You guys? I experienced my first Hannukah. Growing up in the Irish Catholic, working class burbs of Philadelphia didn't lend itself to too many Hannukahs. In fact, I didn't know my first Jewish person until I was in high school and even then, it was the doctor my mom worked for. Fast forward 15 years and I've got not one but two (count em two!) Jewish friends. This lack of diversity is probably due to my friends all being ones I went to Catholic school with. But hey, it's two more Jews than I used to have! And being friends with Jews means we get to experience one of the eight craaaaaazy nights with them. So that's what we did.
Now from my understanding, Hannukah has something to do with oil and candles. This translated into frying up latkes (in oil) and lighting up pretty blue candles. We were all quite perplexed by the color of the latkes. The potatoes, my friends, were gray. Any idea why they would turn gray? We were guessing some sort of chemical reaction to sitting in the metal bowl but we're clueless. Gray or not, they were freakin delicious.
And apparently brisket is the go-to main dish. Fall apart tender meat...mmm....
Hot cherry covered, cheese-filled blintzes can do no wrong...
Either can adorable little girls...oh wait, yes they can...
Stop staring at the massive rock on this girl's finger and focus on the candles people!
Don't you love handing over your camera to people? It's such a crapshoot. Points for getting the candles in the shot but demerits for being a midget and not using the right setting.
So it turns out, I love me some Hannukah. Hopefully since I didn't take part in the Hebrew singing portion of the evening, they'll invite us back next year. If I would have, we'd not only not get invited back, we'd probably be down to only one Jewish friend. And one is the loneliest nummmmber..
Do I have any Jewish blog readers? I'd like to add you to my count. You know, so I have more dinner options next year. Oh and so I can wish you a Happy Hannukah!
11 comments:
Mazel Tov!
I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't meet my first Jewish friend until I moved to the city.
I thought they were a myth.
Stupid catholic school.
Fun little facts: JEGs' family is Jewish, so I know a whole gaggle of Jews.
Anyway, my friend Justin is Jewish and let me say, he is the crappiest Jew ever. We are going to his house tonight for a "Hanukkah Hang" were we are going to eat breakfast food and play some game that he forgets the rules to every year.
:::shakes head:::
I envy your legit Hanukkah dinner. I'm not even going to bother bringing my camera.
LB
Yum. Brisket. I am now very very hungry.
Oh I am loving all of these dishes
I am one of your blog readers and 100 percent Jewish. You can count me.
Maybe the potatoes were actually trying to turn blue so that they could be more festive? It probably was a reaction of some sort- metal or air. I made some chips the other day and mine started turning pink-ish from sitting out on paper towels waiting their turn in the hot oil bath.
I have a jewish friend that is seriously legit. We went to middle school together, different high schools, and then ended up in the School of Educ at the same college. We're great friends again. Anyway....she went on this trip to Israel and met a hot Israeli soldier named "Or" while there. Now she LIVES IN ISRAEL and they're getting married! Crazyyyyy! Oh, and I've been teaching my kindergarteners about Hanukkah this week and the dreidel song has been stuck in my head all day.
Half Jew right here. Invite me over for appetizers, kick me out before dinner. Hmm...I wonder why the potatoes turned gray? Did you soak them in water after peeling, cause if not that could definitely be the cause of the discoloration.
wow! sounds like an experience! it's always interesting to step into someone else's traditions. hope you can do it again next year too!
The potatoes probably turned gray front shredding them in advance before cooking. If you don't boil or cook them immediately after shredding them, they turn gray. It's due to the cells not being denatured in the vegetable. Similar to an avocado or apple browning without the help of lemon juice or cooking.
Catching up with all my posts in reader, thus the late (and my first!) comment.
Potatoes oxidize very quickly once they're peeled/sliced/shredded. Next time as you're shredding, place everything in a bowl of really cold water and it will prevent the potatoes from graying. Then drain, lay out a dish towel and pour the potato shreds in the towel, roll it up and squeeze out the excess moisture. Then you proceed with the recipe and fry and you'll have the most delicious (and beautiful) latkes!
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