Keller Family Blog

With so many wonderful young people in our youngest generation of Kellers and so many exciting futures ahead for them, I thought it perfect to begin sharing some of their stories by congratulating Josie Keller and Martin Kungys on their engagement! Some of you already know Martin well, but others don’t, so I would like to share with you how Larry and I came to meet him.

Larry and I met Martin as he was finishing up his last semester at California State University, Long Beach. I think he was majoring in Baking and Pastry Arts at the time. Josie brought him over to the house so we could meet him, and he us, and he brought along a beautiful cake he had made for us to share… absolutely delicious! It was a lovely visit, and we could see even then that there was something special between them. Martin is a very talented cook and baker, and as a natural extension of that, he is now specializing in Food Science at UC Davis. He is of German and Lithuanian descent. Wouldn’t Grandma/Great Grandma Keller have loved meeting him?

Martin and Josie met in 2020 when they were both working at Raley’s grocery store. This was when COVID was at its most dangerous, and when we were isolated from each other out of necessity. They liked each other right away and had already been exposed to each other through work, and so they began keeping company. That friendship continued to grow, and in 2026, they made their relationship official!

I couldn’t think of a more appropriate recipe to honor Josie and Martin than our Puff Pastry Apple and Raisin Strudel on page 60 of the Keller Family Cookbook! Recently, Josie made her first Apple Strudel from scratch with Martin’s mom. I bet she was a wonderful teacher! For the rest of us, the shortcut version of Apple Strudel gets us close and is almost foolproof! By the way, some of you know this already, but apple strudel was one of Jim Keller’s favorite desserts. We used to have conversations about how fun it would be to make one, and how delicious it would taste, still warm, with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream alongside! (That was Grandpa’s contribution!) Between time and distance, we never did manage to make that apple strudel, but we got very close to it one day at Grandma/Great Grandma’s house. We had our recipe, our ingredients, and Grandma was at the ready to help. But something interrupted our plans that day, and the opportunity never presented itself again. Not to get too deep into this, but there’s a life lesson here. I shouldn’t have let it drop. This was before Grandma’s eyes began to fail, so there was still time. How great it would have been to have had that experience and maybe even some photos to remember it by. Even though that day never happened, the plan doesn’t need to end there. I just need to be more determined to not let time slip away next time. Carpe Diem, family!

The Keller family received wonderful news today! This afternoon, April 1, we learned that Stefan and Hayley are engaged! First Josie, now Stefan…there’s definitely love in the air for the Keller family! Perhaps Jenness could tell us a little bit about Hayley, how she and Stefan met, and what a favorite recipe of theirs might be?

And so, I end the first of two April Keller family blogs with heartfelt congratulations to Stefan and Hayley, and a very special congratulations to Mom! ❤️

p.s. I was originally going to publish the April blog on Jim’s birthday, but with such great news to share, I decided to send it off today, instead. I have a fun one ready to go on April 11. Perhaps Jenness would like May? If not – I know she has several trips planned in the next couple of months – I’ll see if I can get some information about Stefan and Hayley, a few more photos, and hopefully, in May, we’ll all get to know Hayley better. Happy Easter to all of you! 🐤🐰