His eyes were magnified so thick that they could protect a bank teller from a hold up. It's what I remember most as I watched him in the kitchen performing his annual ritual. No fancy gadgets, just a single knife blade. Diminutive in size, but not strength, he used the blade to turn whole walnuts into bite size pieces, creating a dust cloud that was more visible to my sense of smell than sight. Once the nuts were done, piled up like a termite hill, it was on to the apples. The same blade peeled the skin, cored the fruit and left behind a juicy mound of bite size apple pieces. The piles were introduced to each other inside a large metallic bowl. He grabbed two small tins from the cabinet and shook them like dice over the mixture. Then, using the same blade, he swirled everything together. As he did, my eyes chanced focus from thick glass to thick Popeye sized biceps. He covered the bowl and put it into the blindingly yellow refrigerator. The seder started and I knew it would be exactly 24 pages before the bowl would emerge. Dry matzah was transformed, becoming a once a year treat when piled high with Grandpa's charoset..
Family recipe 156
Sights and smells (208)
His eyes were magnified so thick that they could protect a bank teller from a hold up. It's what I remember most as I watched him in the kitchen performing his annual ritual. No fancy gadgets, just a single knife blade. Diminutive in size, but not strength, he used the blade to turn whole walnuts into bite size pieces, creating a dust cloud that was more visible to my sense of smell than sight. Once the nuts were done, piled up like a termite hill, it was on to the apples. The same blade peeled the skin, cored the fruit and left behind a juicy mound of bite size apple pieces. The piles were introduced to each other inside a large metallic bowl. He grabbed two small tins from the cabinet and shook them like dice over the mixture. Then, using the same blade, he swirled everything together. As he did, my eyes chanced focus from thick glass to thick Popeye sized biceps. He covered the bowl and put it into the blindingly yellow refrigerator. The seder started and I knew it would be exactly 24 pages before the bowl would emerge. Dry matzah was transformed, becoming a once a year treat when piled high with Grandpa's charoset..
Such a great entry into this micro: "...just a single knife blade." Thank you for sharing this week, Gary!