As a nurse, I love my visits with Esther. She is a sweet lady in her 90s, who lives alone in an apartment building complex. Her home health aide visits every day to help her out, but Esther is mostly independent.
Esther is full of energy and personality, and like a lot of mothers and grandmothers, she is always eager to feed me. Esther and I have long conversations about what she and the aide prepare for dinner and where the recipes originate. One of Esther’s favorite foods is herring. Herring is a common ingredient in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, served pickled or brined, which makes it high in sodium content. This is a big problem for Esther since she has heart disease.