Who of us never gets nostalgic for the sights, sounds, and tastes of our childhood? Maybe it was Mother who stood blessing the Sabbath candles, or a beloved grandmother; but Friday nights, holiday nights—indeed every night—the Jewish home was redolent of the smells of wonderful cooking. The welcome sign was out and a dozen at dinner was an average number.

Cooking was a full-time job. There was no refrigeration as we know it, and no short cuts. Recipes? The only stand­ard ingredient in every dish was love and a desire to please.

Now we live in an era of frozen foods and packaged meals. But to many of us, as to myself, the old meichulim still hold a special charm. Not so the long, hot, tiring hours that went into their daily preparation.

So I experimented. I tried to accommodate the warmth and graciousness of full-time housekeeping to our own faster tempo and need for leisure. I checked on how much we could actually depend on refrigeration of cooked food. Like all explorers, I had to cut a few new paths. They worked for me and I want to pass them to others who want time for themselves and gracious living as well.

Let me give you my three basic principles:

1.  Buy in quantity

2.  Cook in quantity

3.  Use your imagination in glorifying leftovers.

I never devote more than two mornings a week to pre­paring what I call basic food. But when I cook, I cook. If you are a working housewife, you can make it two evenings a week. If it is a busy week, you can even do it in one.

When I shop, I buy double quantities of everything. Since I work on a ten-day refrigeration theory, I can store away one half of any dish made, for use the following week.

For instance, I never buy one chicken, but get at least two, and perhaps a duck. It takes very few minutes more to prepare two chickens than to prepare one. Perhaps I roast one, pot another, and make a chicken broth with the giblets, necks and legs. There's good eating for many days, and eating that can be varied to your own taste.

The same goes for the simple meat ball. Shall I take out my chopping bowl, start using my chopper, gather my spices—just for a pound of beef? No, indeed. I buy several pounds of ground beef. Some of it goes into a meat loaf, some into a heavy kettle for potting, some into ham­burgers. And what is to prevent me from putting a piece of flanken into the same pot?

You get the point? Cooking becomes a project. But it also becomes fun. You use your imagination. You try out new combinations. There is, besides, economy in quantity cooking—economy of money, of fuel, of precious time. And whenever you want it, there's a delicious, really cooked meal, not a "quickie."

So here are my recipes, as simple as I could make them, tried successfully on my own table and proved, improved and approved in the cooking classes of the Educational Alliance.

Follow them carefully and when the bell rings, even if it's an unexpected guest or two, don't get flustered. Remember, hospitality is just as traditional in Jewish households as gefilte fish. Just open your refrigerator, smile, and "ess gezundt."

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