Life with Lauren: First Annual Latke Party

I knew the time had to come. For as many years as I can remember, I have celebrated Hanukkah with my parents, and they have faithfully fried up dozens and dozens of potato latkes, accompanied by applesauce and sour cream. My parents' latkes are the stuff of yore in my family: thin, crispy on the outside, full of flavor on the inside. There are really only 2 words to describe them: yum mee. Only once before had I ventured into latke making territory, with my brother Greg during one of our years at Stanford. And what a grey soggy mess we ended up with. So 20 years later, I had no desire to venture near a bag of potatoes again. Except this year my parents decided to spend all 8 nights of Hanukkah with Brian and his family in New Hampshire. And I couldn't bear the thought of not being surrounded by loved ones during Hanukkah. So the decision was made - we would host a Hanukkah party at our home! A few weeks out, I sent out Evites advertising a Hanukkah party featuring "Latkes, Latkes, Latkes." (no pressure there - what was I thinking?) Several families rsvp'd that they would be there, and everyone was expecting spectacular latkes. So Norm and I did a dry run a few nights ahead of time, using my Mom's faithful recipe I had written down a few years earlier (without really thinking that Mom really doesn't go by recipes, she only goes by taste). The first batch looked exactly like hash browns from Denny's. Hmmm. The second batch was run through the Cuisinart more so the texture was better, but fried up thick as hockey pucks. Strike two. The third batch Norm tried was almost right, just needed more seasoning. We called it a night and hoped for the best for the party.

The afternoon of the party was a whirlwind. I was baking up corn souffle and artichoke/red pepper dip and putting out the spread of Honeybaked ham and turkey (yes, more than one guest commented on the irony of having ham and latkes on the same plate). Norm devoted himself 100% to the latkes. Sporting his new apron I bought splashed with the slogan "Shofar So Good", I could hear him moaning and cursing from the kitchen as I finalized the party prep and dressed Lauren and myself. The guests arrived and Norm was the consummate host while frying away. All in all, he made approximately 40 latkes in about 90 minutes. About 30 minutes after everyone was there, we laid out the food, and we held our breaths to wait for the reaction. Let's just say that the latkes flew off the serving plate, and people had seconds and thirds. They were so delicious, in fact, that Rich asked to take the few remaining morsels home as leftovers, and Robyn has already emailed me for Norm's recipe. I was so proud of Norm, and everybody had a fantastic time, including lighting the menorah and giving gifts to all the kids who attended. Lauren did not stop running around all night, she had so much fun playing with Ruby, Cameron, Hudson, Dawson, Holden, Mason, Sammy and Ryan. We had to promise everyone who attended that this will be an annual event now, so hopefully next year my parents will be able to join us (and maybe other family members will fly in!). I'm sure my mom will be happy to stay out of the kitchen. And while I can't publicly say that Norm's latkes were better than my parents', let's just say they were equally divine. Way to go, Sweet-T.

Here's the spread mid-meal: