Wedding Girl (37 page)

I get Munch all settled, filling his water bowl and setting up his toys in a corner of the living room, and leave him to play while I unpack the rest of my stuff. I know that the place is going to feel like a hotel for a while, but I tell myself that there are worse things than being on permanent vacation. And Bubbles isn't wrong—the amenities are pretty sweet. I always hated making a bed. I make a mental note to warn the housekeeping staff about the earplugs.

I open the closet, and there is the hanging bag. I pull it out and open it up and my breath stops. My former wedding dress is transformed. The silk under-dress is now a deep slate blue, and the gossamer over-dress is a pale violet gray, so the effect is just spectacular. I know how hard it is to dye fabrics like these; Jean is a master. There is a little note tucked in the bottom of the bag.

You'll be stunning, and he's going to thank his lucky stars. Have a beautiful night!

XO jean

PS Figured these colors will still work with the shoes.

She's amazing. And she's right, the opaline Dior pumps, the heel fixed better than new by the cobbler, will be stunning with it. I check my watch. I've got a three o'clock appointment with the salon downstairs for hair and makeup.

“C'mon Munch, let's take a walk and check out the new hood.”
I snap on his leash and take the elevator down to the lobby, where Munch is immediately swarmed by people who want to meet him. He prances around, is generally charming, and I can tell that this hotel living is going to suit him awfully well. We take a nice long walk and meet some neighborhood dogs, and Munch rewards me with ample marking of territory and a good solid poop, so I'm feeling okay about Jean coming later to manage him.

We get back home, and I toss him a chew toy, put up the gate to keep him in the kitchen, where even if he has an accident it will be on tile floor, and head downstairs.

The salon is buzzing, being a Saturday night, but Amber, the stylist, is very excited to play with my hair. She talks me into a deep conditioning treatment, and then gives me a quick cut, and pulls it into a sort of messy chignon, with a zillion bobby pins. I had no idea that all those hairdos that look so effortless and slightly undone are actually harder to do than sleek smooth ones. Amber hands me off to Gigi, who asks a few questions about my dress, and then attacks my face. When she's done she spins me around to face the mirror. My skin looks flawless, and my eyes are the deepest blue they've ever been, my lashes are long and dark, and my lips are in a perfect shade of nude pink, with the slightest shimmer.

“Here you go.” Gigi hands me a lipstick, liner, and gloss. “For touch-ups. Bring 'em back tomorrow.”

“Thank you!” I check out, once again loving the employee discount, and tip them both generously. Then I head back up to my new place. Munch has turned the chew toy into a pile of tiny bits, but hasn't had an accident. I clean up the pieces and head in to get dressed. Jean has changed the dress construction to incorporate the corseting into the underdress so that I don't have to have a separate foundation garment. I pull on a pair of brand-new Spanx, and a bra, and then get into the dress. The inner corseting hooks up my back and it definitely flattens out the
tummy and pulls in the waist, but somehow is still letting me breathe. I slip into my pumps, and then close the bedroom door to check the full-length mirror on the back.

As much as I momentarily felt like a princess on my almost-wedding day is nothing compared to how beautiful I feel right now. The way the gray moves over the blue underdress as I turn my hips is glorious, and almost looks like water. My curves might be on the very generous side, but they are sassy and sexy in this dress. The words “brick house” are coming to mind. And for the first time, I'm not at all worried about meeting Jake. Because my life is not something to be embarrassed about, nor are my looks. If he can't see me in this dress and hear my confession about who I am and where I come from and forgive and forget, then he will not be worth my time.

I'm just finishing putting my borrowed lipstick and some Kleenex into my silver beaded clutch when there is a knock on the door. Munch starts yipping excitedly and I take a deep breath and open the door.

“Hi,” says the man in the tuxedo outside my door. I try not to be disappointed. He looks perfectly nice. Shorter and balder than I had anticipated, or maybe hoped for, but he has kind eyes. And I think back to our emails and how much I enjoy the way his brain works, and straighten my spine. And receive the bottle of champagne he proffers.

“Hi there. It's so nice to finally meet you,” I say, taking the bottle and setting it on the little console table beside the door.

“And you,” he says, shaking my hand. I use it to pull him in and kiss him on the cheek. I'm determined to give Jake every chance in the world.

“Oh, my,” he says, looking puzzled. Munch yips happily. “And who is this fellow?”

That's weird. I emailed him about the puppy the day he arrived. “That's Munch. My puppy? I told you about him?”

“You did? But we've just met.” Just met?

“I'm sorry, Jake?”

“No, I'm Wallace. The head maître d' downstairs? I wanted to sneak up before service tonight to welcome you, and say that my team and I are all very much looking forward to working with you.”

