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12 Iyar 5762 - April 24, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family
Green Beans Under Pressure
by M. Steinberg

The recipe for green beans, which I prepared for our son's sheva brochos cum Purim Seuda, is really quite ordinary. The circumstances under which I was cooking were totally out of the ordinary.

I was standing in the kitchen and to the left of my feet was a large open hole. A few days before the wedding, the pipes of the heating system had sprung a leak. The plumbers arrived and dug up the area from the front door and down the hall past the kitchen, leaving a sandy, wet sunken hole, which didn't smell too good. On the day in question, the plumbers and the tile expert were in the hall attempting to close the mess over. As the onions were frying, there were frequent calls of "Geveret." At each call, I set aside the pot and came to approve the next step in the process. At last the onions reached the lovely state of golden brown and I was about to squeeze in a few choice cloves of garlic to quickly stir before they would become bitter. Garlic should never be fried or it will spoil the taste of the food rather than enhance it.

Just as I was about to put on the squeeze, two screams were heard.

One was, "Geveret!" which I have already explained. The second was "IMAAAA!" It came from down the hall where my daughter and daughter-in-law were. The daughter had just tried on her wedding gown, which had been picked up that morning from the seamstress. Yes, there was, Boruch Hashem, another wedding coming up fast and the gown didn't fit! The lady had sewn the side seams up from where the rental person had pinned it, instead of down towards the hips. It was totally wrong.

Garlic press in hand, I stopped over the gaping hole, trying not to step on the newly laid tiles, to comfort the bride-to- be and assure her that it would be done right the next time. I couldn't tell her that there was plenty of time because there wasn't. Nodding at the tile expert, I jumped back into the kitchen to add garlic, tomato sauce, spices, water and bring to a boil. Before the next crisis could erupt, I tossed in the frozen beans and left to simmer.

For some reason, the green beans were a big hit and everyone wanted the recipe. The ingredients are all here and told, except for the extraordinary cirumstances, which I could wish only the good parts on my friends.

May we all be privileged to prepare only for simchas.

 

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