Have you ever had a latke? Do you prefer traditional, sweet potato, apple, zucchini or cheese? Have you ever tried Sufganiyot?(it's a jelly doughnut without the hole!) When I started looking at food served during Hanukkah, I have to wonder if there aren't Jewish roots somewhere in my family tree? Aunt Marilyn always made the very best braided bread - is that Challah? Spaetzlis - the same ingredients for Grandma Myrtle's egg noodles! And yes, Grandma Moore made potato pancakes - so she made latkes all year long!
Most cooking traditions are handed down from one generation to the next. A holiday favorite of mine was always a jelly roll - we would roll out thin slices of cake, layer it with jelly, roll it up and slice it. How close is that to Sufganiyot?
Tonight, I'm taking a tutorial that Linda Hanson did on the After Midnight Ranch blog and adding another ingredient to come up with something just a little different - putting my spin on her technique. And I just have to wonder if the same thing doesn't happen in the kitchen? Grandma's potato pancakes could well have been latkes a few generations back. And my other Grandma's egg noodles - were they once Spaetzlis?
On this 4th night of lights - may you have have good food - both the kind that feeds your body....and the kind of "food" that feeds your soul.
