New York City is a grid of coincidences, avenues and streets of meshed connections and if you live there long enough even your childhood best friend from Maryland ends up working for your former assistant principal at a school in Lower Manhattan. Jason is my soul-sibling, and he had moved to New York for Mary Mount Manhattan’s theater program. Almost five years later, he beckoned me to come up to. I had nothing going on in my life except a broken heart so the next thing I know, Jason and I are in a U-Haul with my futon in the back heading to Astoria. Seven years after that, the assistant principal, Liz, a truly crazy, but brilliant* passionate Polish lady who was kind and also the best delegator this side of Warsaw was getting her own school. Jason, randomly, of all the people in the city, was going to run her college prep in house not- for-profit organization. Like I said, random, crazy coincidence.
Before I knew the school Jason was going to work inside was Elizabeth’s, he one day asked me to meet him at the German bar downtown called Zum Schneider. This was an extraordinary event, because, aside from southern themed bar karaoke nights**, the last time I had seen Jason in a bar without cocktails and dancing was never. Especially one where I don’t even think they served anything but beer and cider. But I was so excited to meet up with him there to hear about his job I said yes before he could realize what in Bavaria he was getting into.
Zum Schneider is a very lively place and was way more cozy than the beer gardens I was used to in Astoria and Brooklyn, where the tables seem to go on forever and no one there is born before German reunification. Zum Schneider is loud, smells like beer and is crowded pretty much all the time with people from every decade of life. As Jason and I made our way back from the bar and looked for a table, in a scene right out of a bad cold war spy movie, a thin blond lady slowly turned around to face us and said in Elizabeth’s thick Polish drawl, “Hello, Talia.” Jason gave one of his trademark laugh gasps and I was seriously confused- it was one of those moments where you suddenly wonder if this whole time if you were really awake and were not dreaming. They both started laughing uncontrollably and let it spill out between breaths that they now worked together and had planned this whole bar trip to freak me out. Elizabeth had an order of pretzels, warm, on our table and as I took a bite between glugs of my cider I thought, if this is a freaky dream, I don’t want to wake up.
If you have 90 minutes, you too can have all the deliciousness of a soft, fresh baked pretzel on your table at home. Crazy Polish lady not included. Nor is a cute guy in lederhosen. We can’t have everything in life, people.
*(ok, so one time she didn’t know how to peel a banana from the right side, but in every other interaction I was wowed by her kooky and fast brain. )
** Yes these are a thing in NYC. yes, we went to hundreds of them. Going despite my slight phobia of all things southern is a testament to how much I love Jason and karaoke.
soft pretzels
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup water (for dough)
- 1 tbs sugar
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 pack active dry yeast
- 22 ounces all purpose flour
- 2 ounces butter
- vegetable oil
- 10 cups water (for the pot)
- 2/3 cup baking soda (for the pot)
- 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbs water
- pretzel salt (good luck finding this)
Instructions
- combine water, sugar and salt in stand mixer, sprinkle yeast on top and let it sit for 5 minutes, it should get foamy
- add flour and butter, mix on low speed until well combined, 5 minutes
- place dough in bowl rubbed with vegetable oil, cover and place in warm spot for 55 minutes
- pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F, line two sheet pans with parchment paper and oil.
- boil 10 cups of water with baking soda
- divide dough into eight pieces, roll each piece like you are making a snake in an introduction pottery class, take the ends, cross over and press onto sides of the u shape (make it into a pretzel shape)
- drop your dough pretzel into boiling water for 30 seconds
- place on sheet pan, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with pretzel salt
- bake for 12-14 minutes, until amber-brown in color
- let them cool and then dunk in mustard and have a beer!
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