I wished I was Chinese

One of my first memories was sleeping over at my grandparents apartment on Brighton Beach above the boardwalk in Brookyln. My sister and I would horse around and tease eachother making faces. I remember Grandma telling us "Don't make faces, they'll freeze that way." I immediately thought "Oh goodie!" And when my sister wasn't looking I stretched my eye lids to look Asian and held them for a long time because I wanted them to freeze. I wanted to become Chinese! At bedtime I tried again. I stretched my eye lids in the dark until the voices on the boardwalk below faded and I finally fell asleep. I woke up and raced to the bathroom mirror. I was still Jewish.

My beloved Brighton beach Grandparents Nat and Sophie ate at the Chinese restaurant on Coney Island Avenue every night of the week. My grandfather could afford to do that! Grandma only cooked once in a while and she made roasted chicken. Grandpa had a little store called United Blower that sold fans and motors on Center Street in NYC on the lower East Side off of Canal Street next to Off Track Betting. When Grandpa visited us in his beige 1969 Buick Skylark the trunk was always filled with cases of Wrigley's Spearmint Gum, and new boxes of sneakers, all of them in his size. In the back seat grandma had shopping bags filled to the top with potato knishes, bagels, rye bread, and honeycake from "The Avenue".

Today I was thinking again about wishing I was Chinese. I made an amazing peapod, mushroom, mung beansprout, ground pork, red pepper, garlic, wine, mushroom, celery, carrot, whole wheat noodle dish that my Chinese friends would swear was made by their mothers! Will I ever kugel my way to Bejing? I love making semolina pasta in my hand cranked Atlas machine clamped to my turquoise kitchen counter. I add lemon zest and thyme to the dough. I have to fend off my dog from eating the noodles as they dry on the wooden clothes rack! The noodle is at the heart of so many amazing cultures and cuisines; The Italian cuisine the Jewish cuisine and the Asian cuisines. I would love to teach people how to enjoy feeding themselves. The noodle is the soul food of all nations!