Meet Ramona, co-host of our first party--a latke party that I attended with Stella the other day. Ramona is the wife of one of my former teachers, a teacher who enjoys his anonymity. Suffice it to say that I was flattered to be invited to this teacher's latke party (I didn't even know this teacher was Jewish) and I was fascinated at how his wife, Ramona, prepared her latkes.
Preparing latkes at the latke party was a communal process. Party-goers signed up on a latke-making list and then, when their name was called, the party-goer would be asked to grate potatoes on a box grater:
This gave the party-goer a physical connection to the latkes the party-goer was about to eat. Then the grated potatoes would go in a colander where they were salted and left to drain. Once drained of moisture, the shredded potato was mixed with egg and matzoh meal:
And then it was fry time. Ramona made them into balls and then flattened them on to her seasoned griddle pan (that's a griddle pan, right?)
Look how beautiful and golden brown they get!
This party-goer thoroughly enjoyed his latkes and his participation in the latke making process. And that concludes our visit to our first party, a latke party. Thanks Ramona and anonymous teacher! It was fun!
Comments (6)
Those look great! I had latkes for the first time last weekend, they're AMAZING.
Posted by Lu | December 21, 2006 8:35 AM
mmm!...good.
Posted by stella | December 21, 2006 9:58 AM
My daughter is lactose intolerant so I had to substitute rice flour for matzoh meal. The latkes still came out crips and yummy.
Posted by laura | December 21, 2006 10:55 AM
Whoops. What I meant to say in my post is that my daughter is gluten intolerant; thus, the need to use rice flower instead of matzoh meal.
Posted by laura | December 21, 2006 11:00 AM
Ah, yessss, spudcakes! These, along with pork fat, are proof that God is a foodie and loves us!
Posted by Joyce | December 21, 2006 2:24 PM
I can't believe I wasn't there to meet you and flip my share of latkes! Maybe next year, in the village.
Posted by emily Jenkins | December 30, 2006 6:48 PM