brooklyn!) in NY. My father passed away in 2012, but I can still close my eyes and smell the warm sweet yeast smell that only comes from being inside a bakery while bagels move from board to kettle, kettle to oven, and right into baskets while they are golden, steaming and ready to eat. I spent my childhood in the bakery and at home watching my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother cook traditional Jewish foods for the holidays, Sunday breakfasts, and just because someone was stopping by and needed a nosh. Like many young girls, I didnt learn to cook until I was living on my own. And then, when I needed to pull together a meal, I was at a total loss. No one in my family had ever written down a recipe. When I called my grandmother in Florida for her sweet and sour meatball recipe , her instructions included such helpful tips such as Dont be shy with the onions! and When its ready, youll know! While I tried to pry the recipe out of her, what came out instead were stories: stories about other relatives who made fabulous briskets or babkes and stories about a cousin who could make an apple cake like nobodys business. By the time I did get the meatball recipe, I was exhausted. Laughing, but exhausted. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized that generations of Jewish cooks had more than just recipes, they had rich backstories to their recipes: family histories that needed to be recorded, preserved, and cherished for all-time. I should do this, I thought to myself, but instead I did something else. In 1996, I co-founded womensforum.com which was one of ...