The Lakewood book club, The Book Trotters, met Monday evening at Times Ten Cellar in Lakewood to discuss this month’s book selection—“The Marriage of Opposites,”by Alice Hoffman. 

Set on the island of St. Thomas, it is a forbidden love story about Rachel, the woman who gave birth to Camille Pissarro—the Father of Impressionism. 

Magic realism is often used to describe Alice Hoffman’s writing genre and in “The Marriage of Opposites” the beauty of the CaribbeanVirginIsland gave plenty of opportunity to showcase her beautiful prose. 

Rachel, brought up in a small Jewish community on the island by a strong Jewish mother, finds it difficult to live by the rules.  In spite of her rebellion, she is forced to marry a widower with three children in order to save her father’s business.  When her husband dies and his young, handsome nephew comes to St. Thomas to settle the estate everything changes.    

Club member Ann McCann selected the book and all of the members expressed how much they enjoyed reading it.  To farther explore the history associated with the story, Ann brought along a beautiful coffee table book of Impressionism highlighting the period’s paintings and authors. 

As hostess, Ann served bagels with lox and cream cheese and a delicious homemade dish of Noodle Kugel, following a recipe perfected by Ina Garten.  

Try it for dinner on a school night.  Sweet and savory, even the kids might like it. 

Noodle Kugel 

Ingredients

1 pound wide egg noodles

5 extra-large eggs 

 4 cups half-and-half

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup golden raisins 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 10 by 13 by 2 1/4-inch baking dish. Drizzle some oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Cook the noodles for 6 to 8 minutes, until just tender. Drain.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Stir in the ricotta and raisins. Add the drained noodles.

Pour the noodle mixture into the baking dish. Place the filled dish in a larger pan and pour in enough hot water to come halfway up the sides. Cover the entire assembly with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 45 minutes, or until the custard is just set.