The Festival of Lights

So the beautiful thing about being a multi-religous family is the many holidays that we get to celebrate. Last night started the celebration of Hanukkah.  The Boy and I had a great night making the traditional Latkes and some Matzo Ball Soup.  My cooking skills being based more in the "sugar based" creations we have usually made our Latkes and soup out of a box.  Yep. Just like mac and cheese.

Done shaking your head? Okay, this year since I have a helper that gets "extra credit" for his cooking class if he helps make meals we decided that we, meaning The Boy, would make home made latkes.

So first The Boy had to peel the potatoes.

I told him not to join the Navy and if he did not to get into any trouble because his peeling skills were lacking and his whining would not be well received.  We almost put an end to homemade Latkes one and a half potatoes into the process.  But as soon as I pulled out the Cuisinart his little eyes lit up and he played through the pain just so he could shred.

Bless him, he had a good time with that shredder.  What is it about men and things that cause destruction?

I even got him to chop onions:

And let me tell you how happy he was to have to squeeze the water out of the potatoes:

See the face? Excitement and murder all in one look.  You have to love it. It was almost as good as the look I got when I told him he needed to mix everything up with hands.

All that kept him going was the promise that I would let him cook. On the stove. With oil. So the first thing I say is, "What should you remember about cooking with oil?" To which he answers, "If it catches on fire throw water on it." Now a less seasoned parent might freak out and take the spatula away from him, but not me, no. I know we live less than a mile away from the fire station so we probably wouldn't wreck the whole kitchen. After I lecture The Boy that he was in fact completely incorrect and that he should do the exact opposite of his answer we were ready to go.

 

Look at that face. I think he had the spatula like that so he could take a swing at me if I tried to take it away. 

Not bad for Christian and a 13 year old.  Tasted pretty good too.  Happy Hanukkah to everyone!