Men with a Menu

Illustration by Lea Kron

The Men

Ruvy and Efraim Klein

Cooking for 6

Undisclosed location in California (not LA)

Here we are in sunny California after a beautiful Yom Tov with the whole mishpachah. My brother and I knew that my mother and sisters really gave it their all with all the Yom Tov meals (each one better than the next!). What a perfect opportunity to whip together a Shabbos, give our mom a break, and at the same time have some fun in the kitchen.

Now let me tell you, this isn’t the first time we’ve cooked for Shabbos. Last year on this very Shabbos we cooked for the Friday night seudah and even hosted a couple of guests. In my humble opinion, it was a smashing success. (So much so that I even thought about putting out my very own cookbook. Stay tuned.)

This time we decided we’d take it one step further. We’d make the whole Shabbos, and no, we wouldn’t have machine matzah or even buy challah. We’re doin’ this start to finish!

Menu Planning

The first step is to plan the menu. To be honest, my style is to cook on the fly, whatever-comes-to-mind-add-to-the-pot style, but l’kavod Shabbos, my brother thought it would be a good idea to put pen to paper. And as soon as we did, the ideas came flowing in.