Latkes!

I like celebrating everything during the festive season, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa -- specifically the culinary aspect.

I've had a hankering to make latkes the last couple of days. I have an excellent recipe that my friend, Carrie, gave me. It has been in her family for generations and was published in her brother, Mitchell's, book, "The Mensch Chef". The secret is for every onion use two potatoes.

Skip and I aren't big eaters of fried food, but since I've been in possession of this recipe, we partake once a year. Last night was it.

They weren't pretty, but boy, were they good with sour cream. They're also eaten with apple sauce in some circles. And we don't even want to talk about all the oil that was involved.

I cooked a big batch of Toffee Butter Cookies (from my cookie-baking class a couple of weeks ago) on Sunday. Skip deemed them perhaps the best cookies he's ever eaten. I like that they contain crushed Skor pieces (Heath bars for US folks) and Skip likes that they're dipped part-way into melted bittersweet chocolate and rolled in ground pecans or peanuts. A perfect accompaniment for cappuccino, espresso or just on their own.

I have, however, called a halt to baking and have spent the last two days (and late into the night except for going spinning last evening) working on an online scrapbook for a friend for a Christmas gift. I am leaving it for a couple of hours and will go back to it for a final edit and publishing. I don't expect it will arrive in bound form for Christmas but at least it will be done and I can move on to the next task.