Blintzes, kugel, crowds and aching feet.

Amazing.

One of the leads for the fest told me the police estimated the crowd around 15,000-18,000.

It felt like most of those people wanted blintzes or some kugel.

I sold out on 650 servings of blintzes (two blintzes apiece which means we cooked 1300 blintzes) and got through most of the kugel (30 mega tubs). That's a lot of food.....

The forecast was for rain and when I headed out to downtown early in the morning with my car filled with defrosted blintzes and kugel....it was drizzling. I felt bad....so much work....and even with a covered pavilion ...who would come in the rain to eat and listen to music?

But by 9am....when the booths started opening...the clouds parted....there was blue sky and in a couple of hours even sunshine.

I didn't see any of it....I was collecting tickets and calling out orders "One blintz ....blintz to go.....blintz and kugel on the side.....kugel but make it warm" and other assorted instructions....true to my nature I didn't cook the blintzes or even get near to the fry pans....I left that job to the "fry cooks"....who I noticed immediately had calm patient personalities...which is a necessary precondition to work with blintzes since the crepe-like outer covering can tear easily if rushed....and you can't rush a blintz.

The fryers kept frying .....the kugel lady kept rotating the tubs in the warmer so the thick slices would stay warm....and I dished out plate after plate after plate.

The sky started to darken just a bit at 2:30pm......around 3:30pm....someone at the info booth blew a shofar.....a long long horn with a haunting sound.....5 minutes later....there was a flash of lightening and gust of wind so strong it nearly blew some tables over. The crowds started to scatter while we tried to hold down the side wall tarps. We were supposed to shut down at 4pm....but it was too scary to stay open and I just sold my last blintz. So we quickly unplugged the skillets....ran after garbage and plates and napkins that started swirling around in the wind...and called it a day.

I wish I could tell you there were tons of funny stories.....but nothing really bizarre happened except everyone in the world wanted an order of blintzes....and it was just hard hard work.

By the time we packed everything into the car....I was so exhausted I could barely move....and hub and I both reeked of butter. As soon as I hit our house, I slipped off my clothes and poured a huge amount of epson salt into a hot bath and sank in.

Ohhhhhhhhhh....that felt good.

I hadn't eaten for a long time.....and when hub asked what I wanted for dinner....I had very strong suggestions....NO BLINTZES NO KUGEL, nothing that taste too butter...nothing with cheese...nothing greasy....nothing that smells too strong....and nothing that even remotely reminds me of the smells, tastes or food of the blintz and kugel booth.

At the end a couple of people shook my hand....."We give the kugel/blintz booth to the newbies......if you work a second year at the festival.....you're smart enough to stay a mile away from this baby."

Yes indeedy.....a mile away sounds about right.

Food fest jitters

I'm a mess of nerves right now.

I have to be up at 5:45 am to prep for the food fest and my little kugel/blintz booth.

I have pounds and pounds of kugel and dozens of blintzes to transport downtown plus all those darn cups of sour cream and jam.

I have the capacity tomorrow to dish up 650 servings of blintzes....and so for the last two days.....the menfolks and I have filled 650 mini cups of sour cream and 650 mini cups of strawberry preserves to accompany the cheesy crepes. Phew....

I also have 720 slices of kugel. The kugel first travels to warming bins off site ....then wonderful folks pre-slice them and bring them down to our booth to replenish our booth supply.

For a woman who doesn't like to cook and doesn't like to be in the kitchen....this is a lot of FOOD to be in charge of.....I wish I had volunteered to chat up the health inspector or man the volunteer booth....places where your chief responsibility is to chat....which I'm good at....but food...dishing out food....supervising the proper temp of the food....looking after the folks browning the blintzes in skillets filled with butter....I could swoon ....I'm SO NOT in my element.

But it's for a good cause....and how many things could possible go wrong serving up a noodle pudding and a cheesy crepe?

I guess I'll find that out tomorrow.

You can call me Miss Kugel or you can call me Ms. Blintz

I sent an email saying....if you need help let me know.

A return email arrived....yes we do.

Our community is having a food festival in May.....and I'm in charge of the kugel/blintz booth.

If you're not familiar with blintzes and kugel....let me describe these delicious little treats.

Blintzes are cousins to crepes. There's a thin crepe-like envelope which holds a stuffing of sweetened cottage cheese mixture. The little pouch is then fried and topped with sour cream or a fruit topping like strawberries or blueberries.

Blintzes acquiring a crisp buttery crunch

Kugel can be a noodle or potato dish. My Lithuanian grandmother made the potato version which consisted of shredded potatoes mixed with eggs and baked until the top was crispy. It was a stick-to-your-ribs type of side dish which accompanied sausage or brisket.

At my booth...we'll be featuring a noodle kugel, a classic Jewish dish.

Egg noodles and cheese are baked together till a beautiful crust forms. Sometimes kugels are served as dessert with the cheese mixture sweetened with sugar and raisins. The unsweetened version of kugel is often used as a creamy side dish.

For my booth.....busy folks have already cooked.... 100...dozen...blintzes and about 30 trays of kugel. My reputation of a non-cook is well-known so I only have to help bake about 30 more trays. I will probably googooo eye hub and look sweet....so I'll end up assisting versus preparing and actually baking the kugel.

After we knock off 30 more trays of kugel....I'll have to find some volunteer fryer-uppers and servers. I was told my booth is one of the busiest at the festival....so I have to make sure....there's plenty of folks plus visualize an efficient flow of distribution.....I don't want a single noodle or blintz left at the end....since all the money we raise goes to charity.

I'm thinking of getting my yet-to-be-gathered team some fun t-shirts....with some snappy slogans.....like "a blintz is cheese bling" or "kugel your way into some one's heart"....okay ...maybe I need a little work on my slogans yet. If you have any ideas for snappy....blintz or kugel sayings......please let me know.

As for myself....I was thinking of getting a t-shirt made with the simple incantations of my grandmothers....."Eat...Eat...Eat"
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