Oh, my. “I'm sorry, I was expecting someone else.”

“I can see that. You look lovely. I'll get out of your hair, we can meet in a couple of days, just wanted to welcome you on behalf of the front-of-house staff.”

“Sorry for the mix-up.”

“Not a problem in the least. Have a wonderful evening. You too, little man.” And he turns to go. I'm just closing the door when there is a light knock on it.

“Hi,” says Mark, looking very Cary Grant in a tuxedo with a shawl collar and an ivory silk scarf. Apparently my evening is going to be a farce of tuxedoed men.

“What are you doing here? My date will be here any minute,” I say as Mark boldly walks right in and scoops Munch up in his arms. “Careful, you'll get dog hair all over your beautiful tuxedo,” I say, as Mark hands me a small bag.

“For you,” he says. “Banana bread. As promised. To welcome you to your new home. And a squeaky toy for the beastie.”

“Thank you, really lovely, and now you really have to . . . go . . . Why are you wearing a tuxedo?” My heart stops.

“Ahem. Um, Sunny? Very nice to meet you. I'm Jake.”

“You. Are. Not,” I say, but I don't mean it, and as confused as I am, I'm also suddenly feeling really, really happy.

“Yeah. A nickname from high school, apparently some girls thought I looked like a Jewish Jake Ryan and it sort of stuck as a joke with my high school pals. Are you horribly disappointed?”

My voice catches. “I really wanted it to be you. I didn't believe, but sometimes I thought maybe, but you, and then, and we, but then you . . .” I cannot find words.

“Look. We've got the rest of our lives to apologize to each other for stuff, and explain what needs explaining, but for the moment, we look pretty gorgeous, and my company is going to need me to show up to schmooze the clients at the table, so what do you say we pretend that this is what it should always have been, a really special first date that is very long overdue. We'll go, and we'll be quietly snarky about bad outfits and boring speeches, and we'll charm the pants off the people at our table and dance a lot and drink champagne and then we'll go for our hot dogs and look at our city and in the morning, we'll eat banana bread and figure out the rest.”

“Well, um, I mean . . .”

“The word is yes, darling. Let me see if this helps loosen your tongue.” And Herman Mark “Jake” Langer Jr. pulls me into his arms and kisses me very, very deeply, and exceedingly well, and then Munch leans in and starts licking the tears off my cheeks where I hadn't even felt them falling, and nothing else in the world matters.

The End

The Beginning

Happily
Hopefully Ever
After

Sophie might not share these delectables with the Cake Goddess, but she knows she can trust you with her secrets.

HERMAN'S CHOCOLATE BABKA

Adapted from Breads Bakery

MAKES 3 BABKAS

Herman might be old-school, but this chocolate babka is still everyone's favorite. Made a little bit easier now since Hershey's sells an easy-to-use jarred chocolate spread. You can up the ante a bit by swapping it out for Nutella; Sophie won't tell Herman.

FOR THE SYRUP:

½ cup sugar

⅔ cup water

FOR THE DOUGH:

¾ cup whole milk

1½ packets (10 grams) active dry yeast

2½ cups bread flour, sifted, plus more for dusting work surface

2½ cups pastry flour, sifted

2 large eggs

½ cup and 1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

FOR THE CHOCOLATE FILLING:

30 ounces Hershey's chocolate spread

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Make the syrup: Add sugar and water to a pot set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer until sugar dissolves, 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Cooled syrup can be stored, refrigerated, in an airtight container up to 1 month.

Make the dough: Pour milk into a bowl. Activate yeast according to instructions on packet, then add to milk. Add the following ingredients to milk-yeast mixture in this order: flours, eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and half the butter. Using your hands, or an electric mixer with a dough hook set on the lowest speed, blend until combined, 3 to 4 minutes. Continue blending, increasing speed to medium if using a mixer, and slowly add remaining butter in small chunks until combined, about 4 minutes.

Place dough on a work surface lightly dusted with flour and knead by hand until dough starts to feel inflexible, 2 minutes. Shape dough into a square. Place on a tray, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 8 to 12 hours.

Make the babka: Place dough on a work surface lightly dusted with flour. Using a rolling pin, shape dough into a 10 x 28-inch rectangle about
¹
/
₅
-inch thick. Slather chocolate spread evenly over dough, then sprinkle dough with chocolate chips. Roll dough tightly like a jelly roll and lay seam-side down. Use a serrated knife to cut roll into thirds, then cut each segment in half lengthwise.

Lay two dough pieces on a work surface so they form an X shape. Twist each end once or twice, so babka resembles a simple braid. Repeat with remaining dough pieces, so you have 3 babka loaves in all. Transfer each to an 8 x 3-inch loaf pan, tucking ends of dough under.

