Gifts on a Stick

I'm probably the last one to blog about these.  I know...I made them last year too.  But they're just so friggin cute and delicious to boot.  I think these make a nice gift all winter long (hostess, Valentine, whatever).

The recipe is here from King Arthur.  I made another recipe last year that had cocoa and they just weren't as good.  Nothing beats realchocolate and heavy cream.  Just make sure you don't cut your tongue on the sweetened condensed milk can.  

I have no personal experience with this, I've just *heard* it can happen.

Anyway, here's the step by delicious step:

Okay, not exactly step by step, but melting chocolate isn't very interesting.  So, I simmered the heavy cream and condensed milk and then dumped the chocolates in and melted them. Then I poured the whole mess into a *foil-lined pan.  *Note: HH thought I was a genius even though I told him this wasn't my trick.  To line a pan with foil, turn the pan over and then smooth the foil on, folding corners like a present.  Then flip pan right side up and the foil slides right in.

 So the recipe says to let it sit overnight but who has time for that? Let it set up a bit (why? I don't know) at room temp and then throw it into the fridge until it's solid.  Then, cut into 36 squares.

While those bad boys are setting up, you're going to make your own marshmallows.  YES.  You ARE.  Because it's easy and because the crap in the supermarket is only good for camping trips after you've tasted these!  Follow this recipe but don't line the pan with parchment and do NOT sprinkle the pan with a mixture of cornstarch and powdered sugar, even if you've heard this is the right thing to do.  Because corn starch is gross and makes a squeaky sound akin to Styrofoam and I hate that.  Just spray the pan with nonstick spray, sift some powdered sugar over the top of the goo once you've poured it in, and  when they're ready, dump them out onto more powdered sugar.  Cutting them is a pain in the butt--I've tried scissors with success but think I'm going to try my mondo pizza cutter next time.  Because there will be a next time.

Now get ready for sticking!  You've already bought some sticks from here, right?  Next time I'm going to put them on a candy cane, I think.  Yeah.  Anyway, line everything up and have at it.  After I was done putting everything together on a big piece of parchment, I cut it into squares around the chocolate so they wouldn't stick to the plastic wrap I was wrapping them with.  LEARN FROM ME:This was stupid.  Spend about 3 minutes cutting out about a million 2-inch squares and then plop the finished stick onto the squares instead of cutting around them like an idiot.  I'm here to make the mistakes so you don't have to.  I'm a giver.

See? Like this.  I got smart(er) with the second batch.  Then wrap them up in nice cellophane or not-as-nice saran wrap because damn-it, that's what you have lying around, and tie with a ribbon.  I put 4-6 each in coffee bags with windows I got from here last year.  I'm almost out of them and I love them. Then give to your friends and they can make this:

Or they can just be like my barbarians children and eat the whole thing right off the stick. Whatever.

A Very Jewish Christmas

I have always loved Christmas.  When I was a kid I celebrated it the way a lot of people do--not religiously but in a steeped-in-tradition way.  When I converted to Judaism, I only celebrated it with my parents, not in my own home. I cried for about 3 years in a row, driving home to my apartment I shared with HH that did not have a Christmas tree.  It was a huge transition for me and really, the only real one when I converted, this not celebrating Christmas in my own home. But I felt it was right one.  If I was going to embrace Judaism I was going to have to give up those old traditions and make my own new Jewish ones.

Chinese, Japanese, whatever.  It's not a baked ham.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Fast forward to now: I still love Christmas.  I love the tiny (and not so tiny) lights on the trees.  I love the giving.  I love the food.  And we have our own traditions. We always see a movie.    In the past we've gone to the movies with our non-Jewish friends who also see a movie every Christmas eve.  We often have Chinese food (like every other American Jew in the world). 

No teenagers were forced into having their picture taken here. This time.

Most of all what I love about Christmas is being together with my kids and HH in our undecorated Jewish house.  The best part is the being together with my little family part.  The kids literally have NOWHERE ELSE TO GO.  

This man would trade all this togetherness for more sushi.

Who needs caroling when you can eat chocolate mochi and play Boggle?

 It's a forced togetherness but I'll take what I can get.

Before and After

I'm totally copying {Design*Sponge} because I'm so proud that I got something done around the house.

