I LIKE YOU A LATKE: Hadassah Cookbook Latke Recipe

 Happy Chanukkah, friends! I'm quickly popping in to share my mom's amazing latke recipe with you (which actually comes from Rochester's Hadassah Cookbook). I may be biased, but I really do think her latkes are the best – and they really aren't all that difficult to make! I'm not a recipe blogger, so I stuck to the basics. Let me know if you make these or if you need clarification! (By the way, here's a link to my latke sweatshirt!)

Ingredients

6-8 red potatoes
1 medium white onion
2 Tbsp sour cream
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Vegetable oil (corn oil)
Extra sour cream and applesauce for serving

Directions

Peel and grate your potatoes, either by hand or in a blender/food processor. Transfer your grated potatoes into a large bowl. You can drain or wring out the excess water, but (and this is a VERY controversial opinion) you don't necessarily need to. Add the sour cream to keep the potatoes from turning brown. Then, add eggs and mix together. Add onion, flour, salt, and pepper and mix well. Pour a generous amount of vegetable oil into a large skillet (or two) on medium-high heat. When the oil is heated, add your potato mixture in cookie-sized portions and fry. They do not need to be neat! If they're freeform, they'll get those crispy edges. Flip once the latkes are golden brown on one side (you may need to flip them a second time to get them extra crispy!). When the latkes are done frying, remove them from the skillet and place them on a paper towel. Repeat this process until all the potato mixture has been used (makes around 30 latkes). Serve with sour cream, applesauce, sugar and cinnamon, or toppings of your choice and enjoy!

Menorah

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah, so I'm taking a break from red and green to dress up like a little latke! I really love that I grew up celebrating both Chanukah and Christmas. There's so much that I love about these holidays (getting the chance to wear thematic outfits is chief among them) and I think it's so special that I get to partake in these family traditions. I actually don't have a menorah in my apartment and I might not get to have any latkes 'til next week, but I'm definitely celebrating in my heart – and in my outfit.

I don't really own any ugly Christmas sweaters, so this ugly amazing, light-up Chanukah sweater is really the first of its kind in my closet. Target had a bunch of Chanukah sweaters last year but they were available only online. So when I saw this one in the store, I had to snatch it up. Its light-up feature is actually fantastic (it changes colors!), but it wouldn't show up in these photos, sadly. You'll have to take my word for it that it's GREAT – plus, it's super warm and comfy. As you can tell, we got some snow, so it's great timing! I'll probably wear this sweater with leggings for Chanukah (more room for latkes), but I thought this Tatyana skirt was such a perfect color match that I had to try these two pieces out together.

Outfit Details

Light-Up Chanukah Sweater: Target

Skirt: Tatyana (similar here)

White boots: similar

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Festival of lights

Outfit Details:

Nishe star dress: eBay (similar styles here and here)

Light blue tights: ModCloth (similar at Topshop)

Star and arrow necklace: Forever 21 (only $0.99!!)

White flats: yeswalker (on sale!)

Sooo... as you may have guessed from the change of scenery... it is getting really cold and snowy here (we got a ton of snow last night!), and it is thus very difficult to take pictures when not wearing unstylish-yet-functional footwear!  In addition, my tripod is now quasi-broken.  Two of the legs are missing one screw each (and I have no idea where they went!), so the whole thing is really wobbly.  It's probably because I kind of haul it around with reckless abandon.  It isn't staying balanced very well, obviously, and I'm too afraid to risk bringing it back outside and having my camera fall on the ground.  Luckily, I do have some outfit photos on reserve, and I'm asking for a DSLR -- and now, a tripod -- for the holidays... so keep your fingers crossed on that.  AND if you have any DSLR-related advice, I would so appreciate your input.  I'm clearly still a bit of a novice and everything I do is trial-and-error, so I would really love to hear any advice you'd have to offer on make and model (I'm leaning toward a Canon, though I don't really know why, but other than that, I know nothing), as well as lenses, remotes (i.e., should I get one?), etc.  I will probably just need to go to a camera store, but trying to do research on my own is incredibly daunting.  I've asked for advice with this before, but I'm still pretty confused!  I need to figure it out soon, because the holidays are almost upon us!

Actually, the holidays really start today, at least for me.  Tonight is the first night of Chanukah!  I usually end up wearing something involving navy blue on Chanukah (it just seems apropos, for some reason), and I was really wishing that I had a galaxy dress (like this one!), because Chanukah always makes me think of stars and skies and things.  But then I remembered I had this dress -- which I was thinking of selling --- and it just reminded me of the Chanukahs of my childhood!  I think the brightly colored stars remind me of the Chanukah candles we always used, or something.  And I just love the buttons!  I already have a bunch of dresses by Nishe, so I was thinking of selling this in a forthcoming shop my closet update... but now I'm not sure!  I have a lot of trouble letting go of material possessions (I'm an only child, so I guess it sorta makes sense), even if I could make some money off of them.  I think this dress might be too cute to sell, though.  I still haven't decided.

We celebrate both Chanukah and Christmas in my house, but as I've gotten older, Chanukah has kind of fallen by the wayside.  My mom grew up Lutheran and converted to Judaism when she married my dad, so I am technically fully Jewish, but I've always loved being able to celebrate both sets of holidays with family.  My family seems to be shrinking more and more as I get older, and because I'm an only child (and newly single), this fact seems more and more pronounced.  I know we're having latkes tonight (and for a woman who didn't grow up Jewish, my mom makes THE best latkes!), and then my mom will be cooking up a storm tomorrow for Thanksgiving.  I don't really get Chanukah presents anymore (I think the last one I got was in high school, and it was a new hair dryer... haha), so Christmas is kind of the big gift holiday for us.  We always open presents on Christmas Eve (we get mostly silly stocking stuffers on actual Christmas), and we usually end up going to a movie on Christmas Day (we're thinking Anchorman 2 this year).  Sometimes we are typical Jews and eat Chinese food, too.  What are some of your holiday traditions??  I'm always interested to see how traditions evolve, both from family to family and throughout the years!

Have a great day -- and a great Chanukah, if you celebrate!

xox Sammi