Supper’s Ready

October 26th, 2006

A strange phenomenon has taken over us this fall television season: we’ve overwhelmed ourselves with the amount of shows we want to watch, and television has become a chore.
Television as a chore. We need help.

“What’s on tonight?” one of us will ask. And inevitably, it’s not only that we have one or two shows on that night, but we are BEHIND two or three shows that we TiVo’d earlier in the week. And then we sigh heavily, like television is such a BURDEN on our otherwise peaceful lives, and if we didn’t have to watch that damn episode of Six Degrees, then we’d be off in the Sudan saving lives or something. Which means, naturally, that it’s time we simmered down on the television, and started making some cuts on the shows we watch. But it’s nearly impossible, I tell you, because every show as a standalone is pretty damn good. But feeling overwhelmed with all the television you HAVE to watch like it’s geometry homework is pushing the line of ridiculousness, even I can see that. And when you find yourself saying, “God, we have to watch Studio 60 during dinner, because we’re backed up on Heroes and Kidnapped! Go GO GO! HURRY! PICK UP DINNER NOW!” then maybe there is an invisible line that you’ve crossed somewhere, is all I’m saying.

Anyway, tonight during dinner (Subway! Classy! Turkey!), we watched Wheel of Fortune (classier!). And, of course, we got into a discussion about Vanna White. I argue that she is an irreplaceable institution and that The Wheel would be nothing without The Vanna (she has a Weird Al song! Vanna, bring me a letter!), while my husband contends that she could easily be replaced by any “young thing with big boobs,” given its usual brainless audience who can’t see past The Boobs. Oh oh, and he also contends that her salary is roughly $150K, which I SCOFF AT, because honestly. It’s VANNA.

I promise, I have a point, and strangely, it involves Wheel of Fortune and Adam’s grandmother.

My husband’s grandmother was such an influence on me from the moment I met her. I wish you could have known her, honestly, for I never met anyone so sassy and full of life – unlike anyone I’d ever met. I never had grandparents growing up, and she filled a void I didn’t even know I had and we loved each other almost instantly. And even though she did announce to the world that I had my period the first time we met, I have never felt so welcome in anyone’s home as I did hers. There are days that I wake up and I actually can’t believe she’s gone, and I think about her every day, honestly. Every day. You would too, if you knew her, for I can’t explain how magnetic she was, even into her 80s.

One day last year, while we were going through a rough patch – this was at the height of my depressive misery, and I’d just been quasi-laid off from my job, only to be rehired a week later as if nothing had happened – we were mulling over the status of our lives, and how much things had changed from what we expected.

We sat around and talked about how no matter what, we had an obligation to ourselves and to our relationship to make the best of things, because life was just never going to be what we planned. We talked about Grandma – who had died about a year earlier – and how she lived her life so damn happily all the time, making the best of things no matter what came her way. We specifically remembered that she was always saying things like, “The possiblilities are endless, Jauners!” and laughed at the way she said it. She always called me “Jauners” in her old-school Newton accent, and she always told me to buck up, smile and make the best of everything. I’m not kidding when I tell you that woman brought her sass and ribald sense of humor to everything, including her time spent in a nursing home while she slowly died of cancer. We figured that she was probably happy that I was getting out of that job and moving on with our lives together, and that I’d be spending more time with Addy (to this day, she is still the only person who could get away with calling him that).

It all came to a strange head near the end of the conversation – Wheel of Fortune was on in the background, and just as we finished the conversation, lost in thought about Grandma and what she’d think of us today, someone solved the puzzle. The answer was, I promise you: “The possiblities are endless.”

And there she was. I loved her so much.

Anyway, the point is that I was actually overwhelmed with requests (as in, more than two of you asked, and then I panicked because I am lazy) for the kugel I made the other night, and so I will post it here. This is handed down from Grandma’s mom, near as I could make out from her scrawly handwriting and applying the powers of vague pudding logic. The only thing I ask is that if you make it, you thoroughly enjoy every bite, and that you remember that the possiblities really are endless. And then go out and have a damn good time after you eat it, because life is never long enough, and I’m pretty sure Grandma would be the first to tell you that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ingredients:
16 oz. (1 package) cottage cheese
16 oz. (1 package) sour cream
1 cup sugar
6 eggs, beaten
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 pkg. (12 oz.) egg noodles, cooked, rinsed and drained

2 Tbsp. cinnamon sugar to top (Optional. Grandma didn’t, I did. I think she understands.)

FYI, I also added a sprinkle of cinnamon to the whole cheesy buttery eggy mixture, despite Adam’s protests that his Grandma and his great-grandmother were “rolling over in their graves,” and it was great.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix all ingredients except noodles and cinnamon sugar until well blended. Stir in the cooked noodles.

Spoon into 13×9-inch baking dish; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour (I found it closer to one hour, as my husband likes the noodles crispy on top) or until center is set. Cool at least 30 minutes, and personally, I like it refrigerated, when it’s fully set and easy to cut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you have a great weekend. For my part, I will be away at a fancypants spa a couple of hours away with my beloved hubs. Enjoy whatever it is you decide to do!

*Genesis, back when Peter Gabriel was there, of course. The greatest recording of theirs of all-time, if you ask me.

** Also, there are times in life when I fall in love with people or things all over again, and this week, there are two that stand out: One of them is the design of my website. If you’re ever wondering who did it and want her to do yours, the answer is Paige Maguire, who is so very gorgeous, smoking hot, and ridiculously talented. And also? She’s nice. Wicked nice.

This week (well, every week), I am also madly in love with Lawyerish. As in, I want to kiss her, hold her and take her home in a backpack and serve her kugel. And did you know she’s running a marathon? The New York Marathon, my God. And though she is talented and extremely well-trained, she deserves all the good thoughts you’ve got on November 5, because if you missed it, she’s running A GIANT MARATHON, OH MY GOD.

Entry Filed under: Nuttin'