BEFORE (duh)

AFTER

Credenza from {here}, painted with Martha paint in {Cornbread}, then distressed with sandpaper and finished with {Butcher's Wax}.  Total cost: $65.97.  Woo-hoo!

I Love My Girlfriends

L'Chaim!  Or however people on the Mayflower toasted Hanukkah.

Every time I have a party we have a million people and I love love love it.  The only thing I don't like is that it leaves me wanting more--more time to talk, more time to laugh with my girlfriends.  More time.

Her ankle injury was sustained before drinking.  I have no explanation for the glasses.

Even My Camera Has a Layer of Oil On It

 Hey kids!

It's time to celebrate the oiling of the colon!  

It's Hanukkah!

Seriously, I do this every year.  I make a ton of latkes the week before our annual Hanukkah Open House and I eat about a hundred of them while I'm making them until I make myself, well, sick (ifyaknowwhatImean).  

They are so delicious though.  Crispy around the edges, lacy and weirdly crablike in appearance, fluffy creamy and mashed potato-y in the middle....yum....

The recipe I'm going to share is the one I make all the time.  I see no reason to fiddle around with others.  It may seem like extra work if you're accustomed to making the regular shredded raw potato latke but it's the only way to get the crispy and fluffy combination that I love so much (you will too!). 

See?  Fluffy AND crispy!

I've posted the original recipe which I noted some time ago makes 6 dozen mini latkes (cocktail size--really mini) but I always triple it and get a couple pans of oil going to knock out a load of them.  I then *freeze them in a single layer on the pan they've been draining on and finally dump them into a plastic container.  The day of the party I take them out of the freezer and hour before and then recrisp them at about 300 degrees.  

After they've cooled to room temp, put them in the freezer just like this until they're solid

*IMPORTANT POINT: If you don't freeze them and instead make them fresh the day of your party your house will smell like Burger King.  AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY.  Reheating them during the party only makes them release a bit of their delicious scent--it won't be overpowering--and your guest will thank you for not sending them in their french fry-scented holiday sweaters.  Seriously, don't give people any more reasons for hating the Jews!

New-Age Latkes

{Marcy Goldman}

1 1/2-1 3/4 pound large red potatoes, whole (don't peel!)

1 medium onion, peeled and quartered

4 eggs

2 heaping tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Black pepper, to taste

 About a quart of vegetable or canola oil (oy!)

1. Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil on the stove.  When it comes to a boil, set a timer for 10 minutes and continue boiling.
2. Drain pot in colander and put potatoes back into the pot, covering with cold water.  Drain again and repeat with the cold water.  Let potatoes sit in cold water for 5 minutes.
3. Place your pan or pans over medium high heat and pour in about 2 inches of oil. Ideally, it should heat to 365 degrees, but I can't find my candy thermometer so I fry a cube of bread to see when it's ready (the bread immediately starts to brown when it's ready.) I LOVE my cast iron pan for this.  It holds the heat so well.  My other pan fluctuates in heat when I add the latke batter, which makes them greasier.  I also love that HH bought that pan for me at a garage sale for 25 cents.  Score!
4. Next, drain and dry the potatoes.  Really.  Put each of them on a paper towel and dry them off lovingly and thoroughly .
5. Now, either shred potatoes and onions in food processor using a shredding disc (the way I do it) or shred by hand into a large bowl.  Add eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, and pepper. Mix well (I use my hands) and taste to correct seasoning (don't be a panty-waist--the raw egg WILL NOT KILL YOU).
6. Time to fry!  Drop a teaspoon-ful if you want minis.  Go larger if you want them, well, larger.  The important thing is to let them go for a bit and not mess with them.  When you can see the edges begin to brown, turn them with a pair of tongs.  If you're going to freeze and reheat them (and you are, RIGHT??), don't cook them for more than a minute or two on the other side.  You want them light brown so that they don't burn when you reheat.
7. Drain on paper towel-lined cookie sheets.  I put a layer of newspaper under my paper towels.  I think it helps. 
8. Freeze in a single layer or eat right now until you feel the need to, ahem, stop.

L'Chaim!

Happy Hanukkah to Me!

from {here}

I Love Fall

{A new twist to a tradition}

{Decorations turned into food}

{Sampling a summer harvest}

{Cake for a tailgate}
Loving all things pumpkin
(can't find the link to these aMAZing pancakes--let me know if you want the recipe)