Cover pans with a dry towel and let rise until loaves double in volume, about 60 minutes. For best results, place a bowl of warm water at the bottom of an oven that hasn't been turned on, then place loaves inside oven and shut the door.

Set oven to convection mode and preheat to 350ºF. Bake loaves 25 minutes. (If not using convection mode, bake an additional 5 minutes.) Check babkas after 20 minutes. If they are starting to turn dark brown and are still not cooked through, cover with parchment or aluminum foil to prevent tops from burning. Once baked, remove babkas from oven and brush immediately with a generous amount of syrup.

BUBBLES'S LEMON MUFFINS WITH BLUEBERRIES AND STREUSEL

MAKES 12 MUFFINS

Sophie isn't the only talented cook in the family; much of her love of baking she found at Bubbles's knee. These are Bubbles's signature lemon-blueberry muffins. No one will blink if you decide to drizzle them with a little lemon icing.

FOR THE MUFFINS:

1½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup sugar

2½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon lemon zest

⅔ cup plain yogurt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 tablespoons buttermilk

1 egg, lightly beaten

¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

¼ teaspoon pure vanilla

2 cups fresh blueberries, washed and tossed with 1 tablespoon of flour to coat

FOR THE STREUSEL:

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

⅔ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon lemon zest

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line 12-cup muffin tin with muffin/cupcake liners.

In one large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and lemon zest. In another large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, butter, buttermilk, egg, lemon juice, and vanilla. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Fold in blueberries gently.

Fill each of the 12 muffin liners about ⅔ full. Mix all the streusel ingredients in a bowl until it resembles wet sand. Sprinkle the mixture evenly on top of the 12 muffins.

Bake 17 to 19 minutes, until puffed and golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

LAMB SHAWARMA WITH TAHINI SAUCE AND GREEN SAUCE

SERVES 8

When your husband or boyfriend has a simple palate, you need your girlfriends to eat the adventurous stuff with you! Sophie knows that her new pal Amelia would never get to have this richly spiced Middle Eastern dish at home, so she's more than happy to accommodate her. This makes for a wonderful dinner party dish; just put out pita and lavash breads and all the toppings for people to make their own sandwiches. Sophie serves it with a cucumber yogurt salad and a freekeh and lentil pilaf.

FOR THE LAMB:

2 lemons, juiced

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil

6 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed, and minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

½ teaspoon turmeric

pinch of ground cinnamon

red pepper flakes, to taste

2 pounds lamb shoulder, cut into 2 x ½-inch strips

1 large red onion, peeled and quartered

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Combine the lemon juice, ½ cup olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon, and red pepper flakes in a large bowl, then whisk to combine. Add the lamb and toss well to coat. Cover and store in refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 425ºF. Use the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to grease a rimmed sheet pan. Add the quartered onion to the lamb and marinade and toss once to combine. Remove the lamb and onion from the marinade and place on the pan, spreading everything evenly across it.

Put the lamb in the oven and roast until it is browned, crisp at the edges, and cooked to medium, about 30 minutes. Remove it from the oven and allow to rest 2 minutes. (To make the lamb even crispier, set a large pan over high heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, then the lamb, and sauté until it curls tight in the heat.) Scatter the parsley over the top and serve with tomatoes, cucumbers, pita, white sauce, hot sauce, olives, fried eggplant, feta, or rice—really anything you desire.

TAHINI SAUCE

½ cup tahini

1½ tablespoon lemon juice

water

pinch of cumin

salt and pepper, to taste

Mix tahini with lemon juice and add enough water to make it the consistency of heavy cream. It should be a liquid sauce. Add cumin and season to taste with salt and pepper.

GREEN SAUCE

1 serrano chili pepper

½ cup parsley

½ cup mint

2 garlic cloves

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

¼ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

¼ teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients in a blender or food processor or use your immersion blender to make a smooth sauce.

SOPHIE'S MOM'S FAMOUS NOODLE KUGEL

SERVES 12

In Sophie's family, they know that difficult news goes down better with delicious food. This classic Jewish brunch dish may seem strange if you've never had it, but trust Sophie, it is delicious. Whatever bombshell someone might drop on you.

16 ounces broad egg noodles

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1 pound cottage cheese

1 pound sour cream

4 eggs, beaten

½ cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup crushed cornflakes

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup demerara sugar (or you can substitute light brown sugar)

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cook noodles to al dente in boiling salted water according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, cottage cheese, sour cream, eggs, sugar, and vanilla, and then fold in the cooked noodles. Pour into a greased 9 x 13-inch pan. In a separate bowl, mix the cornflakes, cinnamon, and sugar. Sprinkle the cornflake mixture on top of the noodle mixture. Bake for about 1 hour until the top is brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.