Moms Need Nationwide Emergency Child Care Service

Now that you can find Bubbie's Pickles on every Whole Foods refrigerator shelf and eat at Bubbys* comfort-food restaurants in either Tribeca or Dumbo, the word bubby appears fit for mass consumption.  In case you missed the memo, a bubby or bubbie is a Jewish grandmother.  Today's bubby is not limited to the black orthopaedic shoe-wearing stereotype (but if she wore them, you can bet her hip would feel pretty good).  In addition to making kraut and smoking meat, she can be found at the yoga studio, as a docent at the art museum, or working the counter at your local hardware store.  She doesn't even have to be Jewish, and she doesn't have to be.   She might have jumped onto the eco-friendly bandwagon.  Meet Ruth Feldman,  the Green Bubbie, for more on that.

Who of us saw the 1982 film The Electric Grandmother?






What happens when us moms get sick?  Totally out of commission?  Whether you work full time, part time, or fully stay home with your kids, you will need to call someone.  Most of the time, you manage.  But, has this stomach flu thing hit your house yet?  It is really going around, and I hope for you that you don't get it.  You will be wholly debilitated and need help.

If you are lucky enough to live close to family, or really good friends, you call someone.  Ideally it is your own mother who will come to help out.  Not all of us are fortunate to have that option.  Not all of us have Maureen Stapleton in the form of the above-mentioned Electric Grandmother.  And if your friends have children of their own, they aren't going to be in the house at 7:45am to help the littles with getting out the door in the morning.

The solution?

We need a National Bubbie Service!  One where desparate moms can call in the troops at any time of day to take over.  There isn't too much out there along these lines:

• New York City has a service On Call Sitters, but we don't know if they are reliable.  Bubby is reliable, doesn't need a background check, and will bring over chicken soup. 

•  Do a Google search for emergency babysitter NYC and the top link that comes up is a New York magazine article from 2005! 

People, welcome to the '90s (this is my cultural reference to the 90s remake of Father of the Bride which is to say get with the times)!  It is 2012 and there isn't much out there.



The answer for now is to stay healthy.
Wash your hands with warm water and soap.

And at least take a look at this clip where Martin Short was Academy-award worthy:

(Go to 3:40 for a reminder of where "welcome to the 90s" comes from):










*albeit fully treif (not Kosher)

Phood Tip #1: What Every Balabusta Needs; Or, The Best Martha Stewart Soup Suggestion Out There

For those of us who cook meat-based soups, we know that plentiful bones are essential for optimum, full-bodied flavor.  No bouillons, no cans of stock, no boxed soups masquerading as more healthful stock options.  Just lots and lots of bones that enable the stock to achieve its sublime rich taste.   But it gets pretty tedious when the time arrives and you have to remove all of those bones and cartilage.  I have tried many methods to get a nice golden, stuff-free broth:  cheesecloth, collander, and removal piece-by-tiny piece.

I present to you the product that brings the preparation of chicken soup to a new level for the balabusta  (female head of household who does the cooking but you can be a balabus too, I am all good with that).  The trick:   I have seen it only in the kosher supermarkets.  Oh, the products they invent for the woman who  juggles numerous children, work, and communal commitments!  With cooking for shabbes weekly (which, let's face it, is Thanksgiving every week), these bags are truly manna from the heavens.

It is so under-the-radar here in Philadelphia that even our kosher supermarket manager was unfamiliar with them, despite that they were sitting on his shelves.

I use one bag for two packages of chicken bones and an extra chicken thigh thrown in there for some extra meat.  The holes in the bag allow the soup to cook thoroughly.  They stretch a lot so you can fit in more than you think when you first look at it.  I put my vegetables directly into the pot, but these work well for the various herbs and other vegetables like onion that you might not want floating around in the pot.  For those of you concerned with the issue of borer (a Jewish law forbidding separation on shabbat), since some of the good soup is being taken away with the thing you don't want in the soup, I can't see why there would be an issue  (note:  I am not an authority on Jewish law).

Though they don't list them on their website, Rockland Kosher for sure carries them, most likely from 2 or 3 different companies.

Give 'em a call and see if they'll send you a case.

Better yet, take a trip to Monsey and get thineself to the supermarket of kosher supermarkets.

Just make sure you dress appropriately.