A Grate Miracle Happened There

Chanukah is fast approaching and visions of latkes are dancing in my head. Reading up on recipes in the NYTimes I began to notice that as most Jewish holidays involve food, and most Jewish holidays involve labour-intensive food. What kind of Jew would you be if you didn't have to (have the opportunity to complain about) mixing the sweat and tears of your labour into the potato latkes it took you 3 hours to make, or the charoset you painstakingly chopped so that it would adhere to the matzo enough to not stain your tablecloth with wayward manischevitz-coated-apples, but not be so sticky that we wouldn't be reminded of the pain and toil caused by the crappy mortar the Egyptians forced the Jews to use to build the... I don't know, what were we building?* Back to the point - when perusing through recipes I found a new, simple, common denominator. No, it's not the way to get tasty desserts dairy-free and onto a fleisch (meat) table and still keep kosher, it's the call to use this:

Whether it's to process potatoes for latkes (finely grated or in longer grated chunks), make charoset, the filling in babka, or even challah dough itself, the Food Processor has become in my mind the most Jewish of kitchen appliances. If my Jewish friends are settled enough to have a kitchen appliance they have a food processor, even if it's only used once or twice a year.

Growing up, my family had a heavy duty one that came out for latke making and I suspect that my sister and I will fight to the death over who will inherit that tan and brown, late 70s style, powerhouse of a processor. (she gets the kitchenaid mixer L and I received one - from her- as a wedding present). My dad doesn't know what happened to my family's Judaica, and so the cuisinart has now taken the place of silver candle sticks and a family seder plate. (And if this isn't a story of Jewish American assimilation/integration/whatever you want to call it, I don't know what is).

I have a cuisinart miniprep that is great for salsa, pesto, and charoset but no where near designed to make latkes, so I do them by hand. Although I'd love to bring a larger version of the cuisinart into my home and make latke-making a little less labour intensive, I actually take pleasure in the pain of grating potatoes and sweet potatoes for the holiday.** I think we'll be doing zucchini, potato, and sweet potato latkes (separate, not together), this year. So if you are celebrating Chanukah, a minor Jewish holiday that has morphed into a majorish American Jewish holiday, Happy Chaunkah! It's time to haul out the food processor or grater, fry some potatoes, and sink into a crispy, carb-fueled stupor.

* Were we even enslaved in Egypt? Does it even matter? Oy.

** Or maybe that's just what I tell myself :)

Home Safely

I'm back in CA and glad to be home. The flight was fine, customs was fine, and I'm happy to be back to L, proper filter coffee, Oona, and our little home (that now feels quite palatial). I'm taking Monday off but will be back to work on Tuesday, so if you're on campus you may find me kicking around. For now I'm just catching up with email and getting some help from my new favorite lap warmer:

Last Night in London

In about 12 hours I will begin hauling the crap I've managed to shove into my bags, onto the tube, and depart for Heathrow. I ended my stay with a few final hours of research followed by a trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum's recently re-opened Medieval and Renaissance Europe wing. It was a good end to a fantastic trip. (photo taken Sept 28, 2009)

I've loved pretty much every minute I've been here and I'm so thankful for this time. I showed

up stressed and terrified about the viability of

my project - I'm leaving much calmer with a strong feeling of accomplishment. It didn't rain

much while I was here but the last week has been dribbley. Even dealing with the rain is easier here (its light and spread out out the day, opposed to CA where every January the weather

seems to say "huh... hasn't been rainy in a while, let's dump 6 inches on Nor Cal in 10 hours! Weee!"). (Departure, taken Dec 4, 2009)

Christmas lights are up all over the city and I'll end this post with a recent pic.

The lights on my Street: