Last night Fran and I co-hosted the Oneg Shabbat at our local temple. For those who are unfamiliar with an Oneg, it is a celebration of the beginning of Shabbat (#4 of the Ten Commandments) and is usually accompanied with food and socializing after Friday evening services.  Each family of the temple is urged to host or co-host one Oneg a year. We co-hosted with our friends Ellen and Mark, and in absentia, Annalee and Jerry.

I offered to make pastries (surprise, surprise) and settled on eclairs and Kouign-Amanns (QUEEN-ah-mahns.) We called on Wednesday to check on the expected attendance (which is always a crap shoot which is perhaps the wrong metaphor.) It was a teen appreciation Shabbat. We also added some fruit bowls and a vegetable tray for the health-conscious Californians. Since I needed a chocolate glaze for the eclairs and I figured it would be easy enough to use that as a base to dip a few strawberries. Those plus a few blackberries would add some color and be a good garnish for the patters. Ellen and Mark added some cookies, ruggala and chocolate chip Mandelbrot (like a biscotti) and some cheese and crackers for Annalee and Jerry and another woman donated a large plate of chocolate chip cookies.

Well, the long and short of it is, we ended up with about one large platter for every two people in attendance.  Mark estimated there were about 40 people present. I was pleased there were no eclairs left to bring home, and the Kouign-Amanns would likewise have disappeared had I not snuck some out for Frances. We will bring them to her tomorrow when we go to the Founder’s Day Party to celebrate the opening of the newest Coconut’s Fish Cafe, 20010 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, CA.

For some unknown reason the veggie platter was left all but untouched. (We left it for the Torah study group that meets Saturday mornings.)