Livin' the Latke Life

Sunday, December 21, 2008

I realize I've blogged about latkes a LOTTT lately, but what can I say? I've had latkes five times in the past seven days. Tuesday was Latkes & Vodkas; Wednesday was my office's Chanukah party (at which I was gifted 5 lbs. of hideous stationary in a White Elephant exchange) and Thursday was my friend Joanna's Christmukkah shindig.

And tonight? Tonight was Chef Spike's Latke Mania at a local synagogue, where Spike Mendelsohn, a former contestant on Bravo's "Top Chef" (which is only my
favorite show), taught an audience of a couple hundred how to make everyone's favorite Chanukah treats.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2349/2418756298_33c2a121fc_o.jpg

Joining Spike in the makeshift kitchen - on the bima, no less! - was his mom, which was cute & uber-Jewish, although she talked muuuch more than he did. Together, they showed us how to make regular (but gourmet!) latkes & applesauce plus sweet potato & zucchini latkes (um, separately, not together, because that would be sick). The first bummer? I don't have a kitchen in my teensy-weensy studio apartment, so I won't be whipping up a batch of my own potato pancakes anytime soon.


But the biggest bummer was that at night's end, the only latke that ended up in my stomach was a little half-dollar-sized shenanigan that just served to tease my palette -- even cold, it was a delight, & the homemade applesauce was swoon-worthy. The fried rice I consumed later in the evening came in at a very sad second place compared to what could've been, had the Latke Mania folks allowed each audience member more than a mere half a latke. Very, very disappointing.

3 comments:

  1. I keep reading about these Latkes and thinking I must eat one. But up until this post I didn't know what one was. I will be honest, I know very little about Jewish culture. Your blog is both entertaining and educational. Anyway, this morning I realized I think I have eaten one! My mom and I used to eat at this Jewish deli in Florida. We would get these potato pancakes that were served with sour cream and applesauce. Is this the same thing?? If so, I love Latkes they are yummy : ).

    ReplyDelete
  2. You really don't have a kitchen? How do you EAT?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Since you're on the subject of latkes, you might like this picture book:

    http://www.lookybook.com/mainpage.php?name_id=1338

    ReplyDelete

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