Keeping Kosher

A few of the people I work with are Jewish, including my boss. There is one man in particular who is just so nice. He is not frum, but he must know quite a bit about it. He is really understanding of all my kashrut restrictions. One day when there was a cake ordered he reassured me that it didn't taste very good anyway, and I shouldn't feel bad that I couldn't eat it. He even offered to bring me a babka, which I told him wasn't necessary.

Today he brought some cookies in that his wife had made. He specifically came up to me and explained that all the ingredients that were used to make the cookies were kosher, he even specified that they all had an O-U on them. But he told me that they weren't cooked in a kosher kitchen, so he wasn't sure if I would eat them or not, but he didn't know how strict I am.

I explained to him that I don't eat foods out of a non-kosher kitchen. He seemed okay with it, but I still felt bad. It's nice to have some kind of connection with someone based on being Jewish (because I don't always feel it with other Jews). I hate that there is still a barrier present between us.