Happy Hanukkah

 

Saturday, December 8, 2012 – Happy Hanukkah

 

For the first night of Hanukkah, Matt came over with a couple of friends, making it a very joyous occasion.  After we lit the first night candle in the menorah and said the Hebrew blessings, we explained the history of the holiday to his (non-Jewish) friends and the significance of eating food cooked in oil.  I made two kinds of latkes – the regular potato kind, and curried sweet potato pancakes, my personal favorite.  I found the recipe about four or five years ago in Joan Nathan’s excellent book, Jewish Cooking in America, and they instantly became a Hanukkah tradition in our family.  These tasty latkes are good with applesauce, cranberry relish, Greek yogurt, sour cream, or just plain.  I should have taken a photo of the platter piled high with the golden crispy pancakes.  Alas, they all disappeared before I could get my camera.

I was so happy that Matt loved the sweet potato latkes because his taste in food is still somewhat limited.  In fact, I think I’ll ask him to come back before Hanukkah is over so I can show him how to make them.  Another Hanukkah tradition is donuts, a stand-in for Israeli sufganiyot, small fried balls of dough filled with jelly. I don’t even attempt to make these at home so Matt brought over an assortment from Dunkin’ Donuts for our dessert.  After dinner, we all played the game of dreidl, but not for money.  It was a wonderful start to the eight-day Jewish festival of lights.  I just wish Elisa and Christian could have shared the holiday celebration with us.  I’ll have to cook some latkes for them the next time I go up to New York.