In spite of my run-in with scurvy and subsequent ridicule on a quasi-national basis, I continue to subsist largely on what many would consider an unhealthy diet. (And when I say largely I mean it-- I tend to eat a bit too much). Meals at the Moldy Mansion consist largely of rice, beans, pasta, and of course, potatoes.Oh, potatoes. We love potatoes so much that Saturday has traditionally been Potato Night at the Mansion. One time, Tom and I had our lanky carrot-topped friend over, and we consumed 5 pounds of potatoes while inventing a card game. (The game is actually quite good, and is a 3-player card game because we all hate trying to find a fourth person for more common card games). We decided to call it Potato, and you can see the full rules of the game on Tom's website, here broken out from his frames. (Of course, Tom's newest work is a beautiful comic which certainly merits viewing at www.bonedancer.com. But I digress.)
Anyway, the point being, we eat a lot of potatoes 'round these here parts. We've had them almost every Saturday, largely sliced and fried with salt and vinegar, cubed and spice-fried as Porquiche, oven-baked with butter, sour cream, and cheese, or mashioed as hot paprikia potato salad. But a few days ago marked the dawning of a new era; Tom and I made Latkes.
Yes, latkes, the traditional potato pancakes of the Jews. Shredded potato with a bit of egg and onion, fried in oil, and served on Hanukkah with sour cream, applesauce, and cinammon. We followed a simple recipe, and they turned out delicious.
Tom said that his family often makes these, which brought me to wonder if perhaps Tom was latently Jewish. After all, I have another friend whose mannerisms, speech patterns, and fondness for chicken soup clearly mark her as culturally-Jewish, even if she doesn't realize it. Could Tom's family also unknowingly be following Jewish traditions? My curiosity piqued, I asked Tom, "Hey, you said that you eat these things at home a lot?"
"Yeah," he replied, "but we usually have them with ham."