I had a small family dinner party for Rosh Hashana. My menu for the dinner included fresh chicken soup and brisket. I added the home-made kreplach we had in our freezer to the soup along with matzo balls.

Homemade Chicken Soup with kreplach and matzo balls

I don’t have many of my own pictures because I was cooking all this the day of the dinner and it is a lot of work. Next time, I hope to cook some of the food ahead of time.

I really enjoy cooking holiday meals with my family.  We all work together to make all the dishes.

My daughter was here and she helped a lot with shopping and some of the cooking. She made a delicious noodle kugel and a spinach salad with pomegranate seeds and pear. She bought the flowers, sage honey and some scented candles.

My husband helped with some shopping as well and picked up a pretty round chocolate chip challah.

It was hard getting everyone together. My daughter Kate had special plans for this weekend so I decided to make the dinner on Thursday night. My son Scott was working late but managed to come over with his lovely wife Jennie. They had helped make the kreplach with me a few weeks ago.

Two of my husband’s brothers and one of their wives made up the rest of our dinner party. I feel it is important for the family to be together and make happy memories.

I have a recipe I follow from my mother-in-law for the chicken soup. I have made it so many times over the years and it changes slightly each time I make it. This time I added a larger rutabaga and I think it gave the broth a sweeter taste. My daughter suggested I add some kale.

My mother-in-law Mary Lynn used to tell me that many Jewish women in the old days did not have their recipes written down with the exact ingredient measurements. Or they might leave out an ingredient when passing on a recipe. She told me a Yiddish expression ” shitararyn” which she said meant put in it or pour it in when adding an ingredient.

I used Judy Zeidler’s The Gourmet Jewish Cook book recipe for the brisket which is made with prunes and apricots  and with brown sugar in the recipe. This gives it a slightly sweet taste.

It is a tradition to include sweet foods like honey for New Year because this means you will have a sweet year.

One of my brother-in-law’s made a Honey Cake from his mother’s recipe.

My daughter had a lovely idea about doing a Tshuvah activity where we would all set our intentions for the New Year and ask ourselves what do we want to cast off and what do we want to keep in our lives.

I regret we did not get to this activity at the dinner but I would like to incorporate it into future Rosh Hashana dinners. I want to think about my own intentions during this week for the coming year.