Comments on: 8 Chanukah Mysteries Revealed

By: Stew

Stew — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:05:54 +0000

MJ and Jenna have it right. My mouth is watering just reading their recipes. My Mom used to have my brother and I grate 5 lbs of potatoes. Less than half made it to the table. We’d eat most of them fresh out of the frying pan (well we waited a few minutes so we wouldn’t burn our mouths). We always stacked them on paper towels to absorb the oil.

I prefer mine, very thin and crispy.

By: MetFanMac

MetFanMac — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:47:58 +0000

Vickey – it’s because they’re oil candles and therefore have to be lit by an outside source (the wax candle).

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:12:36 +0000

Latkes? LOVE some. Gelt? Great!

But when/how did the donuts come into play? I don’t remember these.

By: Steven

Steven — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:02:23 +0000

My Freshman year at college, the dorm cafeteria was very proud to announce that they were serving potato pancakes for Chanukah. They couldn’t understand why none of the Jewish students were taking them, after all, they were potato pancakes…like blueberry pancakes or chocolate chip pancakes. The following year, they got it right.

By: David H.

David H. — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:20:00 +0000

Vickey, you’ve made an astute observation.
The hand is holding what appears to be the shamash, in which case that central flame shouldn’t be burning, because IT should be the shamash.

I can’t explain it. As Barack Obama said, “This one is above my pay grade.”

By: Vickey

Vickey — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:10:00 +0000

So why does the picture at the top of the page show 10 candles?? 9 in the Menorah, and one lighting them….

By: David H.

David H. — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:56:00 +0000

Thanks, Kikadee. I hope you and everyone else enjoyed your latkes. I also highly recommend a good jelly doughnut.

By: Kikadee

Kikadee — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:14:00 +0000

Grateful for this, David, very interesting, and I’ve always wanted to know! I also see I’m not the only one with a craving for latkes after reading this…. I know what I’m having for dinner!

By: Derek

Derek — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:02:00 +0000

Oooh. Latkes with sour cream and apple sauce. (Googles nearest kosher deli.)

Kansas City?!? crud. What I wouldn’t give to be near Corky & Lenny’s right now. Wait a minute! They ship Fed Ex overnight? Hot dang!

By: Deborah Holzel

Deborah Holzel — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:50:00 +0000

The best latkes always contain a little skin and blood left by a mother in the process of grating the potatoes. Our own mother continued grating by hand even after trying a food processor–the texture of the latkes was wrong.

I’m a little suspicious of the timing of the holiday being historically based. It conveniently falls at the same time as the solstice holidays which are, of course, festivals of light.