Hanukkah dinner

[calimac]

While my mother was living, it was tradition to have her over for dinner each year at this time, for which I'd make the same traditional menu. (When we met to dine on other occasions, we usually went out.) Now that she's gone, we're transferring the tradition to B's sister G. and her husband M. Except that, instead of their coming here, we went to their house. Less cleaning up for us, less cat allergy for G.

But I still cooked, and made the same traditional meal. I e-mailed G. a complete list of all the pots and pans and measuring tools and utensils and all that I'd need for cooking and serving, and she laid them all out on the counter so that I wouldn't have to go hunting for them in unfamiliar cabinets, and I introduced my gentile relatives to gefilte fish, matzo ball soup, and latkes, none of which they'd ever encountered before. I had to explain what they all were (the explanation of matzo balls began with a reference to the Exodus ...), and, surprise, they liked them. M., a true trencherman, was particularly taken with the latkes, though to him fried potato evokes breakfast, and even the gefilte fish, if it had enough horseradish on it. Although I'd wanted to try this experiment, I would have expected that non-Jews would be as repulsed by gefilte fish as non-Americans usually are by root beer.

Cooking on somebody else's stove is like driving somebody else's car. It can be disconcertingly different, even if the rules are the same. This was the first time I'd used a gas stove that took longer to boil a pot of water than an electric stove does, though I may be biased by having a very fast stove at home (and an even faster oven, which requires great caution and vigilance).

After dinner (which also included steamed broccoli, our favorite veggie) came the exchange of presents - B's from me was the new Brocelïande album, a Christmasy item, but by that token one best enjoyed during the season, before Christmas arrives - and then playing dreidel with chocolate gelt. Now, it is a strange thing, but though dreidels were a frequent decoration of my childhood Hanukkahs, and I knew the rules for the game, I cannot recall ever having actually played it before. Of this game I will note only two things: 1) Some dreidels are designed to be spun easily and some are not; 2) Somebody should really conduct an "honest dreidel" test the way they've done honest coin tests, to see if coins really do come out 50% heads and 50% tails.

We'll do this again next year, and see if we can get any of G. and M.'s offspring to come.

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

How can anyone not like latkes?

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Me, actually. I left that irony out. I dislike the taste of potato, and anything made from it that isn't totally fried to a crisp. I make the latkes, but I eat the rest of the matzo ball soup.

[brithistorian.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a wonderful evening.

Non-Americans generally don't like root beer?

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask exactly the same thing. I hardly ever drink it now, but it seems inoffensive.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I've tried it on some European visitors who made horrible faces. They say it tastes like toothpaste or, if they're familiar with it, bubble gum. Anecdotal evidence for this is extensive.

[(Anonymous)]

That's interesting. The few non-Americans I tried it on really liked it. My British boyfriend thought it tasted like peppermint with a bit of licorice.

[danceswithwaves.livejournal.com]

Sorry, the anon is me. Livejournal keeps logging me out and I don't notice right away.

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

I took some Necco wafers to Britain once, and they were almost universally reviled. Apparently they're the same flavors still used for medicine over there. (Me, I still prefer those flavors to overly sweet nasty cherry flavor that so many childhood prescriptions used.)

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Medicinal flavor trumps all. When I was about 5, I was put on a long course of some nasty medicine that was banana-flavored. Up until that time, I liked bananas. Ever since, even to this day, the mere thought of eating one repulses me.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

My first experience of latkes was at a "concert" performance of The MeshugaNutcracker at the late lamented RetroDome just before they closed. I discovered that I liked them, and now order them whenever we eat at the Manhattan Deli at the Atlantis Hotel in Reno, usually also having their matzo ball soup.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I had matzo ball soup at the Atlantis deli. It was very good, on par with the best deli soups around here.

But now the memory is making me sad, for one of my dining companions was Stu Shiffman.

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

What a great idea, pulling out all the tools in advance for the guest chef. Life should be easier, yes?

Do you make your own gefilte fish? Moshe Y makes theirs, but then he also lives in West Rogers Park (in Chicago), where the proper ingredients are reliably available.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I've never made it from scratch: it's very labor-intensive. I have, however, cooked pre-made frozen loaves. This time, however, it was the basic off-the-shelf jar.